PitchBook News - PE barons continue their NHL power play

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The Daily Pitch: VC

August 13, 2020

Like our newsletter? The data comes from the PitchBook Platform — our data software for VC, PE and M&A

Today's Top Stories

PE power play: TPG's Bonderman, local investors bring hockey to Seattle

The Seattle Kraken's flag flew atop the Space Needle to celebrate the announcement of the team's name. (Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

Over the past decade, investors who made fortunes in private equity have poured their own capital into professional sports franchises.

TPG Capital co-founder David Bonderman tried for years to own a team of his own. And after two close calls, the buyout legend pulled it off, uniting a group of investors with deep local ties—and many with PE connections—to bring the NHL to Seattle:

Recommended Reads

Vista Equity Partners leader Robert Smith says US corporations that benefited from slavery should consider paying reparations to Black Americans. [Reuters]

The coronavirus crisis has caused a flood of bankruptcies and business closures. And the real damage may be much worse than initial data reveals. [Bloomberg]

An investigation shows that, until last year, TikTok was illicitly tracking millions of Android users in violation of Google's privacy policies. [The Wall Street Journal]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

6

VC valuations

825

People

172

Companies

4

Funds

See what our data software can do

Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2014 Vintage Global Debt Funds
	VC Deals
	Gong grabs $200M Coatue-led round
	Atomwise wraps $123M Series B
	Blend mixes up $75M round for digital lending tech
	SiFive snags $61M for semiconductor tech
	Reify Health draws in $30M Series B
	Portfolio Companies
	Airbnb's Q2 revenue plummets 67%
	Exits & IPOs
	KE Holdings to price IPO shares above range
	Fundraising
	Rocketship blasts off with $100M for latest fund

The Daily Benchmark

2014 Vintage Global Debt Funds

Median IRR

8.92%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

10.52%

1.20x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

KSL Capital Partners Credit Opportunities Fund

Orchard Landmark Direct Lending Fund

GoldenTree Distressed Fund 2014

*IRR: net of fees

38 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Gong grabs $200M Coatue-led round

Gong, the provider of an AI-based revenue intelligence platform, has raised a $200 million Series D that values the San Francisco-based company at $2.2 billion. Coatue led the round, with support from Index Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Thrive Capital and others. Gong, which helps companies analyze their interactions with customers, raised a $65 million Series C in December.

Additional Investors:

Sequoia, Battery Ventures, NextWorld Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Wing Venture Capital

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Atomwise wraps $123M Series B

San Francisco's Atomwise has secured a $123 million round led by B Capital Group and Sanabil Investments, with support from existing backers DCVC, Y Combinator and others. The company is the provider of an AI-based small-molecule drug discovery platform that's used by academic researchers and drug developers across the globe. Atomwise raised $45 million in 2018 at a $150 million valuation, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Existing Investors:

AME Cloud Ventures, Baidu Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Tencent

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Blend mixes up $75M round for digital lending tech

Digital lending startup Blend has raised a $75 million Series F at a valuation of nearly $1.7 billion. Canapi Ventures led the round, with participation from Temasek, General Atlantic, 8VC, Greylock Partners and Emergence. Blend helps financial institutions process mortgages and home equity loans; its services recently expanded to include consumer banking and auto loans. The San Francisco-based company was valued at $980 million with a $130 million round in June 2019, according to PitchBook data.

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SiFive snags $61M for semiconductor tech

SiFive has raised a $61 million Series E led by SK Hynix, with participation from new investor Prosperity7 Ventures and existing backers including Spark Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures. The Bay Area-based company is a developer of processor cores and related products for semiconductor companies. It secured $65.4 million in Series D funding in June 2019.

Additional Investors:

Intel Capital, Osage University Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Western Digital Capital

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Reify Health draws in $30M Series B

Reify Health, a clinical trial software provider, has raised a $30 million Series B led by Battery Ventures. Prior investors Sierra Ventures and Asset Management Ventures also participated in the round. Boston-based Reify's platform migrates information that healthcare staff rely on to run clinical trials, eliminating hours of manual work.

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Portfolio Companies

Airbnb's Q2 revenue plummets 67%

Airbnb posted revenue of $335 million in the second quarter, a 67% drop from over $1 billion for the same period last year, according to Bloomberg. In the first quarter, the vacation rental company reportedly achieved $842 million in sales. Earlier this week, it was reported that Airbnb is planning to file for a public listing later this month.

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Exits & IPOs

KE Holdings to price IPO shares above range

After originally planning to sell 106 million American depositary shares at between $17 and $19 apiece, KE Holdings is set to price its public debut on the NYSE at $20 per share. At the $20 IPO price, the Beijing-based real estate company would raise about $2.1 billion and be valued at some $22.5 billion. KE is backed by SoftBank and Tencent.

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Fundraising

Rocketship blasts off with $100M for latest fund

Rocketship.vc has raised $100 million for its second global venture capital fund. The Los Altos, Calif.-based firm, which uses machine learning and data science to identify and invest in early-stage startups worldwide, closed its initial fund on $40 million in 2015. With a focus on the technology, consumer and healthcare sectors, Rocketship has backed more than 40 companies.

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Chart of the Day

"Elsewhere in the exit market, the value of corporate acquisitions surpassed secondary buyouts, or SBOs, for the first time since Q4 2018. Corporate acquisitions only outpaced SBOs in the last month of Q1 as financial sponsors—more sensitive to market dynamics—were quicker to apply the brakes in the early days of the pandemic."

Source: PitchBook's Q1 2020 US PE Middle Market Report