PitchBook News - The Vision Fund's IPO window is open

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The Daily Pitch: VC

March 8, 2021

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Today's Top Stories

SoftBank's Vision Fund squeezes through the IPO window

SoftBank-backed Coupang's IPO could be the most valuable US offering of a foreign company since Alibaba. (Courtesy of Coupang)

SoftBank's tech bets have been paying off in spectacular fashion in recent months, and a lineup of mega-IPOs are fast approaching.

If Coupang's upcoming public listing delivers on expectations, the South Korean ecommerce leader could become the Vision Fund's largest public holding, surpassing Uber.

Real estate tech company Compass and Full Truck Alliance, a Chinese shipping technology business, have also filed for IPOs. Private investors have valued both at several billion dollars apiece.

It's all part of CEO Masayoshi Son's plan: SoftBank is accelerating efforts to take portfolio companies public at a time when investors are paying sky-high premiums for tech IPOs.

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In the winter of COVID-19, running fanatics have been resorting to some unusual (and sometimes subterranean) ways to get in their miles. [The Wall Street Journal]

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2018 Vintage Global Venture Funds
	People
	Reddit taps former Snap exec as first CFO
	VC Deals
	Infarm lands $100M
	Eco secures $26M+
	Whatnot banks $20M in a16z-led round
	Exits & IPOs
	Instacart considers direct listing
	Coursera files to go public
	Shutterfly in talks to merge with SPAC
	Bitfury to take crypto-mining subsidiary public via SPAC
	Fundraising
	Ascension Ventures closes $285M fund

The Daily Benchmark

2018 Vintage Global Venture Funds

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Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

25.63%

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Forbion Capital Fund IV

CP Ventures Fund 1

OrbiMed Private Investments VII

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People

Reddit taps former Snap exec as first CFO

Reddit has named Andrew Vollero as its first chief financial officer. Vollero joins the company from private security company Allied Universal. Before that, he was a Tailored Brands board member and served as Snap's first CFO, leading the company through its IPO.

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VC Deals

Infarm lands $100M

Indoor farming startup Infarm has raised $100 million in debt and equity financing as it looks to expand its offerings beyond herbs and greens to include crops like mushrooms and tomatoes, Bloomberg reported. Existing investors including Hanaco Ventures and Atomico reportedly participated in the fresh financing, which follows a $170 million round in September that valued the Berlin-based startup at $884 million, according to a PitchBook estimate.

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Eco secures $26M+

Eco has raised over $26 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from investors including Founders Fund, Activant Capital, Slow Ventures and Coinbase Ventures. The San Francisco-based company is the developer of a cryptocurrency payments platform.

Additional Investors:

Tribe Capital, Valor Capital Group

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Whatnot banks $20M in a16z-led round

Whatnot, the developer of an online marketplace designed for trading limited-edition toys and collectibles, has raised a $20 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz. Backers such as Y Combinator, Wonder Ventures, Scribble Ventures and Operator Partners also supported the funding.

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Exits & IPOs

Instacart considers direct listing

Instacart is mulling going public via a direct listing rather than a traditional IPO, Reuters reported. The grocery delivery giant is reportedly concerned that it could leave money on the table if it opts to sell shares in an IPO. Bankers preparing Instacart's listing have estimated that the stock market could value the company at over $50 billion, the report said. Last week, Instacart's latest fundraising round valued it at $39 billion.

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Coursera files to go public

Online learning and education company Coursera has filed for an IPO on the NYSE. Coursera has raised over $463 million in funding to date and was valued at $2.57 billion in July, according to PitchBook data. Its biggest shareholders include NEA (18.3% pre-IPO stake), G Squared (15.9%) and Kleiner Perkins (9.2%).

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Shutterfly in talks to merge with SPAC

Shutterfly, an online photo-printing company, is in talks to go public via a SPAC called Altimar Acquisition Corp. II at a valuation of between $4 billion and $5 billion, including debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company first went public in 2006 but was taken private by Apollo Global Management less than two years ago in a $2.7 billion transaction. Shutterfly's revenue growth is now in the double digits, up from being flat when Apollo purchased the company, the report said.

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Bitfury to take crypto-mining subsidiary public via SPAC

Bitcoin-mining company Cipher Mining has agreed to combine with Good Works Acquisition, a blank-check company. The deal is expected to provide Cipher, a subsidiary of Bitfury, with $595 million in cash and value the combined company at $2 billion. Bitfury has been backed by Korelya Capital, Binary Financial and Cherry Tree Investments, among others.

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Fundraising

Ascension Ventures closes $285M fund

Ascension Ventures, an investment firm backed by 13 hospital systems, has closed its fifth fund with $285 million in committed capital, bringing the firm's assets under management to over $1 billion. The stage-agnostic firm invests in healthcare-related companies.

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