| | | | | | | Presented By Milken Institute | | | | Axios Pro Rata | | By Dan Primack · Apr 28, 2023 | | | | | | Top of the Morning |  | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios | | | | Running a bit behind this morning, due to an unfortunate meeting between my car tire and a nail. So just emptying the notebook... Allocations: We've spent time discussing how private equity and venture capital fundraising have been hampered over the past year by the denominator effect, whereby falling public equities reduce the real dollar value of other allocations. - Now there are concerns about a further squeeze, as rising rates are causing some institutional investors to consider increasing their fixed income allocations at the expense of alternatives.
Moving on: Some quiet departures this month from Google Ventures, including COO Daphne Chang and partners Jess Verrilli and John Lyman. - The only one whose future plans we know is Verrilli, who's launching a new firm called Adverb Ventures with former Slack chief product officer April Underwood (the pair previously worked together at Twitter, and then again on #Angels).
- Adverb Ventures is raising up to $75 million for its debut fund, per an SEC filing.
Gametime: Alignment Growth Management yesterday said it raised $360 million for its debut fund, focused on the media, entertainment and gaming sectors. - Its co-founders are longtime media banker Alex Iosilevich, former Warner Brothers CEO Kevin Tsujihara, and former Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes.
- Iosilevich tells me that that the gaming M&A market is largely on hold until Microsoft/Activision gets resolved. If the deal goes through, then he expects a wave of large deals. If it's successfully blocked, then consolidation will continue to be subdued.
Quiz time: Can you name the growth equity firm raising a new fund despite having not yet called capital from the fund it closed just last year? Hint: It's a numbers game. Not quite yet: Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was scheduled to begin her 11-year prison sentence yesterday, but remains free due to some legal maneuvering involving a direct request to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. - In short, she gets an automatic reprieve while the 9th Circuit considers her filing, but most expectations are that she'll be in a jumpsuit shortly.
Weekend watch: All eyes will continue to be on First Republic, which remains in dire straights despite a small stock bump yesterday. The latest development is a Reuters report that the FDIC and Treasury are now coordinating rescue talks, which is a reversal from earlier in the week. |     | | | | | | The BFD |  | | | Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios | | | | Elliott Management has built a stake in German enterprise software provider Software AG (Frankfurt: SOW), which recently received a €2.2 billion takeover offer from Silver Lake, per Bloomberg. Why it's the BFD: This plays into a burgeoning belief that Software AG might get a superior bid, as evidenced by the company's shares now trading above what Silver Lake offered to pay. The bottom line: Any rival would have to climb a very steep hill. - Silver Lake offered around a 50% premium, has existing shares (via a 2021 investment), secured management support and an agreement to buy a 25% stake from the Software AG Foundation. All it needs to seal the deal is 50% shareholder approval, plus one vote.
- Moreover, Elliott is unlikely to stand in Silver Lake's way, given that the two firms have worked closely together in the past on deals like Twitter.
| | | | | | | | Venture Capital Deals | | • Zodia Custody, a London-based crypto custodian controlled by Standard Chartered, raised $36m in Series A funding led by Japan's SBI Holdings. https://axios.link/3LzWsm9 • Wayhome, a U.K.-based home mortgage alternative, raised £8m in Series A funding. Allianz X and Augmentum Fintech co-led, and were joined by Volution, Love Ventures and Cur8 Capital. www.wayhome.co.uk • Tembo, a London based digital-mortgage business, £5m co-led by Lone Ventures and Harold McPike. https://axios.link/3oRF82X • Chiefy, a New York-based provider of communications tools for surgical teams, raised $4.2m in seed funding. LionBird led, and was joined by Nina Capital and Emerge Ventures. www.chiefyteam.com • Dori, an Atlanta-based automation platform for private market transactions, raised $2m in seed funding from Counterpart Ventures, Correlation Ventures, and Service Provider Capital. www.dori.vc | | | | | | | | A message from Milken Institute | | Join the conversation | | |  | | | | Thousands of global industry leaders and innovators will convene April 30 to May 3 at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference. What to expect: Engage with experts reinventing health, finance and philanthropy as our audiences tackle the world's most pressing challenges. Learn more. | | | | | | Private Equity Deals | | • Kaiser Permanente reportedly is selling around a $5b portfolio of private equity fund stakes to a consortium that includes Ardian, Apollo Global Management and Blackstone. https://axios.link/41OSbAY • GIC agreed to pay more than $800m for a portfolio of six warehouse assets in Japan from Blackstone, in the country's largest real estate deal of 2023. https://axios.link/3HhsNLN 🚑 Probo Medical, a Fishers, Ind.-based portfolio company of Avista Capital Partners, acquired Ultra Select Medical, a Charleston, S.C.-based provider of ultrasound equipment. www.ultraselectmedical.com | | | | | | | | Public Offerings | | • Doms Industries, an Indian stationery company, plans to file as soon as June for a Mumbai IPO that could raise up to $300m, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3NcJX18 • Fanatics, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based sports merchandising giant most recently valued at $31b, moved closer to IPO by hiring former Meta and Netflix investor relations head Deborah Crawford. https://axios.link/425gp9E | | | | | | | | SPAC Stuff | | • iLearningEngines, a Bethesda, Md.-based employee learning automation platform, agreed to go public at an implied $1.4b enterprise value via Arrowroot Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: ARRW). https://axios.link/442SCJo | | | | | | | | Liquidity Events | | 🚑 Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) agreed to buy Haystack Oncology, a Baltimore-based developer of liquid biopsy diagnostics, for up to $450m in cash (including $300m upfront). Haystack last year raised $56m in Series A funding from Catalio, Bruker, Exact Sciences and Alexandria Venture Investments. https://axios.link/3HhASQY | | | | | | | | More M&A | | 🚲 BMC, a Swiss maker of high-end road bikes, is seeking a buyer, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3HkvWuw • Deutsche Bank agreed to buy British stockbroker Numis (LSE: UM) for around £510m. https://axios.link/3Ve0VOu 🚑 Kaiser Permanente agreed to acquire Danville, Pa.-based hospital operator Geisinger. https://axios.link/3NiJbQ0 | | | | | | | | Fundraising | | • Coalesce Capital, a New York-based midmarket PE firm led by Stephanie Geveda (ex-Warburg Pincus) is raising its debut fund, per an SEC filing. https://axios.link/3LB5ZJG • Sturgeon Capital of London launched a $35m fund focused on Central Asia startups. https://axios.link/3LwvD29 | | | | | | | | It's Personnel | | • Jake Brewer and Chuck Sonsteby joined Orangewood Partners as managing director of operations and as an operating partner, respectively. Brewer previously was chief strategy officer of Miso Robotics, while Sonsteby serves on the boards of Darden Restaurants and Valvoline. www.orangewoodpartners.com • Vanessa D'Cunha joined Red Arts Capital as CFO. She previously was with CapX Partners. www.redartscapital.com • Kevin Gasque joined venture firm Greycroft as CFO and COO. He previously spent more than 11 years with Carlyle Group. www.greycroft.com • Glenn Lurie, ex-CEO of AT&T mobility and consumer ops, joined Stormbreaker Ventures as a partner. The firm also hired serial entrepreneur Bart Lorang as a venture partner. www.stormbreaker.vc • Andreas Moon left I Squared Capital Advisors, which he helped form and where he served as head of investor relations, per the WSJ. https://axios.link/44dMfTC • Leanne Schmitt joined Star Mountain Capital as a managing director. She previously was with Intech Investment Management. https://axios.link/3Ho3hVw • Nick Thursby is leaving Credit Suisse, where he led the Southeast Asia financial institutions group, to join Deutsche Bank, per Bloomberg. https://axios.link/3Lj3Lx0 | | | | | | | | Final Numbers |  Data: CoinGecko; Chart: Axios Visuals Binance's U.S. unit this week scrapped its $1.3 billion deal to buy the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital. - That's led to a lot of questions over what happens to Voyager, but there might be more about the future of Binance.
- Axios Crypto author Brady Dale writes that pundit consensus is that some sort of criminal charges are forthcoming against the company and its CEO. At the same time, however, the market isn't buying that narrative, based on the Binance coin price. Go deeper.
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