At the end of the second quarter last year most of us were still in shock from the covid-19 pandemic and in a lockdown. Few at the time could have imagined the momentum public and private markets would gain a year later.
The second quarter of 2021 seems to be just another page in this bullish story, with virtually every metric reaching a record high.
The number of rounds was 49% higher than in Q2 2020, with capital up 161%. Corporates piled $40.67bn into funding initiatives, though this is skewed by SoftBank committing $30bn to its second Vision Fund.
GCV Analytics tracked 1,263 funding rounds involving corporate venturers during the second quarter of this year, a 49% surge above the 846 rounds recorded in Q2 2020. The estimated total investment dollars stood at $75.04bn, up nearly 161% from the $28.69bn recorded during the same period last year. Comparing Q2 2021 with the previous quarter, there was a significant increase in the deal count, going up 23% from the 1,025 in Q1 this year. Estimated total investment also went up by 32% from $56.74bn.
On a half-year basis, H1 of 2021 registered a total of 2,288 deals with an estimated total capital deployed of $131.78bn. These figures surpass the depressed readings from the first half of last year ($53.83bn over 1,702 deals) when the covid-19 pandemic had just struck and most of the world was locked down.
The US hosted the largest number of funding rounds at 530, while Japan came in second with 174 deals, and China third with 106 deals.
The leading investors by number of deals were diversified telecoms and internet conglomerate SoftBank, financial services firm Fidelity, internet conglomerate Alphabet and cloud enterprise software provider Salesforce. The list of corporate venturers involved in the largest deals by size was headed also by SoftBank, Fidelity and Alphabet.
On a half-year basis, H1 of 2021 registered a total of 2,288 deals with an estimated total capital deployed of $131.78bn. These figures surpass the depressed readings from the first half of last year ($53.83bn over 1,702 deals) when the covid-19 pandemic had just struck and most of the world was locked down.
The US hosted the largest number of funding rounds at 530, while Japan came in second with 174 deals, and China third with 106 deals.
The leading investors by number of deals were diversified telecoms and internet conglomerate SoftBank, financial services firm Fidelity, internet conglomerate Alphabet and cloud enterprise software provider Salesforce. The list of corporate venturers involved in the largest deals by size was headed also by SoftBank, Fidelity and Alphabet.
Deals
On a half-year basis, H1 of 2021 registered a total of 2,288 deals with an estimated total capital deployed of $131.78bn. These figures surpass the depressed readings from the first half of last year ($53.83bn over 1,702 deals) when the covid-19 pandemic had just struck and most of the world was locked down.
The US hosted the largest number of funding rounds at 530, while Japan came in second with 174 deals, and China third with 106 deals.
The leading investors by number of deals were diversified telecoms and internet conglomerate SoftBank, financial services firm Fidelity, internet conglomerate Alphabet and cloud enterprise software provider Salesforce. The list of corporate venturers involved in the largest deals by size was headed also by SoftBank, Fidelity and Alphabet.
Carmaker Volkswagen invested $620m to co-lead a $2.75bn private placement for Sweden-headquartered battery producer Northvolt, which also included commercial vehicle producer Scania. The round was co-led by a host of other institutional investors.
Founded in 2016, Northvolt produces lithium-ion batteries for use in electric vehicles in addition to portable electronics products such as drones, and the storage of renewable energy. The new financing will support the expansion of the company’s Gigafactory from a capacity of 40 GWh a year to 60 GWh a year.
Waymo, the autonomous driving technology developer spun off by Alphabet, raised $2.5bn in funding from investors including its former parent company. Automotive retailer AutoNation and automotive component manufacturer Magna International also participated in the round.
Initially launched in 2009, Waymo develops an autonomous driving system dubbed Waymo Driver for use in driverless vehicles in the taxi, package delivery and freight industries. It has launched an autonomous taxi service in the US city of Phoenix. The funding will be used to enhance Waymo Driver.
China-based semiconductor technology developer Horizon Robotics secured $1.5bn in series C7 funding from electronic parts manufacturer BOE Technology and chipmaker Will Semiconductor at a $5bn valuation.
The extension came after a $300m series C6 round at an unspecified time that featured Legend Capital, the VC firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, as well as investment firm Huangpu River Capital and unnamed entities.
Founded in 2015, Horizon is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm-equipped chips for applications in areas including autonomous mobility, security cameras and internet-of-things devices.
Video game developer Epic Games raised a $1bn funding round, which included a $200m commitment by Sony. The round valued the US-headquartered company at $28.7bn. Sony was joined by Fidelity, among many other investors.
Founded in 1991, Epic Games has specialised in multiplayer online games using its Unreal Engine. The company’s most famous titles include battle royale game Fortnite and first-person shooter series Gears of War. Epic is looking to build a ‘metaverse’ of games, having acquired multiplayer sports title Rocket League by buying its developer, Psyonix, in mid-2019 and agreeing to buy another studio, Tonic Games, the creator of battle royale Fall Guys.
Netherlands-headquartered customer service software provider Messagebird raised an additional $800m for a series C round, which featured media group Bonnier, expanding its total to $1bn. Bonnier joined a host of institutional and venture investors in the extension, which was made up of 70% equity financing and 30% debt.
Founded in 2011, Messagebird offers a range of customer service tools across a variety of channels including email, phone, WhatsApp, text messaging and push notifications.
Exits
GCV Analytics tracked a record 193 corporate-related exits during the second quarter of 2021, including 111 acquisitions, 44 initial public offerings (IPOs), 31 other transactions (mostly reverse mergers with special purpose acquisition companies) and seven mergers.
The total estimated amount of exited capital in Q2 2020 was $59.13bn, considerably higher than the $13.26bn in Q2 of the previous year but slightly lower than the record figure from the first quarter this year ($64.87bn). Eight of the top 15 reported exits stood above the $1bn mark.
Top exiting corporates this quarter included Salesforce, Fidelity and Alphabet.
A notable trend for the first half of 2021 is the increasing number of reverse mergers with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), which has become something of a frenzy in public markets. To put things in perspective, SPACs – also popularly referred to as “blank cheque companies” or “poor man’s private equity” – already constitute a significant chunk of all IPOs in US public markets. The latter was true in 2020, when 61% or 248 of a total of 407 IPOs were SPACs. Similarly, the first half of 2021 saw 56% or 311 SPACs out of a total of 558 IPOs by late June, according to data aggregator Statista.
Vehicles that make it easier for certain companies to go public are obviously providing exits for many private investors and corporate venturers have been no exception, according to GCV Analytics. Each of the first six months of this year has exceeded any previous figures for reverse mergers (until recently a rare way to score an exit). These fall under our category of “Other exits” – that is, exits that are neither acquisitions nor IPOs. None of the top five exit transactions for the second quarter were reverse mergers, however.
China-based ride hailing service provider Didi Global went public in a $4.44bn IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. The company counted by multiple corporates among its backers, including internet company Tencent, SoftBank, e-commerce company Alibaba, insurance firms China Life and Ping An, electronics producer Apple, online travel agency Booking Holdings, car rental service eHi and social media company Sina Weibo.
The company issued about 317 million American Depositary Shares (ADSs), pricing them at the top of the IPO’s $13 to $14 range.
Formed with the merger of peers Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache in 2015 and formerly known as Didi Chuxing, Didi runs an on-demand ride service, food and package delivery, automotive and financial services. Its business spans China but it is also present in Russia, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Asia-Pacific.
Almost immediately after the IPO, the Cyberspace Administration of China ordered the company to stop signing up users and take down its app from app stores in China due to failure to comply with data security regulations.
Payment services firm Visa agreed to buy Sweden-based open banking software provider Tink for €1.8bn ($2.1bn), giving an exit to several corporates – postal service Poste Italiane, banking firms SEB, Nordnet, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, Nordea as well as digital payment services provider PayPal.
Tink runs an open banking platform with which financial services companies can share customer data and build new features such as personal finance management tools. Tink has integrated its application programming interface with more than 3,400 banks and financial services organisations.
Primary care provider One Medical agreed to acquire Iora Health, a US-based peer backed by health insurer Humana and automotive and media group Cox Enterprises, in a $2.1bn all-share deal.
The deal would give Iora’s shareholders a 26.1% stake in the merged business. One Medical floated in January 2020 in a $245m IPO, giving it a market capitalisation of approximately $1.7bn.
Founded in 2010, Iora operates a network of 47 clinics offering healthcare to recipients on federal health insurance scheme Medicare, many of which are senior citizens. Its activities will complement One Medical’s customer base, most of which are privately insured.
E-commerce marketplace Etsy agreed to purchase Depop, a UK-headquartered social commerce platform developer backed by consultancy group Lumar, for over $1.62bn. In 2016, the company raised a $8.25m round, which featured Lumar.
Founded in 2011, Depop operates a mobile platform with 30 million registered users – 90% of whom under 26 years of age – who can buy and sell second-hand and new fashion items in addition to offering styling services. Depop claims to have generated $70m in revenue during 2020.
China-headquartered trucking services platform developer Full Truck Alliance, which is also known as Manbang Group, secured almost $1.57bn in an IPO and gave an exit to conglomerates SoftBank, Alphabet, Baidu and Tencent.
The offering consisted of 82.5 million ADSs, each representing 20 ordinary shares, which were issued on the New York Stock Exchange and priced at the top of its $17 to $19 range.
Full Truck Alliance runs a digital freight platform that gives shippers access to a network of some 2.8 million trucks, using AI to increase efficiency. The company reportedly made a $532m net loss in 2020 from just over $395m in revenue.
Funds
Corporate venturers supported 105 fundraising initiatives in the second quarter, up from 64 during the same period in 2020 and more than the 82 reported in 2019. The estimated total capital raised surged to $40.67bn, due to the effect of SoftBank committing $30bn to its second Vision Fund.
The 105 initiatives in question included 65 announced, open and closed VC funds with corporate limited partners (LPs), 24 new corporate venturing units and nine accelerators, among other.
SoftBank increased the size of its Vision Fund 2 from $10bn to $30bn. The company’s original Vision Fund closed at $98.6bn in 2017 with contributions from corporate LPs and sovereign wealth funds, but it has so far been unable to secure backing for its successor, instead committing the capital itself, though it is reportedly mulling external contributions.
The first Vision Fund booked a $16.8bn net loss for 2019 due to bankruptcies for portfolio companies OneWeb and Brandless, the failure of the workspace provider WeWork’s float and lacklustre share performance for others such as ride hailing service Uber.
However, the coronavirus pandemic has caused tech stocks in several industries to skyrocket while also driving the pre-IPO funding market, leading to a considerable turnaround in the corporate’s fortunes. SoftBank’s latest full-year results revealed the values of its holdings in several portfolio companies have increased sharply, giving the Vision Funds a $37bn paper profit.
Alibaba Cloud, the cloud services subsidiary of e-commerce group Alibaba, pledged $1bn to an initiative to support tech startups and developers. Project AsiaForward is intended to support some 100,000 recipients over the next three years while also providing training for prospective software developers and linking entrepreneurs to VC investors. Jeff Zhang, Alibaba Cloud’s president, said: “We are seeing a strong demand for cloud-native technologies in emerging verticals across the region, from e-commerce and logistics platforms to fintech and online entertainment.”
China-based VC firm Fortune Capital’s yuan-denominated vehicle, Chuanghong Fund, reached a RMB5.5bn ($858m) first close with backing from LPs including several corporate investors. Mass media group Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary, soy milk machine producer Joyoung and property developers Century Golden Resources Group and Country Garden all made commitments to the fund.
Financial services providers China Merchants Bank and Ping An Bank also contributed to the vehicle, as did the firm’s management team, funds of funds run by Gopher Asset Management and Zero2IPO Group, and unnamed family offices and government-backed asset management firms. Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary is Fortune Capital’s majority shareholder and injected over 10% of the capital for Chuanghong Fund’s first close. The fundraising efforts began in Q3 2020 and it is targeting roughly $1bn for a final close.
Netherlands-based financial services firm ABN Amro announced a €425m ($507m) impact investment vehicle that will back companies developing products supporting sustainability and inclusiveness. Sustainable Impact Fund will invest between €500,000 and €4m per company across three areas: the circular economy, energy transition and social impact. It is seeking financial returns as well as social results and is targeting companies with a proven concept.
The first two Netherlands-based recipients of funding through the vehicle included Envision, a creator of smart glasses software that raised $1.8m in a round also backed by Impact Ventures, existing backer 4impact and various angel investors.
Ince Capital, a China-based VC firm backed by medical researcher and care provider Mayo Clinic, was reportedly close to raising $500m for its second fund. The firm had secured $352m for its debut fund in late 2019 from LPs including Mayo Clinic and endowments from institutions including the University of Pittsburgh, Duke University and Carnegie Mellon. It is targeting $350m to $500m for its second vehicle. Gan Jianping and Steven Hu, who had been managing directors at VC firm Qiming Venture Partners, co-founded Ince Capital with Paul Keung, a former chief financial officer for online education provider iTutor Group.
US-based venture capital firm G2 Venture Partners (G2VP) closed its Fund II at $500m with commitments from oil supplier Shell, diversified conglomerate Mitsui, carmaker Daimler and industrial technology producer ABB Switzerland. The McKnight Foundation and John Doerr, chairman of VC firm Kleiner Perkins, also committed to the fund. Shell contributed through its corporate venturing arm, Shell Ventures. It was also an LP in G2VP’s inaugural fund, which
was $350m.
G2VP was founded in 2017 as a spinoff from Kleiner Perkins’ Green Growth fund. It focuses on companies developing technologies that could accelerate sustainable transformation in traditional industries. Shell portfolio companies include Proterra, the electric bus producer that agreed a $1.6bn reverse takeover in February, as well as computer vision software provider Scandit and autonomous commercial vehicle developer Seegrid.
China-headquartered internet-of-things (IoT) technology producer Tuya formed a $400m strategic investment fund with hedge fund manager Hillhouse Capital. Tuya is the creator of an IoT technology platform which enables businesses to access hardware development tools, cloud services and smart business development softwareto build their connected services. Hillhouse traditionally focused on growth and late-stage deals but has been active in earlier-stage investments through subsidiary GL Ventures since early 2020.
Japan-headquartered automotive manufacturer Toyota committed another $300m in capital to its corporate venturing unit, also rebranding it from Toyota AI Ventures to Toyota Ventures. Toyota AI Ventures had been launched under the auspices of the company’s Toyota Research Institute in 2017 with $100m in capital. Toyota provided a further $100m for its Fund II in late 2019.
The capital will be divided evenly between two funds. One of those, Toyota Ventures Climate Fund, will concentrate on developers of innovative technologies to promote carbon neutrality, such as renewable energy and hydrogen production. Toyota Ventures Frontier Fund will invest in developers of technology in areas like artificial intelligence, cloud computing, autonomy, mobility, robotics, smart cities, digital health, advanced materials, energy and financial technology.
US-based venture capital firm Blockchain Capital closed its Blockchain Capital V fund at $300m with commitments from digital payment processor PayPal and payment services firm Visa. Other LPs committed to the fund include undisclosed strategic investors, pension funds, university endowments and family offices. Some of the LPs, including Visa and PayPal, will participate in Blockchain Capital’s strategic partnership programme.
Founded in 2013, Blockchain Capital invests in companies and projects based on blockchain technology. It has backed more than 110 companies to date, investing both through equity and cryptocurrency assets. The firm will now focus on blockchain infrastructure, decentralised finance, non-fungible tokens and emerging applications for blockchain-based technology.
Axa Venture Partners (AVP), a CVC subsidiary of France-based insurer Axa, reached a €250m ($295m) first close for its latest growth equity vehicle, dubbed AVP Growth Fund II. Formed in 2015 as Axa Strategic Ventures, AVP has $1bn under management. It invests in seed and early-stage startups through its AVP Early Stage Fund II.
Growth equity investments are made by AVP Capital’s Growth Funds. AVP secured €150m from Axa for its early growth-focused AVP Growth Fund I in 2016 that has now been fully deployed, with exits such as One, a developer of insurance claim management software. AVP Growth Fund II will target growth equity deals from early to late growth stage in areas such as enterprise software, financial, insurance, consumer and digital healthcare technologies, and Axa intends to close it at $590m by the end of the year.