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UiPath valued at $38.7B after NYSE debut
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| Daniel Dines' UiPath soared in its public debut, raising almost $1.34 billion. (Courtesy of UiPath) |
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Shares of robotic process automation specialist UiPath jumped 23% in their first day trading on the NYSE to end at $69 per share, a sign of investor confidence after the company priced IPO shares below its last private valuation.
- At the closing price, New York-based UiPath was worth around $38.7 billion on a fully diluted basis. It was last valued at $35 billion in a February round co-led by Alkeon Capital and Coatue Management.
- The company raised nearly $1.34 billion after selling 23.89 million shares at $56 each. Of that, about $811 million was sold by existing shareholders.
- Accel owns the largest post-IPO stake of any private backer, worth nearly $7 billion at Wednesday's closing price, followed by Earlybird Management ($2.75 billion) and CapitalG ($2 billion).
- UiPath recorded $607.6 million in revenue to grow 81% year-over-year for the fiscal year ended Jan. 31. Its losses shrank 82% to $92.4 million during the period.
- RPA solutions have scaled quickly as a way to bridge the gaps between existing software solutions and to digitize paper-based processes, said Brendan Burke, an emerging tech analyst at PitchBook. But in the long-term, he added, they could face stiff competition from cloud-based AI applications.
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Peter Thiel's psychedelic drug startup Atai eyes $100M IPO
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| Peter Thiel (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images) |
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Investor interest in psychedelic-based medicine has increased over the last several years amid growing support from regulators, clinicians and patients. In the latest move in the space, Atai Life Sciences, a Peter Thiel-backed startup that is developing psychedelic drugs to treat mental health disorders, plans to raise $100 million in an IPO.
- The company has built a pipeline of 10 therapeutics and six enabling technologies. While none of the Atai-supported drugs has received regulatory approval, several of the startup's programs have begun or are about to begin Phase II clinical trials in the US.
- Founded in 2018 and based in Berlin, Atai has raised more than $362 million in private funding from a group of VCs and other investors. Besides Thiel and his firm, Thiel Capital, the company's other notable backers include Steve Jurvetson's Future Ventures.
- Compass Pathways, a biopharmaceutical company that patented the psychedelic compound psilocybin for use in treatment-resistant depression, went public on the Nasdaq last September and currently has a market capitalization of $1.2 billion. Thiel and Atai, through its founder Christian Angermayer, were major private investors in Compass Pathways before its IPO.
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A message from Woodruff Sawyer
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The biggest names in SPACs talk market changes, de-SPACs and SEC scrutiny
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Hear what's driving the serial SPACer phenomenon, the current state of the market, the new SEC scrutiny, changes in the litigation environment and cost of insurance, and advice for setting up a successful de-SPAC transaction.
Listen to SPAC experts, including the attorney with the undisputed record for longest tenure in the SPAC market, Doug Ellenoff, along with experts from JP Morgan Chase, Social Capital, PropTech, Skadden, Wachtell and Woodruff Sawyer about where the SPAC industry has been and where it's going.
Listen to the recorded virtual event for SPAC sponsors and operating companies—get it here. |
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Food industry orders up a sustainable supply chain
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| (Kotenko_A/Getty Images) |
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Modern food supply chains have become bloated and riddled with inefficiencies, driving excessive consumption of chemicals and energy, and creating significant levels of food waste, packaging waste and greenhouse gases.
In concert with Earth Day, PitchBook's latest analyst note explores how innovation in the food supply chain is being driven by the efforts of governments, corporations and consumers looking to achieve sustainability goals. Other key takeaways include:
- Food brands are experimenting with new packaging products—from terra cotta to mycelium—as the industry plots a future that doesn't rely on plastics and tree-derived paper.
- In agriculture, startups are finding a market for "ugly" produce that would normally be rejected by grocery stores. Robotic pickers, meanwhile, help prevent crops from wasting in fields amid labor shortages.
- A new generation of electric farm equipment, commercial trucks and delivery drones stands to curtail the sector's carbon emissions.
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Trans viewers are unable to easily connect with one another on one streaming platform. So they created their own streaming discovery tool. [The Verge]
Silicon Valley's e-scooters are rolling into New York. Do they represent a tech hustle or a transit revolution? [The New Yorker]
While office return dates are being set for this fall around the globe, the CEO of an Australian fintech company has implemented flexible work—and she might be onto something. [Time] |
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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:
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16
VC valuations
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1745
People
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458
Companies
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30
Funds
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A message from American Investment Council
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How PE is expanding our clean energy footprint
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PE investment in renewable energy hit $23.7 billion in 2020, a new record. With momentum swinging toward renewables, PE is putting its weight behind the effort.
In partnership with PitchBook, the American Investment Council highlights PE's growing contributions to the sector. KKR, Bain Capital and TPG have all raised funds around sustainability, while firms like Carlyle and Apollo have made big investments in recent years in wind farms and solar projects. Blackstone installed more than 9,000 solar panels across 56 apartment buildings it owns in New York.
Across the board, PE firms are taking risks on promising projects that could revolutionize the future of renewable energy and help reduce global carbon emissions.
To download the report, click here. |
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ActiveCampaign picks up $240M
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| ActiveCampaign, the creator of an email marketing, customer relationship management and marketing automation platform, has raised a $240 million Series C led by Tiger Global. The funding values the Chicago-based company at more than $3 billion and brings its total private backing to $360 million. ActiveCampaign works with more than 145,000 companies in 170 countries. |
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Misfits Market raises $200M unicorn round
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| Misfits Market, an online discount retailer known for selling "ugly" produce that's been rejected by grocery stores, has secured a $200 million Series C co-led by Accel and D1 Capital, with participation from returning backers including Valor Equity Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Sound Ventures and Third Kind. The round brings the startup's total funding to $301.5 million and propels its valuation to at least $1 billion. The new funding will be used to expand into new grocery categories and geographies. |
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Deel grabs $156M at $1.25B valuation
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| Deel, the provider of a platform that helps companies manage payments and onboarding remotely, has raised a $156 million Series C led by the YC Continuity Fund and co-led by existing investors Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital. The round, which also saw participation from backers like Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, values the company at $1.25 billion. Based in San Francisco, Deel has raised a total of $206 million in less than a year. |
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| RapidAPI has raised a $60 million Series C led by Green Bay Ventures, with participation from Stripes and Andreessen Horowitz. Founded in 2014, the company offers a platform to connect software developers with public APIs. RapidAPI raised $50 million at a $97 million valuation in May, according to PitchBook data. |
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| Hive has raised a $50 million Series D led by Glynn Capital. The funding brings the San Francisco-based company's valuation to $2 billion. Hive offers an AI-based platform to automate business processes. |
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Microbial sciences startup lands $40M Series A
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| Microbial sciences startup Seed Health has raised $40 million in a round led by The Craftory, with participation from Artis Ventures and Gisev. The Los Angeles-based company is a developer of probiotics and live biotherapeutics designed for life sciences and environmental applications. |
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PitchBook Webinar: Exploring the opportunities and challenges in autonomous finance
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Autonomous finance makes financial decisions on behalf of humans—and it's become more relevant over the course of the pandemic. Advancements in processing power and AI/ML have made the technology a promising opportunity for consumers who want to better earn, spend and invest their money.
Don't miss our autonomous finance webinar on April 28. Topics include:
- How autonomous finance helps consumers better manage their financial health and performance.
- The two pathways to achieving full autonomous finance: centralized and decentralized.
- Challenges for the technology include computing costs, consumer trust, regulations and transaction categorization.
Register here to secure your spot |
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"The first quarter of the year saw blistering activity in European PE-backed IPOs. In Q1 2021, 31 IPOs worth €30.1 billion occurred—YoY increases of over 7.5x and 20.0x, respectively. Not only will this mark the continent's highest quarterly IPO exit value since Q2 2011, but it is comfortably pacing to hit a new annual IPO exit value peak by some distance."
Source: PitchBook's Q1 2021 European PE Breakdown |
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