PitchBook News - Better.com bumps valuation to $4B

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The Daily Pitch: VC

November 11, 2020

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Today's Top Stories

Better.com's valuation soars to $4B with latest round

(manusapon kasosod/Getty Images)

Home mortgage provider Better.com has brought in $200 million at a $4 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. The funding was reportedly led by PE firm L Catterton, with Ally Financial, American Express Ventures, 9Yards Capital, Activant Capital and Ping An also participating.

The New York-based company's worth has surged since February, when it was valued at an estimated $884.5 million after a $160 million round, according to PitchBook data.

Better.com operates an alternative lending platform that allows users to buy or refinance homes without loan commissions or lender fees. The company has benefited from an uptick in home-buying and refinancings this year amid record low mortgage interest rates.

As of Sept. 30, alternative lending startups in North America and Europe had picked up $3.7 billion in total VC financing for the year, according to PitchBook data. Non-bank lenders are not as regulated as other lenders, resulting in less limitation on capital requirements. This also allows non-bank lenders to enter the market and scale more quickly, according to PitchBook's latest Emerging Tech Research report on fintech.

Related read: Mega-deals underscore PE's growing embrace of VC deals in tech

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E-scooter startup Tier lands $250M

(Courtesy of Tier Mobility)

E-scooter startup Tier Mobility has raised $250 million in a round led by SoftBank, less than a year after closing its $100 million-plus Series B. Existing investors including Mubadala Capital, Northzone, Goodwater Capital, White Star Capital, Novator and RTP Global also participated in the Series C.

The new investment is Europe's largest-ever venture capital round for a micromobility startup and pushes VC funding in the sector past last year's record, according to PitchBook data. So far this year, total capital invested has surpassed $480 million across 24 deals, with Tier accounting for more than half the total.

The Berlin-based startup will use the new funds to further its international expansion and accelerate the installation of thousands of charging stations in Europe; it is also in talks to secure a significant debt facility to build more vehicles. Tier has deployed 60,000 e-scooters across 80 cities and is valued at just under $1 billion, the Financial Times reported.

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Huawei to offload mobile unit in $15B+ deal

Visitors at the Huawei stand try the Honor 7 smartphone at the 2015 IFA consumer electronics and appliances trade fair in Berlin.
(Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Chinese tech giant Huawei plans to sell Honor, its midrange mobile phone brand, to a group of investors led by IT distributor Digital China and the Shenzhen government for 100 billion yuan (around $15.2 billion), Reuters reported. The all-cash deal—which includes the Honor brand, its R&D capabilities and supply chain management—could be announced by the end of the week.

Huawei is said to be shifting its focus to high-end smartphones and its corporate business in response to increasing US restrictions. The potential sale of Honor suggests that Huawei, one of several Chinese tech companies blacklisted in the US on national security grounds, is not holding out for regulatory changes, even after President Trump leaves office in January.

With Honor under new ownership, it would be exempt from US restrictions, according to the Reuters report. Digital China, which is a distributor of Honor phones, is reported to be taking a 15% stake in the unit, which was registered by Huawei in April as Honor Terminal.

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Recommended Reads

An in-depth look at Robert Smith and the Faustian bargain he made to get Vista Equity Partners up and running—a deal that, in 2020, has finally caught up to him. [The Washington Post]

German fintech darling Wirecard collapsed earlier this year amid a $2 billion fraud, stunning the nation. And now, the company's COO has vanished. [Bloomberg]

The discovery that George Powell and Layton Davies made one day in 2015 was every metal-detector hobbyist's dream. Over the ensuing years, it turned into a nightmare. [The New Yorker]

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2008 Vintage Global Venture Funds
	People
	DraftKings' venture firm appoints CEO
	VC Deals
	Full Truck Alliance raising $1.7B at $10B valuation
	Hopin nails down $125M to manage virtual events
	Carbon Health pulls in $100M
	JumpCloud secures $75M
	Buoy Health pockets $37.5M Series C
	Tailscale tallies up $12M for Series A
	Exits & IPOs
	DOJ clears Uber's acquisition of Postmates

The Daily Benchmark

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Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

20.06%

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Spark Capital II

True Ventures II

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People

DraftKings' venture firm appoints CEO

Drive, the venture capital arm of sports betting company DraftKings, has hired Meredith McPherron as CEO and managing partner. McPherron was previously a venture partner at Glasswing Ventures. Launched last year, Boston-based Drive invests in the sports, media and gaming sectors.

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VC Deals

Full Truck Alliance raising $1.7B at $10B valuation

Chinese logistics company Full Truck Alliance is in the midst of a $1.7 billion fundraising round that could value it at $10 billion ahead of a planned IPO next year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Also known as Manbang Group, the business has reportedly received backing from SoftBank, Alphabet, Sequoia China and Tencent. Full Truck Alliance operates a tech platform to connect shippers with truckers that is similar to services provided by Uber Freight and Convoy in the US.

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Hopin nails down $125M to manage virtual events

Hopin has secured a $125 million Series B co-led by IVP and Tiger Global, with participation from investors including Coatue and DFJ Growth. Founded in 2019 and operating in 38 countries, the London-based startup is the developer of a platform that helps companies host and manage virtual events. In June, Hopin was valued at £228 million (about $302 million today), according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

Accel, Northzone, Salesforce Ventures, Seedcamp

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Carbon Health pulls in $100M

Healthcare startup Carbon Health has raised $100 million in a Series C led by Dragoneer Investment Group. Existing investors Brookfield Technology Partners, DCVC and Builders VC also participated in the round. Based in San Francisco, Carbon Health offers its services both virtually and at clinics and pop-up sites. The startup hopes to expand to 1,500 locations across the country by 2025.

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JumpCloud secures $75M

BlackRock has led a $75 million Series E for JumpCloud, the developer of a cloud-based directory that helps companies manage employee identities, access and devices. Existing investor General Atlantic also participated in the funding. In May 2019, the Colorado-based startup raised $50 million at a $250 million valuation, according to PitchBook data.

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Buoy Health pockets $37.5M Series C

Buoy Health has raised $37.5 million in a round co-led by Cigna Ventures and Humana. The Boston-based company is the developer of an AI-based healthtech platform that lets patients analyze symptoms in real time and offers guidance for seeking treatments. In June, Buoy launched a platform to help employers assess COVID-19 risks in their physical offices. Founded in 2014, the company was valued at $75 million in January, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

WR Hambrecht + Co., TrustBridge Partners, Optum Ventures

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Tailscale tallies up $12M for Series A

Tailscale has secured $12 million in a round led by Accel, with participation from Heavybit and Uncork Capital. Founded in 2019 by former Google engineers, the company is the developer of a corporate VPN that helps remote employees and organizations connect their devices.

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Exits & IPOs

DOJ clears Uber's acquisition of Postmates

The US Department of Justice has approved Uber's $2.65 billion all-stock purchase of food delivery company Postmates after Uber made certain concessions to antitrust regulators, according to Axios. The deal is part of a recent string of consolidation in the sector, joining Just Eat Takeaway's purchase of Grubhub and Amazon's acquisition of a minority stake in Deliveroo. Postmates has raised more than $900 million in VC, according to PitchBook data, reaching a reported $2.4 billion valuation last year.

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Chart of the Day

"Israel-based startups have been able to scale to large sizes and attract bigger rounds from a growing pool of investors within and outside of Israel. Regional tech clusters have sprung up at a rapid clip."

Source: PitchBook's 2020 Israel Private Capital Breakdown