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The Daily Pitch: VC

January 8, 2021

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Today's Top Stories

Former VC Gina Raimondo set to run Commerce Department

Gina Raimondo would be the fourth woman to serve as commerce secretary. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images)

A former venture capitalist is in line to lead the Biden administration's Commerce Department.

Multiple news outlets reported that President-elect Joe Biden has picked Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, who co-founded Point Judith Capital with David Martirano in 2001 in Providence, R.I. The early-stage VC firm later moved to Boston and is now known as PJC.

PJC, which invests mostly in East Coast-based companies across various industries, raised more than $80 million last year toward a target of $150 million for its fifth flagship fund, according to an April filing with the SEC.

Raimondo was elected state treasurer of Rhode Island in 2010 and led an overhaul of its pension system. She was elected governor in 2014, stepping aside from PJC that year, and was reelected in 2018.

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SoFi to go public in deal with Social Capital SPAC

SoFi CEO Anthony Noto (Brian Ach/Getty Images)

SoFi has agreed to merge with a blank-check company led by venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.

The combination with the SPAC, Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. V, will value SoFi at $8.65 billion and provide as much as $2.4 billion in cash proceeds. The merger also consists of a $1.2 billion PIPE investment led by Palihapitiya and Hedosophia, with commitments from BlackRock, Altimeter Capital, Baron Capital, Coatue and others. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.

SoFi, which offers a range of personal finance services—including loans and stock and cryptocurrency trading—to more than 1.8 million customers, has raised over $2.3 billion from investors including SoftBank, Silver Lake and IVP. The company was privately valued at over $5.7 billion last May, according to a PitchBook estimate.

SoFi's plans to go public dovetail with those of consumer fintech company Affirm, a provider of "buy now, pay later" services for online retailers that's expected to make its market debut next week. Last October, SoFi received approval for a national bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Palihapitiya, founder of Social Capital and a former Facebook executive, has taken several companies public through SPACs, including Virgin Galactic in 2019 and Opendoor in December.

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A message from Mercer

Share your insights on people risks in deals

Today, there is more of an emphasis than ever on capturing the full value of a deal, and while financials and legal documents are perused, workforce and people risks are where organizations stand to capture—or lose—a majority of deal value. Managing expectations, executing a successful integration and mitigating workforce risks are critical to deal success.

Mercer is conducting a global survey to assess how people risks impact the overall deal lifecycle and long-term value creation, from retention of key employees to how successful post-merger integration hinges on addressing workforce risks.

Your insights will be used as a basis for an in-depth white paper exploring the full findings of the survey. This white paper will be made available, free of charge, to anyone who completes the survey, which should not take more than 10 minutes of your time.

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Recommended Reads

With an IPO on the horizon, Robinhood is beginning to roll out new offerings in hopes of adding more women to its clientele. [The Wall Street Journal]

Part of transitioning from childhood to adulthood is leaving the world where everything you encounter is new and unexplored. But learning isn't only for the young. [The Guardian]

From a surge in capacity to Spain's emergence as a solar powerhouse, examining 10 key developments from a boom year for renewable energy. [Bloomberg]

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2007 Vintage Global Funds-of-Funds
	VC Deals
	Lacework locks in $525M
	Quantum Metric picks up $200M Series B
	Sapphire Ventures leads $135M Series D for Dremio
	Home products startup picks up $130M
	Glia lands $78M for digital customer service platform
	Hipcamp nabs $57M at $300M valuation
	Portfolio Companies
	Virtual events unicorn Hopin lines up acquisition
	Exits & IPOs
	Robinhood could sell IPO shares to customers
	F5 to buy Volterra for $500M
	Investors
	Fifth Wall aims for proptech-focused SPAC

The Daily Benchmark

2007 Vintage Global Funds-of-Funds

Median IRR

8.90%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

11.09%

1.54x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Valley Forge Fund VI

Horsley Bridge IX

Fairview Constitution III

*IRR: net of fees

72 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Lacework locks in $525M

Cybersecurity startup Lacework has raised $525 million at a $1 billion valuation, following a year in which the company's revenue grew by more than 300%. The round was led by Sutter Hill and Altimeter Capital, with D1 Capital Partners, Coatue, Snowflake Ventures and others also participating. San Jose-based Lacework provides security and compliance services for cloud-based businesses.

Additional Investors:

Dragoneer Investment Group, Liberty Global Ventures, Tiger Global

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Quantum Metric picks up $200M Series B

Insight Partners has led a $200 million round for Quantum Metric, the developer of a customer intelligence platform designed to help companies analyze data in real time. The funding values the Colorado-based company at more than $1 billion. Founded in 2015, Quantum Metric was valued at $125 million in 2018, according to PitchBook data.

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Sapphire Ventures leads $135M Series D for Dremio

Dremio, the provider of a cloud data lake storage and analysis platform, has raised $135 million at a $1 billion valuation. The round was led by Sapphire Ventures. Founded in 2015, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company was valued at $390 million after raising a $70 million funding last March, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

Cisco Investments, Insight Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Lightspeed

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Home products startup picks up $130M

Resident, a developer of direct-to-consumer home goods, has received a $130 million investment co-led by Ion Crossover Partners and Nexus Capital Management. Baron Capital also took part in the financing. Resident saw over 100% sales growth in 2020 compared to 2019, and has plans to scale its brick-and-mortar retail presence.

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Glia lands $78M for digital customer service platform

Glia, the provider of a digital customer service platform for insurance companies and financial institutions, has raised a $78 million Series C led by Insight Partners. The New York-based startup experienced 150% growth in 2020 due to a shift in how companies are connecting with consumers during the pandemic. Glia has now raised a total of $107 million from backers that also include Wildcat Capital Management, Grassy Creek and Tola Capital.

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Hipcamp nabs $57M at $300M valuation

Hipcamp, the operator of an Airbnb-like platform for booking campsites, RV sites and other outdoor accommodations, has raised a $57 million Series C, The Information reported. New backers Index Ventures and Bond Capital reportedly joined in the round, which values Hipcamp at more than $300 million. The startup reached a valuation of $127 million in 2019.

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Portfolio Companies

Virtual events unicorn Hopin lines up acquisition

Hopin, a virtual events startup that was valued at nearly $2.13 billion in November, has agreed to pay $250 million in cash and stock to acquire StreamYard, a video streaming specialist based near Portland, Ore. Hopin, which is based in London, raised more than $170 million across three separate rounds in 2020, according to PitchBook data.

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Exits & IPOs

Robinhood could sell IPO shares to customers

Robinhood may set aside a portion of the shares in its upcoming IPO to sell to its own customers, Bloomberg reported. The move is seen as a departure from traditional IPOs, since retail investors typically don't have access to a company's shares at the IPO price and have to wait until trading begins on the stock market, the report said. Robinhood's IPO could come as soon as this quarter.

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F5 to buy Volterra for $500M

F5 Networks has agreed to acquire cloud services startup Volterra for $500 million, which will consist of about $440 million in cash and around $60 million in deferred payments and incentives for founders and employees. Volterra emerged from stealth mode in 2019, when it was valued at $175 million, according to PitchBook data. Its backers include Khosla Ventures, Mayfield and M12.

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Investors

Fifth Wall aims for proptech-focused SPAC

Venture capital firm Fifth Wall has ambitions to raise funds through a special-purpose acquisition company, Bloomberg reported. The firm will reportedly seek to buy a company in the proptech sector. Fifth Wall closed a $100 million retail-focused vehicle last year, and is said to be targeting €100 million (around $123 million) for a European real estate fund. Investors in the firm include real estate companies such as CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and Toll Brothers, and Barry Sternlicht-led Starwood Capital.

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View 59 investments »