It’s a great time to get out.
In the last six months, private equity firms have been exiting companies at a higher rate than they have in at least 20 years, according to new Pitchbook research, and they’re making quite a bit of money on their way out. There’s a handful of reasons for this. To name a couple: The IPO market is strong and company valuations are razor-sharp.
It’s nothing short of remarkable what we’re seeing here:
There’s always nuance to the data, and it’s not all roses. The number of exits in energy companies, for example, is down. However, generally speaking, it’s a great time to be selling a stake.
But there’s a consequential question at hand: How long is this going to last?
The success of an IPO is closely tied to the success of the stock market, and analysts are a little scattershot on what’s going to happen there. It’s also pretty hard to ignore the words “supply chain” and “inflation” anymore. Companies are struggling to land employees. More than 70% of manufacturers are reporting delays with their domestic suppliers, according to Pitchbook data. Retail trade and food services companies don’t fall too behind that figure. Let’s take a look at this chart:
Institutions have been predicting that returns will start heading down for a while now, even prior to the pandemic, according to Pitchbook research.“Meeting return targets over the next 10 years will be challenging,” the report reads, and investors may need to make some adjustments accordingly.
It’s tough to pinpoint exactly when deal valuations will take a turn, but it’s something worth keeping an eye on.
Twitter’s new CEO is keeping busy: Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s new chief exec, was making changes to the company’s executive team in week one. Now he’s putting an acquisition under his belt. Twitter announced yesterday it is acquiring Quill, a workplace messaging app that launched earlier this year, to improve their DMs and start offering a more useful and “expressive” way for users to converse. The Quill app is shutting down this weekend (I suppose customers should start backing up their feeds here pretty quickly, then?)
An update on the Better.com saga: Vishal Garg, who laid off around 900 staffers last week, then made comments about how a chunk of them were “stealing” from colleagues and customers, apologized for how he handled everything in a company wide email yesterday. More on that here.
An ask from me to readers: Thanks to all of you for flooding my inbox with welcome notes this week—what a great way to start a new role. As Term Sheet enters its new iteration, we’re re-thinking what to prioritize. My ears are open to our long-time readers and newcomers: What makes you open Term Sheet each day—and when do you decide not to? How valuable do you find the deals section, and which portions in particular? Please fill out this brief survey and let us know what you think. I promise it’ll be fast!
See you tomorrow,
Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- Loft Orbital, a San Francisco-based space infrastructure management company, raised $130 million in funding led by BlackRock and was joined by investors including CEAS Investments, Foundation Capital, Uncork Capital, and Ubiquity VC.
- Nomi Health, an Orem, Utah-based direct healthcare company, raised $110 million in Series A funding led by Rose Park Advisors and Arbor Ventures.
- Acepodia, an Alameda, Calif.-based cell therapy development company raised $109 million in Series C funding led by Digital Mobile Venture.
- AgentSync, a Denver-based insurance technology company, raised $75 million in Series B funding led by Valor Equity Partners and was joined by investors including Craft Ventures, Tiger Global, Atreides Management, Anthemis, and Nine Four Ventures.
- Reveleer, a Glendale, Calif.-based cloud-based healthcare platform, raised $65 million in funding led by Oak HC/FT and was joined by investors including Upfront Ventures and Boston Millennia Partners.
- TRM Labs, a San Francisco-based blockchain intelligence company, raised $60 million in Series B funding led by Tiger Global and was joined by investors including Amex Ventures, Visa, Citi Ventures, DRW Venture Capital, Jump Capital, Marshall Wace, Block, and PayPal Ventures.
- Suki, a Redwood City, Calif.-based voice artificial intelligence technology company for health care, raised $55 million in Series C funding led by March Capital and was joined by investors including Philips Ventures, Venrock, Flare Capital, Breyer Capital, and inHealth Ventures.
- Robin, a Berkeley, Calif.-based healthcare technology company, raised $50 million in Series B funding of $50 million led by Scale Venture Partners and was joined by investors including Khosla Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Social Leverage, Meridian Street Capital, and IA Ventures.
- Torq, a Portland, Oregon-based no-code security automation company, raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Insight Partners and was joined by investors including SentinelOne, GGV Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
- TrueNorth, a San Francisco-based platform for independent truckers, raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Lachy Groom and Sam, Max, and Jack Altman and were joined by investors including Flexport Fund, Tribe Capital, Original Capital, K5 Global, 137 Ventures, and Fifth Down Capital.
- FlipOS, A Phoenix, Az.-based real estate investor and institutional buyer outsourcing platform, raised $36 million in funding from Zeev Ventures.
- Pento, a London-based provider of payroll management software for SMEs, raised $35 million in Series B funding col-ed by Tiger Global and Avid Ventures and was joined by existing investors General Catalyst, Seedcamp, and LocalGlobe.
- Connect The Dots, a San Francisco-based network intelligence platform, raised $15 million in Series A funding led by Norwest Venture Partners and was joined by investors including Cloud Apps Capital Partners and Velvet Sea Ventures.
- Jupe, a Torrance, Calif.-based shelter technology company, raised $9.5 million in seed funding led by Initialized Capital and was joined by Y Combinator.
- Pair Team, community health center tech platform, raised $7.3 million in funding from investors including NTTVC, Newark Venture Partners, and 8VC.
- Arch, a New York-based administration platform for private investments, raised $5.5 million in seed funding led by Craft Ventures and was joined by investors including Animal Capital, Good Friends, Vine Ventures, Soma Capital, and Henry Ward.
- Clubbi, a Rio De Janeiro, Brazil-based supplier and grocery store connectivity company, raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Valor Capital Group and ONEVC and was joined by investors including Better Tomorrow Ventures, Latitud and Canary.
- SendOwl, a digital product sales and delivery platform, raised $4.5 million in seed funding led by Defy.vc and was joined by Stripe.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Main Street Capital invested $42.2 million in Valley Vet Supply, a Marysville, Kans.-based animal health product retailer; $38.4 million in Verified Credentials, a Lakeville, Minn.-based consumer reporting agency; and $27.1 million in DMA Sales, a Tabor City, N.C.-based ride control designer and distributor.
- Prelude Growth Partners invested $15 million in The Center, a West Hollywood, Calif.-based beauty brand platform.
- Battery Ventures acquired LI-COR Biosciences, a Lincoln, Neb.-based engineered instrumentation systems developer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Duraco Specialty Tapes, an OpenGate Capital portfolio company, acquired Rayven, a St. Paul, Minn.-based coated functional film and specialty tapes manufacturer, from private sellers. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Engineered Specialties, backed by Pfingsten Partners, acquired Alpha-Pure, a Michigan City, Ind.-based air treatment and condensante management product distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- A J.F. Lehman & Company affiliate acquired Narda-MITEQ, a Hauppauge, N.Y.-based custom radiofrequency and microwave subsystems and components manufacturer for defense and commercial companies, from L3Harris Technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Meridian Adhesives Group, backed by Arsenal Capital Partners, acquired American Sealants, a Fort Wayne, Ind.-based product assembly adhesive and sealants company. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Precisely, backed by Clearlake Capital Group and TA Associates, agreed to acquire CEDAR CX Technologies, an Atlanta, Ga.-based Software as a Service provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- FNZ agreed to acquire Appway, a Switzerland-based client onboarding and servicing company for financial institutions, from Summit Partners. As part of the deal, Summit will become a minority shareholder in FNZ.
- Wind Point Partners acquired good2grow, an Atlanta, Ga.-based kids’ beverage company, from Kainos Capital. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
OTHER
- Nestle is selling $10.1 billion of its stake in L'Oreal, a French beauty and cosmetics company, back to the company, reducing its stake in the company to 20.1%.
- Equinix, a Redwood City, Calif.-based digital infrastructure company, agreed to acquire MainOne, a West African data center and connectivity solutions provider, for $320 million.
- Binance Asia Services purchased an 18% stake in Hg Exchange, a private securities exchange in Southeast Asia.
- BP acquired AMPLY Power, a Mountain View, Calif.-based electric vehicle charging provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
IPOS
- Star Health, an Indian private health insurer, reduced the size of its IPO to $848 million, according to Reuters.
SPAC
- Alvotech Holdings, a Reykjavik, Iceland-based biogeneric product manufacturer, plans to go public via a merger with Oaktree Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC backed by Oaktree Capital Management. A deal values the firm at around $2.25 billion.
- Tomorrow.io, a Boston-based local weather forecasting platform, plans to go public via a merger with Pine Technology Acquisition Corp., a SPAC. A deal values the firm at $1.2 billion.
F+Fs
- Newpath Partners, a Boston-based private investment fund and venture capital firm, launched a $350 million fund.
PEOPLE
- Bain Capital Ventures, a Boston-based venture capital firm, added Christina Melas-Kyriazi as partner. Christina joins from Affirm.
- The Riverside Company, a New York-based private equity firm, promoted Jeffrey Gordon to managing partner and co-fund manager of one of its funds.
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