PitchBook News - Mega-rounds boost retail healthtech

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The Daily Pitch: VC

September 2, 2021

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

Daily Greeting

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

The pandemic has helped spur huge deals in the retail healthtech industry, despite a dip in overall activity.

Pushback from players and fans has left PE investors weighing the benefits and risks of owning pro sports teams and leagues.

Today's Top Stories

Retail healthtech VC activity slows while deal size doubles

The pandemic has affected the healthtech industry in many ways. Virtual health providers benefited from higher reimbursements for telemedicine appointments, likely boosting the market for remote patient monitoring and at-home test kits. And gym closures have likewise led to the growing popularity of exercise apps and home-based fitness devices.

Our latest quarterly Emerging Tech Research examines significant trends, VC deal activity, exit data, and new business opportunities in the healthtech industry. Key takeaways include:

While Q2's retail healthtech deal value dropped slightly from Q1, median deal size doubled to $52.2 million, largely as a result of fitness- or nutrition-related mega-deals.

VC exit deal value more than doubled, reaching $1.7 billion, driven by the public listing of 23andMe and the acquisition of the telehealth startup PlushCare.

Emerging opportunities in the industry include behavior modification tools, startups applying recent academic research to direct-to-consumer gut health solutions and technologies aiming to improve sleep.

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PE rethinks sports investing strategy after fans, teams cry foul

CVC Capital Partners has agreed in principle to acquire a minority stake in Spain's La Liga soccer league, but not every team is happy about it. (Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

Private equity's push into professional sports investing initially appeared to be a slam dunk. But investors have recently faced increasing pushback from players and fans as they attempt to establish themselves in the elite world of pro sports team and league ownership.

Real Madrid has filed suit against CVC Capital Partners after the firm struck a deal to acquire a 10% stake in the league for around €2.7 billion (about $3.2 billion).

The All Blacks rugby team and New Zealand Rugby Players Association have voiced opposition to a deal that would see Silver Lake buy a minority stake in the league.

With the PE industry becoming more active in fighting a negative public perception, executives must now ask whether pursuing professional sports investments is worth the possible backlash.

Recommended Reads

Li Jin was one of the first investors to take influencers seriously. Now, she's many online creators' go-to adviser when it comes to the investing world. [The New York Times]

When paired with smart technology, off-grid power might be more efficient than many thought. One writer's thoughts on how decentralized energy could become the new norm. [Forbes]

Even after the fall of Theranos, it's unclear whether Silicon Valley has learned from its mistakes. [The Guardian]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2008 Vintage North American Venture Funds
	Partner Perspectives
	Private debt still a dynamic marketplace, but challenges and risks are rising
	People
	Bee Partners appoints Jocelyne Cooke as CFO
	VC Deals
	Motive Partners leads $100M round for Insurify
	Personal tech startup Humane raises $100M
	Code Climate lands $50M
	Ventana Micro Systems locks in $38M for computer chiplets
	Agtech startup Fieldin grows with $30M round

The Daily Benchmark

2008 Vintage North American Venture Funds

Median IRR

10.25%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

20.97%

1.45x

Median TVPI

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MEP Associates IV

Maveron IV Entrepreneurs Fund

Spark Capital II

*IRR: net of fees

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Partner Perspectives

Private debt still a dynamic marketplace, but challenges and risks are rising

Allocations to private debt funds have remained robust in 2021, surpassing $70 billion by midyear. Demand for private debt also remains high, given the 17,000-plus deals—worth about $2 trillion—in the first half of 2021 alone. However, fund managers face new risks and pressures, presenting important considerations for both investors and borrowers.

Download Intralinks' new market brief, The Future of Private Debt, powered by PitchBook data, to see what's driving critical swings in market conditions and key indicators for the future, including:

Why institutional allocators globally continue to favor private credit
How rising competition is changing fund managers' strategies
Why banks are selling off short-term loans
The rising need for expertise in targeted industries

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People

Bee Partners appoints Jocelyne Cooke as CFO

Pre-seed venture firm Bee Partners has named Jocelyne Cooke as its chief financial officer. Cooke formerly served in the same role at DCVC. San Francisco-based Bee Partners has invested in industrial automation startup Rapid Robotics, computer software company Synthesis.ai and lab-grown cheese maker New Culture.

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VC Deals

Motive Partners leads $100M round for Insurify

Insurify, the provider of a virtual insurance agent and comparison platform, has closed a $100 million Series B led by Motive Partners, with support from existing backers Viola FinTech, MassMutual Ventures, Hearst Ventures and others. Based in the Boston area, Insurify helps consumers looking for car, home or life insurance. The startup raised a $23 million round in January 2020.

Additional Investors:

Viola Growth, Fort Ross Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Moneta Venture Capital, Nationwide Ventures

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Personal tech startup Humane raises $100M

Personal computing startup Humane has raised $100 million in Series B financing led by Tiger Global. Investors including SoftBank, Bond, Forerunner Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures also participated. Humane was founded by ex-Apple employees Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno with a mission to "deliver the next shift between humans and computing." The company was valued at $150 million last year, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

Kindred Ventures, Next Ventures, Plexo Capital, Time Ventures, Valia Ventures, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

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Code Climate lands $50M

Code Climate has raised a $50 million Series C led by growth equity firm PSG, with participation from previous investors including Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, Lerer Hippeau and NextView Ventures. The New York City-based startup is the provider of an engineering intelligence platform used by enterprises such as Faire, Instacart and Forbes. The latest funding brings Code Climate's total private backing to $66 million.

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Ventana Micro Systems locks in $38M for computer chiplets

Ventana Micro Systems has raised a $38 million Series B round. The funding was led by Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai, the founders of Marvell Technology Group. Other prominent semiconductor investors and the company's Series A investors also participated. The Cupertino, Calif.-based startup is designing a range of data center class compute chiplets based on RISC-V architecture.

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Agtech startup Fieldin grows with $30M round

Fieldin has raised a $30 million Series B led by Fortissimo Capital. The Fresno, Calif.-based company is the developer of an agricultural operating system that helps commercial farmers digitize and improve farm operations with real-time data and custom recommendations.

Additional Investors:

Icon Ventures, Zeev Ventures

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View 22 competitors »

Chart of the Day

"Skepticism remains whether many crossover investors are true value-adds to early-stage companies or merely sources for large cash infusions. In addition, as the demand for capital continues to be matched by oversupply, the early stage of venture is likely to be fundamentally altered for the foreseeable future."

Source: Q2 2021 PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor