The continued divvying up of the Weinstein Company

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The film shop that produced the likes of Silver Linings Playbook and Inglorious Basterds was practically radioactive after co-founder Harvey Weinstein was accused (and later convicted) of rape.

No one wanted to touch a studio, regardless of its former status, whose name had been attached to Weinstein.

A private equity firm however bought the assets of the Weinstein Company out of bankruptcy for about $350 million in cash and assumed liabilities in 2018 after investors and creditors had previously poured roughly $1 billion into the business.

Now with Weinstein and his brother out of the picture, said private equity firm, Lantern Capital Partners, is making a profit off the deal. After renaming the shop Spyglass Media Group in 2019, Lantern on Thursday said it sold most of its 277-film library to Lionsgate. Lionsgate meanwhile took a 20% stake in Spyglass. While Lantern CEO Andy Mitchell didn’t specify how much his firm has made in the deal, he told my colleague Shawn Tully that it came at a profit.

What really, surprisingly, continues to shock however is how much of a mess the studio was. Here’s an excerpt of the story:

”When Mitchell took charge, the studio still employed around 80, about half the pre-bankruptcy workforce. ‘I had to make extra-sure that I was re-hiring those people into a new company, which was called Lantern Entertainment,’ says Mitchell. ‘We had an all-hands meeting at the offices on Wilshire Boulevard. I said, ‘We’re buying the assets. Please come work for the new company. But this will be a formal onboarding process.’ A hand shot up. One employee asked, ‘Will you do criminal background and drug tests?’ ‘I was amazed,’ recalls Mitchell. ‘I said, ‘Yes, of course.’ The next day I was more amazed when 12 people quit.’”

VENTURE DEALS

- N26, a German fintech, is in talks to raise at a $10 billion valuation, per Bloomberg.

- Yanolja, a South Korean travel app maker, raised $1.7 billion from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.

- EquipmentShare, a Columbia, Mo.-based maker of equipment-tracking tech for the construction industry, raised $230 million in funding. Tiger Global Management, The Spruce House Partnership, and RedBird Capital Partners led the round and were joined by investors including Tru Arrow Partners, Romulus, Insight Partners, and Anchorage Capital Group.

- Genvid Holdings, a New York City-based maker of livestreaming technologies and services, raised $113 million in Series C funding. Valor Equity Partners and Atreides Management led the round and were joined by investors including Third Point Ventures, Cobalt Capital, LightShed Ventures, XN, and Lux Capital.

- Shape Therapeutics, a Seattle-based gene therapy biotech, raised $112 million in Series B funding. Decheng Capital and Breton Capital led the round and were joined by investors including Willett Advisors, New Enterprise Associates, and Mission BioCapital.

- OpenStore, a Miami-based business buying Shopify merchants, raised $30 million in Series A funding, per Axios. Khosla Ventures led the round valuing it at about $250 million.

- PAQ Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based biotech focused on autophagy, raised $30 million in Series A funding. Sherpa Healthcare Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Huagai Capital, MSA Capital, MRL Ventures Fund, Nest.Bio Ventures, and Matrix Partners China.

- Verve Motion, a Cambridge, Mass.-based wearable robotics company, raised $15 million in Series A funding. Construct Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Founder Collective, Pillar VC, Safar Partners, and OUP.

- Wicked Kitchen, a U.K.-founded plant-based food company, raised $14 million in Series A funding. Unovis Asset Management and NRF Nove Foods led the round.

- Play2Pay, a Miami-based payments platform, raised $13 million. Telesoft Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Harbor Spring Capital.

- Gourmey, a French cultivated meat company, raised $10 million in seed funding. Point Nine and Air Street Capital co-led the round.

- Protonn, a San Jose, Calif.-based company management software maker, raised $9 million in seed funding. Matrix Partners India led the round and were joined by investors including 021 Capital and Tanglin Venture Partners.

- Verifi Media, a New York and London-based media rights data management company, raised $4 million. FUGA led the round.

- Limina, a Stockholm-based platform for mid-sized asset managers, raised $3 million in Series A funding. Industrifonden led the round.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Sydney Airport, the Australian airport operator, rejected bids that valued it at $16.6 billion form investors including IFM Investors.

- Blackstone agreed to acquire a minority stake in AIG's life and retirement business for $2.2 billion.

- J.C. Flowers & Co. took a 30% stake in LMAX Group, a London-based platform for FX and crypto currency trading, valuing the business at $1 billion.

- Addison Group, a portfolio company of Odyssey Investment Partners, acquired ArcLight Consulting, a Burlington, Mass.-based Oracle-focused consultancy. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- ASG, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors, acquired Alice, a hotel operations management platform, from Expedia. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Avance Investment Management invested in UniVista Insurance, a Miami-based franchisor of insurance-related products and services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Carlyle and Mubadala Investment Company acquired minority stakes in Apex Group, a financial services provider. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- FMS Solutions, backed by New Heritage Capital, acquired GOT Systems, a grocery-tracking software company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- HCAP Partners invested in 5^th Kind, a Los Angeles-based developer of collaboration tools for film studios. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

- Summa Equity acquired a majority stake in Axion BioSystems, an Atlanta-based biotech company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

IPO

- Stevanato Group, an Italy-based delivery company focused on pharmaceuticals, raised $672 million in an offering of 32 million shares priced at $21 per share.

- Blend Labs, a San Francisco-based mortgage and lending tech company, raised $360 million in an offering of 20 million shares priced at $18 per share. Coatue, Formation8, and General Atlantic back the firm.

- Bridge Investment Group, a Salt Lake City-based real estate investment firm, raised $300 million in an offering of 18.8 million shares priced at $16 per share.

- Erasca, a San Diego, Calif.-based clinical-stage precision oncology company, raised $300 million in an offering of 18.8 million shares priced at $16 per share. It previously sought to raise $280 million. Arch Venture Partners, Colt Ventures, and Cormorant Asset Management back the firm.

- Xponential Fitness, an Irvine, Calif.-based boutique fitness franchisor, plans to raise up to $213.3 million in an offering of 13.3 million shares priced between $14 and $16. It posted revenue of $106.6 million and a net loss of $13.6 million in 2020. Snapdragon Capital Partners backs the firm.

- Imago BioSciences, a San Francisco-based bone marrow drug maker, raised $134.4 million in an offering of 8.4 million shares priced at $16 per share—up from its previous plans to raise $112 million. BlackRock, Frazier Healthcare Partners and T. Rowe Price back the firm.

- TScan Therapeutics, a Waltham, Mass.-based cancer therapy company, raised $100 million in an offering of 6.7 million shares priced at $15 per share. Baker Bros, 6 Dimensions Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners back the firm.

- Candel Therapeutics, a Needham, Mass.-based immunotherapy company, plans to raise up to $91.1 million in an offering of 6.1 million shares priced between $13 and $15. The company posted $125,000 in revenue and a net loss of $13.8 million in 2020. PBM Capital and Northpond Ventures back the firm.

- FinWise Bancorp, a Murray, Ut.-based community digital bank operator, filed for an initial public offering. The company reported $11.2 million in net income for 2020.

- Southern States Bancshares, an Anniston, Ala.-based state-chartered commercial bank, filed for an initial public offering. The bank posted $12.1 million in net income in 2020. Patriot Financial Partners backs the firm.

- Scribd, a San Francisco-based ebook subscription service, is in talks to go public as early as this year, per Bloomberg.

SPAC

- ServiceMax, a field service management software company backed by Silver Lake, will go public via merger with Pathfinder Acquisition, a SPAC backed by HGGC and Industry Ventures. The deal values the company at $1.4 billion.

OTHER

- Newfront Insurance, a San Francisco-based insurance broker company, agreed to merge with ABD Insurance and Financial Services valuing the combined companies at $1.4 billion. Founders Fund and Meritech back Newfront.

F+FS

- Shore Capital Partners, a Chicago-based microcap private equity investor, closed its fourth healthcare private equity fund, Shore Capital Healthcare Partners Fund IV with $336 million and a business services fund with $213 million.