Year-End 2017 Private Placement Transactions Make For Merry 2018

December 31, 2017

Private Placement Transactions in the last weeks of 2017 enabled a variety of startup enterprises and fast movers to secure growth capital intended to make these fintech, medtech, insuretech, cybersecurity and enterprise solution firms move three steps forward as they enter 2018 with a war chest. Deals ranging in size from $8mil-$1bil+ along with filing of a $5bil IPO by China-based wealth management firm Lufax kept VCs, private equity deal makers and investment bankers working late nights throughout the Christmas holiday and no doubt provided those finance folks with extra stocking stuffers for them and theirs..

PPM LLC scorecard for the closing bell of Q4 found us guiding (3) California-based Cannabis firms, (2) blockchain firms focused on Initial Coin Offerings, (1) martech enterprise (2017 rev of $15mil+) (1) medtech enterprise (independently valued at $150mil +) and (3) real estate development platforms.  For information on how the feasibility study experts and offering memorandum writers at PPM LLC can guide your private placement transactions and put wind in your 2018 sail, simply hit the “Contact” button above.

Below  is courtesy of Fortune’s Term Sheet…

VENTURE DEALS
Hellobike, a Shanghai, China bike-sharing firm, raised $350 million in its latest funding round from investors including Alibaba’s Ant Financial.

Kespry, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based aerial intelligence solution provider, raised $33 million in Series C funding led by G2VP, and was joined by investors including Shell Technology Ventures, Cisco Investments, and ABB Ventures

LaunchDarkly, an Oakland, Calif.-based feature management platform, raised a $21 million in Series B funding led by Redpoint Ventures and Vertex.

Noodle Partners, a New York firm that helps colleges decrease the cost of online higher education, raised about $14 million in Series A funding led by Owl Ventures.

Pilotworks, New York City-based a community of food entrepreneurs formerly known as FoodWorks, raised $13 million in Series A funding led by Techstars Ventures and Acre Venture Partners.

Earny, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based personal financial service, raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Mayfield and was joined by investors including Comcast Ventures and Science Inc.

ChemomAb, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based biopharmaceutical firm, raised $10 million in funding led by OrbiMed Israel and Peter Thiel, who were joined by investors including SBI Japan-Israel Innovation Fund and Milestone Venture.

NS8, an Arlington, Va.-based ecommerce fraud prevention provider, raised $7.5 million in funding led by Arbor Ventures, and was joined by investors including TDF Ventures and Hanna Ventures.

VirtualHealth, New York City-based provider of population health and care management technologies, raised $7 million from investors led by Edison Partners.

IRONSCALES, a Tel Aviv-based cybersecurity company that combines human intelligence with  machine learning to automatically detect phishing emails, raised $6.5 million in Series A funding from investors including K1 Investment Management and RDC.

Guardian Optical Technologies, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based sensor technology maker for automobile manufacturers, raised $5.1 million in Series A funding from Maniv Mobility and Mirai Creation Fund.

Powerful, a Miami-based food and beverage company, raised $4 million from two separate funding rounds from investors including Cambridge Companies SPG, River Hallow Partners and Gerber Finance.

Continuum Security,a Spain-based threat modeling startup, raised €1.5 million ($1.7 million) in funding, led by Swanlaab Venture Factory and was joined by investors including JME Venture Capital and Sonae IM.

Stateless, a Boulder, Colo.-based firm allowing network functions to be consumed through the “as a service” model, raised $1.4 million in a seed round led by Speedinvest and was joined by investors including Techstars, EVO Venture Partners, PV Ventures, and Service Provider Capital.

Black Dog Venture Partners acquired a ten percent stake in Wobbl3 Entertainment, a Salt Lake City-based video game developer. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

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PRIVATE EQUITY DEALS
Pandion Energy, a portfolio company of Kerogen Capital, agreed to buy a 10% stake in two North Sea fields from Norwegian oil firm Aker BP, Reuters reports. Read more.

TPG Capital amended its deal to acquire Exactech, a Gainsville, Fla.-based orthopedic implant maker, for $49.25 per share rather than the previous amount of $42 per share.

BV Investment Partners invested in Precision Nutrition, a Toronto-based nutrition certification and coaching software and services provider in North America. The Company’s co-founders will maintain a significant interest. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Munch Supply, a portfolio company of Rotunda Ventures, acquired O’Connor Company, a Kansas-based HVAC company. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Cirtec Medical, a portfolio company of 3i Group, acquired Vascotube, a Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany-based maker of precision-engineered nitinol tubing. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Great Range Capital led a group of investors that including The Bradley Family Office to acquire Labor Source, an Olathe, Kansas-based professional staffing company. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Nellson Nutraceutical, a portfolio company of Kohlberg & Company, acquired Genysis Brand Solutions, Salt Lake City-based maker of functional powders. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Water Street acquired Alliance Life Sciences and Health Strategies Group, Somerset, N.J. and Lambertville N.J.-based life sciences commercialization firms. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Procare Software, a portfolio company of TA Associates, acquired KidReports, a Denver-based provider of real time reporting technology and services to child care providers. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. Stone-Goff Partners invested in DSG, a Little Rock-based provider of outsourced sales training. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

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OTHER Private Placement Transactions
Nordic Capital agreed to buy Alloheim, a German nursing home operators, for about 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) including debt, Reuters reports citing sources. Read more.

Jensen Hughes, a Baltimore, M.D.-based fire protection risk firm, acquired Russell Phillips & Associates, a Fairpoint, N.Y.-based fire safety company. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Tokyo Gas Co. agreed to acquire LNG, an integrated gas pipeline in Alaska, from The Alaska Gasline Development Corporation.

Intuit agree to acquire TSheets, an Eagle, Id.-based  platform that businesses use to automate time tracking and scheduling for them and their workers, for $340 million.

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IPOs
Newmark Group, a New York City-based real estate brokerage firm, plans to raise $615 million in an IPO of 30 million shares priced between $19 to $22. In 2016, Newmark, which includes the Newmark Knight Frank real estate firm and Berkeley Point mortgage services, posted revenue of $1.1 billion on loss of $42.6 million. BGC Partners backs the company. Goldman Sachs, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Cantor Fitzgerald are underwriters in the deal. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq as “NMRK.”

Lufax, a Chinese wealth management firm, has reportedly hired Citic Securities, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs to work on a $5 billion IPO, IFR reports citing sources. Lufax is backed by Ping An Insurance. Read more.

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EXITS
Immobel agreed to acquire a stake of Nafilyan & Partners, a Paris-based real estate promoter, from Tikehau Capital. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

ERT agreed to acquire iCardiac Technologies, a Rochester, New York-based laboratory for cardiac safety biomarkers, from Norwest. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

AEA Investors closed its previously announced acquisition of Excelitas Technologies, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based provider of photonics technology solution from Veritas Capital. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets agreed to acquire INEA, a Poznan, Poland-based telecom firm, from Warburg Pincus. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

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FIRMS + FUNDS
RCP Advisors, a Chicago-based firm, raised over $284 million for its latest fund out of a $400 million target, according to an SEC filing.

Astral Capital, a Boston-based venture capital firm, raised a $48.9 million venture fund, according to an SEC filing.

Athyrium Capital Management and Neuberger Berman, both New York-based firms, raised $2.025 billion in their latest healthcare fund Athyrium Opportunities Fund III.

Granite Growth Health Partners, a Stamford, Conn. and San Francisco-based growth equity firm, launched Monday. The firm invests $10 to $50 million in health services companies.

Year-End 2017 Private Placement Transactions Make For Merry 2018