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☆ AI startups should brace for a wave of down rounds, investors say. Here's how it might play out.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-24 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewDown rounds and flat rounds for VC-backed startups have hit an all-time high this year since 2014. And AI startups, which have been the darlings of the tech ecosystem since late 2022, aren't exempt from the trend. The deal was seen by some investors as an omen for a wider phenomenon in the AI ecosystem — an impending wave of flat rounds and down rounds. "Investors went crazy for AI startups with zero revenue, at higher valuations, which will be an issue," said Umesh Padval, managing director at Thomvest Ventures. Down rounds are on the riseIn 2022, 90.2% of AI startups in the US raised up rounds, while 6.5% raised down rounds, according to PitchBook data.

Persons: —, we've, Andreas Riegler, Umesh Padval, Padval, Francesco Ricciuti Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Business, Big Tech, APEX Ventures, Jasper, Google, Thomvest Ventures, Runa Locations: London

☆ Blackstone is doubling down on its efforts to woo the wealthy with 2 new funds, flying in the face of BREIT critics
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-18 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AdvertisementBCRED, the firm's first credit fund for individual investors, raised $3.4 billion in this quarter, more than the $1.4 billion raised by BXPE and the $990 million raised by BREIT. AdvertisementSchwarzman combined his analysis of BREIT's success with a rosier picture of the larger macro environment in real estate. Since calling the bottom of the real estate market at the beginning of the year, Blackstone's confidence that inflation is receding has continued to increase, leading to more deployment of capital into real estate. It's also providing more possibilities to exit and realize returns on its real estate assets. The firm, which is deploying nearly $15 billion into real estate this year, according to Gray, sees sunny days ahead.

Persons: —, Steve Schwarzman, Jon Gray, Gray, Blackstone, prorated redemptions, we've, BXPE, prorating, Schwarzman, BREIT, REITs, It's Organizations: Service, Business, Blackstone Infrastructure Partners

☆ How real estate's pain could be Wall Street's gain as Blackstone, Goldman, and others dive back in.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

That's not to say predictions of a commercial real estate rebound are a sure bet. Here are four signs that support Gray's prediction that the commercial real estate market may be bottoming. (New York Community Bank had previously purchased $2.7 billion in Signature's loans and deposits, but not the real estate loans.) According to David Seifert, partner at private equity real estate firm Velocis, there are some sweet deals to be had in secondary sales of private-equity funds tied to real estate. The road aheadWhere Gray sees signs of bottoming, others think commercial real estate has much further to fall.

Persons: Warren Buffett, Buffett, Paul Getty, Getty, Steve Mnuchin —, Blackstone, Mnuchin, Donald Trump's, George Soros, John Paulson, It's, Jonathan Gray, Jim Garman, That's, Barry Sternlicht, Gray, Tracy Chen, Chen, BGO, secondaries There's, Ares, Brian King, King, David Seifert, Seifert, Velocis, Goldman Sachs, Dan McNamara, McNamara, Scott Rechler, wallop, Janet Yellen, Rechler, there's Organizations: Business, Goldman, Reuters, Starwood, Brandywine Global, Federal Reserve, . Bank, New York Community Bank, FDIC, Signature Bank, Community Bank, Fund Management, Community Preservation, New, Commercial Observer, Blackstone, Homes, Digital Realty, Polpo, RXR Locations: Blackstone, , New York, New York, BREIT, Real, Velocis

CVC targets an IPO that would value the company at more than 10 billion euros, the people said, with the company placing around 10% of its share capital, one of the people said. The private equity firm's partners are not expected to sell stock through the IPO, the people said. Blue Owl, CVC, GIC and HKMA declined to comment. On-road payments provider DKV Mobility, in which CVC has a minority holding, decided to defer its IPO plans because of volatile markets, Reuters reported earlier this month. London-headquartered CVC, which oversees more than 160 billion euros in assets, is striving to transform itself into a diversified asset manager.

Persons: de, Singapore's GIC, Renk, DIF, Glendower, Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Elisa Martinuzzi, Barbara Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Partners, Reuters, CVC, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Kuwait Investment Authority, DKV Mobility, Thomson Locations: Amsterdam, Netherlands, Kuwait, London

☆ The startup enables investors to buy secondary shares in pre-IPO companies. Check out the 11-slide pitch deck Hiive used to raise $4.2 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Hiive, a startup that offers a marketplace for secondary shares in private tech companies, has raised $4.2 million in funding. The Vancouver-based company, founded in 2021, enables the purchase and sale of stakes in pre-IPO, venture-backed companies. Hiive, led by Sim Desai, formerly of secondaries broker Setter Capital, wants to provide a marketplace where an array of buyers and sellers can make trades. "We saw this market growing exponentially after 2021 and thought there must be an opportunity to centralize this rapidly growing market," Desai told Insider. Hiive's $4.2 million funding was led by Uncorrelated Ventures, alongside Splash Capital, Harmony Venture Partners, Hack VC, and Agmen Capital.

Persons: Sim Desai, Desai, we've, it's, Hack Organizations: Capital, Splash Capital, Harmony Venture Partners, Agmen Locations: Vancouver

☆ Ares Aims to Collect $2 Billion for New Infrastructure-Secondaries Fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Rod James | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Organizations: Wall Street

M12, Microsoft's venture firm, is offloading some of its portfolio on secondary exchanges, sources say. The fund's shares in startups are taking haircuts of between 30% and 70%, three people said. Microsoft's corporate venture capital fund, M12, has been offloading some of its $1 billion portfolio on secondary exchanges, five people familiar with the matter told Insider. One of the people familiar with the sales said M12 sold one large position this month at a 50% discount. A secondary sales boomSecondary sales are becoming more common in the market in general.

Persons: there's, PitchBook, Ashley Stewart, Ben Bergman, bbergman, Darius Rafieyan Organizations: Microsoft, Vertical Aerospace, Google, Investors, Tiger Global

☆ Russian troops are turning tanks into car bombs against Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Sam Fellman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The kamikaze tanks have similarities with the way ISIS militants used car bombs. "What a stupid way to conduct armored operations by the Russians," a retired US general said. On Saturday, Russian troops used a similar ploy — rigging a captured Ukrainian MT-LB armored fighting vehicle with five bombs and 3.5 tons of explosive. One video released by the Russian state-owned TASS news agency shows the compartment of a vehicle stuffed with a bomb and explosives. But Ukraine has effectively forced them to fly far from the battlefield, evening the odds on the ground.

Persons: —, Mark Hertling, couldn't, Hugo Kaaman Organizations: ISIS, Service, US Army, CNN, Twitter, Novosti, TASS Locations: US, Ukrainian, US Army Europe, Russian, Ukraine, Russia

☆ UBS Just Outlined the Key People Tasked With Integrating Credit Suisse
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Monday marked the official closing of UBS' acquisition of Swiss rival Credit Suisse, a deal both sides weren't exactly thrilled about. Specifically, the bank identified the Credit Suisse execs sitting in positions of power within its investment bank and wealth management division. UBS has not been bashful in hinting at what it is, and is not, interested in integrating from Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse was in rough shape by the time it got acquired, but that's not to say there weren't talented bankers there. Read more about the leaders of UBS' wealth and investment bank teams following its Credit Suisse deal.

Persons: Dan DeFrancesco, we've, Insider's Michelle Abrego, Kaja Whitehouse, that's, Read, Alexander Soros, George Soros, Jeffrey Epstein, Thoma, Nasdaq's, Morgan Stanley, Sam, Here's, Alex Soros, it's, We've, Jeffrey Cane, Hallam Bullock Organizations: Nasdaq, UBS, Swiss, Credit Suisse, Suisse, Credit Suisse execs, Lehman Brothers, George Soros Getty, JPMorgan, Thoma Bravo, Soros, Open Society Foundation, LinkedIn Locations: secondaries, New York, London

☆ Investors shut out of traditional funding rounds are scouring secondary markets to snap up shares in buzzy AI startups like Dataminr, Hugging Face, and Anthropic
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Leena Rao | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As the AI craze continues, investors are eager to buy shares of these startups on secondary markets. AI startup shares have been the top in demand sector every month this year, according to EquityZen. It seems that every week there's a new hot AI startup that's raising a big round. ForgeGlobal, a marketplace for secondary transactions of startup shares, is seeing similar excitement from investors in AI startups. Sequoia, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz and many others have been aggressively investing in AI startups.

Persons: Phil Haslett, Haslett, Avlok Kohli, Howe Ng, Ng, Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Javier Avelos, OpenAI, Anthropic, Avelos Organizations: sixfold, SamBaNova Systems, Microsoft, Google Locations: secondaries, Sequoia, Caplight

☆ Reader mailbag: From the impact of a US default to analyzing the IPO market, all your questions answered
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An inverted yield curve means that short-term bonds offer better returns than long-term bonds, which seems counterintuitive. Well, there is a case to be made for an inverted yield curve not being a sign of an impending recession. Click here for more on why experts are questioning the inverted yield curve's reliability as an economic predictor. I suppose any number of companies going public might seem like a lot amid the current drought, but it still seems like slim pickings. On the one hand, a company going public now must have supreme confidence in its business.

☆ Paul Tudor Jones says the Fed is done raising rates, stocks to finish the year higher from here
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones believes the Federal Reserve has finished raising interest rates in its fight against inflation, and the stock market could grind higher this year. "I definitely think they are done," Jones said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" of the Fed's rate-hiking campaign. The central bank has hiked interest rates 10 times since March 2022, taking the fed funds rate to a target range of 5%-5.25%, the highest since August 2007. Jones shot to fame after he predicted and profited from the 1987 stock market crash. "We have no IPOs, no calendar, no secondaries, valuations are at 19 but nobody's rushing to offer so clearly, something is going on internally in the stock market," Jones said.

☆ Secondaries are the new IPOs, says Manhattan Partners' Rashaun Williams
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSecondaries are the new IPOs, says Manhattan Partners' Rashaun WilliamsRashaun Williams, Manhattan Venture Partners general partner, joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss the IPO market possibly opening up to better multiples.

It was the first earnings the Washington, D.C.-based firm reported after former Goldman Sachs Inc (GS.N) executive Harvey Schwartz was named CEO in February. That resulted in after tax distributable earnings per share of 63 cents, which underperformed the average analyst forecast of 69 cents, according to Refinitiv data. Last month, Blackstone Inc (BX.N), the world's largest private-equity firm, reported a 36% drop in first-quarter distributable earnings due to slower asset disposals, primarily in its real estate portfolio. Carlyle said its credit funds appreciated by 3%, while secondaries funds rose 5% and corporate private-equity funds gained 1%. Blackstone had said its corporate private-equity funds had appreciated by 2.8% while liquid credit funds gained 3%.

☆ Some startups are selling at 80% discounts as investors finally come to terms with the collapse in valuations across the tech industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

As valuations drop, investors are increasingly looking to the secondary market to sell their startup shares. This scramble to cash out has led to a steep drop in prices for secondary transactions. With secondary transactions, investors can sell all or part of their stake in a VC fund in order to realize gains earlier than they otherwise would. In some cases, he says, StepStone has even acquired startup shares on the secondary market at prices 80% below their most recent funding rounds. Secondary investors came into 2023 sitting on $131 billion in dry powder, according to a survey from investment advisory firm Evercore.

☆ Big banks to the rescue
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Goldman Sachs' decision to charge employees for coffee might not be that outrageous after all! The largest US banks — headlined by Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo — just pledged a total of $30 billion in deposits to First Republic Bank. As detailed in a release announcing the news, the 11 banks, which also included Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, believe the move "demonstrates their overall commitment to helping banks serve their customers and communities. I can't imagine the big banks looking to pull the rug out from First Republic four months from now, but this money was a deposit, not a donation. Read more about how big banks came to the rescue of First Republic with $30 billion in deposits.

☆ Inside the opaque tech market where startup employees and early investors are trying to get rich now IPOs have collapsed and the VC party is over
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Startup employees and early investors tended to get rich at IPO or acquisition. That's the tough reality for startup employees and early investors as IPOs drop off and venture capital funding dries up. There's a glut of highly valued, late-stage private companies that should be debuting on stock exchanges in the next 12 to 36 months. Share options held by employees and investors can also come with an array of terms and conditions that make them harder to liquidate. "Investors are defending valuations that hurt employees – and companies long term – but help them raise their new funds.

☆ The 22 executives running BlackRock's pivotal $318 billion alternatives business, from private-equity power players to decarbonization dealmakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

BlackRock's $318 billion alternative-investments business is key to the money manager's future. The money manager has been on a mission to grow its $318 billion alternatives business. The leadership team steering the alternatives business has changed recently. Insider has pinpointed the key people responsible for the alternatives business today. It was updated in February 2023 to reflect new reporting and changes to the leadership of BlackRock Alternatives.

☆ Blackstone's Ike leaves to start new investment firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Chibuike Oguh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Melvin Ike, a managing director in Blackstone Inc's (BX.N) tactical opportunities group, has resigned to start his own investment firm, the private equity firm told Reuters. Ike's resignation was announced during a meeting of Blackstone's tactical opportunities fund investors held last week in New York, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday. Ike's transactions for Blackstone's tactical opportunities unit include the sale of a majority stake in Wisconsin-based home improvement lender Aqua Finance for $1 billion to Apollo Global Management (APO.N) in 2021. He also led Blackstone's acquisition of a majority stake in collectibles authentication firm Certified Collectibles Group as well as the minority investments in digital marketing firm Recurrent Ventures and Cybersecurity firm Geocomply. Blackstone's tactical opportunities unit, which is run by David Blitzer, invests in assets that typically fall outside the scope of the firm's other funds, from timber and mines to oil tankers and satellites.

☆ Buyout barons reach deep into their bags of tricks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

NEW YORK, Feb 15 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Debt necessity is proving to be the mother of private equity invention. With the cheap borrowing that fueled record-breaking years of leveraged buyouts gone, firms are digging deeper into their bags of tricks. Private equity firm Silver Lake, which bought a stake alongside the IPO, said it might take control. Besides putting private equity firms into weaker negotiating positions, the competing incentives also threaten conflicts of interest with limited partners. ...THERE’S A WAYIf the U.S. Federal Reserve avoids engineering a recession, private equity should be able to revert to its tried-and-true formula soon enough.

☆ Blackstone closes PE secondary funds at record $25 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 18 (Reuters) - Blackstone Inc (BX.N) raised a record $25 billion for two funds that dabble in secondaries and co-investments, the asset manager said on Wednesday. Strategic Partners IX raised $22.2 billion, the world's largest secondaries fundraise ever, while Strategic Partners GP Solutions raised $2.7 billion. Blackstone Strategic Partners is its illiquid fund investing arm that provides a range of liquidity solutions to both investors and private equity sponsors. Founded in 2000, Blackstone Strategic Partners had $67 billion of assets under management as of Sept. 30 last year. New York-based Blackstone's unlisted real estate income trust also secured a $4 billion investment from the University of California earlier this month.

☆ Partners Group buys data center platform EdgeCore Digital with $1.2 bln investment
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 11 (Reuters) - Swiss private investment company Partners Group Holding AG (PGHN.S) is investing up to $1.2 billion in U.S. data center operator EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, the private equity firm told Reuters. Partners Group will use the fund to acquire a majority stake in EdgeCore and help it build out new data center sites across the United States, the latest of Partners' investment in data center assets. Some of the themes include cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, 5G and mobile," said Ed Diffendal, managing director at Partners Group. In 2021, Partners Group made four digital infrastructure investments, including acquiring atNorth, the largest data center operator in Iceland. Founded in 1996, Partners Group manages $119 billion across private equity, real estate, infrastructure, credit and secondaries globally.

☆ Fact Check-Cancerous tumours are not the body’s attempt to heal itself
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Cancerous tumours are not the body’s attempt to heal itself, as has been claimed online. According to Cancer Research UK (here), cancer cells survive by sending out signals that encourage new blood vessels to grow into the tumour so it too can grow. The charity also reports that there were 9.6 million deaths from cancer worldwide in 2018 (here) and 167,142 deaths in the U.K. between 2017 and 2019 (here). Additionally, not all cancers form solid tumours, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute (here), e.g., cancers of the blood, such as leukemias. Cancerous tumours are not the body’s process of trying to heal itself.

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