Few ancient philosophies have been as influential as Taoism. Developed in the 4th century B.C., the philosophy is centered around the achievement of ‘the Way’ and finding harmony and balance within. At the heart of this philosophy is the symbol that has come to represent it as its most identifiable aspect: the Yin and Yang.
Unicorn Sighting at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe post happy hour? Well, we did learn about a killer medical device deal that has a management team that has produced a Unicorn and sold it! Contact Victoria at Events@RedHookCapital.co to join us for a pairing event with these guys and others in SoCal.
2018 Pairing Event! We are still looking for a few families to meet with our friends at the JP Morgan conferences! San Franciso in 1Q2018. You need to have $10 million plus of very liquid assets to play with these guys! Or you can play in our smaller sandboxes at different events in California!
PIPELINE (moonshot and EBITDA deals that we like)
• VitalConnect Inc, a San Jose, a Calif.-based provider of wearable biosensor technology for wireless monitoring in hospital and remote patient populations, raised $38 million in Series C funding. MVM and Baxter Ventures led the round. (IN knows Baxter);
• Globality, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based B2B marketplace for business services, raised $35 million in funding. Investors include THK Equities, Raine Ventures, Al Gore,John Joyce, John Danilovich, and Dennis Nally. (IN knows Al Gore from his DC days);
• Markforged, a Cambridge, Mass.-based industrial 3D printing platform, raised $30 million in Series C funding. Investors include next47, Microsoft Ventures, and Porsche Automobil Holding SE. (IN know Microsoft form its early days and one of our family office knows Porsche);
• Pomelo, a Bangkok-headquartered online fashion brand, raised $19 million in funding. JD.com led the round. (sorry not IN’s JD);
Our motto is “Say Provocative statements that intelligent people argue about fast without dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s. As life is all about fun and results!” – JD Morris
#provocative UNICORN FAIRY TALES GAME FOR INVESTORS?
Clue #1 Valued at 3 billion at peak
Clue #2 Raised $900+ million in funding
Clue #3 Backed by Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz
Clue #4 A developer of wearable tech and portable audio devices.
DISCLAIMER: This information is provided by AP, Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune, preqin, Reuters, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal (WSJ), and other 3rd party sources. Please check with the company website as this a beta blog and will not be updated.solutions to hospitals nationwide.
It is amazing if your fantasy unicorn turns into a dragon. However, it is as clear as black and white that your investors want a great return on their money.
This is why we focus on middle market EBITDA deals and take a shot at the moon (moon shot deals) from time to time with our family offices and funds. We only look for Unicorns that need help becoming a dragon. Our motto is “Say Provocative statements that intelligent people argue about fast without dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s. As life is all about fun and results!” We get results from taking Unicorns to become dragons.
Visit the first Sunday and Monday of November for an amazing collection of investors by contacting Victoria at Events@RedHookCapital.co anytime!
Good Read TechCrunch: Unicorns vs. Dragons
Unicorns are for show! Dragons are for dough! The 21 firms that can rightly claim that their unicorns were also dragons for their LPs include Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Spark Capital, Floodgate, Matrix Partners, Charles River, Union Square Ventures, Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital and a dozen others.
Sorry it is a soapbox day! Do we need to change the name of Unicorns or what do we need to do to focus on success vs. valuations? Create a Unicorn and you will make millions or billions! Well you have to have an exit such as an IPO or buyer. This is why you should always look for an exit. What will be the history of Jawbone and these companies in 10 years? It is great to build value, but you need a plan!
Jawbone’s previous valuation of $3 billion is long gone, and it’s now back down its 2011 valuation of $1.5 billion. However, who would buy the company? Does it have the numbers for an IPO? My view is Jawbone better acquire hot company or it will be the death of a Unicorn. Will it be scrubbed from Unicorn “Club” or what is its future? I think at all times it great to have an advisor or board member looking for an exit! Dollar Shave Club might not remembered 10 to 20 years in the history of deals. Will AOL be a case study in college? However, its investors will always remember!
Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and others have slowed down in M&A. Dream of a Unicorn, but remember $20 million in your own bank is better than billion in paper money!
Do we need to change the name of Unicorns? What do we need to do to focus on success vs. valuations?
Let us talk strategy for few hours or two days! I can collect a team of experts in most industries for strategy meeting for growth and exit plans.
I know a few amazing people that can help you shape your strategy and understand what it takes to be a Unicorn! However, their advise is not cheap! Let us setup 15 min or two day strategy session! Text JD Morris at +1 858-869-9483 anytime with referrals to ideas!
After seeing 4-8 CEOs a day during the internet bubble, I can share what I saw in the guys that where Unicorns! Do you have the basic to be a unicorn or even something close? Let us talk as I have picked a few unicorns and also been dead wrong (I now know why?).
When will unicorns need to raise next?
In order to answer the above question, we applied the overall median time between rounds to the date of unicorns’ last financing round. The graphic below helps illustrate our estimate for when most unicorns will need to raise next:
15 will likely need to raise sometime in Q2’16.
40+ US unicorns will likely need to raise funding in the final 6 months of 2016
It’s this traffic jam in the latter half of 2016 when the proverbial “poop might hit the apparatus with rotating blades”. These companies will either need to
raise from private markets
test the inhospitable public markets for an IPO
find an acquirer
On option #3, it is worth remembering that acquirers have been slowing activity of late and many of these unicorns have priced themselves so high that a logical buyer doesn’t really exist. Of course, if the market has forced them to see reality and their valuations reset, perhaps there will be buyers?
