SoftBank has liquidated all positions of its internal hedge fund SB Northstar after it racked up between $6B and $7B in losses. The unit was responsible for the company’s “Nasdaq whale” trades, which temporarily drove up U.S. tech stock prices with massive bets on derivatives. More: - The estimation of SB Northstar’s losses comes from two internal sources. SoftBank itself only reported a $4.6B loss.
- Northstar held just over $1B in U.S.-based positions by the end of 2021, down from $17B just one year prior.
- The majority of the remaining holdings were in SPACs sponsored by its Vision Fund, shareholder Elliott Management, and Vision Fund investor Mubadala.
- Launched in 2020, the unit was initially endowed with $555M, though it had much greater firepower thanks to loans of cash and publicly traded securities from SoftBank’s vast balance sheet.
- Another source claimed that most of SoftBank’s European investments had also been liquidated, including a $5B bet on Swiss drugmaker Roche.
- SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son held about 33% of the Northstar unit and was personally responsible for its investment strategy.
- He reported a personal loss of $1.5B on the venture last year. That figure has undoubtedly grown in the interim.
The wider lens: - The developments come as Son has ordered his execs to slow down SoftBank’s investment pace in the face of increasing debt-to-equity levels.
- The investment powerhouse, long plagued by questions of governance, will now have to convince investors that it can recover and control its risk-happy CEO.
Meanwhile: - SoftBank is not the only big tech investor having trouble handling the developments in public markets: Tiger Global’s flagship hedge fund has lost about 34% of its value in the course of the first quarter, according to an investor letter.
- The fund’s value dropped by 7% in 2021, its first recorded loss since 2016.
- Its Crossover fund, which invests in public and private companies, fell by about 21%.
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London/Paris-based Deepki, which provides ESG data intelligence for real estate, raised $165.5M (€150M) in a fresh Series C funding round. The injection was led by One Peak and Highland Europe, with participation from Bpifrance, Revaia, and existing investors Hi Inov and Statkraft Ventures. More: - Currently operating in France, the U.K., Germany, Italy, and Spain, Deepki’s platform offers real estate investors a breakdown of environmental, social, and governance data on potential ventures.
- The company is driven by the mission to make real estate a net-zero emissions industry by 2050 and to halve its emissions by 2030.
- The sector is currently responsible for 40% of global carbon emissions, and over $5T in annual investment is required to meet those goals, according to Deepki’s execs.
- It claims to have saved over 180,000 equivalent tons of CO₂ across its client base.
- For its more pecuniary-minded investors, it notes that much real estate is already suffering from “brown discounting,” which drives down the value of commercial investments.
- With its newly topped-off coffers, Deepki seeks to consolidate its dominant position in Europe and expand in the U.S.
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 The rout on tech stocks has wiped $24B off the value of Europe’s top three listed food delivery startups so far this year, reports Bloomberg. Delivery Hero dipped 59% last quarter, while Just Eat Takeaway and Deliveroo both fell more than 35%. The companies’ combined value is now less than half it was in December. More: - The decline is even greater when compared with the heights their stocks reached during the pandemic.
- Just Eat Takeaway is down 73%, while both Delivery Hero and Deliveroo have suffered a fall of 71%.
- DoorDash, another big player in the space, is down 53%.
- The strategy of the companies has long been to increase spending to stave off losing market share, which becomes problematic in times of rising capital costs.
- Delivery Hero, for instance, bought a majority stake in Spanish competitor Glovo for $2.5B, despite expecting it to make a loss of around $364M in 2022.
The wider lens: - With high debt levels eating away at equity, such a growth-before-profitability model is unsustainable, particularly with instant-delivery startups such as Gorillas and GoPuff taking a bite out of consumers’ inflation-stretched budgets.
- Goodbody analyst David Brohan thinks that the sector is becoming more rational and margin-minded, with several firms leaving loss-making markets.
- An accelerated consolidation in the sector could speed up the path toward profitability.
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Best of Last Week M&A - Intel acquired AI-based computing workload management firm Granulate in a deal estimated to be worth $650M, according to TechCrunch.
- Washington-based Liberty Strategic Capital acquired a controlling stake in cybersecurity firm Zimperium for $525M.
- Papaya Global, the Israeli operator of a global HR/payroll platform, will buy London-based money transfer business Azimo for $150M-$200M.
- Logistyx Technologies, a global multi-carrier shipping software company, was sold to E2open Parent Holdings by its previous owners for $185M.
- Amazon aggregator Society Brands acquired an Arkansas-based Amazon brand management agency for growing brands OmniiX for an undisclosed sum.
- Malt, a French marketplace focused on consultants and industry experts, will buy German competitor Comatch for an undisclosed sum.
- Micro-mobility company Tier Mobility has acquired Fantasmo, a U.S.-based computer vision-powered e-scooter parking startup, for an undisclosed sum.
- Quantum Machines, a startup specializing in control systems for quantum computers, bought QDevil, a company making control hardware for quantum systems, for an undisclosed sum.
IPO/SPAC - GoTo, Indonesia’s largest tech company, raised $1.1B (15.8T rupiah) in one of the year’s largest IPOs to date.
- Home internet provider Starry will merge with SPAC FirstMark Horizon Acquisition to enter the NYSE.
- Talenthouse, an advertising gig platform, will list on Zürich’s stock exchange via a reverse merger valuing it at around $450M.
- OnlyFans, known for P2P adult content, wants to merge with a SPAC after failing to raise capital from investors skittish about being associated with pornography.
- Egyptian transit and shared mobility provider Swvl listed on the Nasdaq via a SPAC merger. It was valued at $1.5B and raised $121.5M.
New Funds - Sequoia Capital China is reportedly planning to raise about $8B in fresh funds to be distributed over four vehicles.
- Next Coast Ventures, an Austin-based VC firm, raised three new funds: early-stage III ($195M), Opportunity Fund I ($50M), and Next Coast ETA to acquire and exit SMEs ($65M).
- Accel-KKR closed a $1.765B Accel-KKR Capital Partners CV IV fund.
- London-based VC firm Atomico is raising $1.35B toward two new technology sector-focused funds.
- Hull Street Energy, LLC closed its second fund with $1.125B in commitments for renewable energy transitions.
- Milwaukee-based Hammes Partners closed its third oversubscribed fund at $739M in capital for healthcare investments.
- Yellow Wood Partners received $750M in capital commitments towards its third fund for mid-market consumer brands and companies.
- Growth-stage and founder-owned business investment firm Knox Lane closed its inaugural institution fund at $610M.
- Vertex Ventures, an Israeli VC firm, received $400M in commitments for two new funds.
- Another Israeli VC firm, Glilot Capital Partners, announced it had raised $220M toward its fourth seed fund.
- Gumi Cryptos Capital closed its second fund at $110M to back early-stage blockchain startups.
- Wave Financial launched a new $100M ADA Yield Fund to back decentralized exchanges, lending protocols, and stablecoin issuers building on Cardano.
- UC Berkely’s SkyDeck venture firm closed its second fund at $60M.
- PiLab Technology, the South Korean developer of multichain middleware platform, BIFROST, raised a $57M Eco-Fund to expand its ecosystem.
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 Today’s Funding 💸 Biotech/Health - 4C Medical (Minneapolis, Minn.), minimally invasive technologies for structural heart disease: $35M C from MicroPort CardioFlow Medtech Corporation.
- Reema Health (Minneapolis, Minn.), health technology platform provider: $8M Seed from MaC Venture Capital, DNA Capital.
- Valar (Palo Alto, Calif.), AI-based cancer treatment-decision making innovation: $4M Seed led by Andreessen Horowitz, participation from Dave King, Peer Schatz, et al.
Consumer - Everli (Milan, Italy), online grocery marketplace: $24.3M C led by United Ventures’s UV T-Growth.
Cybersecurity - tru.ID (London, U.K.), passwordless authentication platform leveraging SIM card cryptography: $9M Seed from Sorenson Ventures.
Enterprise - Sona (London, U.K.), operating system for deskless workers: $6.8M Seed led by Gradient Venture, participation from Anthony Danon, Maximilian Bittner, Graham Paterson, et al.
Fintech - Leal (Bogota, Colombia), cashback and rewards products: $10M A led by Rakuten Group, IDC Ventures.
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Quick Hits - Freestyle raised a sixth seed fund at $130M. It will make around a dozen $1.5M-$3M seed deals per year, despite pressure from potential LPs to scale its operation.
- V-Bio Ventures, a Belgian biotech fund, raised a second fund at $121.5M ($110M)
- Fastly, an edge cloud network provider, acquired Fanout, a Mountain View-based platform to build and scale real-time and streaming APIs, for an undisclosed sum.
- Bitcoin miner PrimeBlock confirmed its plan to go public through a merger with SPAC 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. II for an estimated value of $1.25B. The company raised $125M in PIPE.
- Mary Meeker co-founded Bond Capital raised $2.5B for its third and largest fund to date, Axios reports. The spinout of Kleiner Perkins will continue investing in growth equity.
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 |  | Inside VC's writer/curator Stephen currently lives in Berlin and is pursuing a Master's degree in philosophy. He otherwise spends his time trying his hand at recipes from India and Southeast Asia, escaping it all at the kickboxing gym, and offending aural sensibilities with his band. |  | | 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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