| |
| Here's a look at today's VC briefing. - 🚀 Viking Global thrives amidst the downturn, reporting gains on its opportunity and private-only fund
- 💰 U.S. venture firms have $311B in dry power available for investments
- ✂️ Fidelity marked down its holding in Meesho by 33.6%
Thank you. Karan
p/karan-chafekar | |
| 1 | | Viking Global Investors reported a 22.6% gain on its hybrid fund Viking Global Opportunities and a 25.2% gain on its private-only fund VGO Drawdown in 2023, sources informed Institutional Investor. Unlike other crossover investors, Viking has thrived in the tough economic climate. The majority of the firm's gains came from three portfolio companies: RayzeBio, BridgeBio, and Rockefeller Capital Management. More: - Viking was the largest shareholder with a 12.5% stake in radiopharmaceutical startup RayzeBio when it went public in September 2023.
- A few months after its IPO debut, Bristol Myers Squibb acquired RayzeBio for $4.1B in cash.
- BridgeBio's stock surged by five times in 2023.
- Although BridgeBio went public in 2019, Viking is still the second-largest shareholder in the firm, with a 14% stake.
- Last April, IGM Financial acquired Viking's 20.5% stake in wealth management company Rockefeller Capital Management, giving the firm an implied valuation of $3B.
Zoom out: - Viking has about $46B worth of assets under management, of which over $15B are under the Opportunities fund.
- The firm primarily invests in healthcare, life sciences, biopharma, and other medical-related firms.
- Viking's long-short and long fund also reported gains of 13.8% and 29.3%, respectively.
|     | |
| 2 | | U.S. venture capital firms were sitting on $311B in dry powder at the end of 2023, per Pitchbook data seen by FT. 
What the numbers say: Dry powder reserves have reached a record high, as U.S. VC firms could only spend half of the $435B raised from investors between 2020 and 2022. Investors have adopted a cautious approach to investing due to the current economic climate. Due to a lack of exit opportunities, investors could only distribute $21B in returns to limited partners last year. As investors typically charge management fees to LPs regardless of the funds deployed, there is increasing pressure from investors to either waive the fees or return some capital to them. Relevance: Fund managers are coming up with creative ways to return capital to their backers. Sequoia Capital started waiving fees on uncommitted capital. Some investors, including Lightspeed, are rolling up their portfolio stakes into a new continuation fund, which LPs can exit at any time of their convenience without having to wait for an exit opportunity. Where to see the impact: Despite the availability of record-high dry powder, VCs are unlikely to flood the market with funding. Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala Ventures' Ibrahim Ajami cautions that a lot of the dry powder will be used to "clean the mess" during the free-flowing investment period. | | | |
| A message from our sponsor, StartEngine. |  | | As mature, entrenched, and frankly unsexy industries go, plastics is right up there. So, you’d be forgiven for thinking a pre-revenue plastics startup isn’t exactly the type of company to knock it out of the park in a crowdfunding raise…of course, you’d also be dead wrong. Meet Timeplast (big idea, small email list) - Timeplast’s core innovation was around biodegradable plastic that could break down as quickly – or slowly – as you want it to.
- Neat, right? The only problem prior to their raise was that other than a lot of patents, they didn’t have any revenue to show for it to VCs or other would-be investors.
Enter StartEngine & Crowdfunding - Timeplast’s innovative approach found paydirt with crowdfunding investors on StartEngine, who placed many, many small bets on the company.
- That momentum allowed Timeplast to launch digital ads to attract still more investors and ultimately max out a $5M offering.1
Ready to see what crowdfunding can do for your business? Speak with a Funding Expert Disclaimers 1 This is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to invest. StartEngine does not endorse, promote, or provide any investment advice on this product or any other investment opportunities. Furthermore, this example does not represent a guarantee of future performance or success. | |
|
| 3 | | Cap VC, a new startup that spun out from a VC firm, is set to launch an AI-powered platform to help VC firms make better investment decisions. Users are already signing up for its waitlist ahead of the platform's release in February. The platform will be available on Mac and Windows. Additionally, the firm is developing APIs, which other developers can use to build applications on top of Cap VC's platform. More: - Cap VC's new platform will collate "unstructured data from PDF files, balance sheets, income statements, and P&L accounts into structured data," said CEO Patrick Theander.
- In addition, the platform will provide contextual information about the company, previous funding rounds, and historical data, which should help streamline VC operations.
- The firm roped in auditing firm Deloitte to assist with the development of its fund management tool that can be used by VCs, limited partners, auditors, and regulatory bodies.
| | | |
| 4 | | Fidelity marked down the value of its stake in Indian social commerce startup Meesho by 33.6% to $27.8M at the end of December 2023. The U.S.-based investment firm had originally acquired the stake for $41.9M in the second half of 2022. Fidelity's markdown gives Meesho an implied valuation of $3.5B. More: - Meesho had touched a valuation of $4.9B in Sept. 2021 when it raised a $570M Series F round from Prosus Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Good Capital, and Trifecta Capital.
- The startup's revised valuation from Fidelity is in line with its $3.5B valuation from late last year when early backer Venture Highway sold off some of its equity stake to WestBridge Capital through a secondary transaction.
- A Meesho spokesperson attributed the valuation change to an "increase in the number of outstanding shares, notably due to the ESOP pool expansion."
Zoom out: - While Fidelity marked down Meesho, it raised the value of its holding in Reddit, Gupshup, and X.
- Despite the increase, the valuations are still lower than their original investment value.
| | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Amplitude. |  | | Not ready to pay for analytics? Amplitude launches an affordable plan built for startups and small businesses, The Plus Plan lets you grow your business with one integrated solution in a low-cost plan. It’s one easy-to-use platform that starts at $49 per month, cancel anytime. Leading brands like Atlassian, Hubspot, Notion, PayPal, Capital One and Dropbox trust in Amplitude's digital analytics platform. Amplitude's Free plan is a great way to get started until you’re ready for more. You’ll be able to: - Dig into behavioral data across any chart, persona, or cohort
- Analyze the impact of every release
- Enable your teams to take action
- Define, measure, and optimize key product metrics.
Get Started for Free  | |
|
| 5 | | German VC firm Future Energy Ventures held the first close of its new fund at €110M ($119M), against a target of €250M ($270.7M). The firm intends to invest in about 30 digital and software startups developing solutions to accelerate the energy transition and decarbonize the energy sector. FEV will primarily invest across Europe, North America, and the Middle East. More: - E.ON and the European Investment Fund (EIF) are the anchor investors of the new fund.
- Future Energy Ventures spun out from E.ON.
- EIF has reportedly committed €60M ($65M) to the new fund.
- Average initial checks for early-stage investments will range from €1M ($1.1M) to €10M ($10.8M).
- E.ON's chief strategy and innovation officer, Thomas Birr, said, "Having access to Climate-Tech and the resulting digital solutions is a central cornerstone of our innovation initiatives through which we continuously integrate new technologies and startup solutions into the E.ON business."
| | | |
| 6 | | Today's Funding: AI - South Korean AI chip maker Rebellions Inc. raised $124M in Series B funding led by wireless carrier KT Corp. Pavilion Capital, KT Cloud Co., Shinhan Venture Investment Co., Koreyla Capital, and DGDV participated in the round, that valued the firm at more than $650M.
Biotech - AI-powered drug discovery platform AQEMIA doubled its Series A funding round with an additional €30M ($32.5M). Wendel Growth led the extension round, with additional support from existing investors Bpifrance Large Venture, Eurazeo, and Elaia.
- Enterprise Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical startup working on the development of novel therapies for respiratory diseases, closed a Series B follow-on round at £26M ($33.1M). Panakes Partners led the round, joined by Versant Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Forbion, Epidarex Capital, and IP Group.
Software - Media streaming software maker Plex raised a $40M Series C-3 funding round from existing investors Intercap and Kleiner Perkins.
Telecommunications - Weavix, a startup developing communication systems for on-the-ground industry workers, secured $23M in Series B funding led by Insight Partners.
| | | |
| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Are you creating the unique user journeys your customers demand? You can by Mastering Personalization with AI.*
- Non-profit health system Summa Health's executives are defending the firm's proposed acquisition by Health Assurance Transformation Company, a new division launched by VC firm General Catalyst. COO Benjamin Sutton argued that the takeover would help the company to continue operations without laying off employees.
- New York-based early-stage VC firm Arcadian Ventures raised $30M towards its second fund. The fund will back startups working on technology that will impact the future of work, such as intelligent AI-powered work applications, work infrastructure, regulatory and compliance solutions, and solutions aimed at the emerging global workforce.
- Fairview Capital has promoted partners Alan Mattamana and Aakar Vachhani to the managing partner roles.
- James Allen takes the stress out of Valentine's Day and ring shopping for the special woman in your life. Browse and customize online to get her the perfect gift, now at 25% off.*
*This is sponsored content. | | | |
| Upcoming Events | | MAR
7 | | Portfolio Diversification - Learn from knowledgable experts on the latest trends in alternative investment assets like private equity, crypto, real estate, and the art market. | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
 | Analyst | | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
| |
| |
|
 | Not ready to pay for analytics? Try Amplitude. | |
|
| |
Comments
Post a Comment