MaGiC Technology Newsletter March 2023
Dear MaGiC Investor,
We are pleased to share with you the Tech Newsletter March 2023 edition. In this issue, we'll take a closer look at some of the latest trends and notable deals in the industry along with an update on MaGiC investments.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
The AI saga & Chat GPT
The pulling up of AI into the mainstream public discourse by ChatGPT is taking new turns every day. Recently an open letter with signatures from hundreds of the biggest names in tech, including Elon Musk, has urged the world’s leading artificial intelligence labs to pause the training of new super-powerful systems for six months, saying that recent advances in AI present “profound risks to society and humanity.”?
The letter comes just two weeks after the public release of OpenAI’s GPT-4, the most powerful AI system ever released, which has led researchers to slash their expectations for when AGI—or artificial general intelligence that surpasses human cognitive ability—will arrive.
US-China Microchip war
Semiconductors, which power everything from mobile phones to military hardware, are at the center of a bitter dispute between the US and China with eyes from all around the world. The US is hobbling China’s plans to acquire the technology to manufacture these microchips by imposing restriction on export of certain key components.?
The bandwagon has been joined by Netherlands and Japan recently, imposing similar restrictions. There is a certain interest from other countries trying to cash-in on this dispute. India has been providing incentives to semiconductor manufacturers while Russia has recently announced a Drone & Microchip Investment Fund. As a result, the microchip industry remains an open ground with stakes from major economies of the world but US and China at the forefront.
NOTABLE DEALS
US MACROECONOMIC OVERVIEW
The consumer price index gained 6% year-over year in February, down from peak inflation levels of 9.1% in June 2022, but still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% long-term target. At the Fed meeting, the Federal Open Markets Committee hiked interest rates by one quarter of a percentage point—a second consecutive smaller raise after the mega hikes of 2022.?
The unexpected collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature bank took the S&P 500 on a volatile ride for the month of March. However, tech stocks have rallied in recent weeks as expectations for interest rates have fallen. In fact, the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) gained 9% in March, while the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) gained 9.1%.?
Investors concerned about the potential for a U.S. recession may take a more defensive approach to the public markets and increase their financial flexibility in 2023 by reducing exposure to stocks and increasing their dry powder.
US PRIVATE MARKET OUTLOOK?
For the past 3 years, VCs and their limited partners (LPs) have wanted to deploy their surplus of dry powder. Now, in 2023, the founders are looking to tap that dry powder. The total ask for venture funding has already surpassed the undeployed but committed capital that VCs have available. However, the LPs are still conscious as they witness a downward pressure on the valuations of technology startup stocks. Despite these obstacles, you should expect to see an uptick in M&A and private equity (PE) deals throughout 2023 as strategic and financial acquirers go bargain-hunting.
GLOBAL VENTURE CAPITAL TRENDS
Venture capital investments worldwide tumbled 64.7% in February to $17 billion from $48.22 billion a year earlier, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. The number of funding rounds with venture capital participation was down 44% to 1,150 rounds from 2,056 rounds in February 2022. The total amount raised also declined sequentially from $19.46 billion in January via 1,197 rounds.
The technology, media and telecommunications industry continued to lead other sectors in venture capital investments by attracting 38.2% of the total funding raised globally during February. It was followed by the healthcare and industrials sectors, which tied at 13.7%, and the financials sector at 11.2%.
US VC TRENDS IN TECH SECTOR
Halfway through 2022, analysts were surprised when VC funds reported multiple negative returns for the first time in more than 5 years. For the first time in decades, those losses were much deeper than those of other private capital markets asset classes. Those who know macroeconomics will recognize that this trend is likely a natural correction.
The declining public market in 2022 left larger investors looking for returns from other sources. This led to venture capital funds being able to raise a great deal of money. The economic uncertainty, however, left venture capitalists skittish to place bets. We will see venture capital firms make fewer technology placements in 2023. But, needing to put their surplus to work, they’ll make larger placements focused on mature to maturing technologies in MaGiC’s view.
MAGIC US PORTFOLIO UPDATE
Magic USA’s tech portfolio now stands at 18 ventures across Enterprise hardware, Enterprise software, HealthTech, CyberTech, ConsumerTech, Energy, Robotics, Augmented Reality, Autonomous Vehicle, RetailTech and AgriTech.
We continue to engage with the investment managers and companies to keep a close watch on cash burn and other health parameters. Below you will find a selection of updates from the portfolio:
1. ThetaRay
ThetaRay has developed an anomaly detection platform that can be used to monitor cross border bank transactions (Correspondent Banking), anti-money laundering ( anti-fraud, cyber security attack detection and growth opportunity identification, as well as critical infrastructure and advanced manufacturing fault prediction and cyber security.
领英推荐
ThetaRay reports ARR exceeded the company’s aggressive target for the year and that this was achieved with lower burn and fewer headcount than budgeted. ThetaRay adds that it also surpassed its customer satisfaction and delivery goals. The company added new customers for its SaaS anti-money laundering solution in Q4 which includes marquee institutions from Brazil, UK, Africa & UAE.?
In November, ThetaRay received the “Compliance Solution of Year award” from CrossTech 2022.
2. Trusona
Trusona, founded in 2015, provides a no-passwords authentication solution meant to be faster, easier and safer than the status quo. The product helps battle cyber breaches and the frustrations associated with forgotten passwords and is meant to be a means of complying with European Union PSD2 SCA and United Kingdom Open Banking regulations.
In Q4, Trusona reports that it continued to pursue pilot and partnership opportunities to build a pipeline for 2023 when it anticipates significant ACV (annual contract value), ARR (annual recurring revenue) and revenue increases. To achieve that growth and better address market needs, the company has shifted resources to focus on Trusona Authentication Cloud (TAC) and passkeys. It also has launched a new go-to-market strategy that focuses primarily on the iGaming and online travel agency verticals.?
Trusona adds that it has secured bridge financing which it believes provides cash runway through at least year-end 2023.
3. Plenty
Plenty is a USA-based startup, building scalable, vertically-integrated farms. It has developed a full technology stack to reinvent agriculture and has created the first scalable food production platform.
In Q4 2022, Plenty reports that it completed construction of its vertical farm in Compton, California. New produce varieties from the farm include spinach, a crop that previously has not been possible to grow at scale in vertical farms. Once fully ramped, the Compton facility is expected to serve retail locations across the West Coast with an emphasis on California.
Also, Plenty broke ground at its new site in Virginia, which it plans to build out into a multi-farm “Campus” – the largest indoor vertical farming campus in the world. The initial farm on the Virginia site, which will be the world’s first scaled vertical strawberry farm, is being developed in partnership with Plenty’s strategic investor/partner Driscoll’s. Plenty expects an initial commercial launch from Virginia in H1 2024 at retailers throughout the Northeast.
The company also was highlighted in LinkedIn’s annual Big Ideas series of ideas that will change the world in 2023.
4. People.AI
People.ai delivers the industry’s leading Revenue Operations and Intelligence platform using AI. People.AI’s platform helps sales, marketing, and customer success teams uncover every revenue opportunity from every customer, by capturing all customer contacts, activity and engagement (emails, Zoom etc.) to drive actionable insights across all revenue teams.
People.ai recently announced Sam Yang as its President of Field Operations. Yang will lead People.ai’s Go-To-Market efforts and drive company revenue and growth opportunities.?
The Company announced several new integrations, including People.ai for Oracle Sales Cloud, which was listed on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace. It also joined Zoom’s ISV Partner Program with a new partnership focusing on Zoom IQ for Sales, a conversational intelligence solution for sales professionals from Zoom Video Communications.?
People.ai was 83rd on the Y Combinator Top Private Companies for 2022.
5. data.world
data.World, founded in 2016, has built one of the only modern catalogs for data and analysis delivered in a cloud-native Software as a Service (SaaS) way.
data.world reported that it expanded its coverage into the higher education vertical by securing one of the leading universities in Texas. The new healthcare initiative will enable the company to tackle new and exciting use cases commercially that are very closely aligned to its social mission to connect collaborators from all over. data.world continued its momentum by closing new deals with one of the largest homebuilders in the US, a major stock exchange in Europe, a premier endpoint security firm, and a rapidly growing fintech infrastructure provider in the US. While use cases differ across each of these customers, the company’s knowledge graph-based architecture continues to be a key differentiator in the sector.
The company launched Collection Access Control. This new product is one of the most anticipated features in the company’s effort to give customers more control over their deployments and will have a big impact on enterprises’ ability to organize, manage and govern their data in domains.
The company continued to drive significant partnership activities in Q4 with a particular focus on Snowflake as a key strategic partner. It was accepted into Snowflake’s Accelerated Governance partnership program. In addition, the company announced that it was expanding its technology partnership with Databricks to become an official Databrick’s Technology Partner. The partnership will offer greater visibility and understanding of data across the Databricks Lakehouse Platform and other data sources through an integration with Databricks Unity Catalog, the platform’s unified governance solution.
6. TechSee
TechSee uses Machine Vision & Augmented Reality powered by smartphones to help remote tech support experts quickly.
TechSee reports that the company added new logo customers, upsold others and churn declined. TechSee deepened its relationship with Amazon by joining the Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) Partner Network, providing a frictionless purchasing process for mutual AWS/TechSee customers. The company also partnered with TELUS International to bring its AI-powered service automation and visual-engagement products to TELUS International's customer portfolio.
OPPORTUNITIES IN PLAY
We remain active in identifying opportunities for investment in technology space and selectively bring the opportunities to the investors.
Currently, we are raising funds for the EQUIAM III Fund and the PROOF III Fund. Opportunity brief as below:
EQUIAM Fund III – EQUIAM will invest in a portfolio of 30 pre-IPO, primarily US based, Series B+, venture-backed private companies with valuations greater than US$ 250 Mn, the majority of which are greater than $1 Bn. EQUIAM focuses on late-stage investments via secondary markets to build the investment portfolio. Fund is able to generate faster exits via liquidity events (IPO, SPAC, Secondaries or late-stage M&A), leading to attractive return profiles for the investors.
PROOF FUND III - Pro Rata Opportunity Fund (PROOF) is a US-based fund providing investors with access to top venture-backed companies. PROOF invests in the unfilled pro rata rights of small-cap VCs that no longer have the capital to follow on in the subsequent financing rounds of their best investments. Thus, PROOF is able to get allocations in highly competitive rounds for companies which are breaking out. It focuses on growth / late-stage startups and participates in the primary fund raise rounds of these startups. As such, the fund intends to make calibrated investments over a 5-year period, which helps them to ride out any short-term market cycles.
If you have any further questions, please contact the Investor Relations team at [email protected]