In today's Daily Pitch, you'll find:
- As the world marks International Women's Day, we sat down with Lux Capital's Deena Shakir to discuss how VCs' approach to women's health and female founders is changing.
- Our Private Fund Strategies Report follows the money that flowed through the private fundraising market last year, breaking down the data across strategies, regions and more.
- For many VC-backed companies, the pandemic has been marked by huge valuation growth, but some have found themselves on the wrong side of the economic shift.
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5 questions about women's health, female founders with Lux Capital's Deena Shakir
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| Lux Capital's Deena Shakir, center, at an International Women's Day event in San Francisco. (Courtesy of Lux Capital) |
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Deena Shakir, a partner at Lux Capital, has strong feelings about the state of women's health. Over the last two years, she has invested in four startups that provide fertility, pregnancy, parenting and menopause services. Last year, she co-led a $110 million funding round for Maven Clinic that valued the company at $1 billion.
As the world marks International Women's Day, we sat down with Shakir to discuss how VCs' approach to women's health and female founders is changing, how she discovered her investment thesis and the challenges of balancing an investment career with being a mother. |
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How VC-backed company valuations rose and fell during the pandemic
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| (matejmo/Getty Images) |
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Since March 2020, VC-backed companies have mostly experienced immense valuation growth. The hottest sectors have been information technology and financial services, led by big valuation jumps from Stripe, Coinbase and Roblox.
But while the pandemic brought broad tailwinds for VC-backed tech startups, not every company grew. Many highly valued companies failed to record a financing round throughout the course of the pandemic or saw their valuation go down. |
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The new way to connect with early-stage startups
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Venture capital firms, angel investors and corporate development teams alike are racing to get in touch with the most promising early-stage companies, but it's nearly impossible to sift through the noise to understand what a startup does and whether it's truly differentiated.
Leading investors and M&A teams rely on Tegus' proprietary content to introduce them to new companies with just a click. The Tegus platform provides instant access to interviews with hundreds of practitioners in a given space. These conversations offer insight into buyers' pain points and their favorite solutions you've never heard of. Then, you're just a click away from learning more about these new companies and why users love them.
Discover new companies through the eyes of their users. Start your free trial today |
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VC captures majority of fund count in 2021, while PE dominates capital raised
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Private capital fundraising totaled nearly $1.2 trillion in 2021, essentially flat year-over-year. Initial fund count figures, by contrast, declined—a trend echoed across all fund types—as larger vehicles continued to characterize the global fundraising environment.
Our 2021 Annual Private Fund Strategies Report, sponsored by Altvia, follows the money that flowed through the private fundraising market last year as different regions and strategies rose and fell against the backdrop of an ever-evolving environment. Highlights include:
- Funds over $5 billion drove PE fundraising, which brought in a total of $456 billion and continued to lead all strategies in terms of capital raised.
- VC hit a fund count of over 1,500 during 2021, accounting for 55% of the total—the first time any strategy has captured a majority share.
- Real estate funds collected more than $126 billion in aggregate amid a dramatic increase in fund sizes; the five largest vehicles accounted for 25% of all capital raised.
- North America increased its share of fundraising to a record 63% of the total raised—growth that came largely at the expense of Asia, whose share fell to 10%.
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Female-founded startups start off 2022 with nearly $1B in funding
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US startups founded by women raised $987 million in venture funding in the first two months of 2022, according to PitchBook data.
To celebrate Women's History Month, PitchBook has added a new module to the Female Founders Dashboard, in partnership with SXSW Pitch. The dashboard, which is updated monthly, now includes an interactive breakdown of capital investment across emerging tech verticals and an analysis of the performance of female-founded startups at SXSW in recent years.
Check out the dashboard |
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On the podcast: The ABCs of ESG for PE Firms
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ESG's inclusion in dealmaking has evolved from a nice-to-have to a factor that can easily make or break negotiations. In this episode of "In Visible Capital," Tom Eveson, director of sustainable finance solutions and ESG for the Americas at Sustainalytics, joins PitchBook lead analyst Hilary Wiek to discuss how PE firms should think about ESG. Topics include:
- The material issues that contribute to ESG risk beyond obvious factors such as petroleum use, hiring diverse workforces and charitable giving.
- How LPs and other stakeholders are contributing to the continued mainstreaming of ESG.
- Why ESG ratings are quickly becoming a necessary consideration for all investors.
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Venture industry's mega-fund blizzard goes on as Founders Fund stocks up
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| (VCG/Getty Images) |
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US venture capital firms keep raising gigantic funds at an unprecedented pace even as valuations fall for late-stage companies and growing geopolitical risks loom.
Founders Fund is the latest firm to secure its largest capital commitment yet. Last week, the 17-year-old investor founded by Peter Thiel announced that it has raised $5 billion across two funds, a $1.9 billion venture vehicle and $3.4 billion growth fund, as reported by Bloomberg. |
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Five charts highlighting Nordic VC's busy year in 2021
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| From left, the flags of Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Åland Islands and Finland. (Westend61/Getty Images) |
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Last year was outstanding for VC in the Nordics, which recorded a record €11.9 billion in capital invested and strong fundraising numbers to boot.
These five charts break down the major VC trends in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, for a visual recap of the region's biggest storylines. |
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Why carmakers are racing to control the next generation of battery tech. [The New York Times]
Inside one tech company's attempt to evacuate employees from Ukraine. [The Wall Street Journal]
Despite her firm's flagship fund getting caught up in the recent stock market sell-off, Ark Invest's Cathie Wood still expects "spectacular returns" over the next five years. [CNBC] |
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Since yesterday, the PitchBook Platform added:
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27
VC valuations
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1607
People
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489
Companies
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40
Funds
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2019 Vintage Global Real Estate Funds
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Innovations in private equity: A fresh perspective
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The one constant in private equity is that the landscape is always changing. Firms are unlocking value for their investments with innovations that have been accelerated by the pandemic.
On this season of the "In Visible Capital" podcast, Upwork has partnered with PitchBook to highlight the latest innovations driving growth for PE and portfolio companies.
Hear industry leaders and PitchBook analysts discuss the evolving capital markets, along with dedicated segments hosted by Upwork's Tim Sanders.
Tim will interview special guests covering topics from talent transformation and remote work to diversity, equity and belonging. Listen to Upwork's segments on innovation at upwork.com/pitchbook. |
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Pony.ai hits $8.5B valuation
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| Pony.ai has announced the first close of its Series D financing at an $8.5 billion valuation. Backed by investors including Sequoia and DCM Ventures, the autonomous driving tech company was last valued at $5.3 billion in February 2021, according to a PitchBook estimate. |
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Immutable nabs $200M Series C
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| Immutable has raised $200 million at a $2.5 billion valuation in a round led by Temasek. The Sydney-based company is the developer of a scalable platform for trading NFTs on ethereum. |
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Tiger Global leads $38M round for Cider Security
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| Cider Security has raised $38 million in a Series A led by Tiger Global. The Israeli company is the developer of a unified operating system for engineering and security teams. |
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Finless Foods raises $34M
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| Finless Foods has a raised a $34 million Series B led by Hanwha Solutions. The company is a developer of cell-cultured seafood products; it plans to use the funding in part to add plant-based tuna to its offerings in 2022. |
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Griffin Gaming closes $750M Fund II
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| Griffin Gaming Partners has raised $750 million for its second flagship fund. The venture capital firm focuses on investments in the global gaming market. |
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