| | | | | | In January, more than 500 Term Sheet readers and VC/PE industry professionals took a survey conducted by Semaphore, a business consulting firm, about confidence in 2018. Approximately 31% of respondents work in venture capital, 15% work in private equity, with the rest being bankers, LPs, operating executives and third party vendors.) | | The full results are quite interesting, but here are the highlights: | | | | . |  | | . | | | | • 93% of respondents have confidence in themselves, while 79% have no or little confidence in President Donald Trump. | | • 88% were confident or somewhat confident in their own business | | • 80% believe sexual misconduct, harassment, and gender bias is a problem in the VC/PE industry. | | • 76% have confidence in the U.S. national economy | | • 74% expect to earn more than they did in 2017 with 6% expecting to earn less and 20% the same amount | | • 53% are confident that the corporate income tax rate cuts will spur the national economy in 2018, while 47% do not. | | There were some additional comments that struck me. (Note: respondents were 85% male and 15% female). | | On sexual misconduct: | | • "Any time there is a material imbalance of leaders and role models for any group (race, sex, etc.) a bias will naturally develop through a lack of representation of viewpoint." | | • "I have had a front row seat. It is destabilizing, demoralizing, divisive and completely unacceptable behavior that always ruins a business." | | • "It needs to be talked about, but it's being blown way out of proportion. The end result now is men will fear doing business with women." | | • "PE firms need to hire women above the rank of associate. Non-investment professionals should not count towards diversity counts." | | • "Hire women. Promote women. Work extra hard to get women who are truly qualified and primed for success. Very simple — if powerful women are in a room, people do not do that shit." | | On valuations: | | • "Valuations are high across the board. 2018 may not see a VC correction, but one is coming. PE will probably cool due to rising interest rates and lower deductibility of interest (ie larger equity checks required for deals mean lower purchase multiples)." | | • "VC industry exits are taking too long and early startups want a higher valuation but don't deserve it." | | • "Although an operator, I feel that early stage valuations are way out of control. Would not be surprised to see a correction this year." | | On the tax overhaul: | | "I actually have no idea how the tax change affects me personally. I have not read the bill and do not have any first-hand informed opinion on how good/bad the bill is for each income level. In general, my assessment of any tax changes are not tied to how it will affect my personal income status. I'm young — the solution is always to just make more money." | | Thanks again to everyone who took the time to take the survey. If you have any additional thoughts, share them with me on Twitter. | | | | . | | |  | | | | | | THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE... | | | | | | • Icertis, a Seattle-based provider of enterprise contract management in the cloud, raised $50 million in Series D funding. Meritech Capital Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including PSP Growth, Cross Creek Advisors, B Capital Group, Ignition Partners, Greycroft and Eight Roads Ventures. • Vreal, a Seattle-based virtual reality livestreaming and broadcast platform, raised $11.7 million in Series A funding. Axioma Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Intel Capital, AET Fund, Upfront Ventures, Vulcan Capital and CRCM Ventures. • Niche, a Pittsburgh, Penn.-based platform that helps people choose schools and neighborhoods, raised $6.6 million in Series B funding. Allen & Company LLC and Grit Capital Partners led the round. • Univfy, a Los Altos, Calif.-based predictive machine learning and fintech platform that provides fertility patients with personalized probabilities of IVF success, raised $6 million in Series A funding. Rethink Impact led the round. • MineralSoft, an Austin, Texas-based software company focused on developing solutions to manage oil and gas investments, raised $4 million in Series A funding. Cottonwood Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including Blue Bear Capital and Y Combinator. • CultureIQ, a New York-based provider of integrated culture management software, raised $2.25 million in funding. Investors include Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Founder Collective. • Grove, a San Francisco-based personalized financial planning platform, raised $2.1 million in funding. Investors include First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, Upside Partnership, SV Angel, CFSI, and Jake Gibson. • Apical Technology, a provider of artificial intelligence technologies, raised funding of an undisclosed amount from NextWave Ventures. • Property Brands, a Knoxville, Tennessee-based provider of property management technology solutions, raised funding of an undisclosed amount from Insight Venture Partners. | | . | | | | | • Thomas H. Lee Partners LP agreed to acquire Alfresco Software, a San Mateo, Calif. and UK-based enterprise open-source provider of process automation, content management and information governance software. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • New Heritage Capital acquired a minority stake in Flying Colours Corp, a Canada-based aviation services company. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • Capzanine will invest in Alphitan, a France-based company that specializes in maintaining electronic components and motorization equipment used in industrial processes. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. made a minority investment in Diligent Corporation, a New York-based company focused on enterprise governance management software solutions. Financial terms weren't disclosed. • Thompson Street Capital Partners and Onward Capital acquired Tech Manufacturing, a Wright City, Mo.-based maker of complex 5-axis structural aerospace parts. Financial terms weren't disclosed. | | . | | | | | • Alibaba Group Holding Ltd will invest $486 million for a 38% stake in Shiji Retail Information Technology Co, a domestic big- data firm focused on hotels and retail, according to Reuters. Read more. • Tencent Holdings Ltd will invest 3 billion yuan ($474 million) in Shanda Games, a China-based online gaming company, according to Reuters. Read more. • Trinity Mirror bought titles including the Daily Express, Daily Star and OK! magazine for 127 million pounds ($177 million) in cash. • Platinum Equity Partners is in advanced talks to buy the European vacation-rentals business of Wyndham Worldwide Corp (NYSE:WYN), according to The Wall Street Journal. The deal values the business at $1 billion. Read more. • Toyota will invest ($69 billion) in JapanTaxi, a Japan-based Uber-like service. • Reputation Institute acquired Mettle Consulting, a U.K.-based big data media analytics company. Financial terms weren't disclosed. | | . | | | | | • Goldman Sachs Group Inc is in talks to buy Clarity Money, a New York-based financial services company. Financial terms weren't disclosed. Clarity Money has raised approximately $14.5 million in funding from investors including Soros Fund Management, Maveron Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners. • Medical Solutions agreed to acquire PPR, a provider of travel nurse staffing and interim leadership for acute and post-acute markets, from Trivest Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed. | | . | | | | | • Resource Capital Funds, a Denver, Colo.-based venture capital and private equity firm, raised $540.5 million for its seventh fund, according to an SEC filing. The target is $2 billion. • B Capital Group, a Singapore-based venture capital firm, raised $360 million for its debut fund, according to Reuters. Read more. • Danhua Capital, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital firm, raised $343.2 million for its second fund, according to an SEC filing. | | . | | | | | • Mary Grove will join Revolution as a partner on Rise of the Rest. Previously, Grove was at Google where she was the founding director of Google for Entrepreneurs, • Mainsail Partners promoted Vinay Kashyap to partner. | | . | | | | | | | | | | | This message has been sent to you because you are currently subscribed to Term Sheet
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