IRL Ventures’ Post

"For venture capitalists, this part of the investing process – the time between discovering a desirable, competitive deal and making the investment is the arena. It’s the province of sharp elbows, late-night phone calls, speed reading data rooms, and dueling term sheets. If handled well, this can be the making of the firm. With a small number of intelligent, farseeing decisions, you may find yourself the equity holder of a legendary business and the partner to a historic entrepreneur. But if managed poorly, you may find yourself sitting on an overheated pile of buzzy logos, not real businesses. Based on the strategies of the exceptional investors we’ve interviewed, and our own research, we’ve devised a five step playbook to help you run a tight process, make shrewd decisions, and win allocation." https://lnkd.in/g9-Uhkyu

Few Interesting insights from the article - If you have thesis to buy profitable businesses then finding the niche is important and certain scale where the sweat spot exist - Order in which M&A play around the businesses works - > Backward Integeration > Forward Integeration -> Adjacement spaces within sharp market or same Buyer within an organization Great businesses in Marketing Services executed well with the thesis in recent times The Brandtech Group #martech #PE #M&A #Rollup #M&A #enterprenership #Rollups

Days after celebrating Ibotta’s IPO, Hans Tung shares his thoughts with TechCrunch’s Mary Ann Azevedo on down rounds, AI, and more: 📈 On down rounds: “It’s like getting a report card or test/exam score. It doesn’t really matter until you have an exit. An #IPO is actually just a milestone, not the end game. An IPO is the beginning of public investors being along for the ride. So when you think in longer-term valuations, up or down temporarily doesn’t matter as much as generating a big outcome at the end.” 🤖 On #AI: “You can argue that we’re only in the first half of the first inning for AI… You do see a lot of crazy rounds happening at the beginning of a boom, but there will be bifurcation. There will be companies that end up doing great, and most companies may not. You’ve gotta still be very thoughtful about choosing which ones have a chance of being around for a very long period of time." 💡On our new name: “We picked the name Notable because we want to put the focus on the founders. We invest in notable founders, notable causes, notable ideas—even notable investors."

Beringer Capital is thrilled to announce that our portfolio company, Dig Insights, has completed its second acquisition with the addition of Ebco Trends, a US-based trend-powered innovation company. This investment marks an exciting step forward in expanding Dig’s offer suite and enhancing the company’s front-end innovation capabilities through trends and foresight. Ebco has built a reputation for uncovering emerging trends that will shape the future of industries with its unique ability to connect the dots across culture, product, and consumer signals. Leveraging custom methodologies, Ebco specializes in delivering actionable innovation ideas, rooted in foresight, to help solve the innovation challenges of brands. In addition to organic growth, M&A has become an important part of Dig’s evolution and a valuable avenue to accelerate the company’s growth roadmap. With the investment in Ebco, combined with the recent acquisition of Ignite 360, Dig will be able to provide deeper support to clients throughout the entire innovation lifecycle. As Dig continues to evolve, these acquisitions reinforce its mission to help brands innovate smarter and further positions the firm as a leader in the tech-enabled insights space. Read the full press release for more details on Dig Insights' expanding innovation capabilities: https://lnkd.in/gNBNUi8n David Saunders, Chantel Lewis, CFA, Paul Gaudette, Dominic Atkinson, Michael Edwards, Ian Ash, Brad Newman - CPA, CA, Erin Jacobs Mays, Rob Volpe, Sima Vasa, Lexia Schwartz, Lilli Scalettar

Hot on the heels of releasing our inaugural “The State of the SaaS Capital Markets” report this week, Sapphire Ventures Partner Steve Abbott joined “The Path to Public: Market Trends and Readiness Strategies” panel, alongside Brian Smith, Founder of S3 Ventures, John Kaercher, Partner at Kirkland & Ellis, and Krishna Srinivasan, Founding Partner of LiveOak Ventures, to share his perspective on key trends and strategic considerations for the IPO, M&A, and venture funding landscape in 2024 and beyond. 🚀   3 key takeaways from the conversation below. 👇   🔹 The idea of an “IPO window” should go… out the window. High quality scaled companies can always go public, but the critical consideration should be a company’s readiness to go public at the valuation the market is prepared to price them at. 🔹 The year 2024 is anticipated to witness a rise in small-to-mid-sized M&A activities, reflecting companies' strategies to grow capabilities and enhance their expansion motions, including more private-to-private transactions. 🔹 There’s a more rational way to play AI over the next few years that involves focusing on our various vertical and horizontal applications to see how the best up-and-coming companies are deploying AI.   A big thank you to Kirkland & Ellis, Deloitte, and Bank of America, for fostering this discussion. 🙏   And make sure to check out the report for more: https://lnkd.in/gqJvKNZU    #SaaS #capitalmarkets #VC #2024predictions

2020 was the year the world changed. What once worked before may not be the best solution now. This is our new normal… our new reality. We all need to shift our perspective and learn a new set of tools to compete and win. From new startups to multi-million-dollar wholesale enterprises, to iconic national retail chains, “How to Dominate in the New Reality” is a master class for succeeding in today’s disruptive, connected, fast-paced business world. https://lnkd.in/gkS8B-_V

🚀 Forward Consumer Partners Closes Debut Fund at $425 Million - Forward Consumer Partners announces the oversubscribed closing of its debut fund, Forward Fund I. - Launched in June 2023 and closed in December 2023, Fund I surpassed its target, reaching the $425 million hard cap. - Founder Matt Leeds stated: “We are grateful to everyone who has contributed to Forward’s launch, honored by the support of our investors, and excited about what Forward will accomplish in the years to come.” - Diverse global investor support; single close for Fund I, without the use of a placement agent. - Mission: Build impactful brands in collaboration with inspiring leaders, creating meaningful equity value. - Core Strategy: Majority equity investments of $25-100 million in growing consumer brands; ability for larger transactions through a substantial co-invest network. - Fast Forward: Incubation strategy for consumer brands from inception, enhancing innovation and growth. - Team: Imran M., partner Eileen Sullivan, Vice President, Nancy Sun, Vice President Vince Sirianni, Senior Associate Dana Shanahan, Office Manager Diverse experiences from top firms, including L Catterton, McKinsey, KKR, Goldman Sachs, Endeavor, etc. - Advisory Board: Comprising accomplished leaders from consumer and investment communities. Timothy Barakett Joel Clark Olivier Durand Zac Efron Greg Eisner Shu Hung Miguel Leal Maura Mottolese Stephen Schwanhausser Dr. Valerie Oswalt Pat Tenore Jody Williams - Shared Vision: The team at Forward is committed to helping enduring consumer brands progress toward their potential. #privateequity

Did you know that the top-10 beauty & personal care brands capture ~60% of the global market? Our analysis of 122 US beauty and personal care players reveals a surge in D2C and indie brands significantly bolstering the contract manufacturing segment. However, although specialized players opt for an omnichannel strategy, generalist e-retailers like Amazon dominate digital sales channels. PE-led interest has been significant, with >55% of the identified assets being sponsor-backed. Herein, investors are attracted to the emergence of high-growth D2C brands coupled with the industry's resilient nature and attractive margins. However, competition due to low regulatory requirements and ever-changing customer preferences, act as a key detractor. Advent International, Altos Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital, Blackstone, The Carlyle Group, Cerberus Capital Management, Comcast Ventures, Correlation Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Eurazeo, Felix Capital, Fifth Wall, Five Points Capital, Forerunner, General Atlantic, Goldman Sachs, Gryphon Investors, Index Ventures, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, L Catterton, Lerer Hippeau, Lightbank, Lightspeed, MaC Venture Capital, Maveron, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Norwest Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Soma Capital, Summit Partners, Thrive Capital, TPG and Y Combinator are currently invested in the US beauty & personal care market. Interested? Read our full report: https://lnkd.in/g7HxBz4g #privateequity #venturecapital #beauty #personalcare #d2c #ecommerce

Discover why a clear vision and strategic restraint in marketing are crucial from an LP’s perspective, with insights from Isomer Capital! Chris Wade, Co-founder & Partner at Isomer Capital, shared key insights on VC fund management during his discussion at the CEE VC Summit with Marcin Laczynski, Chief of Investments at Vestbee and General Partner at Next Road Ventures. 🚀 Explore the highlights and learn why Isomer champions visionary managers. Read more ➡️ https://lnkd.in/dk3euXFg #Investment #VentureCapital #VCInsights #CEEVC #Vestbee #IsomerCapital

🦄 Another exciting week at EVIDENT! Today, we are launching our new Venture Vertical on the EVIDENT platform, starting with direct investments in 2️⃣0️⃣ leading unicorns and pre-IPO companies 🚀 💎 This is yet another way to offer investors a pure form of owning a piece of the future. Our focus has always been—and will continue to be—on the highest quality, most innovative assets and making these opportunities more accessible in a fully digital setup. Our digital market infrastructure powered by tokenization makes it possible. 🤖 The first company featured? It’s the most consequential player in the AI space, and we’re just getting started. 🧐 Stay tuned for more details and updates from our EVIDENT company channel here on LinkedIn. #venturecapital #wealthmanagement #tokenization #unicorn