WHERE THE BEER FLOWS LIKE WINE
Hello from Aspen again. Yesterday kicked off day one of Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference. Some highlights:
• Cruise Automation’s CEO on what it’s been like working inside GM.
• Yoky Matsuoka on what humans can do better than robots (and vice versa).
• An insight into the Chinese bike-sharing market.
• What Priceline’s CEO looks for in an acquisition.
• Why one top analyst thinks $SNAP is a buy.
• General Stanley McChrystal’s problem with ‘America First.’
• But most relevant to Term Sheet readers: Alan Murray’s interview with Silver Lake’s Egon Durban and Michael Dell.
Silver Lake is in no hurry to exit its investment in Dell, Durban said. And, well... all private equity investors say that. But Durban took his answer to a new, poetic height: “We’re in it to win it, together forever.”
When pushed on exiting the company, Durban said Silver Lake decided that compounding its investments in existing deals can be more compelling than making new investments.
“We made the decision back in 2012, Dell’s brand and size and scale, that we were getting married to Michael Dell and Dell the company. We’re going to see this through.”
He noted that both he and Michael Dell had many chances to exit or optimize for short-term monetization, but chose to double down instead. (No comment on rumored divestitures like the IPO of Pivotal.)
The idea of using fund money to invest more in a portfolio company that’s doing well rather than pursuing a new deal may not just be a matter of discipline, it may also be due to the well-documented lack of good targets in large-cap private equity.
When asked what other areas Silver Lake is interested in investing in, Durban cited high growth tech companies similar to personal banking unicorn SoFi, which the firm backed earlier this year.
Silver Lake believes the “death of the private got company got overblown.” He added: “We’re finding deep value in scale – effectively tech businesses with $100 million to $1 billion of revenue. In this market that continues to be undervalued on a relative basis.”
THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE...
• Why Google is the most vulnerable member of the FANG club
• Home property prices in Beijing fell for the first time in two years
• Tech firms are clashing with internet providers in net neutrality drama
• What could come out of that Amazon-VMWare partnership
• Bank of America and Goldman’s better-than-expected profits
...AND ELSEWHERE
Hampton Creek’s entire board leaves. Angellist partner leaves amid sexual harassment probe. Calpers is considering doing its own PE investments.
VENTURE DEALS
•NewStore, Inc., a Boston-based mobile retail platform provider, raised $50 million in Series B funding. Activant Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including General Catalyst and Stephan Schambach.
•Leap Motion Inc, a San Francisco-based provider of motion tracking technology for virtual and augmented reality, raised $50 million in Series C funding. Investors include JPMorgan Asset Management.
•FreshBooks, a Canada-based cloud accounting solutions provider, raised $43 million in Series B funding. Georgian Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Accomplice and Oak Investment Partners.
•SpotHero, a Chicago-based parking reservation startup, raised $30 million in Series C funding. Investors include Insight Venture Partners, Global Founders Capital, and Autotech Ventures.
•Alation, a Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of software that allows businesses to have a single source of reference for their data, raised $23 million in funding, according to VentureBeat. Icon Ventures led the round, and was joined by Harmony Partners,Costanoa Ventures and Data Collective. Read more.
•Privitar, a U.K.-based privacy preserving data mining startup, raised $16 million in Series A funding, according to TechCrunch. Investors include Partech Ventures, CME Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures. Existing investors IQ Capital, 24Haymarket and Illuminate Financial participated. Read more.
•Embark, a Belmont, Calif.-based self-driving trucking startup, raised $15 million in Series A funding, according to TechCrunch. Data Collective led the round, and was joined by YCContinuity, Maven Ventures and SV Angel. Read more.
•Wellframe, a Boston-based mobile platform provider for patient care management, raised $15 million in Series B funding. F-Prime Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including DFJ.
•Impartner, a South Jordan, Utah-based partner relationship management company, raised $15 million in funding from Emergence Capital.
•Corelight, a San Francisco-based provider of network security solutions, raised $9.2 million in Series A funding. Accel Partners led the round, and was joined by Osage University Partners and Steve McCanne.
•Syte.ai, an Israel-based visual search startup focused on fashion products, raised an $8 million Series A funding, according to TechCrunch. NHN Ventures led the round, and was joined by Naver Corp., Line Corp., Magma VC, Remagine VC, KDC Ventures, and NBM Ventures. Read more.
•Reach Robotics, a gaming robots developer, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding, according to TechCrunch. Investors include Korea Investment Partners and IGlobe. Read more.
•ObEN, a Pasadena, Calif.-based artificial technology company, raised $5 million in funding from Tencent, according to TechCrunch. Investors including Li Ruigang and Fengshion Capital participated. Read more.
•Embark Veterinary Inc, an Austin, Texas-based genomics and dog DNA test developer, raised $4.5 million in funding. Investors include Founder Collective, Freestyle and ThirdKind, Section 32, Anne Wojcicki, and SV Angel.
•Learnerbly, a London-based curated professional development SaaS platform, raised £1.6 million ($2 million) in seed funding, according to TechCrunch. Frontline Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Playfair Capital, the Mayor of London’s London Co-Investment Fund, and Future Planet Capital.Read more.
•Adjoint, a smart contract company with offices in Boston and London, raised $1.05 million in pre-seed funding. Investors include Fintech Angels, Chicago Trading Company Ventures, Danhua Capital, and Kluz Ventures.
•Punchbowl, a Framingham, Mass.-based platform for online invitations and digital greeting cards, raised funding of an undisclosed amount from Party City.
HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES DEALS
•Menlo Therapeutics Inc, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based biopharmaceutical company, a raised $50 million in Series C funding. venBio led the round, and was joined by Novo Holdings A/S, Rock Springs Capital,Aisling Capital, and Bay City Capital. Existing investors including Vivo Capital, Presidio Partners, Remeditex, and F-Prime Capital participated.
•Silk Road Medical, Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based developer of less-invasive medical devices, raised $47 million in funding. Investors include Norwest Venture Partners and Janus Capital Management. Existing investors Warburg Pincus, The Vertical Group, and CRG participated.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
•KKR agreed to invest approximately $200 million in Radiant Life Care, an India-based operator of healthcare facilities, for a 49% stake.
•Sizmek Inc, an affiliate of Vector Capital, acquired Rocket Fuel (NASDAQ: FUEL), a Redwood City, Calif.-based predictive marketing platform, for $2.60 per share in cash. This represents an enterprise value for Rocket Fuel of approximately $145 million.
•YFM Equity Partners invested 3 million pounds ($3.9 million) in Friska Limited, U.K.-based restaurant chain.
•Wind River Environmental, which is backed by Gryphon Investors, acquired Soucy’s Septic Service, a Salem, N.H.-based provider of septic system design, drain cleaning, rejuvenation and septic repair services. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
•Elite Sports, which is backed by The Riverside Company, acquired Dreamlight Activewear, a Virginia Beach, Va.-based maker of gymnastics clothing. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
•One Equity Partners acquired SGB-SMIT, a Germany-based manufacturer of power transformers. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
OTHER DEALS
•Multi-Color Corp (Nasdaq:LABL) will buy the labels unit of Constantia Flexibles GmbH, an Austria-based packaging and label products manufacturer, for about $1.3 billion in cash and stock. Read more.
•Flipkart revised its offer for SoftBank-backed Snapdeal, an India-based shopping site operator, to between $900 million and $950 million, according to Reuters. Read more.
•Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYSE:VRX) will sell Obagi Medical Products, an Irvine, Calif.-based specialty pharmaceutical company, for $190 million in cash, according to Reuters. Read more.
• China is considering a merger between China Minmetals Corp, one of the country's largest miners and metals traders, and China National Gold Group, according to Reuters. Read more.
IPOs
EXITS
•BGC Partners Inc will buy Berkeley Point Financial, a Boston-based mortgage provider, from Cantor Fitzgerald for $875 million. Read more.
•BC Partners agreed to buy PlusServer, a Germany-based managed hosting provider, from GoDaddy Inc for an enterprise value of 397 million euros ($459 million), according to Reuters. Read more.
•DuBois Chemicals, which is backed by The Jordan Company LP, acquired BHS Specialty Chemicals, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based maker of specialty chemicals focused on food safety and water treatment solutions. The seller was Post Capital Partners. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
•CCMI acquired FiberLocator, a Newton, Mass.-based online fiber mapping database. The seller was NEF. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
•Activa Capital and Bpifrance sold their stakes in Nexeya, a Paris-based equipment products for air, land, naval, and joint task forces, back to the company’s management, which will have a 75% stake. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
•J.W. Childs Associates acquired a majority stake in EbLens LLC, a Torrington, Conn.-based retailer of urban-inspired footwear. The seller was KarpReilly LLC. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
FIRMS + FUNDS
•Rubicon Technology Partners, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based private equity firm, raised $536.8 million for its second fund, Rubicon Technology Partners II, according to an SEC filing.
•Iron Pillar, an India and Mauritius-based venture capital firm, set out to raise a $150 million venture capital fund, according to an SEC filing.
PEOPLE
•Thomas Chadwick joined Pritzker Group Private Capital as a vice president of the group’s manufactured products team. Previously, Chadwick was at Madison Dearborn Partners.
•Yasmin Razavi joined Spark Capital as a growth investor. Previously, Razavi was at Snap and Index Ventures.
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Polina Marinova produces Term Sheet, and Lucinda Shen compiles the IPO news. Send deal announcements to Polina here and IPO news to Lucinda here.
