PitchBook News - Lucid valued at $24B in SPAC deal

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The Daily Pitch: VC

February 23, 2021

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Today's Top Stories

Lucid Motors to go public in SPAC deal

(Courtesy of Lucid Motors)

Electric-vehicle maker Lucid Motors has agreed to go public by merging with a blank-check company backed by former Citigroup executive Michael Klein.

The deal with Churchill Capital Corp. IV is worth $11.75 billion and comes after stock-market investors pushed up the SPAC's shares last month amid speculation Churchill was targeting Lucid for a merger.

Lucid will net some $4.4 billion in cash from the transaction; the deal includes $2.1 billion from the blank-check company and a $2.5 billion PIPE investment—the largest of its kind in a SPAC deal—the companies said.

The PIPE would give the combined company an implied value of $24 billion.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, BlackRock, Fidelity Management & Research, Franklin Templeton, Neuberger Berman, Wellington Management and Winslow Capital Management funded the PIPE.

The Saudi fund invested over $1 billion in Lucid in 2019. Before that, the EV maker received funding from investors including China's state-owned holding company BAIC Motor and Tsing Capital.

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A tale of two markets: Nordic VC dealmaking soars, PE deal value falls

(Johner Images/Getty Images)

In the past two years, with its global brand names and massive funding rounds, the Nordic venture scene has cemented itself as one of Europe's major VC ecosystems. Nordic PE activity, meanwhile, slowed in 2020, with deal value hitting a seven-year low.

Our inaugural Nordic Private Capital Breakdown analyzes the venture capital and private equity markets in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, forecasting major trends and exploring key sectors. Highlights include:

Nordic-based startups raised a record €5.1 billion in VC funding in 2020, up more than 20% year-over-year.

Standout sectors in Nordic VC included fintech, mobile gaming, music, and digital health, while the IT sector accounted for one third of all closed PE deals last year.

Sweden's share of PE deal volume hit a 10-year high in 2020, fueled in part by the country's unconventional approach to tackling the pandemic.

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From the outside, things seemed perfect for former world extreme-skiing champion Dean Cummings. But something dark lurked beneath the surface. [Outside Online]

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2013 Vintage Global Venture Funds with less than $250M
	VC Deals
	Highspot secures $200M at $2.3B valuation
	Aviatrix valuation doubles with new funding
	Earnix picks up $75M
	BlocPower lands $63M to make urban buildings greener
	Foxtrot Market grabs $42M for local goods
	GV leads $25M round in baby monitor maker
	Portfolio Companies
	SoftBank nears agreement with Adam Neumann
	Exits & IPOs
	Oscar sets IPO terms
	Toast lays groundwork for possible public listing
	EV maker Xos to merge with SPAC
	Lithium-ion battery maker merges with SPAC
	Investors
	Sequoia hit by third-party hack

The Daily Benchmark

2013 Vintage Global Venture Funds with less than $250M

Median IRR

20.48%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

29.97%

1.35x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Foresite Capital Fund I

Maven Ventures Growth Labs Fund I

Pear Ventures I

*IRR: net of fees

28 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

PitchBook Webinar: Top trends for emerging technologies in 2021

Join PitchBook analysts on Feb. 24 as they outline the primary trends they believe will shape the emerging technology VC ecosystem in 2021.

Leveraging market data and industry expertise, the webinar will cover investment trends in areas such as:

AI and machine learning

Mobility tech

Agtech

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VC Deals

Highspot secures $200M at $2.3B valuation

Highspot, a sales engagement platform provider, has raised $200 million in a round led by Tiger Global. New investor Bain Capital and existing backers Iconiq Growth, Madrona Venture Group and Salesforce Ventures were among the other participants in the round. The latest investment values Highspot at $2.3 billion. In 2019, the startup was worth $790 million, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

OpenView Venture Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Shasta Ventures

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Aviatrix valuation doubles with new funding

Aviatrix, a provider of cloud-management software, has been valued at about $700 million, roughly double what it commanded in a 2019 fundraising, The Information reported. The new valuation comes as part of a $75 million round led by new investor General Catalyst, with participation by firms including CRV, Formation 8 and Ignition Partners, the report said.

Additional Investors:

Liberty Global Ventures, Greenspring Associates, Meritech Capital, TrueBridge Capital Partners

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Earnix picks up $75M

Earnix has raised $75 million in a round led by Insight Partners at a pre-money valuation of $1 billion. The Israel-based company offers customer analytics software to help banking and insurance companies customize their products.

Additional Investors:

Israel Growth Partners, Jerusalem Venture Partners, Vintage Investment Partners

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BlocPower lands $63M to make urban buildings greener

BlocPower, a climate tech startup that retrofits older urban buildings with energy efficient heating and cooling systems, has raised a $63 million Series A. The funding round, which consists of $55 million in debt and $8 million in equity, was led by American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, AccelR8 and The Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group. BlocPower has retrofitted more than 1,000 buildings in New York City, with current projects in 24 cities.

Additional Investors:

Kapor Capital, Elemental Excelerator, CityRock Venture Partners, The Schmidt Family Foundation, Salesforce Ventures

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Foxtrot Market grabs $42M for local goods

Foxtrot Market has raised $42 million in a round co-led by Almanac Insights and Monogram Capital Partners. Founded in 2014, the Chicago-based company operates brick-and-mortar stores offering products from nearby retailers, as well with an app-based delivery platform.

Select Additional Investors:

Barshop Ventures, Bluestein Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Fifth Wall, Lerer Hippeau, M3 Ventures

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GV leads $25M round in baby monitor maker

GV has led a $25 million Series C in Nanit, the developer of a real-time smart baby monitor. Existing backers Jerusalem Venture Partners, Upfront Ventures, RRE Ventures and Rho Capital Partners also took part in the round, bringing the startup's total capital raised to $75 million. Nanit was valued at $61.3 million last May, according to PitchBook data.

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Portfolio Companies

SoftBank nears agreement with Adam Neumann

WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann and SoftBank are close to settling a legal dispute that arose from the co-working company's failed IPO in 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported. Under the terms of the proposed agreement, SoftBank would pay Neumann nearly $500 million for his shares in the company and an additional $1 billion to early investors and employees for their stakes, the report said. Both figures reportedly represent a nearly 50% reduction from the original agreement. WeWork is said to be in talks to go public through a SPAC merger.

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Exits & IPOs

Oscar sets IPO terms

Health insurance provider Oscar is seeking to raise around $1 billion by selling 31 million shares for between $32 and $34 apiece in its initial public offering. At a midpoint price, the IPO would value Oscar at more than $8 billion on a fully diluted basis. The New York-based company was co-founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, and has received backing from Tiger Global, Alphabet and Khosla Ventures. Oscar was valued at $3.2 billion in 2018, according to a PitchBook estimate.

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Toast lays groundwork for possible public listing

Toast, a provider of restaurant management software, has plans to file for a public debut that could value the company at about $20 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. Toast has reached out to banks to underwrite a potential listing for sometime in 2021, but it could also pursue a sale or a merger with a SPAC, the report said. The company was valued at $4.9 billion in February 2020 after it raised a $400 million Series F. Its investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Tiger Global and G Squared.

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EV maker Xos to merge with SPAC

Electric vehicle maker Xos plans to merge with a SPAC, NextGen Acquisition, in a deal that values the combined company at $2 billion. Xos expects to receive $575 million in cash from the deal, which includes a $200 million PIPE investment led by Janus Henderson, with participation from a group of truck dealers. The Los Angeles-based company is developing electric trucks for last-mile delivery; it has been backed by T-Bird Capital, Build Capital Partners and Proeza Ventures.

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Lithium-ion battery maker merges with SPAC

Enovix, a lithium-ion battery manufacturer, has merged with a blank-check company. The deal with the SPAC, Rodgers Silicon Valley Acquisition Corp., values the combined company at $1.13 billion. Enovix had previously raised capital from investors such as DCM Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and Intel Capital.

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Investors

Sequoia hit by third-party hack

Sequoia has told investors that it was possibly hacked after an employee's email was phished, Axios reported. The firm has reached out to cybersecurity experts and law enforcement to help with the issue, the report said. Sequoia also reportedly informed investors that it is monitoring the dark web and hasn't seen any indication that compromised information was being shared.

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View 900 investments »

Chart of the Day

"The global nature of private debt fundraising was also on full display in 2020. Funds based in North America actually raised 2.4% more capital YoY, a respectable feat given the year's tumultuous environment. European fundraising decreased by more than half (-52.7%), while all other regions declined by about three quarters (-74.8%) in aggregate."

Source: PitchBook's 2020 Annual Global Private Debt Report