 SoftBank's participation in VC deals in LatAm VC investment in Latin America retreated in Q2 to its pre-pandemic levels. Total VC investment in the region declined 71% compared to the Q3 2021 high of $7.12B. SoftBank, which participated in about a third of the deals in the region last year, also retreated in Q2. The Japanese firm invested $1.57B in Q2 compared to $4.31B invested in the previous two quarters. Some of its portfolio companies include car marketplace Kavak, real estate specialist QuintoAndar, and fintech lender Creditas. More: - According to PitchBook, more than 1,100 unique non-domestic investors completed a deal in Latin America in 2021, about twice the number recorded in 2020.
- The VC investment decline in Latin America is more pronounced compared to regions in U.S. and Europe.
- SoftBank has also changed the structure of its Latin America funds, which are now part of the Vision Fund group.
- The firm created an independent firm, Upload Ventures, to run early-stage investments in the region.
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Valuations of notable unicorn startups in Asia are being discounted in private transactions, currently down by 40% compared to six months ago. According to AJ Patel of advisory firm Setter Capital, the decline that has impacted fintech, ecommerce, mobility, and consumer-focused enterprises is attributable to the Chinese regulatory crackdown and economic downturn. More: - Some unicorns are facing valuation drops ranging from 25% to 50% at their respective latest fundraising rounds.
- TikTok parent ByteDance Ltd's valuation dropped 25%, from its peak valuation of $300B, in late July, while fashion brand Shein's valuation dropped 30% to $100B in April.
- As a result, the former has shelved its IPO plans, with investors buying equity at valuations as low as $250B.
- Asia-focused investors are now channeling their investments into North American startups out of concerns over the current macroeconomic conditions in China, per Patel.
- Patel expects more down rounds for Asian firms in the third quarter, with the valuation drop anticipated to continue in the third quarter.
- Preqin reports that Asia has received over $1T of venture capital since 2012.
- After the U.S., China has the most unicorns in the world, totaling 174.
- According to CB Insights' global unicorn list, 28% of the 1,170 private businesses are valued at over $1B.
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PE firm Bain Capital is raising a $5B fund focusing on Asia- Pacific. In July, the investment firm started marketing the fund, which is its fifth Asia fund. It aims to close the fund in December, with final completion in Q1 2023. The fund has the remit to grow to $6B, excluding senior management contributions. More: - Bain Capital usually contributes about 10% to 15% of its own capital to each of its funds.
- Bain's previous four funds recorded net returns of 20% to 25% after investing in healthcare and drug companies, digital infrastructure, software, and restaurant firms.
- The target raise is about half the size of other funds in the region by rivals KKR & Co. and Blackstone Inc.
- KKR raised $15B last year for Asia, its largest buyout fund in the region.
- Blackstone raised $11B earlier this year for the region, and Carlyle Group is currently raising $8.5B.
- Also, unlike its rivals, Bain is one of the few global PE firms to remain unlisted.
- Bain recently completed raising for its second special situations fund at $2B for Asia.
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Redpoint Ventures closed its ninth early-stage fund with $650M in capital commitments. Individual check sizes will range from $2M to $15M. Per Crunchbase, the firm has raised a total of $5.1B in capital across 14 funds. More: - The firm expects to invest 70% of the funds into Series A-stage startups in return for equity stakes between 15% to 23%.
- The remaining 30% is dedicated to seed and Series B-stage investments.
- Managing director Annie Kadavy and managing partner Erica Brescia will lead the fund.
- Brescia, formerly a COO at GitHub, joined Redpoint last year along with GitHub CTO Jason Warner.
- As venture funding recedes and institutional investors take a conservative approach, Kadavy predicts that the number of startups launching in the next year will be lower than in the last two years.
- Despite this, she expects the quality of firms coming out of this period to improve, as founders will be forced to find creative ways to build products when funding is scarce.
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Chinese biotech firm Sironax closed its Series B funding round with $200M in financing. Gaorong Capital and Yunfeng Capital led the fundraising. The biotech company is developing novel treatments to cure degenerative diseases, focusing on regulated cell death, neuroprotective pathways, and neuroinflammation. More: - Temasek, F-Prime Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Long River Investments, Future Innovation Fund, and others participated in the funding round.
- To date, the Beijing-headquartered firm has raised over $300M in funding.
- Incoming funds will help the firm accelerate the clinical development of its portfolio therapeutics, expand its R&D, and build out a pipeline of new therapeutics.
- The firm is currently conducting early clinical studies of its SIR0365 and SIR2446 treatments.
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Kerecis, the medical fish skin company, has raised a $100M Series D financing at a $620M valuation. The Iceland-based company develops fish-skin dressings to treat human wounds. The company claims its technology is better than using human skin, which needs to be thoroughly processed to eliminate the risk of disease transmission. The U.S. FDA approved the Kerecis treatment in 2016. More: - The Lego family fund, Kirkbi Group, led the round with a $40M investment. Other investors include Emerson Collective, Novator, and Silicon Valley Bank.
- Silicon Valley Bank provided an extension and increased the company's existing revolving credit facility to $30M.
- Kerecis plans to use the new funds to expand its sales team and accelerate research and development.
- Kerecis was founded in 2009 and has raised $127.6M to date; the company canceled its plans for an IPO earlier this year.
- CEO Gudmundur Fertram Sigurjonsson said the company is still considering an IPO at a later stage and is keeping an eye on market conditions.
- The company is targeting an IPO in the next 18 to 24 months.
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- KPMG's Venture Pulse report highlights that London received 81% of total venture capital invested in the U.K. in the second quarter of this year. London-based startups raked in $7.1B (£5.8B) of capital out of the $8.8B (£7.2B) raised by all British firms.
- Funding for British female-led fintech firms dropped to $376M in the first half of the year, almost 66% lower compared to $1.1B invested in the first half of last year. Fintech firms led by men received 40% more funding during H1 2022.
- Assured Healthcare Partners closed its latest second fund at $750M, bringing the firm's total capital raised to date to $1.3B. The firm will focus its investments on healthcare service startups based in North America.
- Andreessen Horowitz and Casdin Capital led a $112M Series A funding round into clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm IDRx, which is developing precision therapies for cancer treatment.
- Fintech software startup Savana raised $45M in a Series A funding round led by Georgian.
- Terabase Energy, a construction automation solution platform for solar power plants, received $44M in Series B funding co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Prelude Ventures. SJF Ventures and others joined the fundraising.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. | | | | 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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