December Private Placement Deals Just In Time for Holiday Cheer

December 18, 2017

December funding announcements and private placement deals completed for a variety of startups and fast growth companies have brought holiday to cheer to early stage investors, entrepreneurs and deal makers across the venture capital and private equity silos who have worked hard for the past several quarters to deploy investment capital prior to year end. Courtesy of Fortune Term Sheet, below is a snapshot of recently-announced private placement and direct funding transactions.

For startup entrepreneurs looking to get a head start on Q1 campaigns, Prospectus team members will be working side-by-side with Santa’s elves to deliver business plan writing and feasibility study services and investor offering document preparation throughout the holiday season. Private Placement Deals are a specialty;  Like Us on FB follow us @Prospectus_com.

VENTURE DEALS
• Virgin Hyperloop One, a Los Angeles-based tubular transit system startup, agreed to raise $50 million in funding, according to Axios. Investors include Caspian Venture Capital and DP World. Read more.

• Leadspace, a San Francisco and Tel Aviv-based B2B audience management platform for marketing and sales, raised $21 million in Series C funding. Arrowroot Capital and Jerusalem Venture Partners led the round.

• Huddly, an Oslo, Norway-based developer of a easy-to-use video collaboration technology, raised $10 million in Series C funding. Graham Williams led the round.

• Spotlite recently raised more than $10 million from Sequoia Capital China and BlueRun Ventures. The plan is to use the funding to build out the product, make key hires and expand its marketing and advertising efforts.

• Univercells, a Belgium-based provider of biomanufacturing solutions, raised $3.56 million in Series A funding. The investors included Takeda Ventures Inc.

• Aunt Fannie’s, a Portland-based CPG company focused on microbiomic cleaning products and pest solutions, raised $2.375 million in Series A. Investors include Monica Nassif, David Charne, and Stuart Erickson.

• Reniac Inc, a San Jose, Calif.-based developer of intelligent data-aware architecture for applications, servers, and data stores, raised funding of an undisclosed amount from Intel Capital.
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HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES DEALS
• Ginkgo Bioworks, a Boston-based biotech company that designs custom microbes, raised  $275 million in Series D funding. Investors include Viking Global, Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, Bill Gates’ Cascade Investment, and General Atlantic.

• Aptinyx Inc., an Evanston, Ill.-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing transformative therapies for challenging neurologic disorders, raised $70 million in Series B funding. Bain Capital led the round, and was joined by investors including Adage Capital, Agent Capital, HBM Healthcare Investments, Nan Fung Life Sciences, Partner Fund Management and Rock Springs Capital.
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PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
• ConvergeOne, a portfolio company of Clearlake Capital, acquired Alexander Open Systems , an Overland Park, Kansas-based IT consulting group. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

• Main Post Partners made an investment in Fortis Solutions Group, a Virginia Beach, Va.-based developer of printing, packaging, and labeling solutions. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

• alphabroder, a portfolio company of Littlejohn & Co., LLC, acquired Prime Line, a manufacturer and supplier of promotional products for more than three decades. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

• The Carlyle Group agreed to acquire Net Health, a provider of cloud-based clinical documentation, practice management, and billing solutions. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
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OTHER DEALS
• KKR & Co. agreed to buy the world’s largest margarine business from Unilever plc for $8.06 billion. Unilever set an asking price of $8 billion, according to The New York Post. Read more.

• TSYS agreed to acquire Cayan, a Boston, Mass.-based payment technology company, in an all cash transaction valued at approximately $1.05 billion.

• Hershey agreed to buy Amplify Snack Brands, the owner of Tyrell’s potato chips and SkinnyPop popcorn for $921 million. Read more at Fortune.

• Fireman Capital Partners and Dunn’s River Brands acquired the Sweet Leaf Tea and Tradewinds businesses from Nestle Waters North America. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

• Aconex Ltd (ASX:ACX) received a A$1.56 billion ($1.2 billion), or A$7.80 in cash-per-share, buyout offer from Oracle Corp, sending the target’s share price up 45 percent. Read more.

• Humana Inc. is in advanced talks to join with two private-equity firms in a deal to acquire home-care provider Kindred Healthcare Inc (NYSE:KND), according to The Wall Street Journal. The deal would value Kindred at $9 a share, and Kindred has an enterprise value of about $4 billion, including debt. Read more.
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EXITS
• Amazon is in advanced talks to acquire Sqrrl, a Massachusetts-based cybersecurity software company for north of $40 million, according to Axios. Sqrrl raised $26.5 million in venture funding from investors including Spring Lake Equity Partners, Matrix Partners, and Atlas Venture. Read more.

• Beecken Petty O’Keefe & Company acquired Zenith American Solutions, a Tampa, Fla.-based third-party administrator of benefits to Taft-Hartley trust funds. The seller was Water Street Healthcare Partners. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

• Apollo Global agreed to acquire Sun Country Airlines, a Mendota Heights, Minn.-based independent airline. The sellers were Marty and Mitch Davis. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
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