PitchBook News - Wine startup raises VC mega-round

Read online | Don't want to receive these emails? Manage your subscription.

PitchBook

Log in

The Daily Pitch: VC

February 4, 2021

Like our newsletter? The data comes from the PitchBook Platform — our data software for VC, PE and M&A

Today's Top Stories

Strong close to 2020 sets the stage for a banner year in European M&A

Thanks to a surge in the last six months of the year, investors put more than €1 trillion to work in Europe's M&A market during 2020 for the fifth year running. As the pandemic roiled capital markets the world over, deal flow dipped during H1. But before long, significant appetite for deals in the IT and healthcare sectors spurred a rebound.

PitchBook's 2020 Annual European M&A Report, sponsored by Liberty GTS, explores the trends and forces that shaped that recovery—and also lays out the reasons why dealmaking could soar to new heights in 2021. Other key takeaways include:

Take-private activity is poised for a big year in 2021 after deal counts declined in 2018, 2019 and 2020

The SPAC craze could jump the Atlantic Ocean this year to meet new demand from European stock exchanges

Mass vaccine campaigns are contributing to a bullish outlook for European private equity in 2021

read it now

Share:

Apollo set to shake up board in wake of Leon Black investigation

Leon Black will step down from his role as CEO of Apollo Global Management later this year. (Andrew Toth/Getty Images)

Co-founder and CEO-in-waiting Marc Rowan revealed a series of new governance guidelines during Apollo Global Management's fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, moves that will bring a more democratic approach to the publicly traded private equity firm.

It was Apollo's first earnings report since CEO Leon Black announced plans to step down later this year in the wake of an internal investigation into his ties to convicted sex offender and late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Recommended Reads

A fascinating look behind the curtain at how Vista Equity Partners founder Robert Smith resolved a yearslong IRS investigation into more than $200 million in hidden income. [Bloomberg]

When reports surfaced that a SPAC was in talks to merge with Lucid Motors, its shares surged more than 220%. That's one example of Wall Street's seemingly insatiable appetite for electric vehicles. [The Wall Street Journal]

The price of bitcoin continues to soar. But actually buying things with the world's most popular cryptocurrency can still be an adventure. [The New York Times]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

17

VC valuations

1681

People

591

Companies

22

Funds

See what our data software can do

Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2012 Vintage Global Secondaries Funds
	VC Deals
	Wine app maker Vivino pours up $155M
	Zetwerk collects $120M Series D
	Good Eggs brings home $100M
	Pairwise picks up $90M to create produce with longer shelf life
	Touchcast banks $55M to organize virtual events
	LeaseLock closes $52M Series B
	Rightfoot gets $5M seed funding
	Exits & IPOs
	Payoneer reaches $3.3B SPAC deal
	REE Automotive agrees to $3.1B SPAC merger
	ON24 goes public
	Fundraising
	Halogen Ventures lands $21M to back female founders

The Daily Benchmark

2012 Vintage Global Secondaries Funds

Median IRR

14.67%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

18.71%

1.44x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Dover Street VIII

Pomona Capital VIII

Keyhaven Secondaries Fund I

*IRR: net of fees

12 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Wine app maker Vivino pours up $155M

Vivino, a startup that operates a wine discovery app and online marketplace, has raised $155 million in a Series D led by Sweden's Kinnevik. Founded in Denmark in 2010, Vivino has around 50 million users on its app, which allows people to seek out and submit wine recommendations and access Vivino's network of marketplace partners. This latest round brings Vivino's total funds raised to $221 million.

Additional Investors:

Creandum, GP Bullhound, Sprints Capital

View round

View 4 competitors »

Zetwerk collects $120M Series D

Indian startup Zetwerk has raised a $120 million round co-led by Greenoaks Capital and Lightspeed, with participation from Sequoia India and Kae Capital. The company operates a platform for manufacturing services and was valued at around $600 million in the Series D, according to reports.

View round

View similar company »

Good Eggs brings home $100M

Grocery delivery company Good Eggs has raised $100 million in a round led by Glade Brook Capital, with participation from GV, Tao Capital Partners and Finistere Ventures. The San Francisco-based business plans to expand in Southern California. The company also appointed former Walgreens executive Vineet Mehra as head of growth and customer experience.

Additional Investors:

Rich's Corporate Venture Group, Benchmark, Index Ventures, S2G Ventures, DNS Capital, Obvious Ventures

View round

View 17 competitors »

Pairwise picks up $90M to create produce with longer shelf life

Pairwise has raised a $90 million Series B co-led by Pontifax and Deerfield Management. Based in North Carolina, the company uses gene editing to develop new varieties of fruits and vegetables with traits such as improved taste, better crop yields, increased shelf life and lengthened season availability. Pairwise raised a $25 million Series A in 2018.

Additional Investors:

Leaps by Bayer, Temasek

View round

View similar company »

Touchcast banks $55M to organize virtual events

Touchcast has raised a $55 million Series A from investors including Accenture Ventures, Alexander Capital Ventures and Saatchi Invest. Based in New York, Touchcast uses AI and mixed reality to help companies communicate, collaborate and organize virtual events; its customers include Pfizer, TD Bank and Unilever.

View round

View similar company »

LeaseLock closes $52M Series B

LeaseLock, the developer of an insurtech platform for the real estate industry, has raised $52 million in a round co-led by Westerly Winds and Wildcat Venture Partners. Investors including Mucker Capital and Veteran Ventures Capital also participated. Founded in 2016, the California-based company was valued at $30 million in 2018, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

American Family Ventures, Moderne Ventures, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Strata Equity Group, Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures, Vertex Ventures

View round

View 3 competitors »

Rightfoot gets $5M seed funding

Rightfoot, a developer of debt-repayment software plug-ins, has raised a $5 million seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from BoxGroup and SemperVirens.

View round

View similar company »

Share:

Exits & IPOs

Payoneer reaches $3.3B SPAC deal

Payments platform provider Payoneer has agreed to merge with FTAC Olympus Acquisition, a SPAC led by Betsy Cohen, the founder and CEO of The Bancorp. The deal values Payoneer at $3.3 billion and includes a $300 million PIPE investment. The company has received capital from TCV, Susquehanna Growth Equity and Wellington Management, and was privately valued at over $900 million in 2016, according to PitchBook data.

View details

View 57 competitors »

REE Automotive agrees to $3.1B SPAC merger

REE Automotive, an electric vehicle technology provider, has reached a deal to merge with blank-check company 10X Venture Capital Acquisition. The agreement gives REE an enterprise value of $3.1 billion and includes a $300 million PIPE investment. The company makes technology that allows vehicle drive components to be packed into the wheel arch to create a flat chassis. It has raised capital from Mitsubishi, Varana Capital and Tenneco.

View details

View 3 competitors »

ON24 goes public

ON24, which makes software for webinars and virtual events, has raised $428 million in its IPO after the company and investors sold 8.56 million shares at $50 apiece. The San Francisco-based company's stock closed up 40.9% at $70.45 per share following its NYSE debut on Wednesday. ON24 has received prior backing from investors including Goldman Sachs, US Venture Partners and Canaan Partners.

View details

View 56 competitors »

Fundraising

Halogen Ventures lands $21M to back female founders

Los Angeles-based Halogen Ventures has closed its second fund on $21 million. The firm, which has backed companies including HopSkipDrive and TheSkimm, focuses on early-stage consumer tech startups with at least one female founder. Halogen raised a reported $10.4 million in 2017 for its debut vehicle.

View fund

View 58 investments »

Chart of the Day

"Add-ons also propelled deal activity in 2020. The strategy of augmenting a larger platform company by tacking on similar, smaller companies has been gaining in popularity in recent years, and the pandemic has accelerated the trend. In 2020, add-ons accounted for 72.5% of all buyouts, an all-time high. This easily outpaces the 68.5% achieved in 2019, the previous record."

Source: PitchBook's 2020 Annual US PE Breakdown