|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Old IPOs Won’t Satisfy LPs Forever
|
|
By Yuliya Chernova, WSJ Pro
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good day. Distributions to limited partners keep trickling in at a tepid pace. A good portion of what is coming in has been sourced from initial public offerings that happened years ago. That’s a limited pool of liquidity that will eventually run dry unless a new wave of public listings replenishes it.
About half of the distributions one fund of funds received over the past 12 months, for example, came via stock, according to a manager of this fund. That includes shares of restaurant software company Toast; Doximity, a provider of software for medical practices; and online car-auction company ACV Auctions—all 2021 IPOs.
How much longer could these old IPOs send cash back to LPs? “Probably not too much longer. At some point it will slow down, that's for sure,” the LP said.
Just five venture-backed companies went public on U.S. stock exchanges year-to-date, on par with this period a year ago, according to Renaissance Capital, a provider of pre-IPO research and IPO-focused exchange-traded funds. All five of this year’s listings were in the biotech or healthcare space, and as of Friday, three of the five had negative post-IPO returns, according to Renaissance.
AI infrastructure company CoreWeave filed to go public this week. The company’s largest investors aren’t traditional venture backers, however. The broad economic backdrop of a trade war, inflation, and stock-market volatility is keeping a lid on tech IPOs, observers say.
“Even if you went public today, you are not starting to distribute stock until the end of ’26 or mainly ’27 or ’28,” said Atul Rustgi, managing partner at fund-of-funds firm Accolade Partners, referring to the time it takes for LPs to get cash out of the venture market.
|
|
|
And now on to the news...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeremy Allaire, left, and Giancarlo Devasini. RICHARD CHANCE
|
|
|
|
|
|
Battle of the Crypto Titans. Giancarlo Devasini, one of the world’s newest billionaires, leads a reclusive life in a Swiss Alpine town. He stays in a modest apartment by the lake, strolls the cobbled streets with a black hoodie pulled over his head—and rages about the American rival he believes is trying to kill his business, The Wall Street Journal reports.
-
Devasini is the main owner of Tether, whose eponymous digital dollar is an indispensable part of the cryptocurrency industry. Tether’s centrality has earned Devasini tremendous wealth and vast influence over the sector, and the support of a top ally of President Trump.
-
Critics say Tether has become the tool of choice for criminal groups to spirit money around the globe.
-
Out to disrupt his business empire is Devasini’s almost perfect foil, Jeremy Allaire, founder of Tether’s archrival, Circle, which issues its own so-called stablecoin, called USD Coin, or USDC.
|
|
|
|
|
$158 Billion
|
|
Hours after the U.S. suspended military aid for Ukraine, the European Union proposed a $158 billion fund to bolster military spending and support Kyiv.
|
|
|
|
|
Trump’s Crypto Advisers Weigh Paths to a National Stockpile
|
|
|
President Trump wants to build a federal cryptocurrency reserve. His subordinates are starting by counting up crypto the government already holds.
-
The president said Sunday he wanted bitcoin, ether and three smaller tokens in a stockpile similar to the country’s gold reserve. That addressed one debate in the industry over whether such a stockpile should only hold bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, or include more volatile assets.
-
Questions remain. Trump didn’t say whether the reserve would make new crypto purchases or reassign existing holdings seized from criminals. If the administration buys crypto, it isn’t clear which agency would oversee purchases and how they would work. Trump might need congressional approval for large purchases.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Funds
Foundation Capital raised $600 million in commitments for its eleventh fund to continue investing across fintech, enterprise and crypto.
People
Washington, D.C.-based early-stage technology investor Zeal Capital Partners promoted Stefanie Thomas-Martin to partner. Before joining the firm in 2023, she was a founding member and investor at Impact America Fund.
The51, a firm dedicated to women-led ventures, appointed Lauren Robinson as fund managing partner. She previously co-founded Highline Beta's pre-seed fund.
Venture studio super{set} appointed Omar Tawakol as a general partner. In addition to his new role, Tawakol will continue as chief executive of Rembrand.
Fintech investor Portage hired Alvin Wei and Melis Ozoner as associates, based in New York and London, respectively. Wei joins the firm from Coinbase’s corporate development and ventures team. Ozoner was most recently a summer associate at Mubadala.
|
|
|
|
|
Peregrine Technologies, a San Francisco-based decision support platform for public safety and law enforcement agencies, raised $190 million in Series C funding led by Sequoia Capital at a $2.5 billion valuation.
Mews, a hospitality technology platform, picked up a $75 million investment led by Tiger Global Management.
Tandem PV, a San Jose, Calif.-based startup developing perovskite-based solar panels, secured $50 million in Series A funding, including debt, led by Eclipse.
LlamaIndex, a San Francisco-based agent development platform for automating knowledge work over unstructured enterprise data, completed a $19 million Series A round led by Norwest Venture Partners.
VIE Technologies, a San Diego-based energy monitoring and predictive maintenance technology provider, closed a $15 million Series A round led by Energy Impact Partners.
AidKit, a Denver-based startup that helps government agencies and nonprofits administer aid programs, landed $8.5 million in Series A growth equity financing led by Blueprint Equity.
Moonwatt, an Amsterdam-based developer of energy storage systems utilizing advanced sodium-ion battery technology, collected an €8 million investment from daphni and others.
MaxIQ, a San Ramon, Calif.-based customer-journey-management platform, was seeded with a $7.8 million investment led by Dell Technologies Capital.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday, before the opening ceremony of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. PHOTO: GREG BAKER/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-
U.S. Chips Act office lays off about a third of its staff, sources say (Reuters)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
