PitchBook News - Puppy boom fetches Silicon Valley deals

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The Daily Pitch: VC

August 16, 2021

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

In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find:

An analysis of where the top VCs focused their technology investments in the second quarter of 2021.

Why pet-related startups are fetching a record amount of VC backing in Silicon Valley.

How seed and anchor commitments can help accelerate fundraising for first-time managers.

Today's Top Stories

Fintech garners the most attention from top VCs in Q2

Our Emerging Tech Indicator report provides a quarterly overview of startups receiving seed and early-stage investments from a select group of top-performing VC firms, and is meant to offer perspective on the products and technologies driving growth opportunities.

In the second quarter of 2021, our analysts tracked 211 such deals involving the top 15 VC firms. Key takeaways from the report include:

The top five areas of technology investment in Q2 included fintech at $920 million, followed by enterprise SaaS, health and wellness tech, decentralized finance, and ecommerce.

ETI deal activity reached $5 billion across the 211 deals, compared with the $6 billion raised across 197 deals in Q1.

Our analysts recorded eight ETI deals of over $100 million in Q2, compared with 12 in the previous quarter. The largest deal in Q2 was a $185 million Series A for Forte, the developer of a blockchain-based economic platform.

read the report

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Pandemic puppy boom fetches deals in Silicon Valley

(Julia Midkiff/PitchBook News)

Pet startups have snatched up more than $1.1 billion of venture capital investment so far this year, easily surpassing a high-water mark set in 2019.

The pandemic added to a banner year for new pets: About one in five US households took in a dog or cat between March 2020 and May 2021. Pet-crazy millennials are also driving a long-running trend of more—and more expensive—pet ownership.

Pet insurance is a particularly hot category. London-based Bought By Many raised $350 million in the largest pet-related VC deal of 2021.

Don't call it a blip: Investors believe that demographic forces and shifting consumer preferences spell robust growth for pet startups.

Recommended Reads

Upwork CEO Hayden Brown shares her thoughts on how freelancing is changing the world of work. [The New York Times]

How can we protect outdoor workers facing heat, smoke and humidity? Technology might have the answer. [BBC News]

How following the venture capital dollars provides insight on the next big real estate booms. [Forbes]

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2015 Vintage North American Real Estate Funds
	Partner Perspectives
	2021 sees record pace for digital health investment
	VC Deals
	Carta valued at $7B+ in Silver Lake-led round
	XtalPi grabs $400M
	Argentina's Ualá hits $2.5B valuation
	Divvy Homes valued at $2B with Series D
	Lidar startup Innovusion picks up $66M
	Fundraising
	Lowercarbon Capital rakes in $800M

The Daily Benchmark

2015 Vintage North American Real Estate Funds

Median IRR

11.17%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

13.80%

1.31x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Oak Street Real Estate Capital Fund III

Abacus Multi-Family Partners III

Roxborough Fund I

*IRR: net of fees

58 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

Partner Perspectives

2021 sees record pace for digital health investment

During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital health tools became imperative to meet health care needs. In response, the digital health ecosystem grew significantly as virtual care proliferated and digitization proceeded rapidly across back ends.

Explore how early- and growth-stage digital health companies can leverage current industry opportunities in a new report from Moss Adams created in partnership with PitchBook. The report details how key trends in venture financing are affecting prospects, with insights including:

How digital health companies can help bridge the gap between advanced technology and inexperienced users
Best practices for securing information and mitigating cyber-risk
Strategies companies should prioritize given the robust venture financing environment

Read the report

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VC Deals

Carta valued at $7B+ in Silver Lake-led round

Silver Lake has led a $500 million Series G for Carta, valuing the San Francisco-based fintech specialist at $7.4 billion, according to Axios. Carta provides software to investors and companies; it was valued at $3.1 billion last year, according to PitchBook data.

View round

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XtalPi grabs $400M

Chinese drug discovery startup XtalPi has raised $400 million at a roughly $2 billion valuation, DealStreet Asia reported. OrbiMed and Hopu Investments co-led the Series D funding round. The startup partners with drugmakers including Pfizer and uses its AI platform to identify molecular candidates that may be used in drug development. It raised $319 million last year from investors including SoftBank.

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View 19 competitors »

Argentina's Ualá hits $2.5B valuation

Fintech startup Ualá has reportedly raised $350 million at a $2.45 billion valuation. Tencent and SoftBank led the Series D, with participation from George Soros, Goldman Sachs and others. Ualá is a leading provider of mobile and card-based payments in Argentina.

Additional Investors:

Ribbit Capital, Monashees, D1 Capital Partners, 166 2nd Financial Services, Jacqueline Reses

View round

View similar company »

Divvy Homes valued at $2B with Series D

Tiger Global and Caffeinated Capital have led a $200 million investment in Divvy Homes. The round values the real estate tech startup at about $2 billion, only six months after a Series C valuation of $490 million, according to PitchBook data. The San Francisco-based company buys properties on behalf of renters and sets up rent-to-own payment plans with the goal of broadening access to homeownership.

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Lidar startup Innovusion picks up $66M

Innovusion has raised $66 million in Series B Plus financing led by Guotai Junan International, with participation from Shunwei Capital and existing investors including Temasek. Innovusion develops light detection and ranging technology for autonomous vehicles. It concluded its $64 million Series B in April.

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View 16 competitors »

PitchBook Webinar: Security and sustainability through emerging tech

So far, 2021 has been a breakout year for tech, with many sectors experiencing a convergence of increased VC activity, technical advances and new challenges.

Join our panel of experts on Wednesday, Aug. 18 at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET for an Emerging Technology Mid-Year Update, where they will detail key insights from the first half of the year and dive into the information security, mobility tech and foodtech sectors.

Register here to secure your spot.

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Fundraising

Lowercarbon Capital rakes in $800M

Lowercarbon Capital has raised $800 million to invest in climate tech companies. The VC firm was started by Chris Sacca and Crystal Sacca, who also co-founded Lowercase Capital. Lowercarbon's portfolio includes cultivated meat maker Mosa Meat and direct-air carbon capture company Carbon Engineering.

View details

View 39 investments »