March 19, 2021

Editor’s Note

This week’s Women’s PE Briefs features a series of deals involving women backing women-led companies. Among those making such investments were Imaginary Ventures’ Natalie Massenet; Brewer Lane Ventures’ Martha Notaras; Octopus Ventures’ Zoë Chambers; Cascade Seed Fund, which is co-led by Julie Harrelson; and Quark Venture, which is led by Karimah Es Sabar. You’ll also read about new deals for Felicis Ventures’ Victoria Treyger, Intel Capital’s Trina Van Pelt, District Ventures Capital’s Arlene Dickinson, Sapphire Ventures’ Cathy Gao, Insight Partners’ Hilary Gosher and Bihua Chen’s Cormorant Asset Management, as well as liquidity events for Equistone Partners Europe’s Tanja Berg, 11.2 Capital’s Shelley Zhuang, McRock Capital’s Whitney Rockley, Cormorant and Illuminate Ventures, which is led by Cindy Padnos and Jennifer Savage. We also have items on women-led SPACs and on a woman founded company that is now valued at $3 billion.

- David Barry

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In the Spotlight...

SoftBank Vision Fund has garnered attention for the returns it could generate as a result of Coupang, Inc.’s initial public offering – the largest by a foreign company in the United States since Alibaba’s seven years ago. After all, SoftBank, with Lydia Jett helping to lead the effort, invested $3 billion for a 33 percent stake in the South Korean e-commerce company, a stake that was worth $16 billion at the IPO after Coupang was valued at $60 billion.

But the IPO also stands to be a significant event for a much smaller firm: Illuminate Ventures, which is guided by founder Cindy Padnos and partner Jennifer Savage. With Coupang now public, Illuminate and its limited partners are poised to see a sizable payoff. “We never ‘count chickens until they hatch’,” Cindy tells Women’s PE Briefs. “But at the IPO offering price of $35 a share, the return to Illuminate will be more than 15 times of our invested capital out of both our Spotlight Fund and Fund I. Of course, our holdings will be restricted initially, but we are confident about their future.”

Illuminate did not invest directly in Coupang. Rather, it came to own shares in the South Korean e-commerce company as a result of having a portfolio company – CalmSea – acquired by Coupang in 2014. Coupang’s founder and CEO, Jim Dai, had been vice president of engineering at Vivant, a software company that Cindy had founded and led. As a result, Illuminate co-led CalmSea’s 2013 seed round along with Altos Ventures. A predictive analytics platform, CalmSea was utilized by online and cross-channel retailers to optimize their marketing programs. Coupang, said Cindy, was one of CalmSea’s largest customers and “was seeing tremendous value from using their product.” Coupang’s acquisition came about after CalmSea received an offer to be acquired by a publicly traded company, said Cindy. Learning about the potential deal, Coupang’s CEO “jumped in to make a better offer,” she said. This included appointing Dai, CalmSea’s CEO, as chief technology officer of all of Coupang and his co-founder as head of products. If the public company had acquired CalmSea, it would have been a “reasonably nice/quick all-cash exit,” said Cindy. But, she said, “we all saw the potential of Coupang – then generating about $500 million in top-line revenue – and accepted their offer. We felt that, in effect, we were doubling down on the talented team we had originally funded, since they were taking such high-impact roles in the combined company. It was a critical time in Coupang’s young life as they had decided to move from a Groupon-like model to be the Amazon of Korea. We knew our team could help them operationalize that vision. As a result of that acquisition, we also introduced an individual from our network who had recently retired from Amazon as senior vice president of worldwide operations who joined Coupang as a board member. Shortly after the merger, Sequoia made its investment, later followed by SoftBank and BlackRock.”

CalmSea, according to Crunchbase, raised only $2.2 million in funding prior to its acquisition. Cindy adds that “there were many signals along the way that Coupang was a special company.” She said that at the time of the acquisition offer, “we came to understand how unique the Korean market is and how well suited it is for massive e-commerce adoption. They were already the fifth largest e-commerce market in the world and have attributes that make it more attractive for a disrupter like Coupang.” The country, she said, had only very little offline retail store presence. There was, for instance, no Korean version of Sears, or PetSmart or Home Depot. The Korean population also is very concentrated in a few major cities, “facilitating cost-effective, rapid delivery opportunities,” she said. CalmSea’s investors also learned that “Coupang had exceptional levels of consumer satisfaction that have led to very strong ‘existing customer’ revenue growth, she said. “We became aware of the value of this ‘same customer growth’ phenomena very soon after the merger when we saw how little they needed to invest in marketing – less than 1 percent of revenue – to grow their revenues by as much as 50 to 70 percent annually.”

Coupang is Illuminate’s first initial public offering since Xactly went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2016. Cindy served on the company’s board for more than 10 years and chaired its compensation committee at the time of the IPO. Xactly was acquired in 2017 by Vista for more than $500 million. Coupang marks Illuminate’s second liquidity event in the past week. Hoopla, a performance management and motivation platform, was purchased by venture-backed Raydiant, a developer of a digital experience platform. Terms were not disclosed. Illuminate first invested in Carlsbad, Calif.-based Hoopla in 2011.

Oakland, Calif.-based Illuminate focuses on Series Seed stage investments in the B2B/enterprise software space. The firm’s investments in 2020 included Joinder, a collaborative work platform designed for corporate legal departments and all of their internal and external constituents, and nFlux, an intelligent video analytics platform that automates the process of learning and generating contextual insights from the unstructured data inside video footage in real time.

Next Acts: Women on the Move

Irene Mavroyannis has left her role as a managing director with Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets to join a real assets-focused advisory firm. Read more…

Kristi Miller is tapped to lead a new firm that will invest in early-stage Canadian companies developing naturally-derived alternatives to synthetic products. Read more…

General Catalyst adds Margo Georgiadis, Dr. Jennifer Schneider and Robin Washington to its team. Read more…

Susan Hager has joined venture firm Section 32. Read more…

After two years as a managing director on H.I.G. Capital’s real estate team, Jenny Hammarlund has left to take a key role with the real estate arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Read more…

Women Investing in Women

Imaginary Ventures’ Natalie Massenet backs NuORDER, Inc., whose co-founder and co-CEO is Olivia Skuza, and which is a portfolio company of Greycroft’s Ellie Wheeler and Aileen Lee’s Cowboy Ventures. Read more…

Cormorant Asset Management, which is led by Bihua Chen, takes part in a new financing round for Graphite Bio, a next-generation gene editing company whose scientific co-founders include Dr. Maria Grazia Roncarolo. Read more…

Quark Venture LP’s Zafrira Avnur joins the board of CalciMedica, Inc. after Quark – which is led by Karimah Es Sabar – backs the developer of treatments for severe acute and chronic inflammatory diseases, whose CEO is A. Rachel Leheny. Read more…

Brewer Lane Ventures’ Martha Notaras guides the venture firm into two companies – including one founded and led by former private equity investor Peggy Choi. Read more…

Ulu Ventures, which was co-founded by Miriam Rivera, re-invests in a company co-founded and led by Regina Clewlow that is helping cities to manage shared mobility services, streets and curbs. Read more…

Octopus Ventures’ Zoë Chambers backs a company founded and led by Julia Salasky that is out to revolutionize the way law firms do business. Read more…

Cascade Seed Fund, which is co-led by managing director Julie Harrelson, is among those tying the knot with a company co-founded by sisters-in-law Elizabeth Sheils and Nora Sheils that has developed software to help put on weddings and other events. Read more…

Omidyar Network India, which is led by Treasa Mathew, invests in an insurance technology company co-founded by Vidya Sridharan. Read more…

Trilogy Equity Partners’ Amy McCullough re-invests in a digital title and escrow company that is now led by Anna Collins. Read more…

Juvo Ventures, which was co-founded by Maia Sharpley, backs a company founded and led by Katie Fang that is seeking to improve the college counseling process. Read more…

Novo Ventures’ Karen Hong backs a gene therapy company co-founded by Mavis Agbandje-McKenna and whose board includes UCB Ventures’ Erica Whittaker. Read more…

Kabbage co-founder Kathryn Petralia is among those backing a company co-founded by Maisha Burt and Allyson McDougal that turns hotels and restaurants into on-demand flexible workspaces. Read more…

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The Dish on the Deal

Insight Partners’ Hilary Gosher oversees the firm’s investment in an analytics company delivering insights to health care organizations. Read more…

Felicis Ventures’ Victoria Treyger invests in a company striving to help brands build customer trust and transparency – one previously backed by American Express Ventures’ Dana Eli-Lorch; Basis Set Ventures, whose founder and managing partner is Lan Xuezhao; and Operator Collective, which is led by Mallun Yen and Leyla Seka. Read more…

In January 2018, Tanja Berg participated in Equistone Partners Europe’s acquisition of Oikos Group. Now, a little over three years later, she is involved in the sale of the German provider of prefabricated houses. Read more…

Cormorant Asset Management, which is led by Bihua Chen, takes part in large financings for two companies that are seeking to treat inflammatory diseases. Read more…

Cormorant Asset Management, which is led by Bihua Chen, also backed a company that has launched an epilepsy treatment – a company whose board includes HBM Partners’ Priyanka Belawat. Read more…

District Ventures Capital, which was founded by Arlene Dickinson, provides capital to the developer of personal muscular care device that treats muscle tension and back pain. Read more…

Shreya Malik, a senior vice president on Partners Group’s infrastructure team, helps plug the firm into a one of the largest district heating platforms in the Baltics. Read more…

Intel Capital’s Trina Van Pelt leads the chipmaker’s venture arm into the developer of an employee-centric success platform. Read more…

Penny Pritzker, founder and chairman of PSP Partners, joins Icertis’ board after one of the firm’s affiliates re-invests in the contract intelligence company. Read more…

A portfolio company of McRock Capital’s Whitney Rockley has been acquired. Read more…

Sapphire Ventures’ Cathy Gao backs a company focused on being the source of truth for data on physical places. Read more…

Quark Venture LP’s Zafrira Avnur joins the board of Variantyx after the Global Health Sciences Fund – established by Quark and GF Securities – invests in the high complexity hereditary disease testing company. Read more…

Caroline Thielen, an investment manager at SRIW, leads the firm into a company developing therapies against viral infections that UCB Ventures head Erica Whittaker and V-Bio Ventures Partner Katja Rosenkranz backed last year. Read more…

Backstory: Industry Data and Analysis

No items this week.

If you have data and analysis relevant to women in the private equity industry that you would like to share, please feel free to forward it to David Barry, Editor

Stepping Out in Public

Lisa Blau, Amanda Eilian and Alison Ryu of Able Partners comprise the management team of a special purpose acquisition company formed by their firm that has an all-women board. Read more…

Lily Chang, chief portfolio services officer for Leonard Green & Partners, is on the board of a longtime firm portfolio company that has gone public. Read more…

Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ executives Jackie Clem, Monica Rivera Beam and Sarah Cohen are part of the management team of a new special purpose acquisition company formed by their firm – one whose board would include Leshika Samarasinghe, who is a venture partner at Future Positive. Read more…

Sally Dornaus, a managing director with Bain Capital Credit, is part of a special purpose acquisition company formed by her firm. Read more…

Jihye Whang Rosenband is CEO of a special purpose acquisition company that has filed to go public. Read more…

A company that Bihua Chen’s Cormorant Asset Management only backed last fall has gone public. Read more…

A portfolio company of 11.2 Capital founder Shelley Zhuang has gone public. Read more…

A special purpose acquisition company led by former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns goes public. Read more…

For the third time in 2021, a special purpose acquisition company chaired by Betsy Z. Cohen has found a company to bring public – a company whose backers include Bracket Capital, which was co-founded by Yalda Aoukar, and Anthemis, whose co-founder and CEO is Amy Nauiokas. Read more…

Lucy Stamell Dobrin, a Providence Equity Partners’ principal, is on the board of a firm portfolio company that has filed to go public. Read more…

Carmen Chang of New Enterprise Associates and Jing Hong of Gaocheng Capital have a portfolio company go public. Read more…

That’s a Wrap: Fund Closures

Openspace Ventures, whose investor relations activities are led by vice president Amy Zhao, raises a new fund. Read more…

If you have news about fund closures in the private equity industry, please feel free to forward it to David Barry, Editor.

Leading Ladies: Women-Run Companies in the News

BlockFi, which was co-founded by Flori Marquez, is now valued at $3 billion after closing its fourth round in the past two years. Read more…

Insitro, whose founder and CEO is Daphne Koller, raises a sizable round as it seeks to utilize machine learning for drug discovery. Read more…

A Belgium-based investor applies capital to an Indian personal care brand founded by Megha Asher and her husband, Pritish Asher. Read more…

Investors seed a startup co-founded and led by Lubomila Jordanova that helps companies improve their ESG ratings. Read more…

An investment firm has acquired a majority stake in a company co-founded by Paula Hansson that recovers, refurbishes and recycles consumer electronic devices. Read more…

An international financing house for carbon offsets co-founded and led by Ana Haurie lands funding. Read more…

Brenda Chamulak is tapped to lead a private equity-backed company. Read more…

Carlia Cichon is headed to retirement after selling the at-home respiratory care company that she founded 17 years ago to a private equity firm. Read more…

A private equity firm has acquired a UK digital consulting firm co-founded by Olivia Nixey. Read more…

An investment firm applies capital to an interior-design firm and lifestyle brand co-founded by Shea McGee and her husband, Syd. Read more…

Axonify, a private equity-backed provider of frontline employee training whose co-founder and CEO is Carol Leaman, makes an acquisition. Read more…

The venture arms of Pfizer and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. invest in a company developing new treatments for fibrosis whose founding CEO is Meredith Fisher, a partner at Mass General Brigham Ventures. Read more…

Insight Partners makes a large investment in a software development acceleration platform whose CEO is Tami Mazel Shachar. Read more…

Bravo! And the Award Goes to...

Those who made Institutional Investor’s Allocator Intel’s first Top 50 Women in Investment Management list. Among those making the list are some past speakers at the Women’s Private Equity Summit and the Women’s Alternative Investment Summit, including Kelli Washington, managing director, research and investment strategy at the Cleveland Clinic; Jenny Chan, senior vice president and chief investment officer with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; Kim Lew, CEO of Columbia Investment Management Co.; Venus Phillips, investment director, Kresge Foundation; Dana Johns, senior portfolio manager, private equity, Maryland State Retirement & Pension Systems; Novisi Nirschl, director, private investments, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Molly Murphy, chief investment officer, Orange County Employees Retirement System; Adri Chaikin, managing director, investments, New York Presbyterian Hospital; Anne-Marie Fink, managing director, private markets funds alpha, State of Wisconsin Investment Board; Valbona Schwab, managing director, Beth Israel Lahey Health Investment Office; Laura Hill, vice president, alternative investments, Advocate AuroraHealth; and Meredith Jenkins, chief investment officer of Trinity Wall Street. You can view the complete list here: https://www.iinetworks.com/wiim.

Kate Mitchell, Kathryn Weinmann and BLCK VC, which was co-founded by Sydney Sykes. They were among those recently presented awards by the National Venture Capital Association. Kate, a partner and co-founder of Scale Venture Partners, received the American Spirit award, which recognizes NVCA members who have shown philanthropic leadership by applying business skills, knowledge, expertise and resources to make an outstanding contribution to society. In a statement, Bobby Franklin, president and CEO of the NVCA, said he “can’t think of anyone in the venture industry who has done more to represent and support the interests of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.” Kathryn, who is with Norwest Venture Partners, was one of three VCs given the Rising Star award, which recognizes the next generation of venture capital professionals who are rising through the ranks and establishing themselves as future standard bearers of the industry. BLCK VC, which Sydney founded in 2018 with Frederik Groce, was presented with the NVCA’s inaugural DE&I Impact award. The award recognizes individuals, organizations or firms who have made significant impact toward advancing a more diverse, equitable and inclusive venture ecosystem. In a statement, Franklin said BLCK was chosen “for their incredible work to empower and support Black investors and increase diversity in the venture capital industry.” The NVCA also honored NeuMoDx Molecular as Startup Innovator for quickly receiving emergency authorization from the FDA for its COVID-19 test. NeuMoDx, a portfolio company of Baird Capital’s Nicole Walker, was acquired last year by Qiagen N.V. for $248 million.

If you have news about awards presented to women for their work in the private equity industry, please feel free to forward it to David Barry, Editor.

No Females in Starring Roles

We Would Have Loved To Have Written About … Chicago Capital Partners’ latest deal or any of its deals, but the firm has no women on its investment team. http://www.chicagocapitalpartners.com/team.

Do you know of a notable fund or deal that did not involve any senior women? Please let us know so we can draw attention to it. Forward details to David Barry, Editor.

Casting Call! 

The Halifax Group: Vice President – Washington, DC
The Halifax Group is seeking to add a Vice President in its Washington, DC office. Halifax is a middle-market private equity firm that partners with owners and managers of established, growing and profitable companies that are leaders in their market niche. The firm invests across a variety of industries including health and wellness and business services, as well as the franchising business model. Halifax was founded in 1999 and is currently investing out of its $650 million Fund IV. The firm has offices in Washington, DC and Raleigh, NC. The Vice President will be responsible for evaluating and executing new investments and will lead the new investment due diligence process. The individual will also help lead portfolio company strategy development and drive execution against strategic plans. The ideal candidate will have at least 4 years of total work experience in principal investing, management consulting and/or investment banking and 2 years of leveraged buyout execution experience with a track record of having completed platform investments. If you are interested in pursuing this opportunity, please submit your resume and transaction history to Davis Hostetter at dhostetter@thehalifaxgroup.com.

Brookfield Asset Management: Sr. Associate, Private Equity – NYC
Brookfield Private Equity Group has 100+ investment professionals worldwide, with $60+ billion of AUM. We seek to invest throughout the capital structure in quality businesses with tangible assets where operational improvement is the primary driver of value creation. Our mandate is highly flexible, targeting complex situations of scale, while employing a differentiated approach that emphasizes downside protection and risk adjusted returns, to generate high-quality investments irrespective of the economic cycle. Investment size targets larger cap opportunities; minimum equity investment is traditionally ~$500 million with investments previously requiring up to $3+ billion. In addition, we pride ourselves on our flat organizational structure and ability to react expeditiously to complex situations. Our ideal candidate will have 4 - 6 years of relevant experience, preferably two years in investment banking, accounting, or consulting, and will be required to have at least two years in private equity. Experience in complex investment situations and deep understanding of capital structure is an asset. A strong candidate will have a demonstrated curiosity for investing and business analysis, relevant transaction and investment experience, history of taking on additional responsibility, ability to handle financial and business complexity and willingness to collaborate both in developing strategies and efficiently completing complex tasks. Please direct all inquiries or send your resume to Sarah Swan at sarah.swan@brookfield.com.

Blue Sea Capital: Pre-MBA Industrials Associate – West Palm Beach, FL
Blue Sea Capital, based in West Palm Beach, FL, is a proven team of lower middle market principal investors and operators focused on the healthcare and industrial growth sectors. The firm was founded on the belief that special lower middle market companies deserve large firm capabilities, experience and resources with a small firm focus and style. We seek to be a knowledgeable, active and transformational - not transactional - partner that supports companies in capitalizing upon opportunities to become industry leaders. We are looking for a Pre-MBA Industrials Associate to work closely with the firm’s Vice Presidents, Principals, and Partners on the sourcing, evaluation, selection, structuring and execution of transactions, as well as creating long-term value by actively managing portfolio companies to drive earnings growth and business transformation. Candidates for the 2-3 year Associate position should have 2+ years of experience in private equity, investment banking, leveraged finance or related fields. Interested candidates should send their resume to Lee Farber (lfarber@blueseacapital.com).

Capital Dynamics: Vice President, Co-Investment – New York 
Capital Dynamics offers a diversified range of tailored offerings and customized solutions for a broad, global client base. Capital Dynamics oversees more than USD 15 billion in AUM and advisement. Capital Dynamics is seeking a Vice President (8-12 yrs. relevant experience, advanced degree preferred top-tier university), with Co-Investment experience to join their Private Equity Co-Investment Investment Management team. Key responsibilities include: being part of a team managing a portfolio of private equity investments and will be responsible for participating in the team’s sourcing, due diligence and management of the global Co-Investments investment portfolio. Qualified candidates should send their resume and any additional details to careers@capdyn.com by the COB 05/03/2021. Please reference the Falk Marques Group with your resume submission.

Capital Dynamics: (Senior) Analyst, Primaries – New York
Capital Dynamics offers a diversified range of tailored offerings and customized solutions for a broad, global client base. Capital Dynamics oversees more than USD 15 billion in AUM and advisement. Capital Dynamics is also seeking an Analyst or Senior Analyst (pending experience level) 1-3 yrs. relevant experience, to join their Private Equity Primaries Investment Management team, ideally having the previous responsibility of quantitative analysis models for private equity due diligences, the ability to analyze statistical information and conduct quantitative industry / investment research. Key responsibilities include: quantitative analyses; investment research and drafting investment memos, reporting and materials preparation. Qualified candidates should send their resume and any additional details to careers@capdyn.com by the COB 05/03/2021. Please reference the Falk Marques Group with your resume submission.

Interested in posting a job opportunity in Women’s PE Briefs for free? Contact us at WPEBriefs@falkmarquesgroup.com.

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