PitchBook News - Masayoshi Son sets sights on TikTok

Read online | Don't want to receive these emails? Manage your subscription.

PitchBook

Log in

The Daily Pitch: VC

September 4, 2020

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

Today's Top Stories

SoftBank eyes potential bid for TikTok in India

SoftBank and Masayoshi Son are said to be looking for local partners as the company explores options to buy TikTok's Indian business.
(Koki Nagahama/Getty Images)

With the deadline to sell its US assets fast approaching, TikTok is reportedly seeing some interest in its Indian business.

SoftBank is looking to assemble a group that would buy the video app's operations in India, and has held discussions with Reliance's Jio Platforms and telecom company Bharti Airtel, according to Bloomberg. The talks have waned over the past month, but SoftBank is still exploring options, the report said. In August, TechCrunch reported that Reliance had been in talks with ByteDance, TikTok's owner, regarding a possible deal.

India banned TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps in late June, citing fears of a potential threat to user data security. That ban followed a clash between troops on the border between the two countries that the Indian government said left 20 of its soldiers dead. Since the initial ban that included TikTok, India has expanded its blacklist of Chinese apps in the country, adding 118 more as tensions continue to grow.

In the US, TikTok faces a similar ban threat if its US assets aren't sold. A joint bid from Microsoft and Walmart and another from a group led by Oracle are said to be the frontrunners for a potential deal.

Share:

Early-stage VC valuations outstrip expectations in the US

Early-stage valuations in the US increased steadily and significantly throughout the past decade, a result of the venture industry's long-running boom in the wake of the global financial crisis. When the coronavirus began to sweep the world earlier this year, sending financial markets into chaos, many VCs expected that era of valuation growth was at its end.

So far, though, the numbers tell a different story. Our Q2 2020 US VC Valuations Report examines the resilience of early-stage valuations during the first half of the year and several other key storylines in the space, including:

The average pre-money valuation for late-stage deals through Q2 was double the full-year figure for 2019

Nontraditional investors took part in nearly 95% of all VC mega-deals in H1

VC-backed IPO valuations have reverted to the mean after skyrocketing in 2019

read it now

Share:

Recommended Reads

Amid the rise of SPACs and direct listings, critics such as Bill Gurley have hypothesized that the traditional IPO may be past its prime. An investment banker who helped coordinate Google's famously atypical IPO isn't so sure. [TechCrunch]

TikTok has been at the center of recent debates about how Chinese apps interact with their government. WeChat, though, may present a more pertinent case study. [Bloomberg]

Even before the pandemic, Americans and Europeans spent some 90% of their time inside. What does it mean to be a member of the Indoor Generation? [The New Yorker]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

28

VC valuations

1492

People

397

Companies

16

Funds

See what our data software can do

Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2010 Vintage Global PE Funds with $250M-$500M
	People
	Kim Lew to lead Columbia University endowment
	VC Deals
	Shine secures $80M for isotope production
	Transposit drives off with $35M
	Portfolio Companies
	Juul plans more layoffs, market pullbacks
	Exits & IPOs
	QuantumScape set for latest electric vehicle SPAC deal
	Episerver to add on VC-backed Optimizely
	Agency behind K-Pop stars files for IPO
	Fundraising
	Tectonic Ventures readies sophomore fund

The Daily Benchmark

2010 Vintage Global PE Funds with $250M-$500M

Median IRR

11.36%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

18.46%

1.46x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

CIVC Partners Fund IV

Seidler Equity Partners IV

LACERA JP Morgan Emerging Managers Program

*IRR: net of fees

16 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

People

Kim Lew to lead Columbia University endowment

The Columbia Investment Management Company, which manages the Ivy League university's $11 billion endowment, has hired Kim Lew as its new president and CEO, effective Nov. 2. Lew previously spent more than a decade at Carnegie Corporation of New York, most recently working as vice president and chief investment officer at the philanthropy group. She will replace Peter Holland, who is set to retire this month.

View details

VC Deals

Shine secures $80M for isotope production

Shine Medical Technologies has raised an $80 million Series C led by Fidelity Management & Research. Based in Wisconsin, Shine is a nuclear technology company working to produce isotopes used in healthcare procedures. It raised prior funding from Deerfield Investment Management, Alumni Ventures Group and others, reaching an estimated $368.1 million valuation last year, according to PitchBook data.

View round

View 5 competitors »

Transposit drives off with $35M

Transposit has raised a $35 million Series B led by Altimeter Capital, with participation from Sutter Hill Ventures, SignalFire and Unusual Ventures. The San Francisco-based company is the creator of an engineering operations platform that automates processes and helps resolve application issues. Transposit was valued at $45 million in March 2019, according to PitchBook data.

View round

View similar company »

Portfolio Companies

Juul plans more layoffs, market pullbacks

After laying off around a third of its workforce earlier this year, e-cigarette maker Juul is planning additional layoffs and could exit nearly a dozen countries, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company may reportedly pull its products from Asian and European markets to focus on the US, Canada and the UK. The changes would help free up Juul's resources, allowing it to invest in research related to e-cigarette safety and a new vaping product that unlocks only when in use by non-minors, the report said.

View details

View 2 competitors »

Exits & IPOs

QuantumScape set for latest electric vehicle SPAC deal

QuantumScape, a developer of solid-state lithium-metal batteries for electric vehicles, has agreed to merge with Kensington Capital Acquisition, creating a combined company with an enterprise value of some $3.3 billion. Based in San Jose, QuantumScape has raised nearly $500 million in prior funding from the likes of Volkswagen, Bill Gates and Kleiner Perkins, reaching a $2.3 billion valuation last year, according to PitchBook data. Kensington Capital Acquisition is a blank-check company backed by private equity firm Kensington Capital that raised $200 million in a June IPO.

View details

View 14 competitors »

Episerver to add on VC-backed Optimizely

Episerver, a private equity-backed provider of digital experience services, has agreed to acquire Optimizely from backers including Goldman Sachs, Andreessen Horowitz and Ashton Kutcher. Based in San Francisco, Optimizely is a fellow digital experience specialist that helps businesses manage and test websites. It's raised some $200 million in prior venture funding, reaching a $600 million valuation in June 2019, according to PitchBook data. Insight Partners acquired Episerver from prior owner Accel-KKR in 2018 at a valuation of nearly $1.2 billion.

View details

View 47 competitors »

Agency behind K-Pop stars files for IPO

Big Hit Entertainment, the talent agency that manages the wildly popular K-Pop boy band BTS, has filed for an IPO in South Korea that could raise up to 962.6 billion won (about $810 million), according to reports. Last month, Big Hit CEO Bang Si-hyuk gifted 68,385 shares to each of the seven members of BTS, according to Reuters, equivalent to about $7.7 million apiece if Big Hit were to price its debut at the top of its anticipated range. Big Hit has raised prior private backing from firms including STIC Investments and SV Investment.

View details

View 4 competitors »

Fundraising

Tectonic Ventures readies sophomore fund

Tectonic Ventures has established a $75 million target for its second flagship fund, according to an SEC filing. Based in Massachusetts, Tectonic is led by managing partners Morris Miller and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf; Miller is a co-founder of Xenex Disinfection Services and Rackspace, while Rhodes-Kropf is the founder of RK Ventures. Tectonic's portfolio includes Auterion, Catalant and Humatics.

View fund

View 22 investments »

Chart of the Day

"In H1 2020, median and top-quartile pre-money valuations paced higher, while the bottom quartile dropped in comparison to 2019.The gap between top- and bottom-quartile late-stage valuations has continued to widen in recent years. We believe this is a consequence of investors ensuring their flagship late-stage startups sustain growth momentum in revenues and valuations via augmented late-stage rounds."

Source: PitchBook's Q2 2020 European VC Valuations Report