SOME PERSONAL NEWS
By my calculation, this is the 200th edition of Term Sheet I’ve sent since taking over this newsletter nearly ten months ago.
In that time Term Sheet has covered startup layoffs, startup debt, and the many ways to build a successful company. There were exciting 11th hour deals, transformative takeovers, and dud IPOs. We spoke with some of the tech industry’s most active dealmakers, chased the private equity world’s money problem and the next generation of VC firms, analyzed direct listings, learned about ICOs, watched startups fire their investors, tussled with Nin Ventures, joked around with Mark Cuban, debated the role of haters, called out sexism and sexual harassment, listened to a lot of podcasts, and wrote way, way too many words about Uber. We noticed a pattern of bad startup behavior in 2016 that has only gotten worse this year. We climbed unicorn mountain.
It’s been challenging, thrilling, and despite the disapproving stare in my photo above, a lot of fun. You see where I’m going with this.
This the last week I’ll be writing Term Sheet. I’m joining Wired next month to do a lot more of what I was doing before I took over this newsletter – in-depth news reporting, analysis, columns, and feature stories.
As Medium cliché goes, it was a difficult decision. Holy sh-t was it a difficult decision. Readers, you’ve been an incredible audience. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to replicate the hit of adrenaline I get every morning when your responses begin pouring into my inbox. But changing things up was the right thing for me, blah blah, you get it. More on that Friday, which is my last day at Fortune.
Term Sheet and Fortune will continue to keep you all informed of the latest deals, funding announcements, firm news, and people moves. More on that later this week, too.
Onto the news…
MUST READ: New York Magazine has an excerpt from Ellen Pao’s upcoming book, “Reset,” in its latest issue. In it, Pao explains what she wishes she’d done differently, the most painful part of the trial, and why she has no regrets about the lawsuit despite its many consequences. (The consequences include a miscarriage her doctor attributed to stress from the lawsuit. “I felt, in that moment, that Kleiner had taken everything from me,” she writes.)
She also addresses a common sentiment I’ve heard expressed by many in the Valley:
In the wake of my suit, I often heard people say that my case was a matter of “right issues, wrong plaintiff,” or that the reason I lost was because I wasn’t a “perfect victim.” I’ll grant that only someone a little bit masochistic would sign up for the onslaught of personal attacks that comes with a high-profile case, but I reject the argument that I wasn’t the right person to bring suit. I was one of the only people who had the resources and the position to do so. I believed I had an obligation to speak out about what I’d seen.
MORE UBER: Jeff Immelt is the front-runner to become Uber’s CEO, according to Recode.
THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE...
• The moral imperative of leadership.
• Pressure is on for Infosys to find a replacement CEO.
• Trump family’s Secret Service protection catches up with agency’s payroll.
• The food industry goes after imposters.
• How to spot counterfeit eclipse glasses.
…AND ELSEWHERE
Who owns the Internet? Inside Argo AI. The latest Brexit victim: venture capitalists. Target ends its relationship with Hampton Creek. Summer youth unemployment. The cheapest takeover Carl Icahn has ever done. The benefits of Steve Schwarzman standing by the President. Private equity and Japan. Macron and French unicorns.
VENTURE DEALS
• Capital Float, an India-based provider of working capital finance and business loans to SMEs, raised $45 million in Series C funding. Ribbit Capital led the round, and was joined by SAIF Partners, Sequoia India and Creation Investments.
• Prodigy Finance, a U.K.-based online platform which helps students fund their university business degrees, raised $40 million in Series C funding. Index Ventures led the round.
• UangTeman, an Indonesia-based online microlending platform, raised $12 million in Series A funding. K2 Venture Capital, Enspire Capital and Alpha JWC Ventures led the round, and was joined by Draper Associates.
• eMoov, a U.K.-based online real estate agency, raised £9 million ($11.6 million) in funding, according to TechCrunch. JXC Ventures led the round, and was joined by Episode 1 VC, Maxfield Capital, Spire and Startive Ventures. Read more.
• Monstar Lab Inc, a Japan-based software development firm, raised $6.3 million in funding. Investors include YJ Capital Inc., Shinsei Corporate Investment Limited, San-In Chuo Television Broadcasting Co, Fenox Venture Capital and Tanabe Corp.
• Commonwealth Joe, an Arlington, Va.-based coffee roasting company, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Mendacre led the round, and was joined by investors including Hammerstone Capital and Stroud Companies.
PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
• DTLR Inc, which is backed by Bruckmann, Rosser, Sherrill & Co, and Sneaker Villa Inc, a portfolio company of Goode Partners, have merged. The newly combined company will focus on footwear and apparel retailing. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
• Hidden Harbor Capital Partners acquired Stella Environmental Holdings Inc, a Houston, Texas-based provider of transfer station management and municipal waste logistics services. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
• H.I.G. Growth Partners invested in Fidelity Payment Services, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based provider of payment processing to small- and medium-sized businesses. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
• Warburg Pincus invested more than $100 million in eSentire, a Canada-based provider of managed cybersecurity solutions provider.
• American Health Staffing Group Inc, a portfolio company of BelHealth Investment Partners LLC, acquired Expedient Medstaff LLC, a Southgate, Mich.-based provider of travel nurse staffing. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
• Clarion Capital Partners made an investment of an undisclosed amount in AML RightSource, a financial crime compliance services provider.
• Softbox Systems, a portfolio company of Great Point Partners, acquired Tempack Packaging Solutions, a Barcelona, Spain-based developer of packaging solutions that transport pharmaceutical products. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
• HPS Investment Partners LLC and Equity Group Investments agreed to acquire Waste Industries, a Raleigh, N.C.-based provider of non-hazardous solid waste collection, transfer, recycling, and disposal services. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
• Kellermeyer Bergensons Services LLC, which is backed by GI Partners, acquired Varsity Facility Services, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based facilities services provider. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
• Vocus Group Ltd. (ASX:VOC) ended talks with KKR & Co. and Affinity Equity Partners Ltd., which had made separate A$2.2 billion ($1.7 billion) bids for the telecommunications company, according to Bloomberg. Read more.
OTHER DEALS
• Sempra Energy will buy Oncor, a Dallas, Texas-based electricity transmission and distribution company, for $9.45 billion. Read more at Fortune.
• Total SA agreed to acquire A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S’s (CPSE:MAERSK B) oil unit for $4.95 billion. Read more at Fortune.
• AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) is exploring options for its Digital Life home security business, including a sale, according to Reuters. It could fetch close to $1 billion in a sale. Read more.
• Continental acquired Quantum Inventions, a Singapore-based mobility data services company, for SG$40 million ($29 million), according to TechCrunch. Read more.
• Kuuhubb Inc. completed the previously announced acquisition of Sumoing Oy, a Finland-based coloring book mobile application developer, for €9 million ($10.6 million).
• Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (BIT:FCA) denied rumors of a potential takeover by China's Great Wall Motor Co Ltd . Read more at Fortune.
IPOs
Sok, a Turkish discount retailer, is planning an initial public offering in 2018, according to Reuters. The company is 39% owned by Gozde Girisim, the investment arm of food giant Yildiz Holding, and half owned by a Netherlands-based investor consortium. A private equity fund run by Templeton Asset Management also holds 10%. Read more.
EXITS
• Cisco (Nasdaq:CSCO) will acquire Springpath, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of hyperconvergence software, for $320 million in cash. Springpath had raised approximately $34 million in venture funding from investors including New Enterprise Associates, Redpoint, Sequoia Capital, and Stanford University.
• Brynwood Partners agreed to sell Back to Nature Foods Company, a Naples, Fla.-based producer of cereals, cookies and crackers, to B&G Foods, Inc. for about $162.5 million.
• ProAmpac, which is owned by Pritzker Group Private Capital, acquired Clondalkin Flexible Packaging Orlando, an Orlando, Fla.-based flexible packaging company from Holland’s Clondalkin Group. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
• Platinum Equity agreed to acquire Pattonair, a U.K.-based aerospace and defense supply chain provider, from Exponent Private Equity. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
• Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. agreed to sell Futuris Global Holdings LLC, an Oak Park, Mich-based supplier of seating solutions to the automotive industry, to an affiliate of Adient plc. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
PEOPLE
• Ruulke Bagijn will join Carlyle Group’s AlpInvest Partners as head and managing director of its primaries business. Previously, Bagijn was at AXA Investment Managers.
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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.
