Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Term Sheet: Aug. 29, 2017

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August 29, 2017
THREE THINGS

Good morning, Term Sheet readers.

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback, introductions, and a special shout out to those of you who told me I need to add a headshot (here I am!). Keep the emails coming!

 
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Here are 3 interesting stories to start your morning:

FLUSH WITH CASH: Leonard Green & Partner will acquire CPA Global, an intellectual services provider, from Cinven for about £2.4 billion ($3.10 billion) including debt. Five years ago, Cinven bought the company for £950 million ($1.2 billion). As more cash pours into the sector, the deal is the latest sign PE firms are willing to pay higher prices to outbid rivals. The Financial Times has more here.

CROSSING PATHS: As I noted yesterday, soon-to-be Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is an investor in Convoy, a company that has been referred to as the "Uber for trucking." When Khosrowshahi takes the top job at the ride-hailing company, he might have to divest his shares in Convoy. Why? Because Uber (of course) has a competing platform called, Uber Freight, a service that matches truckers with freight loads.

Khosrowshahi invested in Convoy back in 2015 when it raised $2.5 million in seed funding. The startup has now raised more than $80 million in total venture capital. Garrett Camp, an Uber co-founder and board member, was also a Convoy investor before having to divest his shares in June, according to Recode. There's been some speculation that Convoy could make for an attractive acquisition for Uber down the line, but for now, the two remain competitors.

TBH it's getting hard to keep track of who's invested in whom in the already-incestous ride-hailing space (looking at you, Apple, Didi & Uber).

HARASSMENT: California is looking to crack down on sexual harassment involving venture capitalists. Although laws have been passed in order to protect employees who have been the victims of unwanted advances at work, not much has been done for entrepreneurs facing a similar situation with an investor.

Now, the California legislature will consider a bill that would add the word "investor" to a list a list of professionals who can be held liable for harassment. The state has already carved out similar provisions to include positions such as landlords, teachers, and real estate agents.

As Erin said previously, "Making it illegal for VCs to harass entrepreneurs is an important loophole to close. Changing a culture that allows harassment and discrimination to flourish will be more difficult."

Read more at Fortune.

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THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE...

North Korea fired a missile over Japan.

Students are taking virtual reality field trips.

Could the next financial crisis be worse than 2008?

This drone maker wants you to find its weak spots.

Inside Comcast's plan to build the smart home.

…AND ELSEWHERE

Burger King launches its own version of Bitcoin. Companies are working on ways to control machines with the human mind. Uber will stop tracking riders after their trip. The Pentagon faces $65 billion in budget cuts.

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VENTURE DEALS

CF PharmTech Inc, a China-based maker of inhalation products, raised $65 million in Series D funding. Future Industry Investment Fund led the round.

Anonyome Labs, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based consumer privacy startup, raised $20.4 million in Series B funding. Investors include John Mumford, Todd Davis, Greg Clark, and Hanna Ventures.

Gigster, a San Francisco-based smart software development service provider, raised $20 million in Series B funding. Redpoint Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator and Sound Ventures.

Amplero, a Seattle-based provider of core artificial intelligence marketing technology, raised $17.5 million in Series B funding. Greycroft and Ignition Partners led the round, and investors include Wildcat Venture Partners, Seven Peaks Ventures, and Trilogy Equity Partners.

Hubble, a New York-based direct-to-consumer contact lens brand, raised $10 million in funding. Investors include FirstMark Capital, Greycroft Partners, Founders Fund, Wildcat Capital Management and Two River.

Revive Kombucha, a Petaluma, Calif.-based operator of a brewery that produces kombucha drinks, raised $7.5 million in Series B funding. Peet's Coffee led the round.

Freenome, a South San Francisco-based health tech company, raised a $7 million extension to its previously announced Series A funding. Section 32 led the round.

LevaData, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based developer of cloud-based cost management software, raised $5 million in Series A funding from Tola Capital.

Next Caller, a New York-based phone fraud detection service, raised $5 million in seed funding. Crystal Towers led the round.

BillingPlatform, an Englewood, Colo.-based billing software provider, raised $4 million in funding. Investors include Columbia Capital.

Wise Apple, a Chicago-based direct-to-consumer meal delivery service, raised $3.6 million in seed funding. Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Levy Family Partners led the round, and were joined by investors including Chicago Ventures, Greycroft, BoxGroup and Irish Angels.

Ideal, a Canada-based AI for recruiting company, raised $3 million in funding. Investors include Mike Durland, Michael Hyatt, Richard Hyatt, and the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund.

Hotelchamp, a Netherlands-based marketing and sales platform for hotel websites, raised an additional €2.25 million ($2.7 million) in seed funding. Hotelchamp previously raised €1.75 million ($2.2 million) in seed funding, bringing the total amount to €4 million ($4.8 million).

8th Wall, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based augmented reality application developer, raised $2.4 million in funding, according to VentureBeat. Investors include Norwest, the VR Fund, SV Angel, Greylock, Betaworks, and Third Kind. Read more.

Recvue, a Palo Alto, Calif.- based recurring revenue and billing management platform, raised $2 million in funding to accelerate growth. Cota Capital led the round.

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PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS

Safanad increased its investment in HC-One, a U.K.-based provider of health and social care. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Boyne Capital Partners agreed to acquire a stake in Greenrise Technologies LLC, a  Readyville, Tenn.-based green infrastructure firms supplying engineered turnkey systems for green roofs, landscape and growing media, componentry and maintenance services. Financial terms were disclosed.

Parcom Capital acquired Viroclinics Biosciences, a Netherlands-based diagnostic and clinical trial operation service company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Resonetics, a portfolio company of Sverica Capital Management, acquired Aduro Laser, a Davis, Calif.-based laser micro-machined medical grade component manufacturer. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

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OTHER DEALS

Toromont Industries Ltd will buy Hewitt Group, a Canada-based Caterpillar dealership company, for about C$1.02 billion ($818 million) in cash and shares, according to Reuters. Read more.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) agreed to acquire Tegile Systems, a Newark, Calif,-based provider of flash and persistent-memory storage solutions for enterprise data center applications. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Valassis agreed to acquire MaxPoint Interactive (NASDAQ:MXPT), a Morrisville, N.C.-based digital marketing technology company, in a deal valued at $95 million.

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IPOs

Ambow Education Holding, which provides test prep in China, filed for an IPO of up to $5 million Monday. The company trades on OTC exchanges in the U.S. after delisting in 2014. Last year the company posted revenue of $59.3 million on loss of $5.3 million. Baring Private Equity (8.44% pre-offering), New Summit Global (7.2%), and China Education Investment Holdings Limited (37.48%). The company plans to list on the NYSE as "AMBO." Pricing terms have yet to be disclosed.

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EXITS

AE Industrial Partners acquired BHI Energy, a Weymouth, Mass.-based provider of specialty maintenance and staffing services for the power-generation industry, from Harvest Partners LP. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

CHT Group acquired ICM Silicones Group, a Cassopolis, Mich.-based maker of specialty silicone materials. The sellers were Century Park Capital Partners and Akoya Capital Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

DiscoverOrg, a portfolio company of TA Associates, acquired RainKing, a Bethesda, Md.-based sales intelligence provider. Financial terms weren't disclosed. RainKing had raised about $67 million in funding from Spectrum Equity.

Western Digital acquired UpThere, a Redwood City, Calif.-based cloud computing and hosting services company. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Upthere had previously raised $77 million in venture funding from investors including KPCB, Western Digital Ventures, Floodgate, Elevation Partners, GV, NTT Docomo Ventures and Square 1 Bank.

Forcepoint acquired RedOwl, a Baltimore, Md.-based provider of security analytics. Financial terms weren't disclosed. RedOwl had raised more than $21 million in venture funding from investors including In-Q-Tel, Blackstone, Conversion Capital, Allegis Capital, and TCP Venture Capital.

Narvar acquired technology and personnel from GoPigeon, an India-based end-to-end logistics management SaaS platform. Financial terms weren't disclosed. GoPigeon had raised about $1.5 million in venture funding from investors including Nexus Venture Partners.

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FIRMS + FUNDS

Waterland, a Netherlands-based private equity and venture capital firm, raised €2 billion ($2.4 billion), according to The Financial Times. Read more.

Joy Capital, a China-based venture capital firm, is seeking to raise $300 million for its second fund, Joy Capital II, according to an SEC filing.

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PEOPLE

Gen II Fund Services named Shaun Buckley as a managing director for its new Boston office. Previously, Buckley was at State Street.

Katsuyuki Kuki joined Blackstone to head the private equity firm's Japanese business. Previously, Kuki was at JPMorgan.

Kim Perdikou joined CloudScale Capital Partners as a partner. Previously, Perdikou was at Juniper Networks.

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Polina Marinova produces Term Sheet, and Lucinda Shen compiles the IPO news. Send deal announcements to Polina here and IPO news to Lucinda here.

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