When I first agreed to take on writing Term Sheet alongside the inimitable Jessica Mathews last fall, I was admittedly pretty nervous. Well, really nervous. Term Sheet’s brand and prestigious alumni—including Axios’s Dan Primack and Lucinda Shen, The Profile’s Polina Marinova Pompliano, and the New York Times’s Erin Griffith—left big shoes to fill, to say the least. And frankly, I wondered if I’d be able to pull it off. But as I write this, my final Term Sheet, I’m so glad I said yes.
I’ve truly learned so much—about venture and myself. Thanks in huge part to my wonderful and long-suffering editor Lee Clifford (who hired me over four years ago), my amazing partner-in-crime Jessica, our incredible newsletter team Jack Long and Courtney Dennis, and the first-rate Jackson Fordyce and Joe Abrams on the deals section, the past year has been one of the most exciting and rewarding of my career. And all of you, the Term Sheet reader community, have made my time on this newsletter so fulfilling. It’s been so fun meeting you at conferences and events around the city, and your emails have warmed my heart and taught me a lot. But all good things must come to an end, and today is my last day at Fortune. I’m excited to say I will soon be joining the Financial Times-backed news site Sifted, where I’ll be covering European startups and venture capital and writing the (soon-to-be daily) flagship newsletter—and I’ll be moving to Berlin to do it!
I will be forever grateful for my time at Fortune, especially for my fantastic colleagues and editors who took a chance on me way back when, trusted and encouraged me to co-write this newsletter, and are such great role models doing rigorous, consistent work day in and day out. I’m not quite sure what I will do without my daily Slack and phone chats with Jessica, but I’m trying not to think about that just yet.
As I was sitting down to write Term Sheet one last time, I got a chance to reflect and think back on everything I’ve learned. I’ve been able cover so many wild market events and interesting people and companies, including the spectacular collapse of venture capital darling FTX; the mayhem during the bank run on Silicon Valley’s favorite bank and lender, Silicon Valley Bank; the explosion of AI startups—from those working on things like drug discovery to AI assistants for humans—and, of course, their crazy valuations; the big changes (and tensions) at Microsoft’s venture arm, M12; the rise and fall of Tiger Global; interviewing well-known solo climber Alex Honnold, who I also told that, given his incredible risk tolerance, he would make a good venture capitalist; and, of course, the unwinding of the dealmaking frenzy in 2021 and rise of down rounds.
It’s certainly a tough time for the industry, and it’s easy to get bogged down in the slew of negative news. But there are also a lot of good things happening—from crucial climate technologies getting funded to more pay transparency for VC jobs. And I’m excited to continue covering this crazy ecosystem from across the Atlantic.
That’s all from me. Please do keep in touch via Twitter/X at @AnneSraders, or on LinkedIn, until I get settled with my new email. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I leave you in the infinitely capable hands of Jessica.
Auf Wiedersehen,
Anne Sraders
Twitter: @AnneSraders
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.
VENTURE DEALS
- Cardata, a Toronto, Canada-based platform that creates reimbursement plans for employees that use their personal cars, raised $100 million in funding. Wavecrest Growth Partners led the round and was joined by MassMutual Ventures.
- SuperOrdinary, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based consulting company that helps brands scale and connects them with influencers, raised $58 million in Series B funding from Manzanita, Puig, Demira Gate, Upper90, and Julian Reis.
- Habyt, a Berlin, Germany-based house and apartment rental platform, raised €40 million ($42.2 million) in Series C funding. Korelya Capital and Deutsche Invest led the round and were joined by Exor Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, and existing investors.
- Diana Health, a New York City-based healthcare network that connects women with OBGYN doctors and other care providers, raised $34 million in Series B funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round and were joined by .406 Ventures, LRVHealth, and AlleyCorp.
- Treetoscope, a Mikveh Israel, Israel-based irrigation management company for crops, raised $7 million in seed funding. Champel Capital led the round and was joined by SeedIL, YYM-Ventures, Agrovision, and others.
- Class Companion, a San Francisco-based virtual classroom platform, raised $4 million in seed funding. Index Ventures led the round and was joined by OpenAI Startup Fund and angel investors.
- Konnect.ai, a Houston, Texas-based AI-powered customer service platform for automotive dealerships, raised $5.5 million in seed funding from Silverton Partners.
- SpecCheck, a Los Angeles, Calif.-based optical care network and billing platform, raised $3.7 million in seed funding. Initialized Capital led the round and was joined by Y Combinator.
- FlexSea, a London, U.K. and Berlin, Germany-based company that turns seaweed into bioplastics, raised €2.3 million ($2.4 million) in seed funding. Indico Capital Partners led the round and was joined by RedRice Ventures, Btomorrow Ventures, Food Foundry, Vala Capital, ICON Capital, and Pente Capital
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Metropolis Technologies, backed by Eldridge, agreed to take SP Plus Corporation, a Chicago, Ill.-based parking management, transportation management, and event logistics provider, private for approximately $1.5 billion.
- BID Group, backed by Highland West Capital, acquired YGE Inc., a Quebec, Canada-based supplier of wood processing tools and services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- General Atlantic and Carmignac acquired minority stakes in Clipway, a London, U.K. and New York City-based private equity secondaries firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Lovell Minnick Partners acquired a majority stake in S&S Health, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based consultant for employer healthcare programs. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Unity Partners acquired a majority stake in Poolie, an Austin, Texas-based pool services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- Dover agreed to acquire FW Murphy Production Controls, a Tulsa, Okla.-based parts manufacturer for the compression industry, from Genisys Controls for $530 million.
OTHER
- Emmes acquired VaxTRIALS, a Panama City, Panama-based vaccine clinical trial administrator. Financial terms were not disclosed.
IPOS
- Shimmick, an Irving, Calif.-based construction firm, filed to go public. The company posted $690 million in revenue during the year ending June 30, 2023. GOHO backs the company.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Section 32, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm, raised $525 million for its fifth fund focused on AI-powered companies in the software, cybersecurity, data infrastructure, gaming, fintech, precision medicine, and computational biology industries.
PEOPLE
- Boost VC, a San Mateo, Calif.-based venture capital firm, promoted Gus Domel to principal. Formerly, he was with Force Impact Technologies.
- Section 32, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm, promoted Wesley Tillu to partner. Formerly, he was with In-Q-Tel.
- Stone-Goff Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm, hired Meet Doshi as managing director. Formerly, he was with Quad Partners.
- The Halifax Group, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm, promoted Molly Fitzpatrick to principal. Formerly, she was with Rallyday Partners.
- Turnspire, a New York City-based private equity firm, hired Matthew Klammer and Tejas Nair as associates. Formerly, Klammer was with Raymond James and Nair was with J.P. Morgan.
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