PitchBook News - VCs add to female founders' record year

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The Daily Pitch: VC

October 15, 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:

A look at how KKR's founders managed the transformation of the buyout pioneer.

Our Female Founders Dashboard breaks down US VC investments in female-founded companies.

Europe's deep tech ecosystem is primed for a boost with the closing of two new funds.

Today's Top Stories

Q3 VC numbers add to record year for female founders

US venture-backed companies with a female founder or co-founder raised $15.9 billion in the third quarter, according to fresh data from PitchBook's Female Founders Dashboard. That marks the highest quarterly total for female-founded teams to date.

Our latest update of the dashboard illustrates US VC investment activity in female-founded startups across sectors and geographies through September 30. Key 2021 takeaways include:

Companies founded solely by women have collected around $4.6 billion in VC investment across more than 680 deals. But that amount represents only 2% of the total capital invested in VC-backed startups in the US.

New York is the leading metro area for capital investment and deal count for companies with all female founders from 2019 to date, followed by the Bay Area and Los Angeles.

The median pre-money valuation for companies founded solely by women is $17 million, below the $44.5 million median for male-founded companies, according to the Q3 edition of PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor.

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The deals that defined KKR's 21st century evolution

KKR's New York headquarters at 30 Hudson Yards.
(Allan Baxter/Getty Images)

Private equity has changed markedly in the 30-plus years since KKR's "barbarian" days. But time and again, the buyout pioneer has shown that it can adapt.

KKR founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts stepped down this week at a moment when the firm's global ambitions and assets under management are at all-time highs.

How did Kravis, Roberts and Jerome Kohlberg manage the transformation? One deal at a time.

Recommended Reads

Hedge fund Alden Global Capital may be building an unsustainable newspaper empire by cutting staffs and raising subscription prices. [The Atlantic]

Smaller companies often can't foot the AI bill as language models get more complex and more expensive. [Wired]

How to think about a market dominated by passive investors. [The Economist]

Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:

39

VC valuations

1390

People

391

Companies

27

Funds

See what our data software can do

Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2019 Vintage Global PE Funds with more than $1B
	VC Deals
	Payments specialist Flutterwave eyes new funding at $3B value
	Cannabis startup Dutchie secures $350M
	Tiger Global leads $298M round for TradingView
	Tala picks up $145M Series E
	Outschool books $110M
	Reliable Robotics raises $100M
	Tentarix Biotherapeutics hauls in $50M
	Space tourism startup lands $40M
	Exits & IPOs
	Walgreens lands majority stake in VillageMD for $5.2B
	VC-backed SumUp acquires Fivestars
	Fundraising
	Thomson Reuters launches $100M vehicle
	Graham & Walker launches debut fund to support female founders

The Daily Benchmark

2019 Vintage Global PE Funds with more than $1B

Median IRR

14.22%

Top Quartile IRR Hurdle Rate

29.92%

1.14x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Apax X

Oak Hill Capital Partners V

Thomas H. Lee Equity Fund VIII

*IRR: net of fees

95 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

VC Deals

Payments specialist Flutterwave eyes new funding at $3B value

Flutterwave, which offers a cloud-based payments platform, is seeking new funding at a $3 billion valuation, Bloomberg reported. If successful, the funding would nearly triple the company's current value. Flutterwave has offices in Lagos, Nigeria, and San Francisco; it has received past funding from Avenir Growth Capital, Tiger Global, PayPal Holdings and other investors.

View round

View 48 competitors »

Cannabis startup Dutchie secures $350M

Dutchie has raised a $350 million Series D led by D1 Capital, with support from investors including Tiger Global, DFJ Growth and Thrive Capital. The funding values the Oregon-based startup at $3.75 billion. Dutchie's commerce platform connects consumers with cannabis dispensaries across the US and Canada.

Additional Investors:

Dragoneer Investment Group, Glynn Capital, Gron Ventures, Park West Asset Management, Casa Verde Capital, Willoughby Capital

View round

View 2 competitors »

Tiger Global leads $298M round for TradingView

TradingView has raised $298 million at a $3 billion valuation in a round led by Tiger Global. The London-based company is the developer of a financial charting and social networking platform for investors, intended to offer market insights in real time.

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View 13 competitors »

Tala picks up $145M Series E

Tala has raised $145 million in a round led by Upstart. The company helps individuals in emerging markets such as India and the Philippines build credit profiles and secure uncollateralized loans. Tala was valued at $560 million in 2019, according to PitchBook data.

Additional Investors:

Bank J. Safra Sarasin, IVP, Kindred Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Revolution, Stellar Development Foundation

View round

View 41 competitors »

Outschool books $110M

Outschool has raised a $110 million Series D at a $3 billion valuation, TechCrunch reported. Based in the Bay Area, the company is the developer of an edtech platform that offers live online classes to kids between the ages of 3 and 18. Outschool was valued at $1 billion in April, according to PitchBook data.

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View 52 competitors »

Reliable Robotics raises $100M

Reliable Robotics has raised a $100 million Series C led by Coatue. Founded in 2017, the Bay Area company is the developer of aircraft automation systems; it plans to use the funding in part to launch commercial cargo operations. The startup was valued at $125.9 million in September 2020, according to PitchBook data

Additional Investors:

Eclipse Ventures, Lightspeed, Pathbreaker Ventures, Teamworthy Ventures

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Tentarix Biotherapeutics hauls in $50M

Tentarix Biotherapeutics has raised a $50 million Series A co-led by Samsara BioCapital and Versant Ventures. The company is developing multifunctional antibody-based biotherapeutics intended to conditionally activate or inhibit specific types of cells.

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Space tourism startup lands $40M

Space Perspective has raised a $40 million Series A led by Prime Movers Lab. Based in the Orlando area, the company is developing luxury pressurized capsules designed to fly passengers to the edge of space and back. Founded in 2019, Space Perspective will use the funding in part to launch commercial flights by 2024.

Select Additional Investors:

1517 Fund, Base Ventures, E2MC Ventures, Explorer 1 Fund, Kirenaga, LightShed Ventures, SpaceFund

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Exits & IPOs

Walgreens lands majority stake in VillageMD for $5.2B

Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to increase its ownership of primary care provider VillageMD in a $5.2 billion deal that gives it a 63% controlling stake. Last year, Walgreens struck a deal to acquire 30% of the Chicago-based startup. Walgreens plans to operate 600 primary care clinics by 2025, which will be located adjacent to its pharmacies. VillageMD also received prior backing from Oak HC/FT and Adams Street Partners, among others.

View details

View 16 competitors »

VC-backed SumUp acquires Fivestars

Global payments startup SumUp has paid $317 million in cash and stock for Fivestars, a San Francisco-based provider of a payments and marketing platform. Fivestars was valued at $285 million last October and has raised funding from investors including Lightspeed, Menlo Ventures, HarbourVest Partners and DCM. Founded in 2012, SumUp is headquartered in London.

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View 34 competitors »

Fundraising

Thomson Reuters launches $100M vehicle

Thomson Reuters has created a $100 million corporate venture capital fund focused on innovations that will support professionals in the workplace. The vehicle, Thomson Reuters Ventures, will target earlier-stage companies across a broad range of industries including legal, news and media, accounting, risk and fraud.

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View 181 investments »

Graham & Walker launches debut fund to support female founders

Graham & Walker, formerly known as Female Founders Alliance, has launched a $10 million venture fund to back tech startups led by women. More than 105 investors participated in the fund, including Bank of America and Carta.

View details

View 23 investments »