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The Daily Pitch: VC

March 16, 2021

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Today's Top Stories

Despite IPO stampede, Stripe sticks with mega-rounds in private market

Stripe co-founders Patrick Collison (left) and John Collison
(Courtesy of Stripe)

Though the public market has been bullish on new tech stocks, growth-stage private investors are also chock full of dry powder that they're ready to deploy in fast-growing private companies like payment processing specialist Stripe.

"Stripe has an unusual amount of control in the hands of their founders, who have shown no particular interest in being a public company," said Greg Martin, a partner with Liquid Stock, a secondaries firm that invests in pre-IPO companies.

The company's secondaries market valuation rose as high as $115 billion last month, but has since come down to $90 billion, a slight discount to its recently announced $95 billion valuation, according to Martin.

Roblox and Palantir are two major tech companies that raised a private round right before a direct listing, and Stripe's latest funding may mean the company is on track for a direct listing in the near future.

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The lenders leading the way in PE

(Getty Images)

Four different firms issued more than 100 loans to private equity-backed companies during 2020. But none was more active than Antares Capital. The middle-market specialist participated in 199 deals, 30% more than any of its rivals. And Antares was the most active lender in an array of different geographic regions, ranging from the West Coast to New England.

But that's just one firm. With our 2020 Annual PE Lending League Tables—which come in a new interactive format for the first time—you can easily see how dozens of different lenders stack up across various deal types, geographies and sectors, adding up to create a detailed picture of the PE industry's lending landscape.

read it now

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A message from Altvia

After just one year quarantined, all GPs have now met all LPs. Via Zoom.

Pre-COVID, many private equity or venture firms actually believed that their edge was access to lesser-known limited partners, or that the team behind the general partner was together for many years. Turns out, after spending one year on Zoom calls only, all GPs have now met all LPs, and without a single airplane ride.

LPs have discovered far more GPs have been together for that long, leaving LPs to ask the important question: What is it, truly, that differentiates GPs? GPs that are poised to respond with a differentiator other than access and time are looking toward data-driven storytelling through technology.

Listen to this podcast episode to find out more about how they do it.

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Cruise buys driverless car startup Voyage

Voyage partners with a pair of retirement communities in Florida and San Jose. (Courtesy of Voyage)

General Motors-owned Cruise is acquiring smaller rival Voyage in another sign that a handful of leading players are starting to dominate the autonomous vehicle race.

The deal follows similar M&A transactions in the past year, including Aurora's deal to buy Uber's self-driving division and Amazon's purchase of Zoox. SPACs have also been shaking up driverless cars: Light detection and ranging companies AEye, Luminar, Ouster and Innoviz all recently made deals to go public through blank-check mergers.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Voyage was valued at $155 million in 2019, according to PitchBook data, and has been backed by Khosla Ventures, Initialized Capital and Franklin Templeton. Voyage CEO Oliver Cameron is joining Cruise as vice president of product.

Palo Alto-based Voyage operates a low-speed taxi service at two large retirement communities in Florida and San Jose. Cruise began testing fully driverless vehicles, known as Level 4 autonomy, in San Francisco in December.

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Recommended Reads

Two dozen CEOs and other executives weigh in on when (and if) they think the world will return to the workplace. [The Wall Street Journal]

In China, science fiction is having a moment in the sun. For stars of the genre like Chen Qiufan, it can mean that life is beginning to imitate art. [Wired]

At Goldman Sachs, the firm's profits and stock price are booming. But beneath the bounty lies tensions about Gulfstreams, the Hamptons and an exacting CEO. [Bloomberg]

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2011 Vintage North American Venture Funds
	VC Deals
	ElevateBio collects $525M Series C
	Insitro picks up $400M for drug development
	Gene editing specialist raises $150M
	Trading specialist Gatsby picks up $10M
	Exits & IPOs
	Sprinklr confidentially files for IPO
	IronNet secures SPAC deal

The Daily Benchmark

2011 Vintage North American Venture Funds

Median IRR

14.65%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

21.41%

2.02x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Oregon Angel Fund 2011

Sante Health Ventures II

Ecosystem Integrity Fund I

*IRR: net of fees

34 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

ElevateBio collects $525M Series C

ElevateBio has raised $525 million in a round led by Matrix Capital Management, with participation from investors including SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 and Fidelity Management & Research. Based in Massachusetts, the company is a developer of cell, gene and regenerative therapies.

Select Additional Investors:

EcoR1 Capital, F2 Ventures, MPM Capital, Redmile Group, Samsara BioCapital, The Invus Group

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Insitro picks up $400M for drug development

Insitro has raised a $400 million Series C led by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, with participation from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Casdin Capital, HOF Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, Temasek and Arch Venture Partners. The South San Francisco-based company uses machine learning to create predictive disease models for drug development and delivery. Insitro raised a $143 million Series B in May.

Additional Investors:

Alexandria Venture Investments, BlackRock, Foresite Capital, GV, T. Rowe Price, Third Rock Ventures, SoftBank Investment Advisers

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Gene editing specialist raises $150M

Gene editing startup Graphite Bio has picked up $150 million in new capital. RA Capital Management and Rock Springs Capital led the company's oversubscribed Series B, with backing from a host of new investors including Fidelity Management & Research, Janus Henderson and OrbiMed. To date, Graphite Bio has raised a total of $195 million.

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Trading specialist Gatsby picks up $10M

Gatsby, the operator of an options trading platform, has secured $10 million in a Series A, TechCrunch reported. Investors in the round include Techstars and Beta Bridge Capital, the report said. Founded in 2018, Gatsby aims to make trading accessible to a younger demographic.

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Exits & IPOs

Sprinklr confidentially files for IPO

Marketing specialist Sprinklr has confidentially filed with the SEC for an IPO. The New York-based business sells software for companies to manage consumer experiences, perform market research and conduct advertising campaigns. The company was reportedly valued at $2.7 billion last year; it has been backed by investors including Temasek, Revolution and Iconiq Capital.

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IronNet secures SPAC deal

Cybersecurity startup IronNet plans to go public by merging with a blank-check company, LGL Systems Acquisition. The deal gives IronNet an enterprise value of $927 million and an expected $267 million in cash. The Virginia-based business was valued at $578 million in 2018, according to PitchBook data; it has been backed by ForgePoint Capital and Kleiner Perkins.

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