GP BULLHOUND NEWS OCTOBER 2020

Full speed ahead for tech and digital.

October 22, 2020

23 October 2020 - Since the beginning of 2019, tech has continued to overperform, with the main S&P 500 index up by 38% versus the tech index up by 95%, and in the recent months of pandemic we have seen not only the resilience of the tech side of the stock market, but also a massive inflow of capital from other asset classes and other parts of the equity space into tech.

Sector

Region

Global

Now as some countries open up, while others experience a second wave, we are seeing massive energy in the market, as digitalisation continues to accelerate in all areas of tech.

The software landscape in particular is going through a huge shift with a strong acceleration over the last months, which we expect to continue, and a lot of capital and investment around AI-powered consumer insights, analytics, and learning management systems. We have been actively investing throughout the pandemic, and are most excited about the prospects of online learning, health tech, and entertainment.

Read below for our latest deals, investments, insights and event news.

Investment Banking

With our global team of 60 technology bankers, we advised on 13 exits and 11 investment rounds in the last year for clients in Europe and in the US, in our core sectors: Software, Digital Services, Fintech, Marketplaces and Digital Media.

Keeping a strong momentum, our Software practice completed 16 deals in the last 12 months, including recently the acquisition of AllyO by HireVue, the $160m investment in Sendinblue by Bridgepoint and BPI, the majority sale of 7NXT to Oakley Capital, the acquisition of Assetic by Dude Solutions, and the $29m investment in EDITED by Wavecrest & Beringea.

Other recent notable deals include the sale of an equity stake in The Hut Group for a value of more than £300m, the acquisition of Linkmedia by GlynnDevins, the merger of Orca Pacific with MightyHive, and the investment in Meniga by Groupe BCE.

Investment Management

GP Bullhound’s Investment Management team invests globally and on all stages of maturity, engaging closely with founders and management to build technology leaders. Full story here.

Following the first close of GP Bullhound Fund V at €125m, we announced a first investment, in Maria DB, followed by DuckDuckGo and Vivino. Earlier in the year through Fund IV we invested in Revolut, Busuu, Genially, and made follow-on investments in Playtomic and Challengermode.

On portfolio news, Klarna announced an impressive round of $650m, at a post money valuation of $10.65bn, making it the highest-valued private fintech in Europe. With Unity‘s recent NYSE listing at a valuation of $13.6bn, and the IPO of Slack in 2019 and Spotify in 2018, we are proud to have invested in four companies now valued at more than $10bn!

Recently, Playtomic announced the acquisition of Milan-based PrenotaUnCampo, on its path to become Europe’s leading racket sports app, while HackerOne published its fourth “Hacker-powered security report“. Finally, check out the media dashboard forecasting model developed by Ravenpack to predict the winner of the 2020 U.S. election.

Insights

With now 112 billion-dollar tech companies created in Europe since 2000, our 2020 Titans of Tech report showed the resilience of the tech ecosystem, and listed the Top 50 tech contenders about to reach “unicorn” status in Europe.

Our Consumer Subscription Software report analyses how consumers are learning to love subscription models, highlighting the companies to watch and key valuation drivers in the sector. And each quarter, our Sector Updates dive into global market trends in Software, Fintech, Digital Media, Digital Services and Marketplaces globally, as well as developments in the Asian tech market.

Make sure to subscribe to our distribution list, and follow us on social medias to receive our next reports on Social Gaming, Technology Predictions 2021, Impact/ESG and more tech insights.

Events

Since January we have hosted no less than 37 events, live or online, gathering close to 5,000 of you to share insights and stories. We have been honoured to welcome more than 50 fantastic founders and CEOs as our guest speakers, including Sir Martin Sorrell of S4 Capital, Peter McKay of Snyk, Reshma Sohoni of Seedcamp, Dr. Gero Decker of Signavio, Priya Lakhani OBE of Century Tech and Ali Parsa of Babylon Health, among many others.

Watch the recording of our latest Global Tech Market Update, starring our co-founders Per Roman and Hugh Campbell, and several of our sector experts. Earlier this month we celebrated the winners of the 2020 Investor Allstars awards. Don’t miss our next events, including a Consumer Subscription Software Update on 5 November, a Digital Services Market Update on 12 November and our annual Nordic Tech Day on 19 November. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Team

We are always on the lookout for talented individuals to join our global team of Bullhounders. Visit our career page to view our current job openings.

About GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice and capital to the world’s best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999, the firm today has offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and New York. For more information, please visit www.gpbullhound.com.

Enquiries
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