Axios Pro Rata: Opendoor picks SPAC — The new Mr. Met — Volcker Rule changes

Top of the Morning | Tuesday, September 15, 2020

View in browser   Presented By Cooley   Pro Rata By Dan Primack ·Sep 15, 2020 🎧 Axios Re:Cap focuses on classrooms as pandemic-era workplaces, with American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten. Included is a question on whether her union would accept COVID-19 vaccination requirements for teachers, once one is approved and available. Listen via Apple, Spotify, or Axios.     Top of the Morning Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   On Friday we noted that both Facebook and Old Navy were giving employees paid time off to work polls on election day, due to anticipated staffing shortfalls caused by the pandemic. Then we challenged you to do the same, in an effort to help prevent long lines at best, or polling location closures at worst. Driving the news: The response was tremendous. And deserving of recognition. So instead of a traditional Pro Rata column, below are the companies and firms that wrote back... Away: Day off, including for all retail workers. BigToken The Block BMNT: Day off, encouraging poll or election-related transportation work. Branch Furniture: Day off to volunteer, morning off to vote. Chatbooks: Day off to vote and volunteer. CodeScience: Turned it into billable project for consultants, so they both get paid and it counts toward bonuses. Collabfund Digits: Day off. DKC: Day off. Dupont Circle Solutions: Day off to volunteer, morning off to vote. Hiltzik Strategies Integrity Growth Partners: Day off for teams and encouraging same for portfolio companies. Incredible Health: Day off, encouraging volunteerism. Insight Partners: Day off. Institutional Limited Partners Association Invoca: Day off. TheKeyPR: Day off to work polls. Lighter Nutrition: Day off, encouraging volunteerism. Metromile: Election day now counts in flex holiday program, to vote or volunteer. Notion: Day off, encouraging volunteerism. Pallas Advisors/Pallas Ventures Primary Venture Partners Salary Finance: Day off to volunteer. Schnitzer Steel Industries Silversmith Capital Partners. Spiro.AI Spurrier Capital Partners: PTO to work polling places. Sun Mountain Capital: Day off, encouraging volunteerism. Techstars: Day off to volunteer. Thumbtack: Day off, encouraging volunteerism. Triplemint Trust & Will: Day off, encouraging volunteerism. TuneIn: Company holiday. txtsmarter: Election day now permanent company holiday Underclub: Day off, encouraging volunteerism. (If you replied and I missed it, please let me know.) Go deeper: Companies give employees PTO on election day     The BFD Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios   Opendoor, an "all in one" home buying and selling platform, agreed to go public via a reverse merger with Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp II, a tech-focused SPAC led by Chamath Palihapitiya. It will have an initial enterprise value of $4.8 billion, including around $1 billion in new investment. Why it's the BFD: This reflects both the home-buying boom and the SPAC boom, neither of which was anticipated in April when Opendoor laid off 600 employees. It's also validation for a company whose business model was mocked by rivals, until they later began to copy it. Details: Opendoor will get $414 million via the SPAC, plus a $600 million PIPE from Palihapitiya, insiders (Access Industries and Lennar) and new investors (BlackRock and BlackRock and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan). Other existing equity backers will roll over all of their equity. History: Opendoor raised around $2.85 billion in venture funding, most recently at a $3.8 billion post-money valuation in early 2019, from firms like Access Industries, Lennar, SoftBank Vision Fund, GV, Khosla Ventures, and GGV Capital. The bottom line: The best comp is Zillow, whose stock yesterday closed at its all-time high.     Venture Capital Deals • Klarna, a Swedish payments platform for e-commerce, raised $650 million in primary and secondary funding at a $10.65 billion post-money valuation. Silver Lake led, and was joined by GIC, BlackRock, HMI Capital, Merian Chrysalis, TCV, Northzone, and Bonnier. http://axios.link/bj6g • dLocal Group, a Uruguay-based provider of payment processing solutions in emerging markets, raised $200 million at a $1.2 billion valuation. General Atlantic led, and was joined by Addition. http://axios.link/cqL6 🚑 Neogene Therapeutics, a Paris-based developer of neoantigen T-cell therapies to treat cancer, raised $110 million in Series A funding from EcoR1 Capital, Jeito Capital, Syncona, Vida Ventures, TPG, and Two River. http://axios.link/JaXs • Devo Technology, a Cambridge, Mass.-based big data analytics platform, raised $60 million in Series D funding. Georgian Partners led, and was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners and return backer Insight Partners. The company also named Marc van Zadelhoff (ex-LogMeIn, IBM) as its new CEO, with former CEO Walter Scott becoming board chairman. www.devo.com 🚑 Hexagon Bio, a Menlo Park-based synthetic biology platform, raised $47 million in Series A funding. The Column Group led, and was joined by Two Sigma Ventures and 8VC. www.hexagonbio.com • nTopology, a New York-based 3D printing platform for manufacturing, raised $40 million in Series C funding. Insight Partners led, and was joined by Grant Verstandig and return backers Root Ventures, Canaan Partners, DCVC, & Haystack. www.ntopology.com • GHGSat, a Montreal-based greenhouse gas monitoring company, raised US$30 million in Series B funding. Investissement Québec led, and was joined by OGCI Climate Investments, BDC, FSTQ, Space Angels, and Schlumberger. http://axios.link/YqnA 🚑 Medigate, a security and asset management platform for connected care, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Partech led, and was joined by Maor Investments and return backers YL Ventures, USVP, and Blumberg Capital. www.medigate.io • BrüMate, a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based DTC provider of insulated drinkware for adult beverages, raised $20 million from San Francisco Equity Partners. www.brumate.com • Hungry Harvest, a Baltimore-based "rescued" produce delivery startup, raised $13.7 million in Series A funding. Creadev led, and was joined by Danone Manifesto Ventures, Quadia and Maywic Select Investments. www.hungryharvest.net • BrandTotal, a New York-based provider of brand social media marketing analytics, raised $12 million in Series B funding. INcapital Ventures led, and was joined by Maor Investments, Glilot Capital Partners, Flint Capital, KDC Media Fund, and FJ Labs. http://axios.link/QQKs • Courier, a no-code API platform for multichannel notifications, raised $10.1 million in Series A fund. Bessemer Venture Partners led, and was joined by Matrix Partners, Twilio, and Slack Fund. http://axios.link/qzV7 • CashKaro, an Indian cashback and coupon site, raised $10 million in Series B funding. Korea Investment Partners led, and was joined by Kalaari Capital. http://axios.link/BjsC • Spotawheel, an online used car marketplace in Poland and Greece, raised €10 million in equity and debt funding. VentureFriends led, and was joined by Velocity Partners and FJ Labs. http://axios.link/79b3 🚑 Totient, a Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of antibody therapeutics, raised $10 million in seed funding from Mission BioCapital, Sands Capital, Viva Biotech, Kaitai Capital, and Tau Ventures. http://axios.link/fng9 • Kivuto, a Canadian distributor of digital academic resources, raised C$7.6 million led by Roynat Equity Partners. http://axios.link/eYVA 🚑 Dozee, an Indian contactless remote health monitoring startup, raised $1.7 million from Prime Venture Partners, YourNest VC, and 3one4 Capital. http://axios.link/tfmk • Sentinel, an Estonian deepfakes detection platform, raised $1.35 million in seed funding from United Angels VC and individuals like Jaan Tallinn (ex-Skype). http://axios.link/60cf     A message from Cooley Considering a SPAC?     Thinking of going public and wondering if doing so through a special purpose acquisition company is right for you? Cooley shares 10 key considerations for going public with a SPAC on its new capital markets blog, CapitalXchange. Learn more.     Private Equity Deals • Accel-KKR carved out the Shipper TMS shipment management software business of Wabtec Corp. (NYSE: WAB), and will merge it with existing portfolio company PINC. www.pinc.com • Bettera Brands, an acquisition platform sponsored by Highlander Partners, acquired the assets of Nutravail, a Chantilly, Va.-based maker of soft-chew nutraceutical ingredients. www.nutravail.com 🚑 CATO SMS, a Cary, N.C.-based portfolio company of Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners, acquired Wilmington, N.C.-based Array Biostatistics. www.cato-sms.com • Desch, a Dutch portfolio company of Lincolnshire Management, acquired Interplast Plastic Products, a Holland-based manufacturer of horticulture container products. www.desch.nl • HelioCampus, a Bethesda, Md.-based provider of decision support services to higher ed, acquired ABC Insights, a higher education benchmarking consortium. HelioCampus is owned by Pamlico Capital. www.heliocampus.com • Highlander Partners acquired Hilo Nutrition, a Columbus, Ohio-based maker of pre-workout gummies. www.hilogummies.com • Triton raised its takeover offer for Swedish IT consultancy HiQ International by 2.86% to around $460 million. http://axios.link/KM7I     Public Offerings 🚑 Outset Medical, a San Jose, Calif.-based maker of hemodialysis system for kidney diseases, raised $242 million in its IPO. The company priced 9 million shares at $27, versus plans to offer 7.6 million shares at $22-$24, for an initial market cap of $1.07 billion. It had raised over $500 million in VC funding from firms like Warburg Pincus (28.2% pre-IPO stake), Fidelity (15%), D1 Capital (12.1%), T. Rowe Price (11.7%), Aurora Investment Co. (9.1%), Partner Fund Management (7.5%), and Perceptive Investors (6.5%). http://axios.link/FKSS     SPAC Stuff • AEA-Bridges Impact Corp., an ESG-focused SPAC formed by AEA Investors and Bridges Fund Management, filed for a $400 million IPO. http://axios.link/WJ6o • Atlantic Street Acquisition, a SPAC formed by MC Credit Partners, filed for a $250 million IPO. http://axios.link/wJPl 🚑 Montes Archimedes Acquisition, a SPAC led by former KKR health care head James Momtazee, filed for a $500 million IPO. • Sandbridge Acquisition Corp., a consumer business-focused SPAC sponsored by Sandbridge Capital, raised $200 million in its downsized IPO. http://axios.link/WF3i • Software Acquisition Group II, a software-focused SPAC led by former Ooyala execs, raised $150 million in its IPO. http://axios.link/XpW6 • Sports Entertainment Acquisition filed for a $350 million IPO. It plans to target a sports or entertainment business, and is led by former NFL and NHL execs. http://axios.link/JUKk     More M&A Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   • Steve Cohen, the hedge fund billionaire from Long Island, agreed to buy a 95% stake in the New York Mets at an enterprise value of $2.42 billion (most ever paid for an MLB franchise, topping the 2012 LA Dodgers sale). The selling Wilpon and Katz families would retain a 5% stake. http://axios.link/Shu9 • Next PLC (LSE: NXT) agreed to buy a majority stake in Victoria's Secret UK from L Brands (NYSE: LB). http://axios.link/ryHl • Red Ventures, a media holding company, agreed to buy CNET Media Group from ViacomCBS (Nasdaq: VIAC) for $500 million. In addition to tech media site CNET, the deal includes such sites as ZDNet and TVGuide. http://axios.link/gnlg • Town Sports International (Nasdaq: CLUB), the parent company of New York Sports Clubs and Lucille Roberts gyms, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. http://axios.link/hByw     Fundraising • Panasonic (Tokyo: 6752) launched its second Conductive Ventures fund with a $150 million commitment. http://axios.link/SwN3     It's Personnel • Reg Brown, chair of WilmerHale's financial institutions group, will join The Blackstone Group's board of directors. www.blackstone.com • Edward Kliphuis (ex-M Ventures)and Kai Schmitz (IFC) joined Amadeus Capital Partners as partners, while Ana Bernardo-Gancedo (OC&C Strategy Consultants) joined as a health care analyst. www.amadeuscapital.com • Nate McOmber left Sherwood Partners to join G2 Capital Advisors as a director in its restructuring practice, focused on the VC and tech sectors. www.g2cap.com     Final Numbers Source: PitchBook. Data for U.S.-based funds through Aug. 28, 2020. Source: PitchBook | Geography: US The SEC next month will implement revisions to the Volcker Rule, loosening restrictions on bank participation in venture capital and debt funds (as both a GP and LP). Highlights from a PitchBook analyst report on what comes next: "We do not see a need for additional large-scale VC funds in the market but believe the revisions will embolden large banks to raise new vehicles. Smaller, less capitalized VC ecosystems stand to benefit the most from the rule changes." "Banks are now allowed to commit to credit funds that make similar loans or investments to the bank itself. We believe more capital in the mid-market loan space could put further pricing pressure on an already crowded market."     A message from Cooley Life sciences venture financing deals robust through Q2     Amidst the pandemic, VC dollars flocked to the life sciences sector in Q2. Half of the deals tracked focused on earlier stage companies raising A and B rounds, an indication of continued investor appetite for new innovation in the sector. See more at our venture financing dashboard on Cooley GO.   🙏 Thanks for reading Axios Pro Rata! Please ask your friends, colleagues, and realtors to sign up.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: