PitchBook News - Former TikTok CEO may jump to PE

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The Daily Pitch: VC

September 25, 2020

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Today's Top Stories

Former TikTok CEO in talks to join RedBird Capital

Former Disney and TikTok head Kevin Mayer could soon be making the move to RedBird Capital Partners. (Jesse Grant/Getty Images)

Kevin Mayer, the erstwhile CEO of TikTok and former longtime Disney executive, is in advanced discussions to join private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners, according to The New York Times.

While at Disney, Mayer was known as the dealmaker behind its Pixar and Marvel acquisitions and was also the head of streaming services Disney+ and ESPN+. He joined TikTok in May only to resign in August after the Trump administration ordered the social media provider's Chinese parent ByteDance to sell its US assets.

RedBird's interest in Mayer underscores the firm's growing ambitions in media, especially live sports. RedBird founder Gerald Cardinale recently launched a $575 million special-purpose acquisition company alongside Billy Beane, the Oakland Athletics executive who is the subject of Michael Lewis' book "Moneyball." The blank-check company intends to acquire a pro sports team.

New York-based RedBird also recently bought a stake in French soccer team Toulouse FC, and it was part of an investment group that purchased the YES Network from Disney last year.

Related read: RedBird Capital teams with Billy Beane on sports SPAC

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GGV targets $2B in fundraising drive

GGV Capital is planning to raise $2 billion across three new funds that will focus on tech startups and growth deals in the US and China.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Silicon Valley firm, already a veteran of cross-border deals, has targeted $1.2 billion for its eighth flagship fund, which will invest mainly in late-stage deals for companies valued at $100 million or more. Its previous namesake fund closed with $1.36 billion in 2018.

The firm's GGV Capital VIII Plus vehicle aims to raise $300 million for late-stage, follow-on funding for existing portfolio companies, the WSJ reported. Its GGV Discovery III fund is targeting $500 million for early-stage investments.

Among the biggest deals GGV has joined this year are a $175 million round raised by software-automation specialist HashiCorp and the $120 million funding of online marketplace operator OfferUp.

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A message from UMB Fund Services

Worried your fund data would be 'held hostage' by a third-party administrator?

Investor reporting is getting thornier for private equity managers as institutional investors request customized data. Layer on fund reporting challenges coming from the regulatory front and the result is heavy stress on home-grown approaches.

Yet PE managers are wary to give up their spreadsheets. They need to be able to manipulate data to draw insights from it. Managers need the flexibility they are used to—but not the struggle to respond to clients and regulators without having to move mountains.

For anyone concerned about their data being "held hostage" by a third-party fund administrator, this two-minute article from UMB Fund Services is a must-read.

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PE chases superior performance in the healthcare space

The hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine has put healthcare at center stage in 2020. (Pedro Vilela/Getty Images)

Private equity investments in the healthcare sector have proliferated since the global financial crisis. And for good reason: Over that same span, healthcare funds have outperformed non-healthcare funds in terms of both IRR and TVPI.

Our latest analyst note offers a comprehensive look at PE's embrace of the healthcare space, including the latest deal data, notable funds and a detailed look at how investments vary across the industry's many sub-sectors:

read it now

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Weekly Recap

In case you missed it:

• The Gores Group's reverse merger with a mortgage origination provider is the latest record-breaking development in a prolific year for special-purpose acquisition companies.

• Everyone from entrepreneurs to politicians to sports executives has gotten in on the SPAC boom, but very few have been as closely involved as private equity.

• The recent pandemic-induced panic around meat production could have been the perfect opportunity for cultivated meat startups to make their way into the spotlight. What's holding them back?

(Julia Midkiff/PitchBook)

• Consumers spent over $6.6 billion in the video game sector during the first half of the year, and Microsoft wants in on the action.

• The pandemic's disproportionate toll on the elderly has exposed the vulnerability of the PE-backed nursing home sector in the UK.

• Digital bank operator Chime has surged past Robinhood as the most valuable US consumer fintech company.

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Recommended Reads

In the days before modern computers, a famous Rand Corp. book was the bible of random numbers. Until this year, that is, when a bored software engineer started digging in. [The Wall Street Journal]

A common thread runs through many of the scandals that have enveloped tech giants like Google, Facebook and Twitter: the failure to properly assess risk. [OneZero]

Would a Green New Deal be a drag on economic prosperity? For clues, some experts are looking 80 years into the past, to the last time the US reoriented its economy around a potentially devastating global threat. [Intelligencer]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

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Funds

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2010 Vintage Global Venture Funds with more than $250M
	People
	Silversmith selects CMO
	VC Deals
	Next Insurance picks up $250M Series D
	Nuvia nabs $240M Series B led by Mithril
	Greenlight value jumps sixfold to $1.2B
	Within3 brings in $100M for life sciences communication platform
	NEA backs $96M round for cancer therapy startup
	Petal lands $55M to help increase access to credit
	Payment automation startup snags $50M
	Spectrum Labs takes in $10M to beat online toxicity
	Portfolio Companies
	Deliveroo considers 2021 IPO
	Exits & IPOs
	ChargePoint plugs into 2020's SPAC boom

The Daily Benchmark

2010 Vintage Global Venture Funds with more than $250M

Median IRR

11.32%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

25.46%

1.88x

Median TVPI

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Third Rock Ventures II

OrbiMed Private Investments IV

Spark Capital III

*IRR: net of fees

16 Funds in Benchmark »

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People

Silversmith selects CMO

Silversmith Capital Partners, a Boston-based growth firm focused on the tech and healthcare sectors, has hired Kate Castle as its chief marketing officer. Castle is a co-founder of XFactor Ventures and has previously marketed venture funds at firms like Victress Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners and Battery Ventures.

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VC Deals

Next Insurance picks up $250M Series D

Next Insurance, an insurance technology startup, has raised a $250 million Series D led by CapitalG, with participation from FinTLV and Munich RE. The round values the Bay Area-based company, which sells insurance to small businesses, at about $2.25 billion, according to Bloomberg. CapitalG partner Sumiran Das will join Next Insurance's board of directors.

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Nuvia nabs $240M Series B led by Mithril

Nuvia, a developer of silicon chips for data centers, has raised $240 million in a Series B led by Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital, in partnership with Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai, the founders of semiconductor company Marvell. Atlantic Bridge, Redline Capital and Capricorn Investment Group also participated in the round. Based in Santa Clara, Nuvia was founded last year by former Apple chip designers. The startup expects to begin selling its chips in 2022, according to Reuters.

Additional Investors:

BlackRock, Dell Technologies Capital, Fidelity Management & Research, Mayfield Fund, Nepenthe, Temasek Holdings, WRVI Capital

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Greenlight value jumps sixfold to $1.2B

Greenlight Financial has become a unicorn after landing $215 million in a Series C. The Atlanta-based fintech company is now valued at $1.2 billion after the round, which was led by Canapi Ventures and TTV Capital. Greenlight offers debit cards for kids, allowing parents to set up controls that include restricting spending to certain stores. The company's valuation has increased nearly sixfold since September 2019, when it was valued at $194 million, according to PitchBook data.

Select Additional Investors:

DST Global, Goodwater Capital, Fin Venture Capital, Relay Ventures

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Within3 brings in $100M for life sciences communication platform

Within3 has pulled in a $100 million round, with The Wall Street Journal pegging the funding as the company's first major institutional financing since its founding in 2008. The round was led by Insight Partners, with Silversmith Capital Partners also chipping in. Based in Ohio, Within3 is the creator of a virtual communication and collaboration platform used by pharmaceutical and life sciences companies in 150 countries.

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NEA backs $96M round for cancer therapy startup

Monte Rosa Therapeutics has raised a $96 million Series B led by Aisling Capital, with participation from Versant Ventures and NEA. Based near Boston, the biotech startup is a developer of small-molecule degraders designed to target specific proteins that cause cancer and other diseases. Monte Rosa raised a $32.5 million round in April.

Additional Investors:

Cormorant Asset Management, Casdin Capital, HBM Healthcare Investments, GV, Amzak Health, Sixty Degree Capital, Cambridge Asset Management

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Petal lands $55M to help increase access to credit

Petal, the New York-based provider of a no-fee credit card and corresponding app, has raised a $55 million Series C led by Valar Ventures, with participation from Abstract Ventures, Afore Capital, RiverPark Ventures, Starta Ventures and others. Analyzing users' income, spending and savings, Petal allows those with low credit scores or no credit history to apply for its credit card. The startup has raised around $100 million in total equity financing; it was valued at $125 million after raising a $30 million Series B early last year, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

Adventure Collective, GR Capital, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Nelstone Ventures, Ride Ventures, Rosecliff Venture Partners, The Gramercy Fund

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Payment automation startup snags $50M

MineralTree has secured a $50 million Series D from existing investors Great Hill Partners, .406 Ventures and Eight Roads Ventures. Based in Cambridge, Mass., MineralTree is the developer of an accounts payable platform that helps middle-market companies automatically process B2B payments and invoices. Founded in 2010, the startup secured a $50 million growth financing in March 2019. MineralTree also announced it has acquired two companies in the payments space: Inspyrus and Regal Software.

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Spectrum Labs takes in $10M to beat online toxicity

Spectrum Labs has raised a $10 million Series A led by Greycroft, with participation from Wing Venture Capital, Ridge Ventures, Global Founders Capital and Superset. The San Francisco-based company is developing an AI-based platform intended to help online consumer brands identify and respond to threats such as hate speech and illegal solicitation in real time.

Portfolio Companies

Deliveroo considers 2021 IPO

Amazon-backed food delivery provider Deliveroo is setting the stage for an initial public offering in 2021, according to Bloomberg. Last month, UK regulators cleared Amazon's $575 million investment in the British company. Deliveroo was last valued at about $2 billion after a funding round in 2017, according to PitchBook data.

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Exits & IPOs

ChargePoint plugs into 2020's SPAC boom

ChargePoint, which operates a network of electric vehicle charging stations in North America and Europe, has agreed to go public through a reverse merger with a special-purpose acquisition company called Switchback Energy Acquisition, creating a combined business valued at $2.4 billion. ChargePoint closed a $367 million funding round last month that came at a $1.37 billion valuation, according to PitchBook data. The California-based company's backers include Linse Capital, Kleiner Perkins and Braemar Energy Ventures.

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