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And it’s back.
The Honest Company, a maker of eco-friendly home products founded by actress Jessica Alba, soared 44% as of the market’s close Wednesday, valuing the business at about $2.1 billion.
It marks a rare comeback in valuation for the company, which hit a peak of nearly $1.7 billion while private before losing some of its gains over concerns of mislabelling.
Honest Company raised about $103.2 million as part of the IPO while selling shareholders raised about $309.7 million by offering shares at $16 apiece. As of the close of the market Wednesday, shares were trading at $23 apiece.
So how much did investors make from the IPO? Assuming the underwriters exercise their options in full (which generally happens when there is high demand for said shares), here’s a breakdown of the biggest investors, plus that of creator and now Chief Creative Officer Alba:
- L Catterton: The investment firm poured $200 million into the company in 2018. It got all of that back in the IPO, selling a stake worth $309.1 million. Still, it maintains the largest stake in the company among all shareholders ($273 million), for a total of about $582.1 million.
- Institutional Venture Partners: The second largest shareholder, IVP led Honest Company’s $25 million Series B round and also invested throughout several other rounds. It’s unclear exactly how much the investor put into the business, but its stake ($239.8 million) and the shares it sold ($19.2 million) nets out to around $259 million.
- Lightspeed Ventures: Having led Honest Company’s Series A in 2011, the venture investor continued to fund the company throughout its life, investing a total of $31 million across several rounds. According to the company’s IPO filing, Lightspeed sold a stake for about $23.2 million, but still maintains the majority of its position. That adds up to a cash and stock total of about $202.9 million.
- Jessica Alba: The founder of the company, Alba now holds a 6.6% stake in the business. That stake is worth about $129.8 million. She sold no shares in the IPO, and will also be awarded about $6 million in shares for the completion of the offering.
EquityZen co-founder Phil Haslett also aptly pointed out via email that, interestingly enough, Honest Company declared a cash dividend to several stockholders. L Catterton was issued about $13.1 million, IVP received about $4.9 million, and Lightspeed was issued $4.3 million. Jessica Alba’s share meanwhile was $2.6 million. Not something you often see in startups.
At any rate, Honest Company’s IPO also comes as Oatly, another consumer-facing business that has marketed itself as a sustainable brand, is ramping up for its IPO.
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POND (MOON): Europe has been a venture capital hotspot in recent years. My colleague, Jeremy Kahn, details the genesis of a new fund dubbed Moonfire Ventures. Created by Atomico veteran Mattias Ljungman, the fund will invest in seed startups. Read more.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: [email protected]
VENTURE DEALS
- ReCharge, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based subscription e-commerce company, raised $277 million . The investors were Summit Partners, ICONIQ Growth, and Bain Capital Ventures, valuing it at $2.1 billion.
- Bitso, a Mexico City-based crypto exchange, raised $250 million in Series C funding valuing it at $2.2 billion. Tiger Global and Coatue led the round and were joined by investors including Paradigm, BOND, Valor Capital Group, QED, Pantera Capital, and Kaszek.
- Shift Technology, a San Francisco-based insurance fraud detection company, raised $220 million in Series D funding. Advent International led the round and was joined by investors including Avenir, Accel, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and Iris Capital.
- Einride, a Sweden-based developer and provider of electric and autonomous freight tech, raised $110 million in Series B funding . Investors included Temasek, Soros Fund Management, Northzone, and Maersk Growth.
- Cellares Corporation, a South San Francisco-based cell therapy manufacturing company, raised $82 million in Series B funding. Decheng Capital and Eclipse Ventures led the round and were joined by investors including Skyviews Life Science and 8VC.
- Florence, an Atlanta-based platform for clinical trials, raised $80 million in Series C funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Fulcrum Equity Partners, Bee Partners, and Flashpoint.
- Cymulate, an Israel and New York-based cybersecurity stress-testing platform, raised $45 million in Series C funding. One Peak Partners led the round and was joined by investors Susquehanna Growth Equity, Vertex Ventures Israel, Vertex Growth, and Dell Technologies Capital.
- Huntress, an Ellicott City, Md.-based cybersecurity company, raised $40 million in Series B funding. JMI Equity led the round.
- Timescale, a New York-based database for analysis, raised $40 million in Series B funding. Redpoint led the round and was joined by investors including Benchmark, New Enterprise Associates, Icon Ventures, and Two Sigma Ventures.
- Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, a New York-based psychedelic-related company focused on mental health, raised $27 million in Series A funding. Prime Movers Lab led the round.
- Boost Payment Solutions, a New York-based payments company, raised $22 million in Series C funding. Invictus Growth Partners led the round.
- Utmost, a San Francisco-based contracted workforce management platform, raised $21 million in Series B funding. Mosaic Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Greylock Partners, Workday Ventures, Acadian Ventures and Alumni Ventures Group.
- Bitski, a San Francisco-based NFT platform for consumer and entertainment companies, raised $19 million in Series A funding. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, M arcy Ventures, Jay Brown, Serena Williams, Jay-Z, Ari Emanuel,Metapurse, AG Ventures, Troy Carter, Wendi Murdoch, 3LAU, Trevor McFedries, and MrBeast.
- Goody, a Miami-based maker of a gift-giving app, raised $13.1 million in Series A funding. New Enterprise Associates led the round and was joined by investors including David Solomon (CEO, Goldman Sachs), Scott Bellsky (CPO, Adobe), and Amber Atherton (Executive, Discord).
- Swimply, a Cedarhurst, N.Y.-based marketplace for renting swimming pools, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Norwest Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Trust Ventures.
- RTFKT Studios, a Los Angeles-based maker of sneakers and collectibles, raised $8 million in funding. Andreessen Horowitz led the round and was joined by investors including Adrian Cheng at C Ventures and Galaxy Digital.
- Upshot, a Boston-based blockchain-based protocol for questions and answers, raised $7.5 million in Series A funding. Framework Ventures, CoinFund and Blockchain Capital led the round and was joined by investors including Slow Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Delphi Digital, CMS Holdings, Stani Kulechov, Kain Warwick, and Ryan Selkis.
- Astrocyte Pharmaceuticals, a Groton, Conn.-based drug developer focused on neurodegenerative brain injuries, raised $6 million in Series A funding. Boston Harbor Angels led the round and was joined by investors including Clinical Research Ventures, DeepWork Capital, Life Science Angels, Trend Investment Group, Dreamers Startup Ventures, Zhi Gao Holdings, Mass Medical Angels, Mid Atlantic Bio Angels, Kyto Technology and Life Science, and SideCar Angels.
- Optable, a Canada-baed maker of a platform for the ad ecosystem, raised $3.6 million in seed funding. Brightspark Ventures led the round.
- Recurate, a Washington D.C.-based resale platform, raised about $3.3 million in seed funding. Gradient Ventures led the round.
- Text Blaze, a San Francisco-based maker of a Chrome extension for saving snippets of text, raised $3.3 million in seed funding. Two Sigma Ventures’s Villi Iltchev and Susa Ventures’s Leo Polovets led the round.
- EngineEars, a maker of a marketplace for audio engineers, raised $1 million. Investors included Kendrick Lamar, DJ Mustard, Roddy Rich, and Slauson and Co.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Promethean Investments led a $60 million round of funding in Puttshack, a Chicago-based mini golf experience.
- 15Five, backed by Edison Partners, acquired Emplify, an employee engagement software provider, for $50 million.
- BluJay Solutions, backed by Francisco Partners, agreed to acquire Raven Logistics, a Naples, Fla.-based railroad logistics management company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- FullSpeed Automotive, backed by MidOcean Partners, acquired 10 automotive repair and maintenance centers through five acquisitions. The locations will be rebranded as Grease Monkey. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Kelso & Company acquired a majority stake in C.L. Smith, a St. Louis, Mo.-based provider of rigid packaging solutions. Kelos will merge the business in Inmark. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- MacNeill Pride Group, backed by Centre Partners, acquired GCI Outdoor, a Higganum, Conn.-based provider of outdoor recreation equipment. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Sheridan Capital Partners invested in DAS Health Ventures, a Tampa, Fla.-based provider of healthcare IT management solutions and services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- The Stepping Stones Group, a portfolio company of Five Arrows Capital Partners, acquired The Futures Health Group, a Massachusetts-based therapeutic and behavioral company focused on schools. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- RateGenius, a auto-loan refinancing company backed by Tritium Partners, agreed to merge with Autopay, an FM Capital-based car loan company. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
EXITS
- Galaxy Digital agreed to acquire BitGo, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based digital asset platform, for $1.2 billion in cash and stock.
- Kahoot agreed to acquire Clever, a San Francisco-based startup education startup with a sign-on portal. The deal values the latter at between $435 million and $500 million.
- Partners Group agreed to acquire Axia Women's Health, an Oaks, Pa.-based women's healthcare provider, from Audax Private Equity. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Beringer Capital acquired Perform[cb], a marketing business, from Centre Lane Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHER
- TripActions acquired Reed & Mackay Travel, a London-based corporate expense company focused on high-end clients. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Office Depot owner ODP Corp plans to split off its distribution platform, which sells directly to organizations.
IPOS
- Steinhoff International Holdings is looking to list Pepco Group NV, its European discount retail arm, in Poland for 4.6 billion zloty ($1.2 billion).
- Hear.com, an Utrecht, Netherlands-based provider of hearing care, now plans to raise plans to raise $300 million in an offering of 16.2 million shares priced between $17 to $20. EQT backs the firm.
- Zenvia, a Brazil-based maker of a customer experience communications platform, now plans to raise $213 million in an offering of 12.9 million shares priced between $15.50 to $17.50.
- Five Star Bancorp, a Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based bank, raised $105 million in an offering of 5.3 million shares priced at $20.
- Valneva, a French developer of vaccines for infectious diseases, now plans to raise $94 million in an offering of 3.5 million ADS priced at about $24.04 to $28.85. Group Grimaud backs the firm.
- Centrexion Therapeutics, a Boston-based developer of treatments for chronic pain, withdrew its plans to raise $75 million. New Enterprise Associates and Interwest Partners backs the firm.
- FIGS, a Santa Monica, Calfi.-based direct-to-consumer healthcare apparel brand, filed for an IPO. Tulco and Viking Global Investors back the firm.
- Dlocal, a Uruguay-based online payments company focused on emerging markets, filed for an IPO. General Atlantic backs the firm.
- Clarios, a Glensdale, Wis.-based car battery maker, filed confidentially for an IPO. Brookfield Asset Management backs the firm.
- Krispy Kreme, a Winston-Salem, N.C.-based donuts maker, has filed confidentially for an IPO. JAB backs the firm.
F+FS
- Emergence, a San Mateo, Calif.-based venture capital firm focused on enterprise technology companies, closed Emergence Capital Partners VI with $575 million fund and Emergence Capital Opportunity I with $375 million.
- Information Venture Partners, a Canada-based venture capital focused on early-stage B2B fintech and enterprise software, raised $101 million for its third fund.
PEOPLE
- Atlantic Street Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, named Johnny Conklin as a partner.
