Sep 20, 2024

GV Michael McBride was the new guy at Google Ventures, but that didn’t stop him from chasing a deal across the world. It was less than six months after McBride, previously the CRO of GitLab, had joined GV as a general partner. He (like many other investors) was pursuing IT and security data startup Cribl. Despite the competition, McBride believed that the hype around the company was justified and that he was uniquely qualified to be helpful. Cribl CEO and cofounder Clint Sharp told McBride that, theoretically, he could meet him and the Cribl team in Portugal, where the startup was holding an event for customers and employees. “I was like: ‘No problem, I’ll come to Portugal,’” said McBride, who got on an 11-hour flight to Lisbon. It was the sort of thing Sharp didn’t believe actually happens. “Even in the realm of investor stories, I thought that was a pretty zany one,” said Sharp. “I heard that people do this sort of stuff all the time to win deals, but it never happened to me.” The two walked around the resort town Sintra for hours, tooling around pastel castles that served as summer homes to Portuguese princes of the 1800s. As tourists, getting to know each other and their surroundings, Sharp and McBride connected. “He had, from the outside-in, done all of this research on us,” said Sharp. “He’d talked to our customers… and he was very, very excited about us. I think it was because in a lot of ways we pattern match with what GitLab has done, right? We’re a quickly-growing enterprise software company. It’s something that he can really easily wrap his head around, because it’s squarely in his wheelhouse.” Sharp was (and is) charmingly amused by the idea of being the belle of any fundraising ball: “The people that we sell to are the IT and security people, the sort of grizzly-haired admins in the basement. The people that keep all the lights on and the doors open—I was one of those people.” But nevertheless, the encounter kicked off Cribl’s oversubscribed $319 million Series E, raised at a $3.5 billion valuation and announced in August. McBride and GV led the round, marking the firm’s second-largest investment ever, surpassed only by the firm’s 2013 investment in Uber. “I have not lost a wink of sleep since we did the investment, because I’m so confident in that team,” said McBride. GV, as it has done many times before, “pressed the believe button”—a GV-specific phrase that CEO and managing partner David Krane taught me. ICYMI…Rebelstork, a Toronto-based discount online retailer of overstock and returned baby gear, raised $18 million in Series A funding. Maveron led the round and was joined by Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures, Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners, and existing investor Golden Ventures. Read the story by Fortune’s Jason Del Rey here . See you tomorrow, Nina Ajemian curated the deals section of today’s newsletter. VENTURE DEALS - AIR COMPANY , a New York City-based carbon conversion technology company, raised $69 million in Series B funding. Avfuel led the round and was joined by Lowercarbon Capital, IQT, Alaska Airlines, and others. - Cayena , a São Paulo, Brazil-based B2B wholesale food supply marketplace, raised $55 million in Series B funding. Bicycle Capital led the round and was joined by Picus Capital, Coca Cola FEMSA Ventures, Astella, and others. - Cherre , a New York City-based real estate data management platform, raised $30 million in Series C funding. HighSage Ventures led the round and was joined by Intel Capital, CBRE, Nuveen, and others. - Pictor Labs , a Los Angeles, Calif.-basedAI-powered virtual staining platform for histopathology, raised $30 million in Series B funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by M Ventures and the venture capital arm of Merck KGaA. - Mevo , a São Paulo, Brazil-based digital prescription platform, raised $19 million in Series B funding. Matrix led the round and was joined by Jefferson River Capital, Floating Point, IKJ Capital, and Elliot Cohen. - point.me , a New York City-based points and travel reward search platform, raised $15 million in Series B funding. Nyca Partners and Citi Ventures led the round and were joined by Brian Kelly, Samsung Next, RiverPark Ventures, and others. - With , a Tel Aviv, Israel-based community events platform, raised $10 million in seed funding from Boaz Amiti, Tal Ventures, Iron Nation, and others. - TrueX , a New York City-based stable-coin native exchange, raised $9 million in seed funding from RRE Ventures, Reciprocal Ventures, Paxos, and others. - Cercle , a San Francisco, Calif.-based women’s healthcare data insights AI company, raised $6 million in seed funding. Outsiders Fund led the round and was joined by FemHealth Ventures, CGHealth Ventures, Rogue Women’s Fund, existing investors Sheryl Sandberg, Tom Bernthal’s SBVP fund, and angel investors. - Gamebeast , a Seattle, Wash.-based tooling platform for the user-generated content video game industry, raised $3.7 million in pre-seed funding. J2 Ventures led the round and was joined by a16z SPEEDRUN, The Mini Fund, and Le Zhang. - CarbonEthics , a Jakarta, Indonesia-based tech-enable climate solutions developer, raised $2.1 million in seed funding. Intudo Ventures led the round and was joined by angel investors. - Upfront , a New York City-based real estate finance platform, raised $1.5 million in funding. Diagram Ventures led the round and was joined by ROC Venture Group. PRIVATE EQUITY - Genstar Capital acquired a majority stake in Flourish Research , an Apex, N.C.-based multi-site clinical trial organization and portfolio company of NMS Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed. - Prosperity Partners, a portfolio company of Unity Partners, acquired Cendrowski Corporate Advisors , a Detroit, Mich.-based tax, business valuation, and accounting firm. Financial terms were not disclosed. - RLDatix, backed by TA Associates, Five Arrows, and Nordic Capital, acquired SocialClimb , a Lehi, Utah-based patient satisfaction, reputation management and revenue growth solutions platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. EXITS - Acceleration Community of Companies, a portfolio company of Solace Capital Partners, acquired a majority stake in DKC, a New York City-based public relations, marketing, creative services, data analytics, and government affairs company. Verance Capital acquired a minority stake in DKC . Financial terms were not disclosed. - Platinum Equity agreed to acquire a majority stake in F.lli Polli SpA , a Monsummano Terme, Italy-based pasta condiments and vegetable preserves producer, from affiliates of the founding Polli family. OTHER - Descartes Systems Group acquired MyCarrierPortal, a Simi Valley, Calif.-based carrier onboarding and risk monitoring solutions provider for the trucking industry. - PJT Partners agreed to acquire deNovo Partners , a Dubai, UAE-based Middle East-focused advisory firm. Financial terms were not disclosed. IPOS - BioAge Labs , a Richmond, Calif.-based small molecule therapies biotech company, plans to raise $142.5 million in an offering of 7.5 million shares priced between $17 to $19.e Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Sofinnova Venture Partners, Longitude Venture Partners, RA Capital, Cormorant, Kaiser Permanente, and Horsley Bridge back the company. - Upstream Bio , a Waltham, Mass.-based respiratory disorder-focused biotech company, filed to go public on the Nasdaq. The company posted $2 million in revenue for the year ending June 30, 2024. OrbiMed, AI Upstream, Altshuler Shaham Provident Fund and Pension, Decheng Capital Global Life Sciences Fund, TCG Crossover Fund, HBM Healthcare Investments, Maruho Deutschland, Enavate Sciences, Samsara BioCapital, Omega Fund, BCLS Fund, and Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners back the company. FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS - Costanoa Ventures , a San Francisco, Calif.-based venture capital firm, raised $275 million for its fifth fund and $119 million for its third fund focused on apps and infrastructure in data, dev, security, and fintech. - Rethink Impact , a Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm, raised $250 million for its third fund focused on female-led companies. - Patron , a Santa Monica, Calif.-based venture capital firm, raised $100 million for its second fund focused on consumer companies. This is the web version of Term Sheet, a daily newsletter on the biggest deals and dealmakers in venture capital and private equity. Sign up for free. Latest in Newsletters