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The Daily Pitch: VC

December 23, 2020

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Today's Top Stories

Ripple braces for legal fight with SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against cryptocurrency company Ripple, alleging that it violated investor protection laws by raising $1.3 billion through sales of XRP, a blockchain-based digital token similar to bitcoin.

The SEC argued that Ripple, co-founder Christian Larsen and CEO Bradley Garlinghouse used XRP to raise money in an unregistered and ongoing securities offering. Ripple maintains that XRP is a currency and not a security, which would have to be registered with the SEC.

The value of XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency in the world, fell following the news. Ripple plans to fight the claims in the suit, which was filed in federal district court in Manhattan.

Garlinghouse blasted the lawsuit as an "attack on the entire crypto industry and American innovation." The company has previously considered relocating outside the US due to the country's cryptocurrency regulations, according to reports.

San Francisco-based Ripple was valued at $10 billion following a funding round in late 2019, according to PitchBook data, and has received backing from Tetragon, SoftBank and Accenture. The company was previously the subject of a class action lawsuit that claimed Ripple misled investors and should have registered XRP as a security. Ripple partially won a motion to dismiss that lawsuit in October.

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The rise of tech, the decline of oil and more private equity charts from 2020

(Sergii Iaremenko//Getty Images)

Private equity investments in the tech sector continued to grow more common than ever. The reverse was true in the oil and gas sector, where deal activity plunged to a decade low. And for one quarter, the IRR for US PE funds dipped into negative territory for just the third time in the past decade.

On many different fronts, 2020 was a hectic year for private equity investors in the US. Here are five charts that help tell the story.

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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

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VC valuations

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People

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Funds

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2013 Vintage Global PE Funds with $250M-$500M
	VC Deals
	Chinese edtech startup books $265M round
	Horizon Robotics picks up $150M
	Glance secures $145M
	Fintech startup Liberis pulls in new funding
	ReturnSafe collects $3.2M+ to manage infectious diseases in the workplace
	Exits & IPOs
	NYSE gets approval for direct listing with cash raise
	Ouster to go public in $1.9B SPAC deal
	Blackstone fuels Liftoff with $400M investment

The Daily Benchmark

2013 Vintage Global PE Funds with $250M-$500M

Median IRR

11.30%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

15.80%

1.46x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Novacap TMT IV

Thoma Bravo Special Opportunities Fund I

Clearview Capital Fund III

*IRR: net of fees

26 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Chinese edtech startup books $265M round

ClassIn, the Chinese developer of an interactive online classroom, has raised $265 million in a Series C led by Hillhouse. Tencent, SIG, Ince Capital and Gaocheng Capital also participated in the round, which follows a Series B of more than $50 million that the company raised from Ince Capital in July. ClassIn's platform is used by 20 million teachers and students in 150 countries.

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Horizon Robotics picks up $150M

Horizon Robotics has raised $150 million in a round co-led by 5Y Capital, Hillhouse Capital and Capital Today, TechCrunch reported. The Beijing-based company is a developer of AI chip processors for robots and autonomous vehicles.

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Glance secures $145M

InMobi Group subsidiary Glance has raised $145 million from Google and Mithril Capital. The Bengaluru-based company is the developer of an AI-based platform that lets Android users see personalized content on the lock-screen display of their phones. Glance raised a $45 million round in September 2019.

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Fintech startup Liberis pulls in new funding

Liberis, a London-based startup that provides financing to small and medium-sized businesses, has raised £70 million (around $93.4 million) in equity and debt from British Business Investments, Paragon Bank, BCI Europe and Silicon Valley Bank. Founded in 2007, Liberis has worked with some 16,000 clients across Europe and the US.

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ReturnSafe collects $3.2M+ to manage infectious diseases in the workplace

ReturnSafe has raised $3.25 million in a round co-led by Fifty Years and Active Capital. Based in Austin, ReturnSafe is developing a disease management platform to help slow the spread of infectious diseases in the workplace. The startup offers an app to screen for symptoms, a testing dashboard, vaccine management and other services.

Additional Investor:

Necessary Ventures

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Exits & IPOs

NYSE gets approval for direct listing with cash raise

Companies pursuing a direct listing on the NYSE will now be able to raise money in the process. The Securities and Exchange Commission gave the exchange the green light to host a modified process that allows companies to sell shares directly to public investors rather than relying on banks and their institutional investor connections. Palantir and Asana, which went public through direct listings earlier this year, were not able to raise cash by issuing new shares.

Ouster to go public in $1.9B SPAC deal

Ouster, a developer of light detection and ranging sensors for autonomous cars and drones, has agreed to merge with a SPAC, Colonnade Acquisition. The deal values the San Francisco-based business at $1.9 billion and includes a $100 million stock PIPE investment from existing Ouster investors Cox Enterprises, Fontinalis Partners and WWJr Enterprises. The company's other backers include Carthona Capital and Tao Capital Partners.

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Blackstone fuels Liftoff with $400M investment

Blackstone has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Liftoff, the provider of a software platform for mobile app marketers, for a reported $400 million. Based in Redwood City, Calif., Liftoff has previously raised more than $10 million from venture backers including Core Ventures Group and Top Tier Capital Partners, reaching a $40 million valuation in 2015, according to PitchBook data.

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View 134 competitors »

Chart of the Day

"The high levels of dry powder, coupled with strong participation by nontraditional investors at the late stage in 2020, are responsible for the high activity levels of this year. While the median late-stage deal size has remained at $10 million, the top quartile size has surged to $31 million and the average to over $37 million."

Source: PitchBook's Q3 2020 US VC Valuations Report