Term Sheet — Thursday, March 26

There seems to be no spectator consensus on who will win, given the subjectivity of the core gender discrimination allegations (something that, legally speaking, would seem to tilt things in KP’s favor). If Pao loses, I wouldn’t be surprised. If Kleiner loses and is forced to pay $16 million (or $160 million), I also wouldn’t be surprised. This is where that phrase “they jury is out” comes from.

The verdict may hinge on whether or not Pao convinced the jury that her investing track record – or at least her track record in bringing deals to the partnership – was clearly deserving of a promotion. And, within that, both sides yesterday went back to Pao’s testimony about advocating that Kleiner invest in Twitter in 2008. This would be Twitter’s $15 million Series B round that ultimately was led by Spark Capital. Here was Pao’s recollection from the stand (per Re/Code):

“I spent time with Jack Dorsey and I thought we should look into that more. I tried to bring it to Matt Murphy’s attention — he had met with them maybe a year earlier. I said I understood he had spent some time with the company previously and I thought we should take another look, I heard they were raising money and it could be an interesting investment. … They had only raised one or two rounds of funding so they were very early stage. … Matt Murphy said yes, they had looked before, but the team was not business-minded and that we should not spend any more time with them.”

KP’s attorneys didn’t push on this history during cross-examination of Pao, nor during subsequent testimony by partners like Matt Murphy. But the firm’s attorney did say take issue with it yesterday, during her summation:

“What on earth did you see other than the bald contention that supports that? Did you see notes of meetings from Jack Dorsey? Was there an email? Was there any kind of business plan or due diligence? Did any senior partner testify? Did you even see any mention of Twitter in her self-reviews when she listed accomplishment and accomplishment and accomplishment. I can say I sourced Twitter, but that does not make it so.”

Or, put another way, KP’s attorney is implicitly saying that Pao perjured herself.

For starters, I’ve spoken (on background, natch) with a couple of people who were very close to Twitter and its funding process back in 2008. One tells me that Pao did indeed conduct due diligence on Twitter and advocated for the deal inside of Kleiner. Another recalls a meeting with several Kleiner staffers around the time of the Series B round (“there were a bunch of people in the room”), but does not remember if Pao was among those gathered. The person who could best vouch for/dispute this history is Jack Dorsey, but he did not return requests for comment.

But pay closer attention to what Kleiner’s attorney said at the end: “I can say I sourced Twitter, but that does not make it so.”

She’s right, but not necessarily because Pao’s story does or doesn’t hold up. It’s because there is nothing more contentious in venture capital (and, arguably, private equity) than who “sourced” a deal.

There is no common definition for the phrase, which is why the most successful VC transactions seem to have so many fathers within the same firm. Was it the associate who first brought the deal to a partner's attention? Is it the person who had the first meeting, or made the first contact? Is it the person who advocated most passionately for the deal? Or is it whoever ultimately takes the board seat? Is it whoever the entrepreneur says it is?

A bunch of you have asked over the years why I haven't worked on a rival to the Forbes Midas List, given my regular complaints about its methodology. The simplest answer is that I did try last year -- in partnership with a fund-of-funds manager -- but the single biggest sticking point was getting VC firms to provide deal attribution. This was most pronounced at hierarchical firms, where perhaps senior partners didn't want to be listed below those with far less fund economics. (fyi: we may still get there on our list, but it's sadly a ways off). Or perhaps where one partner may be planning to hang his or her own shingle, and overall fund performance figures are on the line.

So the reality is that Pao may honestly believe she sourced Twitter. And KP may honestly believe that she didn't. Even if the underlying facts are not in dispute.

It's just one of many reasons why this verdict will be second-guessed, no matter what the jury finds.

THE BIG DEAL

• Clayton, Dubilier & Rice has agreed to sell BCA, a European used-vehicle marketplace, to Haversham Holdings (AIM: HAV). The deal is valued at £1.2 billion, including £701 million in cash and £104 million in stock. It is expected to close in early April. www.british-car-auctions.co.uk

VENTURE CAPITAL DEALS

• FinancialForce.com, a San Francisco-based cloud ERP provider on the Salesforce1 platform, has raised $110 million in new VC funding. Technology Crossover Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backer Salesforce Ventures. www.financialforce.com

• Artsy, a New York-based art discovery platform, has raised $25 million in Series C funding led by Catterton Partners. www.art.sy

• BetterCloud, a New York-based provider of enterprise cloud management and security software for Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365, has raised $25 million in Series D funding. Accel Partners led the round, and was joined by return backers Flybridge Capital Partners, Greycroft Partners, Tribeca Venture Partners, New Amsterdam Growth Capital and Millennium Technology Value Partners. Read more.

• PhishMe Inc., a Leesburg, Va.-based provider of phishing threat management solutions, has raised $13 million in Series B funding. Return backer Paladin Capital Group was joined by new investor Aldrich Capital Partners. www.phishme.com

• FusionOps Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of cloud-based supply chain software, has raised $12 million in Series B funding led by New Enterprise Associates. The company was founded in 2005. Read more.

• Honk, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based provider of on-demand roadside assistance and towing, has raised $12 million in Series A funding. Altpoint Ventures led the round, and was joined by seed backer Expansion VC, Venture51, Karlin Ventures and Structure Capital.  www.honkforhelp.com

• ChowNow, a Los Angeles-based online ordering and marketing platform for restaurants, has raised $10 million in new VC funding. Upfront Ventures led the round, and was joined by Steadfast Venture Capital, Daher Capital, and Karlin Ventures. www.chownow.com

• Socratic, a New York-based education startup that connects students with “useful answers to academic questions,” has raised $6 million in Series A funding. Shasta Ventures led the round, and was joined by Spark Capital and Omidyar Network. www.socratic.org

• Roposo, an Indian social network and discovery platform for fashion products, has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Tiger Global. Read more.

• Meerkat, the hot livestreaming app, has raised an undisclosed amount of new VC funding from Greylock and a roster of Hollywood backers. Read more.

PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS

• Genstar Capital has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Mercer Advisors, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based wealth management firm, from Lovell Minnick Partners. No financial terms were disclosed. www.merceradvisors.com

• Inventus Solutions Inc., a Dallas-based e-discovery company backed by Clearlake Capital Group, has acquired Unified OS Ltd., a London-based provider of e-discovery and managed review services. No financial terms were disclosed. www.inventus.com

• RDS, an Anaheim, Calif.-based portfolio company of Trive Capital, has acquired substantially all the assets of Pinnacle Stone & Tile, a provider of countertop fabrication and tile installation services for the residential housing market in Northern California. No financial terms were disclosed. www.resdesign.com

IPOs

• Cellectis SA, a French gene-editing company, raised $229 million in its IPO. The company priced 5.5 million shares at $41.50 per share, compared to earlier plans to offer 3.5 million shares. The company will trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol CLLS, while BofA Merrill Lynch, Jefferies and Piper Jaffray served as lead underwriters. It has a fully-diluted initial market cap of around $1.5 billion. Shareholders include Bpifrance Participations (10.36% pre-IPO stake) and Pfizer Inc. (9.47%). Cellectis already is listed on the Alternext market of Euronext in Paris under ticker symbol ALCLS. www.cellectis.com

• Franklin Financial Network, a Franklin, Tenn.-based commercial bank with 11 branches, raised $55 million in its IPO. The company priced 2.6 million shares at $21 per share, compared to plans to offer 2.4 million shares at between $24 and $27 per share. It has an initial market cap of approximately $215 million. The company will trade on the NYSE under ticker symbol FSB, with BofA Merrill Lynch serving as lead underwriter. www.franklinfinancialnetwork.com

• Houlihan Lokey Inc., a boutique investment bank focused on M&A and bankruptcy advisory work, is prepping a 2015 IPO that could raise more than $200 million at a valuation north of $1.5 billion, according to the WSJ. Read more.

• Tantech Holdings, a Chinese maker of bamboo-based charcoal products for both home and industrial uses, raised $13 million in its IPO. The company priced 3.2 million shares at $4 per share (low end of $4-$6 range), for an initial market cap of $86.4 million It will trade on the Nasdaq under ticker symbol TANH, while ViewTrade served as lead underwriter. www.tantech.cn

EXITS

• Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has acquired FoundationDB, a Vienna, Va.-based developer of transactional NoSQL database software. No financial terms were disclosed. FoundationDB was founded in 2009, and had raised around $22 million in VC funding from Sutter Hill Ventures, CrunchFund and SV Angel. Read more.

• Gravity4 has acquired Triggit Inc., a San Francisco–based provider of dynamic ad retargeting. No financial terms were disclosed. Triggit had raised $18 million in VC funding from firms like Foundry Group, Bay Partners, Spark Capital, North Atlantic Capital, TenOneTen Ventures, TriplePoint Ventures and Westwood Ventures. www.gravity4.com

• Northwestern Mutual has agreed to acquire LearnVest, a New York-based personal finance platform. No financial terms were disclosed, but Fortune has learned the sale price was north of $250 million. LearnVest had raised nearly $70 million in VC funding from firms like Accel Partners, American Express Ventures, Conversion Capital, Rose Tech Ventures, Richmond Global and Northwestern Mutual Capital. Read more.

OTHER DEALS

• Bollore SA (Paris: BOLL) has sold a 22.5% ownership stake in French media group Havas (Paris: HAVA) for just over €600 million. Bollore retains around a 60% position. Read more.

• Borse Dubai has sold its entire 17.4% stake in the London Stock Exchange for upwards of $2.2 billion. Read more.

• SoftBank Corp. is leading an investor group in talks to buy a 20% stake in Indian handset maker Micromax Informatics for upwards of $1 billion, according to Reuters. Micromax shareholders include Sequoia Capital and TA Associates. Read more.

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FIRMS & FUNDS

• Capitala Group has closed its fourth lower and mid-market private equity fund with $125 million in capital commitments.  www.CapitalaGroup.com

• Flagship Ventures, a Cambridge, Mass.-based VC firm focused on healthcare and sustainability, has closed its fifth fund with $537 million in capital commitments. www.flagshipventures.com

• Ignition Partners is raising upwards of $200 million for its sixth fund, according to a regulatory filing. The VC firm – which has offices in Bellevue, Wash. and Silicon Valley – is currently investing out of a $150 million fund that closed in 2012. www.ignitionpartners.com

• Reverence Capital Partners has secured around $500 million for its $1 billion-targeted debut fund, according to Bloomberg. Reverence is a financial services-focused private equity firm founded by former Goldman Sachs bankers Milton Berlinski, Peter Aberg and Alexander Chulack. Read more.

• Ribbit Capital is raising upwards of $220 million for its third fund, according to a regulatory filing. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based VC firm focuses on financial technology startups. www.ribbitcap.com

MOVING IN, UP, ON & OUT

• Tec Han has stepped down as a senior investment analyst with Clark Enterprises Inc., in order to become CIO of an undisclosed private investment office in Oregon. Prior to joining Clark in 2011, he spent time with both the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust and Cambridge Associates.

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