Friday, February 23, 2018

Term Sheet: Feb. 23, 2018

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February 23, 2018
THE 'PAYTRIARCHY'

Happy Friday, Term Sheet readers.

FRESH FUNDING: If you haven't paid attention to what Glossier's Emily Weiss has been building, it's time to start. Her beauty products company just raised $52 million in Series C funding. IVP and Index Ventures co-led the round, and were joined by investors including Forerunner Ventures, Thrive Capital, and 14W. In total, the startup has raised $86 million in venture funding. Here's a fun fact: Glossier has a windowless, sixth-floor showroom in Manhattan that reportedly generates more sales revenue per square foot than the average Apple store.

 
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Weiss, who has been called the "millennials' Estee Lauder," didn't have such an easy time raising her first round of capital though. She visited 12 VC firms when she was pitching Glossier, and got 11 negative responses. and Forerunner Ventures' Kirsten Green was the first, and only, to say yes. Green told Term Sheet that Weiss "has the right balance between an astute take on the market and ability to connect to the consumer." Read the full Q&A with Green here.

PAY GAP: Barclays Investment Bank, the first big U.K. bank to publish its gender pay gap under the country's new disclosure laws, has revealed that it pays its female investment bankers just under half as much as their male colleagues (on average). The pay gap widens to 79% for bonuses paid to employees at its corporate and investment bank.

Still, Barclays CEO Jes Staley said he is "confident that men and women across our organization are paid equally for doing the same job." 🤔 As my colleague Kristen Bellstrom said in this morning's Broadsheet, "the paytriarchy" will be the next chapter of the #MeToo movement.

PRIVATE EQUITY CONCERNS: Company valuations remain the No. 1 concern facing private equity fund managers, according to a survey done by Preqin. Here are the main takeaways:

58% of surveyed fund managers believe that pricing for portfolio companies is higher than 12 months ago.

30% reported they are finding it more difficult to find attractive investment opportunities.

More than one third of managers are planning for lower returns because of higher valuations in the market. Only 11% are planning for increased returns.

High prices and increasing competition are likely to continue in 2018. "High asset pricing has been a prime concern for fund managers for the past two years, and this concern has only deepened over time," said Preqin's head of private equity products Christopher Elvin.

THIS JUST IN: Introducing the world's newest dating app giant. Momo, the Chinese mobile social networking platform that recently got into dating services, acquired Tantan, China's top dating app, for $600.9 million in an all-cash deal. Tantan had raised approximately approximately $107 million in venture funding from investors including Genesis Capital, YY.com, and SAIF Partners. Read more.

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THE LATEST FROM FORTUNE...

General Mills Is Buying Blue Buffalo Pet Food for $8 Billion

Startups for Women Is the New Hot Trend. Is That a Good Thing? (by Val Zarya)

Vinod Khosla Is So Eager to Keep Surfers Off His Beach He's Taking Them to the Supreme Court

Saudi Arabia Plans to Invest $64 Billion to Build an Entertainment Industry (by Joseph Hincks)

...AND ELSEWHERE

J.C. Flowers & Cerberus agree to buy HSH Nordbank. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel got a $637 million bonus last year. A new headache for VCs: Getting squeezed out by token sales.

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VENTURE DEALS

Vision Esports, a Beverly Hills, Calif.-based esports investment fund and management company formed by Vision Venture Partners, has raised $38 million in funding. The investors included Evolution Media and TPG Growth.

DecaWave, a Dublin, Ireland-based fabless semiconductor company specializing in precise location and connectivity applications, raised $30 million in funding. Atlantic Bridge Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Enterprise Ireland, China Ireland Growth Technology Fund, ACT Venture Capital and ZZ Ventures.

RecargaPay, a Brazil-based mobile payments platform and wallet, raised $22 million in Series B funding. Investors include IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, TheVentureCity and Ventech.

Indigo Fair, a San Francisco-based platform that connects independent retailers with manufacturers, raised $12 million in funding. Investors include Forerunner Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

KKday, a Taiwan-based travel platform, raised $10.5 million in funding. H.I.S. led the round, and was joined by investors including MindWorks Ventures.

GeoSpock, a U.K.-based developer of a data integration platform that provides analytics, raised $6.6 million in Series A funding. Cambridge Innovation Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Parkwalk Advisors, Global Brain and 31 Ventures.

Agent IQ, a San Francisco-based AI-enhanced customer engagement platform, raised $6.3 million in Series A funding. Sierra Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including CRCM and Rubicon Ventures.

ChronWell, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based technology-enabled platform company for the workers' compensation insurance industry, raised $4.5 million in Series A funding.The investors were not named.

Amino Payments, a Philadelphia-based adtech and blockchain-focused company, raised $4.5 million in seed funding. First Round Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including You & Mr Jones Brandtech Ventures, Nyca Investment Fund, Tessera Capital Partners, LiveRamp founder Auren Hoffman and BrightRoll founder Tod Sacerdoti.

Eventcore, a Seattle-based provider of enterprise-level event registration and technology solutions, raised $4.1 million in funding. East Seattle Partners led the round.

QuasarDB, a Paris-based developer of technologies to handle real-time data primarily for financial markets, raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Partech Ventures led the round, and was joined by investors including Orolia.

Feature Labs Inc, a Boston-based company that automates feature engineering for machine learning and AI applications, raised $1.5 million in seed funding. Flybridge Capital Partners led the round, and was joined by investors including First Star Ventures and 122 West Ventures.

Complai, an Austin, Texas-based maker of Shep, a business tool for travelers, raised $1.4 million in seed funding. Moonshots Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Capital Factory.

LegUp Computing Inc, a Toronto-based cloud platform provider for software developers, raised funding of an undisclosed amount of seed funding. Intel Capital led the round.

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HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES DEALS

Hoth Therapeutics, a New York City-based biopharmaceutical company, raised $3 million in Series A funding. The investors were not named.

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PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS

The Stepping Stones Group, a portfolio company of Five Arrows Capital Partners, acquired and recapitalized Cobb Pediatric Therapy Services, a Georgia-based provider of speech language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy and school psychology services to school districts in the Southeastern U.S. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Amulet Capital Partners LP invested in Peloton Advantage, a Parsippany, N.J.-based provider of a clinical-focused strategic consulting and scientific communication services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Baird Capital has invested in Nirvana Asia Ltd, a Malaysia-based funeral and bereavement care provider. No financial terms were disclosed.

Simplura Health Group, a portfolio company of One Equity Partners, acquired SarahCare, a Jenkintown, Penn.-based adult day care company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Caltius Equity Partners sold Vision Technology Solutions LLC, a provider of website solutions for government organizations in the U.S. and Canada, to Granicus.

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FIRMS + FUNDS

EQT, a Sweden-based private equity and venture capital firm, raised $13.2 billion for its EQT VIII Equity fund.

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp, Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait, RPMI Railpen and Wafra have committed $700 million to form Capital Constellation, which will invest in new alternative managers and is expected to deploy more than $1.5 billion over five years.

Pelican Energy Partners, a Houston-based private equity firm, raised $233 million for its third fund.

Commerce Ventures, a San Francisco-based early-stage venture firm focused on commerce technology, and Shoptalk, a retail and ecommerce conference, have formed Shoptalk Ventures. Shoptalk Ventures will commit $1 million over the next two years to 20 ecommerce and retail tech startups.

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PEOPLE

OpenView Venture Partners named Elizabeth Cain a partner.

Bertram Capital promoted Michelle Chao and Alex Goldscher to vice president and Soraya Hoberman to associate.

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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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