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December is shaping up to be a bang-up month for IPO debuts.
Shares of food-delivery company DoorDash soared 86% Wednesday, closing at $190 apiece after the company raised some $3.4 billion in its offering.
Here’s a taste of just how big those numbers are: On a fully-diluted basis, the company is valued at an eye-popping $72 billion. Even on a non-diluted basis, the company nabs a $60 billion plus price tag—pushing its valuation far above competitor Grubhub (valued at $6.6 billion) and puts it in the universe of companies like COVID-19 vaccine maker Moderna ($62 billion) and General Motors ($63 billion).
It’s an enormous win for the company’s private market shareholders, including SoftBank and Sequoia Capital, who funded the company through its last private valuation of $18 billion.
DoorDash wasn’t alone in its IPO surge, though. On the same day, Microsoft-backed cloud infrastructure company C3.ai jumped 120% in its debut.
Will Airbnb follow in their footsteps in its debut today? So far, the numbers are running in the right direction for the home-sharing startup that has shown investors a stunning rebound from its pandemic lows. (Box CEO Aaron Levie went as far as dubbing it a “perfect market hedge” via Twitter. “If you believe the vaccine is coming quickly, people want to travel again. If you don’t believe it’s coming quickly, people want to work remotely in different locations longer.”)
The company priced its IPO at $68 a share, raising $3.5 billion, markedly above the price range Airbnb first set earlier this month: $44 to $50 a share. And while the company’s revenues may not be back from pre-pandemic times, the valuation cements its comeback—at least in investor’s eyes. In the most severe stay-at-home stretches of the pandemic, the company shaved its valuation down to $18 billion from $31 billion before the crisis hit. At the IPO price, Airbnb would be valued at $47 billion.
While the question for DoorDash is how it will fare after the pandemic, a key issue for Airbnb is precisely the opposite. What happens if the pandemic drags on longer than expected or governments strengthen lock-down orders?
RETROACTIVELY SPLITTING AN M&A DEAL: Facebooks’ $1 billion acquisition of Instagram is now hailed as dealmaking magic, bringing new life to the social media company. Now state and federal regulators say the 2012 deal, along with the acquisition of Whatsapp for $19 billion in 2014, should be unwound. That comes as the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and almost every state in the nation filed a lawsuit accusing Facebook of buying rivals only to stifle competition. Read more.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- Pico, a New York-based quant trading tech provider, raised $135 million in Series C funding. Intel Capital invested and was joined by investors including EDBI and CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund.
- LeanTaaS, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based patient and healthcare provider tech company, raised $130 million in Series D funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Goldman Sachs.
- Reneo Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, Calif.-based clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on genetic mitochondrial diseases, raised $95 million in Series B funding. Novo Ventures and Abingworth co-led the round and were joined by investors including New Enterprise Associates, RiverVest Venture Partners, Pappas Capital, and Lundbeckfonden Ventures, as well as Rock Springs Capital, Aisling Capital, and Amzak Health.
- Hibob, a New York and London-based human resources software maker, raised $70 million in Series B funding. SEEK and Israel Growth Partners led the round.
- Bitso, a Mexico City-based crypto trading platform, raised $62 million in Series B funding. Investors included Kaszek Ventures and QED Investors. Coinbase Ventures and Pantera Capital also joined the round.
- CallRail, an Atlanta-based marketing and analytics platform, raised $56 million from existing investors Sageview Capital and Leaders Fund.
- Cambridge Quantum Computing, a Cambridge, U.K.-based quantum computing company, raised $45 million. Investors included Honeywell Ventures, IBM Ventures, JSR Corporation, Serendipity Capital, Alvarium Investments and Talipot Holdings.
- Cleo, a London-based financial assistant designed for Gen-Z, raised $44 million in Series B funding. EQT Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Balderton Capital, LocalGlobe, and SBI.
- Elation Health, a San Francisco-based primary care management software maker, raised $40 million. Generation Investment Management led the round and was joined by investors including Threshold Ventures and Kapor Capital
- At-Bay, a San Francisco-based insurance company, raised $34 million in Series C funding. Qumra Capital led the round and was joined by investors including M12.
- Graphiant, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer networking company, raised $33.5 million in Series A funding. Sequoia Capital and Two Bear Capital led the round and were joined by Atlantic Bridge.
- Fairmarkit, a Boston, Mass.-based market for goods and services for large enterprises, raised $30 million in Series B funding. GGV Capital and Insight Partners co-led the round.
- Nēsos, a San Francisco-based startup seeking to treat rheumatoid arthritis using electrical fields, raised $16.5 million in funding led by Mayfield Fund.
- Parallel Domain, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based synthetic data generation platform, raised $11 million in Series A funding. Foundry Group led the round and was joined by investors including Calibrate Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, and Toyota AI Ventures.
- Contractbook, a Copenhagen-based legal tech automation company, raised $9.4 million in Series A funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Gradient Ventures.
- Clockworks Analytics, a Somerville, Mass.-based maker of a cloud-based building analytics platform, raised $8 million in funding. Carom Growth Partners and Evans Capital Management led the round and were joined by Schneider Electric.
- Papercup, a London-based startup using A.I. to translate voices into other languages, raised £8 million ($10.5 million) in funding. LocalGlobe and Sands Capital Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Sky, GMG Ventures, Entrepreneur First, and BDMI.
- UbiQD, a Los Alamos, N.M.-based materials company serving agriculture, clean energy, and security markets, today raised $7 million in Series A funding. Scout Ventures and Keiretsu Forum led the round and were joined by investors including Sun Mountain Capital, Epic Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, and Arcview Collective Fund.
- Streetbees, a London-based market research firm, raised an additional $6.7 million from TempoCap.
- Bigger Games, an Istanbul-based gaming startup, raised $6 million in seed funding. Index Ventures led the round. Read more.
- Candu, a San Francisco-based developer of a no-code web builder, raised $5 million in seed funding. Two Sigma Ventures led the round and was joined by CRV.
- Workera, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based skills assessment maker, raised $5 million in seed funding. Owl Ventures and AI Fund led the round and were joined by Plug and Play Ventures.
- CarDr.com, a Chicago-based vehicle inspection company, raised $5 million from Red Fort Capital.
- Smartvid.io, a Cambridge, Mass.-based construction safety company using A.I., raised $5 million in funding. Investors include Sony Innovation Fund and IA Capital Group, as well as prior investors Building Ventures, Companyon Ventures and Converge.
- Ava, a San Francisco-based maker of a live captioning solution for accessibility, raised $4.5 million. Initialized Capital and Khosla Ventures led the round.
- NOW Insurance, a Houston-based insurance platform for business owners and professionals, raised $1.3 million in additional seed funding led by The MFO Group.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Platinum Equity agreed to acquire Ingram Micro, an Irvine, Calif.-based provider of technology services and solutions, from HNA Group division, HNA Technology, for about $7.2 billion.
- Thoma Bravo invested in Venafi, a Salt Lake City-based provider of network security, valuing the company at $1.2 billion. Existing investors, TCV and Foundation Capital, will remain shareholders.
- Summit Partners invested a €50 million ($61 million) in Solactive, a Frankfurt-based indices and index provider to financial companies. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- American Pacific Group and Northstar Capital acquired Fresche Solutions, a Montreal-based provider of IT software and services.
- Banneker Partners invested in Versaterm Public Safety, an Ottawa, Canada-based provider of software to first responder public safety agencies. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Fortis Solutions Group, a portfolio company of Main Post Partners, acquired Kala Packaging, an Orem Ut.-based maker of pressure sensitive labels and flexible packaging. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- J.F. Lehman & Company acquired CodeMettle, an Atlanta, Ga.-based developer of custom software development and proprietary software solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- New Capital Partners invested in Healthfuse, a Milwaukee, Wi.-based healthcare vendor management company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
EXITS
- Berkshire Partners recapitalized and acquired a stake in Foodchain ID, a Deerfield, Ill.-based food testing and safety company, from Paine Schwartz Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Instructure, backed by Thoma Bravo, agreed to acquire Certica Solutions, a Wakefield, Mass.-based K12 assessment and analytics company backed by New Harbor Capital. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- SK Capital Partners agreed to acquire Ipackchem Group, a Paris-based provider of sustainability-oriented barrier packaging, from Sagard. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- New Relic (NYSE: NEWR) agreed to acquire Pixie Labs, a London-based machine intelligence observability company backed by GV and Benchmark. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- CarGurus (Nasdaq: CARG) acquired a 51% interest in CarOffer, a Plano, Tx.-based car selling platform, valuing it at about $275M, with the ability to buy the remaining equity interest in the company over the next three years. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHER
- GlobalWafers will acquire Siltronic, a German silicon wafer maker, for €3.8 billion ($4.5 billion).
- CANDRIAM and its sister affiliate New York Life Investments Alternatives acquired a minority stake in Kartesia, a European private markets investor. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
IPOs
- Nanobiotix, a French biotech developing cancer therapies, says it now plans to raise $91 million in an offering of 6.5 million shares priced between $13.50 to $14.50. Read more.
- Midwest Holding, a Lincoln, Ne.-based life insurance company, plans to raise $72 million. Read more.
SPAC
- Carney Technology Acquisition II, a SPAC targeting the tech industry formed by former Brocade Communications CEO David Roberson, raised $350 million.
- RMG Acquisition II, a SPAC formed by Riverside Management Corp.’s James Carpenter and former Carlyle executive Robert Mancini, raised $300 million.
FFS
- Ten Coves Capital, a Connecticut-based private equity firm focused on fintechs, spun out of Napier Park Global Capital with two growth funds from Napier managing $325 million total.
- Rally Ventures, a venture firm, closed its fourth fund with $250 million.
- Upper90, a New York-based debt and equity provider to e-commerce, enterprise, and fintechs, raised $195 million.
