RTC #34: VC exit stories: $1.3bn raised - sold for $200m

Hi everyone, here is today’s issue at a glance:

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📢 My favorite links of the week

👉 Sequoia competing against some little local VCs on a term sheet (Link)
- My favorite this week

👉 VC life: 99 times you say “no”, and then there is the one founder you are begging to let you invest (Link)

👉 SaaS founders: These are your odds of being acquired within 5 years for a good price (Link)

👉 Insights into founder reference calls by investors (Link)

👉 What milestones are VCs looking for at each round? (Link)

👉 VCs are only investing in ‘quality’ now - is this a good thing? (Link)

👉 Over 100 VCs pledge support for Kamala Harris (Link)

Interesting facts and thoughts

• Raising USD 1.3bn does sound like a success story

• BUT: sold for around USD 200-230m makes it hard for any investor to make any money on this deal

• If early-stage or later-stage investors received some money

  • I guess “liquidation preference” is the keyword here

• Apparently, Wiz was also interested

  • Wiz? Yes, the guys that declined the USD 23bn Google offer

👉 Want to know more about liquidation preferences? Read here

Get more insights:

Source for exit value

Latest press release

Lacework Raises $1.3 Billion at $8.3 Billion Valuation

This one hour is so well-invested.

I recently (accidentally) dug out one of the 20VC episodes from the beginning of the year - pure gold. ⭐

Harry Stebbings meets Adam Fisher (Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners) - FYI: Adam invested in Wix and Fiverr.

You will get so many insights from this VC veteran - have a pen and take notes while listening to it. 📝

Here are my highlights

➡️ Who to invest: First-time versus second-time founder (you will be surprised)

➡️ Higher success chance: Outsider founders versus insiders

➡️ There are two types of investors out there

• the ones that like competition

• the others that see it as a bad signal for their investment strategy

➡️ (Follow-on) financing strategies and story-telling in fundraising

💰 New funds launched to invest in Europe
(July 2024)

Index Ventures - $2.3bn | Focus: Technology, Early & Growth Stage

ZAKA VC - €15m | Focus: B2B Software, AI, Biotech, Health Tech

LEAD VENTURES - €100m | Focus: Growth Stage, Seed & Series A, CEE

13books Capital - £121m | Focus: Fintech, Seed & Series A

Alpine Space Ventures - €170m | Focus: Space Industry, Series A

Creas - €35m | Focus: Sustainability, Social Inclusion

Biovance Capital - €51m | Focus: Early-Stage Biotech

Frumtak Ventures - €80.3m | Focus: Early Stage, Advanced Technologies

LUMO Labs - €100m | Focus: Emerging Technologies, Impact Investing

BrightCap Ventures - €60m | Focus: Future of Work, Digital Health, Fintech

Trill Impact - €90m | Focus: Life Science, Green Tech

Forestay Capital - $220m | Focus: Enterprise AI, SaaS

Seaya - €300m | Focus: ClimateTech, Green Investments

Thank you for reading today’s issue. If you enjoyed it, leave a like or comment, and share it with your friends. Follow me on LinkedIn to never miss updates again.

Have a great week,
Stephan 👋

Issue #34 | 6 August