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Quibi pulls the plug on streaming service
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| Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman in 2018 (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images) |
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Quibi, the massively funded short-form video-streaming platform, is shutting down just over six months after its launch in April.
The startup's founder, DreamWorks co-founder and former Walt Disney executive Jeffrey Katzenberg, told investors on a call Wednesday that he and CEO Meg Whitman have decided to shutter the service and return $350 million back to investors, rather than try to keep the company afloat and risk burning through more cash, The Wall Street Journal reported. Whitman and Katzenberg had previously explored a sale of Quibi, but failed to garner interest from potential suitors including Apple, WarnerMedia and Facebook, The Information reported. The company will still try to sell the rights to its content and technology assets.
Quibi had raised about $1.75 billion from the likes of Alibaba, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and a host of media companies including Sony Pictures, MGM Studios, Lionsgate, Walt Disney, NBCUniversal and Viacom, as well as Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim.
Quibi, which offered 10-minute snippets of shows and movies for travelers, commuters and other users on the go, failed to gain subscribers amid a pandemic that upended travel patterns. The company attributes its demise to either a weak idea that didn't justify a standalone streaming service or bad timing. Quibi has also had to contend with a growing list of competing streaming services from Disney, Comcast, AT&T and Apple.
Related read: Sharks are circling Nikola and Quibi |
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Varying motivations drive an M&A rebound in Q3
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The number of M&A transactions completed in North America grew 23.5% in the third quarter of the year compared to Q2, a sign that the pandemic-fueled dealmaking dip may have already reached its nadir. Some acquirers are revving up their activity to conduct opportunistic takeovers—and others are pursuing defensive deals to help their companies stay afloat.
PitchBook's Q3 2020 North American M&A Report, presented in partnership with KPMG, Liberty GTS and ACG, offers all of the latest data and analysis on a bounce-back quarter for the region's dealmakers. It also highlights other key trends, including:
- The deal landscape was aided by a 8.5% increase in the S&P 500, the best returns in any Q3 since 2010
- An ongoing slump in oil prices means dealmaking in the energy sector remained scarce
- The outcome of the US presidential election will be a major variable for quarters to come
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Amplify acquisition processes to seize opportunistic deals
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Acquisitions are a powerful means to accelerate growth and reshape portfolios, which will be essential for boosting the global economy after its COVID slump. As opportunistic deals pick up to take advantage of price drops, those who act fast will earn rewards.
While corporate M&A teams are often small, they are under immense pressure to generate momentum and execute quickly. To run an efficient analysis and comparison of targets, they need a tried and tested game plan to follow.
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Ansarada has adapted it into a simple, free checklist to use as a guide to speed up the evaluation, acquisition and integration of targets—taking weeks off due diligence.
Get the free targeted acquisition checklist here |
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Crypto startup Kik to pay $5M penalty over token offering
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Blockchain-based messaging startup Kik Interactive will pay a $5 million penalty as part of a federal court judgment that the company's $100 million cryptocurrency fundraising effort was illegal. Under a court-approved settlement, the company will also be required for the next three years to give the SEC notice of any planned asset offerings.
In 2019, the SEC alleged that Santa Monica, Calif.-based Kik sold digital tokens via an initial coin offering without registering the assets as securities.
In a statement, Kik said it disagrees with the judge's ruling but added that "the SEC offered settlement terms that allow us to put this behind us and focus on our mission."
Last October, Kik sold its messaging platform to holding company MediaLab.
Prior to its ICO, Kik raised about $120 million from investors like Union Square Ventures, RRE Ventures and Spark Capital, according to PitchBook data. |
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What's behind an ongoing series of bizarre, concussive attacks on US diplomats and spies both at home and abroad? The mystery of the Havana Syndrome continues to thicken. [GQ]
In a bid to build his next venture into an empire with Uber-like scale, Travis Kalanick has been on a $130 million real estate buying spree. [The Wall Street Journal]
Sundar Pichai has been CEO of Google's parent company for less than a year. But already, he faces what could be an existential threat. [The New York Times] |
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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:
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9
VC valuations
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1448
People
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427
Companies
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16
Funds
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Advent leads unicorn round for Tekion
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| Advent International has led a $150 million Series C investment in Tekion, valuing the developer of cloud-based retail software for the automotive industry at more than $1 billion. Index Ventures, Exor, Airbus Ventures and FM Capital also took part in the funding. Based in San Ramon, Calif., Tekion was valued at $97 million with a $22 million round in 2018, according to PitchBook data. |
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Music creation startup Output raises $45M Series A
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| Los Angeles-based tech startup Output has closed a $45 million Series A investment from Summit Partners. The startup's music creation software has been used to produce songs by artists including Justin Bieber and Rihanna. Output plans to use the money in part to launch a mobile app and add playable instruments to its platform next year. |
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Anyscale scoops up $40M Series B
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| Anyscale has raised $40 million in a round led by NEA, with support from Andreessen Horowitz, Foundation Capital and Intel Capital. Founded in 2019, the Berkeley, Calif.-based company is the creator of an open-source framework designed to help users develop, manage and scale applications. Anyscale has now raised more than $60 million in total private funding. |
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Ecommerce startup collects $30M Series C
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| Syte, the developer of a personalized product discovery platform that uses visual AI, has secured $30 million in a round led by Viola Ventures, with participation from LG Tech Ventures, La Maison, Mizmaa Ventures, Axess Ventures and others. The Tel Aviv-based startup also raised $10 million in debt. Syte was valued at $69.6 million in September 2019, according to a PitchBook estimate. |
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Knowledgehook has raised a $20 million Series A from investors including Ideal Ventures and Nicoya Ventures. The Canadian edtech startup offers a math-focused platform for analyzing students' academic performance and more. |
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Vowel launches with $4.3M
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Manscaped mulls sale or new funds
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| Manscaped, a provider of men's grooming products, is considering a sale or new fundraising, according to Bloomberg. Either option could reportedly value the San Diego-based company at more than $700 million. Its investors include Scala Ventures, Longley Capital and Kaktus Capital. |
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ThredUp joins Poshmark on IPO path
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Ant Group gets go-ahead for Shanghai listing
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| Fintech giant Ant Group has received approval from China's securities regulator for its IPO listing in Shanghai, according to Bloomberg. Earlier this week, the company got the green light for its Hong Kong listing. Ant will reportedly begin courting investors for the Hong Kong IPO on Thursday. It plans to raise $35 billion in what could be the world's largest offering to date. |
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Nuvation Bio signs SPAC deal
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RA Capital rounds up $461M for second venture fund
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| RA Capital Management had closed its second venture fund on $461 million. The Boston-based firm primarily invests in public and private biotech companies. RA Capital closed its previous venture fund on $300 million in July 2019. That fund has called about 80% of its capital, funding 59 companies. |
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Amplify pulls in $375M across two new funds
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| Menlo Park-based Amplify Partners has picked up $275 million for its fourth early-stage fund and another $100 million for its debut select vehicle, which will focus on making growth investments in the firm's portfolio companies. Amplify has made previous investments in companies such as Fastly and Datadog, both of which went on to file IPOs. Founded in 2012, the firm targets companies in sectors including cloud infrastructure, data science and cybersecurity. |
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T-Mobile reveals new 5G-focused VC fund
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| Bellevue, Wash.-based T-Mobile has partnered with Touchdown Ventures on a new venture fund, T-Mobile Ventures, which will invest in companies developing 5G-related products and services for the wireless carrier's network. The fund will initially focus on financing early- and growth-stage companies in areas like edge compute, security, future of work and industrial internet of things. |
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"Valuations and deal sizes have not suffered in H1 2020, and confidence remains healthy at the early stage where fierce competition from expanding capital options has driven the highest deal counts among VC financing stages in the last three years. The diverse dealmaking environment pushed the median early-stage valuation to €8.8 million, while the top and bottom quartiles fell slightly [quarter-over-quarter] to €17.5 million and €2.9 million, respectively, in Q2 2020."
Source: PitchBook's Q2 2020 European VC Valuations Report |
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