Lead Edge Capital closed its oversubscribed Fund VI at $1.95B after receiving support from over 500 limited partners and institutions. The California-based growth equity firm targets individual investments ranging from $15M to $200M. More: - Although the majority of the investment is carved out for private companies, LEC has a flexible mandate to invest in public companies as well.
- Including the new fund, the firm has raised $5B in capital to date.
- It last raised a $950M fund in Oct. 2020.
- Notable portfolio investments include companies such as Alibaba Group, Delivery Hero, Spotify, Material Bank, Hinge Health, LaunchDarkly, and others.
- The firm has successfully exited from 50 firms, namely FIGS, Asana, Bumble, and Signal Sciences.
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Brookfield Business Partners will take the publicly traded automotive software company CDK Global Inc private after agreeing to purchase its shares at $54.87 each. The offered purchase price represents a 30% premium over CDK’s traded share price at the closing of Feb. 18, valuing the entire transaction at $8.3B. More: - CDK Global provides business operations software for automotive manufacturers and dealers, generating $1.7B in annual revenue.
- The automotive software company acquired Roadster for $360M and Salty Dot Inc last year to diversify its business.
- The company will cease public trading upon the closing of the deal, which is expected to occur in Q3 2022.
- CDK’s North American presence includes catering to over 15,000 retail locations.
- The acquisition deal is expected to be funded by a $3.5B equity financing, of which Brookfield will invest ~$500M, with the rest financed by its institutional partners.
- Brookfield has over $690B of assets under management.
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- Low correlation to equities according to Citi.
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Early-stage investment firm Elevation Capital raised $670M toward its India-focused eighth fund. The company is known for backing several Indian unicorns, namely Swiggy, Paytm, Urban Company, and others. Funding from the eighth fund will be invested over a three-year period. More: - Elevation is seeking to invest $2M to $5M in early-stage SaaS, Web3, and Crypto startups in the region.
- The firm will back portfolio investments with up to $25M in follow-on funding.
- The company has invested over $2B in the last 20 years.
- Of its 150 portfolio companies, 13 have gone on to become unicorns.
- Elevation last raised $400M for its seventh fund in Oct. 2020.
Zoom out: - India-focused funding is ramping up, with several prominent firms launching dedicated funds recently.
- Accel launched a $650M fund last month.
- Sequoia Capital is on track to raise $2.8B toward its India and Southeast Asia focused fund.
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Austin, Texas-based eCommerce platform provider SamCart raised $82M in Series B funding led by Eldridge. The company caters to digital creators offering a centralized platform with services such as page design, revenue optimization, payment processing, and many other features. More: - The platform reportedly has over 30,000 businesses and has processed $2.2B in sales.
- TTV Capital, Fin VC, George Kaiser Foundation, and eGateway Capital participated in the funding.
- Incoming funds will help expand the team and develop additional features for its platform.
- The platform introduced two new features on its platform, namely SamCart Courses and Auto-Enroll technology.
- The former helps creators to create an online course, while the latter facilitates a one-click course cross-selling feature known to increase student engagement by 30% and order revenue by 25%.
- SamCart estimates the creator industry to be worth $104B.
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San Francisco-based Lilt raised $55M in Series C funding led by Four Rivers. The company provides an AI-powered translation platform for enterprises with support for 40 languages. Lilt has raised $92.5M in funding to date. More: - Proceeds from the funding will help accelerate product development, expand international presence, and increase team members.
- The company last secured a $25M Series B Intel Capital led financing in May 2020, prior to which it received $9.5M Series A led by Sequoia Capital, per Crunchbase.
- Prominent clients include Intel, Emerson, Juniper Networks, and Orca Security.
- Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and XSeed Capital were joined by new investors Sorenson Capital, CLEAR Ventures, and Wipro Ventures in the funding.
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E-Sports competitive gaming platform Community Gaming secured $16M in Series A financing. SoftBank Group Opportunity Fund led the funding. The gaming platform had over 100,000 unique users in early 2022. More: - The New York-based firm will use the funds to expand operations in Latin America and Southeast Asia.
- The company is working and will launch its Earnings for Everyone rewards system, which will allow users to earn rewards on the blockchain.
- The funding saw participation from Animoca Brands, Binance Labs, BITKRAFT Ventures, Griffin Gaming Partners, CoinFund, Hashed, Multicoin Capital, Shima Capital, Polygon Studios, ConsenSys Mesh, and other individual investors.
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Quick Hits - Miami-based infrastructure investor I Squared Capital closed its third infrastructure fund at $15B, exceeding initial expectations by 25%. The firm will focus on liquified natural gas sector projects. The firm has $34B in assets, 40% of which is invested in the energy sector.
- San Francisco-based climate technology venture firm Voyager Ventures raised $100M for its first fund. The fund will invest in early-stage companies with an aim to mitigate 500 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions during the fund’s lifetime.
- HIF Global received $260M in equity investment to globally expand its carbon-neutral eFuel project that is expected to power ships, vehicles, and airplanes. The funding was backed by funds managed by Porsche, EIG, AME, Baker Hughes, and Gemstone Investments.
- Appwrite secured $27M in Series A investment led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Flybridge Capital Partners, Ibex Investors, and Seedcamp. The company provides a SaaS open-source backend server for web and mobile applications.
- Metaverse-based digital fashion brand The Fabricant raised $14M financing. Greenfield One led the Series A financing, with participation from Sound Ventures, Red DAO, and others.
- Taiwanese online learning platform Hahow raised $10M Series B funding led by UMC Capital.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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