SURVEY SAYS
Earlier this year I asked Term Sheet readers to take a confidence survey created by professional services provider Semaphore. More than 500 of you did (around 30% from the private equity, 26% from venture capital, with the rest coming from bankers, LPs, operating execs and third party vendors). The results are in (find them here) and here is the short version: PE and VC pros are confident in themselves, their businesses, their bosses, and their money, and they have little confidence in most aspects of our government. Here’s the breakdown of how much confidence the respondents had on….
…Their own business: Very. 83% of readers are confident.
…Their industry: Mostly. 64% are confient.
…Their competitors: Mostly. 59% are confident.
…The U.S. economy: Mostly. 64% are confident.
…The international economy: Not so much. Just 21% are confident.
…Themselves: Healthy self-esteems here. 93% report self-confidence.
…Their earning power: Very. 76% expect to earn more than they did last year. (Meanwhile 80% got a raise in 2016.)
…Their boss: Mostly. 64% are confident.
…Their CEO or Managing Partner: Mostly. 69% are confident (The grass is always greener, though. 76% report confidence in their competitors’ CEOs and Managing Partners.)
…The former president: Very. 78% expressed confidence in President Obama and 59% expressed confidence in his economic team.
….The new president: Not so much. Just 25% are highly or somewhat confident in President Trump and only 15% are confident or somewhat confident in his economic team.
…Congress: Not so much. 21% are confident in Congress.
…Speaker Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: Not so much. 25% are confident in Ryan; 33% for McConnell.
…Taxes: Only 20% are confident in the U.S. tax and spending policy and only 16% of international respondents expressed confidence in their countries’ tax and spending policies.
Sectors: In 2016, the top three industries for investment were (in order) healthcare, enterprise software, and healthcare/financial services. Next year you expect enterprise software and healthcare/financial services to jump ahead of general healthcare deals. (Consumer, digital media and entertainment lagged those industries for both time frames.)
Lastly, a few predictions: The majority of respondents (57%) expect personal income tax rates to drop this year, and even more (70%) expect lower corporate income taxes. And not many of you are preparing to say goodbye to carried interest. Only 22% expect favorable carried interest tax treatment to be eliminated this year. Carry on.
THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE...
• Airbnb’s Super Bowl ad is not what it seems?
• Why President Trump’s wall won’t help U.S. workers.
• Goldman Sachs turns on President Trump.
• 97 companies signed the legal brief against Trump’s travel ban.
• The Zuckerberg Chan initiative donates $3 million towards solving San Francisco’s housing crisis.
• ‘Stranger Things’ won the Super Bowl on social media.
• Wall Street is confused by Trump’s fiduciary rule memo.
• SpaceX plans to launch rockets every two to three months.
• The Hamilton Ponzi scheme sucked in Wall Streeters and billionaires like Michael Dell.
• What Trump doesn’t get about H1-B Visas.
…AND ELSEWHERE
Tech opposition to Trump’s travel ban driven by employees, not executives. Workout makeup. Swapping the Facebook feeds of the right and the left. Smart pills in the office. Gangs waging war on Facebook. New CEO at Zenefits. Trump remains closely tied to his business empire. Sofi’s winning bet on Super Bowl overtime. Why nobody cares the President is lying. Trump’s LBO of America.
VENTURE DEALS
•View, a Milpitas, Calif.-based provider of “smart” glass, raised $100 million in venture funding. TIAA Investments contributed $50 million to the round.
•Exabeam, a San Mateo, Calif.-based cybersecurity company, raised $30 million in funding. Cisco Investments and Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round. Read more at Fortune.
•SnapRoute, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based open-source networking company, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by Lightspeed, AT&T, and Microsoft Ventures. Read more at Fortune.
•Bloomon, an Amsterdam-based online flower delivery service, raised €21.4 million ($22.8 million) in a Series B funding round, according to Tech.eu. Investors include Fortino Capital, INKEF Capital, Partech Ventures, and angel investors. Read more.
•Chorus.ai, a San Francisco- and Tel-Aviv-based AI startup, raised $16 million in Series A funding. Redpoint Ventures led the round, and was joined by Emergence Capital.
•Verato, a McLean, Va.-based developer of SaaS products that connect customer, patient, or employee records across systems, raised $12.5 million in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners and Columbia Capital led the round.
•TravelTriangle, an Indian marketplace for finding and booking travel and holidays, raised $10 million in Series B funding, according to TechCrunch. RB Investments led the round, and was joined by SAIF Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners. Read more.
•Blooom, a Leawood, Kansas-based online registered investment adviser, raised $9.15 million in Series B funding. QED and Commerce Ventures led the round, with participation from Allianz Life, Nationwide, TTV Capital, KCRise Fund, Industry Ventures, and UMB.
•Lola Travel, a Boston-based subscription service for on-demand travel, raised an additional $5 million in Series B funding from GV and Tenaya Ventures, closing the round at $25 million.
•Stem, a Los Angeles-based company that manages royalties for artists distributing music on multiple platforms, raised $4.5 million in funding, according to the New York Times. Investors include Upfront Ventures and Scooter Braun. Read more.
•The Holberton School, a San Francisco-based college alternative designed to help fill the tech skills gap using non-traditional learning techniques, raised $2.3 million in funding. Daphni led the round, and was joined by Reach Capital and Insight Venture Partners. Read more at Fortune.
•InnovaTel Telepsychiatry, an Erie, Pa.-based provider of psychiatric telehealth services to adolescents and adults, raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Canyon Healthcare Partners.
HEALTH + LIFE SCIENCES DEALS
•Prexton Therapeutics, a Geneva-based developer of therapeutic compounds to treat central nervous system conditions, raised €29 million ($31 million) in Series B funding. Forbion Capital Partners and Seroba Life Sciences led the round, with participation from Merck Ventures, Ysios Capital, and Sunstone Capital.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
•The Sterling Group acquired Time Manufacturing Company, a Waco, Texas-based provider of aerial devices, from O’Flaherty Holdings Limited. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
•BayMark Health Services, a Lewisville, Texas-based provider of services to treat opioid addiction, acquired AppleGate Recovery, a Bossier City, La.-based addiction recovery clinic operator, and Coleman Institute, a Richmond, Va.-based outpatient detox program for addiction. BayMark Health is backed by Webster Capital. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
•Industrial Opportunity Partners acquired GT Technologies, a Westland, Mich.-based developer of systems and components for heavy duty diesel customers. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Webster Capital acquired PharmaLogics Recruiting, a Quincy, Mass.-based provider of recruiting services for life sciences companies.
OTHER DEALS
•Anova, a San Francisco sous vide startup launched on Kickstarter, has been acquired by Electrolux for $250 million including earn-outs.
IPOS
•Azul, a Brazilian airline based in Sao Paulo and backed by China’s HNA Group, has filed to go public on NYSE and São Paulo Stock Exchange after canceling prior plans to go public twice. Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank SA and Itau BBA are leading the offering.
FIRMS + FUNDS
•KKR Prisma, a fund-of-hedge funds manager operated by KKR (NYSE:KKR), will combine with Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company to form PAAMCO Prisma Holdings, a new firm with $30 billion in assets under management. Pacific Alternative Asset Management Company will own around 60%, and KKR will retain a 39.9% stake.
•Bregal Sagemount, a New York City-based private equity firm, raised $960 million for its second fund, Bregal Sagemount II.
•CITIC Capital Partners, the Hong Kong-based private equity arm of CITIC Capital Holdings, raised ¥30 billion ($267 million) for its third Japan buyout fund, Capital Japan Partners III.
•Frontline Ventures, a London-based private equity and venture capital firm focusing on pre-seed and seed investments in B2B companies, raised €60 million ($64 million) for its second fund.
PEOPLE
•Monomoy Capital Partners has promoted Lee Mlotek from vice president to director. In addition, Ashley Johansen has joined the firm as a managing director, and Kelly Myers and Rick Key have joined the firm’s operating group.
