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PitchBook News - Clubhouse valued at $1B by a16z

SPAC craze continues with deal flurry; 2020 was European VC's biggest year yet; Finnish delivery startup banks $530M; Thrive Capital aims to raise $2B
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The Daily Pitch: VC
January 26, 2021
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Today's Top Stories
SPAC glut powers exit spree for PE- and VC-backed companies
(Busà Photography/Getty Images)
With mounting competition from rivals, blank-check entities appear eager to strike while the iron is hot, adding fuel to an already strong exit market for privately held companies.

On Monday, five companies announced plans to go public through SPAC mergers at valuations north of $1 billion apiece. All but one of those deals involve a SPAC that went public in the past four months.
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European VC begins a new decade by smashing records
The 2010s were a decade marked by nearly non-stop growth for Europe's venture capital scene. And if last year is any indication, that stunning ascent could continue in the 2020s.

Venture deal value in the region climbed to €42.8 billion last year, a new annual record. Firms raised €19.6 billion for new venture funds in 2020, another new all-time high. How did the market thrive despite the presence of a pandemic? PitchBook's 2020 Annual European Venture Report tells the full story of VC in Europe over the past 12 months, with other key takeaways including:
  • Corporate investors and US-based investors continued to flock to European VC

  • Despite public market volatility, exit value rose 13.9% year-over-year, reaching €18.6 billion

  • Deals worth more than €25 million represented a record 61.8% of 2020's VC deal value
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A message from Akin Gump
A new report sees resurgent global private equity and M&A markets
Amid a rebound in private equity and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the second half of last year and a number of factors pointing toward an increasingly active M&A market, a new report from Akin Gump states that investors are looking forward to 2021 with renewed optimism.

Those are among the findings of Akin Gump's "Global Private Equity/M&A Survey 2021: Opportunities Ahead," a report based on a fourth quarter 2020 survey of more than 120 senior private equity and corporate dealmakers who shared their views on the year ahead.

Read the report in its entirety by clicking here.
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Leon Black to step down after Epstein probe; Apollo embraces strategic shift
Apollo Global Management co-founder Leon Black (left) has drawn heat for using disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to help with his finances. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images) 
Leon Black will step down as CEO of Apollo Global Management by the end of July after an independent investigation found he had paid nearly $150 million to Jeffrey Epstein for various consulting fees, a far greater sum than previously known.

Black's departure is the end of one era for Apollo and the beginning of another, with Marc Rowan—the architect of the firm's highly lucrative insurance strategy—taking over as CEO. The move could hasten Apollo's ongoing shift away from traditional buyouts and credit deals and toward the alternative investing strategy it has embraced in recent years.
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Clubhouse picks up new funding at $1B valuation
Social media startup Clubhouse has raised new funding led by existing investor Andreessen Horowitz. The $100 million round values the company at $1 billion, Axios reported. Andreessen Horowitz also led Clubhouse's $10 million Series A last May.

Clubhouse is a provider of invitation-only audio chat rooms that center on a variety of topics. The company was launched last March by founders Paul Davison and former Google engineer Rohan Seth. Since then, it has exploded in popularity among venture capitalists and celebrities alike.

Clubhouse, which boasts more than 180 investors to date, plans to use the funding in part to improve accessibility and "support emerging Clubhouse creators" by paying conversation hosts via subscriptions, tickets and tips. The startup said more than 2 million people around the world used its app to connect last week.
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On the podcast: Cities as stakeholders in mobility
This week on "In Visible Capital," we talk with Peter Barrett, founder and CTO of Playground Global, and Generation Investment Management partner Joy Tuffield about the changing role of cities and the future of mobility. Joined by PitchBook's lead mobility tech analyst Asad Hussain and host Lee Gibbs, they cover topics including:
  • How COVID-19 has shifted the way people move through urban areas

  • The new partnership opportunities between micromobility startups and cities

  • What types of mobility innovations are most likely to get investors' attention
Subscribe to "In Visible Capital" wherever you get your podcasts, and look for new episodes every Tuesday.
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Recommended Reads
The more he learns, the more difficult a climate scientist named Peter Kalmus finds it to stop thinking and talking about the disaster ahead. His family wishes he could. [ProPublica]

One surprising takeaway from the pandemic times: Americans really enjoy gambling on semiprofessional Russian table tennis. [The New York Times]

For office architects and companies, the future of the post-pandemic workplace will be a balancing act—between physical and virtual, and also between employee privacy and the lack thereof. [The New Yorker]
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See what our data software can do
 
Quick Takes
  The Daily Benchmark  
  2010 Vintage Global Venture Funds  
  VC Deals  
  Finnish food delivery startup raises $530M  
  Kardium collects $115M  
  Payments startup Melio hits $1.3B valuation  
  TScan Therapeutics takes in $100M  
  Darwin Homes locks in $15M  
  Exits & IPOs  
  Ridehailing giant Grab could go public in US  
  Shell to pick up EV charging startup  
  Fundraising  
  Thrive Capital aims to raise $2B across two new funds  
 
 
The Daily Benchmark
2010 Vintage Global Venture Funds
Median IRR
10.96%
Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate
22.67%
1.79x
Median TVPI
Select top performers
Union Square Ventures Opportunity Fund
IA Ventures Fund I
Third Rock Ventures II
*IRR: net of fees
30 Funds in Benchmark »
Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks
PitchBook Webinar: 2021 Private Equity Outlook
Join us on Jan. 28 for a webinar covering analyst predictions of what's in store for private equity in 2021 and beyond.

Key takeaways:
  • PE fundraising will surpass $330 billion, setting an all-time high

  • Some 20% of buyouts will be priced above 20 times EBITDA

  • Carveout deal value will hit the highest level on record

  • First-time fundraising in the US will be the strongest since the global financial crisis

Register today
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VC Deals
Finnish food delivery startup raises $530M
Finnish food delivery startup Wolt has raised $530 million in a round led by Iconiq Capital. New investors Tiger Global, DST, KKR, Prosus, EQT Growth and Coatue also took part in the financing. Wolt launched in 2015 and now operates in 129 cities across 23 countries. Over the last year, the company has expanded its service beyond restaurants to include grocery and retail goods delivery. Wolt raised a €100 million (about $121 million) round last May.
Additional Investors:
83North, EQT Ventures, Goldman Sachs Growth Equity, Highland Europe, Vintage Investment Partners
View round
 
View 42 competitors »
 
Kardium collects $115M
Kardium has raised $115 million in a round led by Fidelity Management & Research, with participation from T. Rowe Price. Founded in 2007, the Vancouver, Canada-based company is the developer of a medical system that's designed to treat atrial fibrillation. Kardium will use the funds in part to support its commercial growth in Europe.
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View 12 competitors »
 
Payments startup Melio hits $1.3B valuation
Melio, which offers a platform to help small companies manage their payments to suppliers, has raised $110 million. The round, led by Coatue, values the startup at $1.3 billion. Melio, which has offices in New York and Tel Aviv, will use the funds to expand in the US.
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View similar company »
 
TScan Therapeutics takes in $100M
TScan Therapeutics has raised a $100 million Series C from investors including BlackRock, Bessemer Venture Partners, GV and Novartis Venture Fund. Based in the Boston area, the company is developing T cell-based treatments for solid and liquid tumors and autoimmune and infectious diseases. In January 2020, TScan was valued at $82 million, according to PitchBook data.
Additional Investors:
6 Dimensions Capital, Longwood Fund, Pitango HealthTech, RA Capital Management
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View similar company »
 
Darwin Homes locks in $15M
Darwin Homes has raised a $15 million Series A from investors including Canvas Ventures and Camber Creek. Founded in 2018 and based in Austin, the company offers property management software for real estate owners and managers; it was valued at $22 million in 2019, according to PitchBook data.
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View similar company »
 
Exits & IPOs
Ridehailing giant Grab could go public in US
Ridehailing company Grab has picked banks for a possible US IPO that could raise at least $2 billion, Bloomberg reported. Singapore-based Grab has reportedly turned its attention to an IPO after talks to merge with Indonesian rival Gojek were held up. Gojek is now said to be discussing a merger with Indonesian ecommerce company Tokopedia. Grab has raised funding from investors including SoftBank, Alibaba and Tiger Global.
View details
 
View 37 competitors »
 
Shell to pick up EV charging startup
Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to buy electric vehicle charging startup Ubitricity. Based in Berlin, the startup works with local authorities throughout Europe to integrate EV charging technology into existing infrastructure like lamp posts and bollards. Ubitricity has received prior funding from backers including Honda, Siemens and Earlybird Venture Capital. The startup landed a €20 million (about $24 million) Series C in 2019.
View details
 
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Fundraising
Thrive Capital aims to raise $2B across two new funds
Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital has plans to raise around $2 billion for a new early-stage fund and a growth vehicle, The Wall Street Journal reported. Thrive, which targets investments in the internet and software sectors, raised $1 billion in 2018 for its sixth namesake fund.
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View 139 investments »
 
Chart of the Day
"The median early-stage VC pre-money valuation in 2020 continues to sit at a record-high $30 million. While the bottom quartile has also increased over 2019's value, the average valuation has dropped from $72.6 million in 2019 to $63.2 million in 2020. Yet, as the pandemic lingers and continues to apply pressure on companies coming to the end of their cash runways, many could be forced to return to their private backers from a less advantageous position."

Source: PitchBook's Q3 2020 US VC Valuations Report
Who's in the newsletter today?
People
Paul Davison
Rohan Seth
Investors
6 Dimensions Capital
83North
Alibaba
Andreessen Horowitz
Bessemer Venture Partners
BlackRock
Camber Creek
Canvas Ventures
Coatue
DST
EQT Growth
EQT Ventures
Earlybird Venture Capital
Fidelity Management & Research
GV
Goldman Sachs Growth Equity
Highland Europe
Honda
Iconiq Capital
Joshua Kushner
KKR
Longwood Fund
Novartis Venture Fund
Pitango HealthTech
Prosus
RA Capital Management
Siemens
T. Rowe Price
Thrive Capital
Tiger Global
Vintage Investment Partners
Companies
Clubhouse
Darwin Homes
Gojek
Google
Grab
Kardium
Melio
Royal Dutch Shell
SoftBank
TScan Therapeutics
Tokopedia
Ubitricity
Wolt
 
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