Private Equity Wire news update - "European unicorns on the rise; Goldman considers raising a USD2bn venture fund"

European unicorns on the rise; Goldman considers raising a USD2bn venture fund

Economies across the world are doing their best to recover during this unprecedented time. If there were one word to sum up 2020 thus far, it would be ‘change’. Change doesn’t have to be negative however, as Wol Kolade, managing director of London-based private equity firm Livingbridge, made clear in an interview with PEW earlier this week.
Kolade is part of a group of investors behind the #100blackinterns campaign, an initiative designed to bridge the inequality gap in the financial sector by offering BAME students’ internships with financial firms. Since the launch of the campaign over 100 firms in the City of London have signed up to the programme.
We also caught up with Phillip A Gayle Jr, managing partner of Texas-based Andros Capital Partners, which recently closed its inaugural fund at its USD250 million hard cap. The discussion centred around how the energy sector is being shaped by the pandemic, as well as global affairs such as the recent crude oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
This week KKR acquired business service provider Citation from Hg; Goldman said it plans to raise around USD2 billion for a new venture fund; and Rolls-Royce is seeking GBP2 billion after Covid-19 triggered major losses. General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital are looking to acquire the US operations of video sharing app TikTok, and Apple became the first US company worth in excess of USD2 trillion.
Airbnb said on Wednesday it has confidentially filed for an IPO with US regulators, while the FT reported on Wednesday that CVC and Advent are preparing a joint bid of EUR1.3 billion for a minority stake in Italy’s Lega Serie A. Also this week, Dutch family-backed impact investor DOB Equity re-invested in Tanzania’s biggest dairy processor, Tanga Fresh.
On Thursday, PitchBook released its European VC Valuations report. PEW spoke to PitchBook’s EMEA VC expert Nalin Patel, one of the authors of the report, about the fact that the number of European unicorns is rising, that VC deal value and volume has been surprisingly strong given that the majority of European economies have been in lockdown, and why some VCs actually prefer to do their due diligence process virtually.
Karin Wasteson
Editor, Private Equity Wire

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