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The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, ending decades of Americans’ constitutional right to abortion access.
Now, it will be up to individual states to make decisions regarding abortion restrictions, with at least 13 states banning or severely restricting it immediately, according to The Washington Post. READ MORE
While not on the same breakneck pace of last year, M&A dealmaking involving cybersecurity startups has remained robust in 2022, even with a sputtering economy.
Last year was a record breaker for cybersecurity dealmaking, with 124 VC-backed startups getting bought, according to Crunchbase data. Although it doesn’t seem that 2022 will break that record—with only 49 announced through nearly half the year—this year is still clocking in at a healthy pace, according to those who observe the market. READ MORE
A federal grand jury in New York has issued subpoenas to each board director of the blank check company that has agreed to take Donald Trump's social media startup, Truth Social, public.
Why it matters: This is in addition to previously disclosed investigations into the blank-check company by both the SEC and Justice Department, thus intensifying questions about Truth Social's financial future. READ MORE
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted 5-0 to issue a complaint and accept a proposed order for public comment regarding private equity fund JAB Consumer Partners SCA SICAR’s (JAB) $1.1 billion acquisition of SAGE Veterinary Partners, LLC (SAGE) on June 13, 2022. Despite a unanimous, bipartisan vote to resolve a handful of competitive overlaps, public statements from the FTC’s three Democrats and two Republicans highlight a significant schism regarding enforcement of private equity acquisitions and prior notice and approval requirements for future transactions. READ MORE
A suddenly sour macro environment took its first victim in unprofitable growth stocks.
Next came broader indices falling into bear market territory along with a flight from fixed income markets.
Now, LPs' VC portfolios may be the next target of persistent inflation, rising interest rates, and slowing economic growth. READ MORE
As banks lose market share in traditional commercial lending, some are seizing the growing opportunity of providing short-term financing to private equity and venture capital funds, says Moody’s Investors Service.
With banks losing ground to private credit suppliers in traditional lending, they are increasingly finding business in capital call lending — which are effectively investment bridge loans for PE and VC funds, Moody’s said in a new report. READ MORE
Venture capital (VC) investing, done well, requires the right amount of capital and the right amount of industry expertise invested in a startup at the right time. At its best, venture capital delivers a clear advantage to a startup that propels it through its critical growth stages and continues to add value throughout the company’s lifecycle. READ MORE
Most companies don’t give ex-employees cash to leave and start their next business. They’re more often willing to spend to pay and retain them, even launching fancy “intrapreneurship” programs to keep startup ideas in-house.
Nylas CEO Gleb Polyakov takes the opposite approach. If his employees want to be entrepreneurs, then they should “graduate” from the company and go build their passion, Polyakov told me. In fact, Nylas will give any ex-employee starting a new company at least $20,000 to pursue it as part of its new Nylas Alumni Fund. READ MORE
Private equity dealmaking is getting a little too incestuous. Volatile markets and the $3 trillion industry’s sheer size mean that Blackstone (BX.N), KKR (KKR.N) and others will increasingly have to sell assets to each other - and even themselves. The merry-go-round can create governance concerns and extra costs. READ MORE
“If I had to choose between switching to renewable energy or keeping staff on, I’d definitely put aside that energy transition,” Micol Chiesa, formerly head of impact at Five Seasons Ventures told me this week. “And that’s a fair choice,” she added.
Her comments sum up the current reckoning that ESG is facing perfectly. The acronym arrived in the mid-2000s to describe how investing could bear more than just profit in mind — you could invest and do good. READ MORE
Andreessen Horowitz is one of the most-recognized venture capital firms in Silicon Valley and it just keeps growing. But amid a broader pullback in venture investment, the firm also appears to be slowing down its investing pace this quarter, at least compared to where it was last year. READ MORE
Whether to go with venture capital or bootstrapping is a question most SaaS founders face at various stages of their business—anywhere from initial product development to accelerating growth for multiple products. READ MORE
The S&P 500 is in the gutter. The tech-heavy NASDAQ is doing worse. IPOs are struggling to clear their listing prices and some tech stocks—like Uber—are trading well below their private market valuations.
Yet venture capitalists are continuing to throw money at tech startups, and 2022 is shaping up to be the second most active year of VC funding on record, right behind 2021. The public market slowdown—which limits the returns these VCs can hope for—isn’t meaningfully stalling their activity, contrary to the popular narrative. READ MORE
On 13 June 2022, the FTC announced a proposed consent agreement in connection with JAB Consumer Partners SCA SICAR’s (“JABCP’s”) proposed $1.1 billion acquisition of SAGE Veterinary Partners, LLC (“SAGE”). 1 JABCP is a private equity firm that owns Compassion-First Pet Hospital and National Veterinary Associates, Inc. (together, “Compassion-First/NVA”). READ MORE
A new HBR paper, “Private Equity Should Take the Lead in Sustainability” by Robert Eccles, Vinay Shandal, David Young and Benedicte Montgomery argues how – and why – the private equity must lead on integrating sustainability. READ MORE
If alternative managers don’t embrace ESG, they may risk losing business.
A quarter of limited partners surveyed by Preqin said they have turned down an investment opportunity due to concerns over ESG standards, according to the research firm’s latest report on environmental, social, and governance investing, expected to be released Thursday. Another 39 percent of limited partners said they are prepared to do the same if necessary. READ MORE
In Partnership with Collision 2022, North America’s fastest-growing tech event, PitchBook recently surveyed 105 venture capitalists about their views on investment strategies and outlooks amid market volatility, rising inflation and shifts in the talent market. We gleaned insights on their approaches to creating impact, their criteria for investing and their thoughts on potential emerging tech disruptors.
The quiz below is comprised of the same questions we asked venture capital investors at Collision between June 20–23, 2022. Test yourself to see how well-familiarized you are with VC investor sentiment as we head into the second half of 2022. READ MORE
Former Theranos executive Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani’s fraud trial is coming to a close, months after founder Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of defrauding investors.
Balwani was the now-defunct company’s chief operating officer, and was charged along with Holmes with mischaracterizing the company’s blood testing technology’s efficacy and business performance, according to The New York Times. Balwani and Holmes both pleaded not guilty, but Holmes was convicted on four of the 11 charges. READ MORE
Amid a broad and often punishing bear market for tech, U.S. Series B dealmaking is holding up pretty well.
So far in 2022, investors have poured a bit over $24 billion into Series B deals, per Crunchbase data. That’s higher than the full-year total for three of the past five calendar years, as laid out in the chart below: READ MORE
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