PitchBook News - Pandemic prompts an evolution for US VC

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The Daily Pitch: VC

August 18, 2020

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

Today's Top Stories

On the podcast: The evolution of US VC during the COVID-19 crisis

In the latest episode of "In Visible Capital," host Adley Bowden recaps highlights from the Q2 2020 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor webinar, which brought together representatives from Silicon Valley Bank, NVCA and Certent to discuss recent trends in US VC.

Topics discussed include:

Why investors are becoming more willing to conduct due diligence virtually

How startups have adjusted their strategy to appease investors, including issuing furloughs and conducting debt deals to stay afloat

What the NVCA has been lobbying for with an election looming

The recent proliferation of VC mega-funds, which has brought new opportunities for LPs that were previously left behind

listen in

More coronavirus news: Continuing coverage from PitchBook

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Robinhood pushes valuation to $11.2B with mega-round

Robinhood co-founder and co-CEO Baiju Bhatt speaks at a conference in 2018. (Steve Jennings/Getty Images)

Robinhood is now valued at $11.2 billion after raising a $200 million Series G round from D1 Capital Partners, marking its third sizable cash injection since May.

With this latest fundraise, nearly half of Robinhood's total funding has come this year alone. In May, the online trading platform provider announced a $280 million Series F. And in July, the company extended the round to $600 million, bringing its valuation to $8.6 billion. Since it was founded in 2013, Robinhood has raised over $1.7 billion, according to PitchBook data.

The company saw 4.3 million daily average revenue trades in June, surpassing all of its publicly traded brokerage rivals, including TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab and E-Trade.

As of May, Robinhood had added more than 3 million new accounts to its platform in 2020. Last month, it reportedly halted its plans to launch in the UK to focus on strengthening its core business in the US.

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A message from Ursus

How to find and nurture cloud talent in the COVID-19 era

Every business is in the cloud business. If you want to scale successfully, the ability to source, screen, hire, train and develop cloud computing talent is mission-critical.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to remote work and continuing expansion of online business models, the demand for talent is at an all-time high. 90% of organizations surveyed by Forrester indicated that the cloud skills gap has doubled since 2017.

Inefficiently searching for the right talent costs time and money. However, there may be undeveloped cloud talent on your existing teams, which can be leveraged in a variety of ways.

Click here to learn more

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Recommended Reads

The possibility of widespread access to 3D-printed guns has long been a futuristic fear in the US. As it turns out, that future is already here. [Gen]

Thanks in no small part to pressure from shareholders, Europe's largest oil companies are leading the industry's much-needed embrace of renewable energy. [The New York Times]

Companies have long battled to see who could offer the best office perks. The fight isn't over just because everyone is working from home. [The Wall Street Journal]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

9

VC valuations

1683

People

380

Companies

2

Funds

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2009 Vintage Global Venture Funds
	People
	Bessemer promotes Connor Watumull
	VC Deals
	Tencent buys stake in French game maker Voodoo
	Grafana raises $50M, rolls out accelerator
	Aerin Medical pulls in $48M
	Portfolio Companies
	TikTok inks music deal with UnitedMasters
	Exits & IPOs
	Warner Music nabs social startup
	American Express buys SoftBank-backed lender Kabbage
	Kymera unveils range for IPO
	Investors
	KKR veteran launches healthcare firm

The Daily Benchmark

2009 Vintage Global Venture Funds

Median IRR

10.00%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

15.10%

1.64x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

5AM Fund III

Scale Venture Partners III

Arboretum Ventures II

*IRR: net of fees

24 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

People

Bessemer promotes Connor Watumull

Connor Watumull, an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners, has been promoted to vice president. Watumull, who joined the firm in 2018, holds board observer seats with portfolio companies including Toast, Bevi and Provi.

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VC Deals

Tencent buys stake in French game maker Voodoo

Tencent has purchased a minority stake in Paris-based mobile game maker Voodoo, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, according to TechCrunch. Voodoo has developed over 100 games, with "Helix Jump" and "Fire Balls 3D" among its most popular titles. Voodoo co-founder Alexandre Yazdi will reportedly remain the largest shareholder and retain control of the company.

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Grafana raises $50M, rolls out accelerator

Grafana Labs has closed a $50 million Series B led by Lightspeed. The oversubscribed round also included participation from Lead Edge Capital. Concurrently, the New York-based provider of open-source software announced the launch of the Grafana Accelerator Program to support innovation among its users, targeting early-stage companies and side projects.

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Aerin Medical pulls in $48M

Aerin Medical has secured $48 million in financing led by Questa Capital. OrbiMed and existing investor KCK Group also participated in the round. The Austin-based startup also named Matt Brokaw as its new CEO. Aerin develops non-invasive medical procedures for chronic nasal airway conditions. Earlier this year, the FDA approved its device to treat chronic rhinitis.

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Portfolio Companies

TikTok inks music deal with UnitedMasters

TikTok has signed a partnership with UnitedMasters, allowing content creators on the short-form video app to directly share their music with streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. TikTok will also help to promote UnitedMasters artists on its platform and add their music to its commercial library with their permission. The deal makes UnitedMasters the first music distribution company to integrate with TikTok.

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Exits & IPOs

Warner Music nabs social startup

Warner Music Group has purchased IMGN Media, a creator and curator of social media content focused on gaming, entertainment and related sectors, with reports indicating a price of just under $100 million. Based in Israel and New York, IMGN raised prior venturing funding from backers including Dot Capital, Rhodium and UTA Ventures.

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American Express buys SoftBank-backed lender Kabbage

American Express has acquired small-business lender Kabbage. Last week, Bloomberg reported that American Express was looking to buy the lender in a deal that would value it at up to $850 million. But the Atlanta-based company's loan portfolio was not included in the deal. SoftBank-backed Kabbage had paused lending in late March and shifted its focus toward using its platform to process loans through the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

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Kymera unveils range for IPO

Kymera Therapeutics has revealed plans to sell nearly 7.4 million shares for between $16 and $18 apiece in its upcoming IPO on the Nasdaq. A midpoint pricing would raise about $125 million for the Watertown, Mass.-based company, with expected net proceeds of $113.7 million. Existing investor Vertex Pharmaceuticals has agreed to buy 498,419 shares at the IPO price in a separate private placement. Kymera's backers include Atlas Venture (26.1% pre-IPO stake), Lilly Ventures (6.5%) and Bessemer Venture Partners (5.2%).

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Investors

KKR veteran launches healthcare firm

Jim Momtazee has launched Patient Square Capital, a new Menlo Park-based investment firm that will target deals in the healthcare sector. Momtazee, the firm's managing partner, previously worked at KKR for 21 years, including a stint of more than 10 years as leader of its healthcare group. He will be joined at Patient Square by partner and CFO Maria Walker, who was most recently founder and CEO of biotech startup Recuerdo Therapeutics.

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Chart of the Day

"Cross-border M&A activity remained healthy at €240.8 billion in H1 2020. Although travel may have concluded prior to lockdowns, a strong pipeline of cross-border deals closed in Q2 despite cross-country travel restrictions."

Source: PitchBook's Q2 2020 European M&A Report