PitchBook News - European PE tallies a blockbuster year

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The Daily Pitch: VC

January 18, 2022

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 the key trends that drove European private equity's blockbuster 2021.

Four charts from our latest US PE Breakdown exploring healthcare investment activity in an uncertain year for the sector.

We examine why 2021 was a record-shattering year for early-stage VC.

Today's Top Stories

European PE records blockbuster year

European private equity showed no sign of slowing down in 2021, with new records set in terms of deal count and value. The industry saw dealmaking bolstered by mountains of dry powder, eager sellers and strong debt markets.

Our 2021 Annual European PE Breakdown takes a comprehensive look at the main drivers of the standout year. The report also includes a deep dive into some key investment strategies spanning sectors such as IT, healthcare and financial services. Among the takeaways:

Add-ons played a major role as a path to value creation, having accounted for 65% of all buyouts in the region.

The UK & Ireland continued dominating as a destination for private capital, despite the impact of Brexit. Combined, the two countries doubled their pre-global financial crisis peaks and quadrupled deal value from 10 years ago.

This is the hottest exit market yet, thanks in part to a strong IPO market lifted by public equity investors' willingness to pay a premium for fast-growing private companies.

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Exclusive: Permira refuels debt fund arm with $2B+

Germany's FlixBus is a Permira portfolio company.
(Courtesy of FlixBus)

Permira's debt investment arm has raked in about €2 billion (about $2.28 billion) for its fifth direct-lending fund, putting the private equity firm roughly halfway to its €4 billion target, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Permira Credit Solutions Fund V will primarily provide debt financing to midsized European companies with €10 million to €75 million of annual EBITDA.

Investors have recently poured money into the booming private credit market as they hunt for higher-yielding assets in a low-interest rate environment.

Funds with a direct-lending strategy raised more than $33 billion midway through 2021, compared with $43.4 billion for all of 2020, according to PitchBook data.

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Why 2021 was a record-shattering year for the early stage

(Nuthawut Somsuk/Getty Images)

Early-stage startups in the US had a phenomenal showing in 2021, reporting record metrics for deal count, capital investment, median deal size and pre-money valuation.

Much of the robust performance can be attributed to an influx of investment from nontraditional investors and record levels of capital washing through the system as VC dry powder continues to hit all-time highs, according to the PitchBook-NVCA Q4 2021 Venture Monitor.

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Quick Takes


	The Daily Benchmark
	2018 Vintage Global VC Funds
	People
	Longtime dean of Harvard Business School joins Thrive Capital
	VC Deals
	Bolt secures $355M Series E
	Virtana picks up $73M
	EV startup EVage lands $28M
	Exits & IPOs
	StubHub explores direct listing, possible $13B+ valuation
	Fundraising
	FTX launches $2B venture fund
	Investors
	UAE sovereign wealth fund invests in Israeli VC firms

The Daily Benchmark

2018 Vintage Global VC Funds

Median IRR

29.67%

Top Quartile IRR

47.87%

1.52x

Median TVPI

Select top performers

Town Hall Ventures

Polaris Growth Fund I

3L Capital I

*IRR: net of fees

80 Funds in Benchmark »

Check out the latest version of PitchBook Benchmarks

People

Longtime dean of Harvard Business School joins Thrive Capital

Nitin Nohria has joined Thrive Capital as partner and executive chairman, Bloomberg reported. Nohria stepped down as dean of the Harvard Business School in 2020.

VC Deals

Bolt secures $355M Series E

Bolt has raised $355 million in a round led by BlackRock, with participation from Schonfeld, Invus Opportunities, HIG Growth, and CE Innovation Capital. The San Francisco-based company is the developer of a checkout platform for digital retailers.

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Virtana picks up $73M

Virtana has raised $73 million from investors including Atalaya Capital Management, Elm Park Capital Management, HighBar Partners and Benhamou Global Ventures. Based in the Bay Area, the company is a developer of AI-based cloud observability software designed to manage application workloads across public, private, hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

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EV startup EVage lands $28M

EVage has raised $28 million in seed financing led by RedBlue Capital. Based in Chandigarh, India, the company is a developer of electric commercial vehicles for ecommerce customers, including Amazon India's delivery service partner.

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PitchBook Webinar: 2022 European Private Capital Outlook

Don't miss our upcoming 2022 European Private Capital Outlook webinar. Join us Jan. 20 for a conversation about the industry in 2022.

During the discussion, PitchBook analysts Nalin Patel and Dominick Mondesir will highlight their forecasts on the trends most likely to shape European PE and VC this year, including predictions that:

At least 15 merged SPACS will be taken private by sponsors.

Global carveout deal value will hit a new high of €200 billion.

European VC deal value will hit a record €175 billion.

VC-backed public listings will decline in value and count from 2021's highs.

Register here to secure your spot

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Exits & IPOs

StubHub explores direct listing, possible $13B+ valuation

StubHub Holdings, which operates event ticketing platforms StubHub and Viagogo is considering going public via a direct listing, Bloomberg reported. The company could seek a valuation of more than $13 billion in its offering. StubHub has received backing from firms including FirstMark Capital and Next Play Capital.

View details

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Fundraising

FTX launches $2B venture fund

FTX, the operator of a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, has launched a $2 billion venture fund to focus on investments in sectors including blockchain, Web3 and gaming. The firm has appointed former Lightspeed partner Amy Wu to lead the multi-stage VC fund.

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View 19 investments »

Investors

UAE sovereign wealth fund invests in Israeli VC firms

A United Arab Emirates sovereign wealth fund has invested roughly $100 million in tech-focused VC firms in Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal comes over a year after the signing of the Abraham Accords, an agreement intended to strengthen foreign relations between the two countries.