2. This is a regularly-updated collection of things we
(@atomico) found interesting and important in tech and VC
land, but that didn’t necessarily get the attention they
deserve. We think of them as our hidden little gems. We’ll
add to the collection over time, so bookmark the page and
keep coming back for updates or to dig into the archive.
Lovingly put together by @twehmeier & @stephen2206
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3. ● How will the IPO fare? Will investors buy the story?
● Will late-stage private tech companies be enticed to take money from
Social Capital Hedosophia?
● What other talent will be enticed to join the vehicle to act as operational
expertise within the portfolio?
● How will other investors, both private- and public-market focused, respond
to the signs of an emergence of new players with large ambitions to
change how companies are funded and scaled, such as SoftBank and
Social Capital Hedosophia?
● As technology companies play a bigger and bigger role in the global
economy, we’ve not just seen a huge expansion in the amount of capital
invested into tech, but increasingly new models seeking to change the way
capital is allocated to companies in both private and public markets
● Social Capital Hedosopia joins SoftBank, Alphabet, KKR, Tencent, the ICO
model, Rocket Internet-style company builders (e.g. Yello Mobile) as
examples as interesting new options for companies seeking to raise capital
on the path to building large-scale, fast-growing tech companies
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What do you need to know?
Why does it matter?
Key questions
● SV-based VC Social Capital ($1.8B AUM) is partnering with Hedosophia, a
London-based venture growth fund founded by Ian Osborne with $1B AUM
to launch a publicly-listed holding company (Social Capital Hedosophia)
that they are seeking to build into a “Berkshire Hathaway of tech”.
● The Holding company is seeking to raise $500M in an IPO to fulfil its
mission to: “create an alternative path to a traditional IPO for disruptive and
agile technology companies to achieve their long-term objectives and
overcome key deterrents to becoming public”
● The thesis is predicated on a view that the public markets and the current
venture model are ‘broken” and that there is demand for a ‘new way’
Social Capital Hedosophia targets ‘blank cheque company’
Source:
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/23/chamath-palihapitiya-mimics-buffett-with-social-capital-hedosophia.html
https://www.recode.net/2017/8/23/16194374/social-capital-investment-firm-banks-ipo-public
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1706946/000114420417044783/v473766_s1.htm
“The traditional technology company IPO process,
which has been largely unchanged for decades, has
also acted as a driving force to deter private
company management teams and their pre-IPO
stakeholders from pursuing IPOs. We believe
management distraction, a sub-optimal price
discovery mechanism and the resultant longer-term
aftermarket impact have discouraged private
technology companies from pursuing IPOs.”
4. 4
Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1706946/000114420417044783/v473766_s1.htm
SCH view on why the current IPO process is broken
What benefits does SCH believe it can deliver to targets
What types of companies are SCH looking to acquire?
How will acquisitions be structured?
● Targets must have fair market value equal to at least
80% of net assets held in trust
● Targeting 100% ownership of target business
● Minimum of 50%+ ownership of voting rights
● First “initial business combination” must be completed
within 24 months from closing of offering
What does the S-1 filing tells us about SCH?
5. ● National health systems in many countries are struggling to cope financially with
the burden of structural inefficiency together with increased demands for medical
services. Many see AI as a potential force that could be very by which to break the
‘iron triangle’ of healthcare, by enabling better outcomes, for more people at lower
costs
● Access to data will be critical to enabling this path, but there are currently huge
constraints that stand in the path of widespread use of patient data at scale,
including privacy, security, fragmentation, commercial models, etc.
● How quickly can regulatory frameworks be amended to speed a path to “capture
the value” from applying AI to publicly-controlled datasets?
● Will we see protectionist measures emerge to protect national interests?
● Will health AI emerge as another area for jurisdictional competition?
● Which other public sectors hold the most promise to deliver potential returns to
national treasuries through the commercialisation of large-scale datasets?
Transportation? Education? Identity? Welfare? Defence?5
What do you need to know?
Why does it matter?
Key questions
● A industrial review of the life sciences industry commissioned by UK Government
was published by Sir John Bell, an Oxford University Professor of Medicine.
● The review included a recommendation for a “very urgent” review of how data
generated and collected by the NHS is made available to companies to “ensure
that patients and UK taxpayers - not just tech companies - gain from commercial
applications of NHS data”.
● In recognition of the commercial potential of this dataset, the review also called for
a new regulatory framework to be established in order to “capture for the UK the
value in algorithms generated using NHS data”.
● The review also called for a “moonshot” initiative to create a DARPA-like body to
provide the resources (in terms of human and financial capital) to undertake R&D
to commercialise products in fields, such as genomics, diagnostics, and ageing.
UK Government urged to prioritise use of health data for AI
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/31/building-health-ais-should-be-uk-ambition-says-strategy-review/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/30/uk-needs-to-act-urgently-to-secure-nhs-data-for-british-public-report-warns
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/sir-john-bell-to-unveil-industry-led-proposals-to-build-uks-status-as-world-leader-in-life-sciences
“AI is likely to be used widely in
healthcare and it should be the
ambition for the UK to develop
and test integrated AI systems
that provide real-time data
better than human monitoring
and prediction of a wide range
of patient outcomes in
conditions such as mental
health, cancer and inflammatory
disease”
“What you don’t want is somebody rocking up and using NHS data as a
learning set for the generation of algorithms and then moving the algorithm
to San Francisco and selling it so all the profits come back to another
jurisdiction,”
Sir John Bell
Oxford University
Sir John Bell, in his own words on health AI...
Bell said this concern had been largely overlooked due to a widespread
misconception that recent advances in AI have sprung from the development
of new, sophisticated machine-learning algorithms. “People have played up
the need to have great machine learning. It turns out that’s all baloney,”
he said. In fact, Bell argues, the most significant value lies in the
datasets used to train algorithms on tasks ranging from speech recognition to
diagnosing diseases. “What Google’s doing in [other sectors], we’ve got an
equivalent unique position in the health space,” he said. “Most of the value is
the data. The worst thing we could do is give it away for free.”
6. ...especially those representing start-ups and small
businesses
● Will Macron’s Government succeed in pushing through the reforms without
being materially diluted?
● How quickly - if at all - will France’s tech ecosystem start to benefit from the
reforms? Can this accelerate entrepreneurship?
● What impact will this have on France’s traditional industries? Will this steer
more talent towards a new generation of companies?
● France’s tech ecosystem has enjoyed a remarkable period of growth, in
particular since the start of 2016, but its rigid labour market has long been
identified as a major remaining hurdle to even greater. France has
unemployment of 9.5% (versus UK of 4.5% and Germany at 3.9%)
● If Macron’s government succeeds in driving through reforms. It’s possible
to could help to unlock greater investment into locally tech development,
either into early-stage start-ups, through large global tech firms opening
subsidiaries in France, or through a more favourable attitude towards
acquiring French companies
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What do you need to know?
Why does it matter?
Key questions
● French President, Emmanuel Macron, unveiled a set of proposed reforms
for the country’s rigid labour market. The extensive reforms (36 measures)
include: stripping back the powers of the unions by allowing company-level
labour negotiations, removing the ability to block or penalize firms if they
make local lay-offs if the company is profitable outside of France,
implementing a set scale to cap redundancy payments, slashing red tape
for companies with 50+ employees, changes to short-term contracts to
allow sector-level terms to be set (rather than national-level), enaling
companies with <50 employees to negotiate directly with employees on
working hours, pay and overtime
● As a next step, the Government’s decrees will be reviewed by the French
Constitutional Court from 28 September, which could result in amendments
or even blocks to the proposed reforms..
Macron targets campaign promise to reform labour market
Source: https://www.ft.com/content/7fb85566-8e62-11e7-a352-e46f43c5825d
Http: //www.politico.eu/article/macron-labor-reform-5-key-points/
“[This is] a new state of mind, more respectful of
entrepreneurs”.
Jean-Baptiste Danet, Head of Croissance Plus
(trade body for start-ups
Macron pushing ahead with campaign pledges on
French labour market reform, pleases business lobby,..
“[We’ve been heard] on almost all the issues we had raised.
For our companies, it’s a very strong message, a message of
hope.”
Alain Griset, Head of U2P
(small business owners lobby group)
7. ● To what extent are product teams factoring their understanding of
consumer behaviour into their product development plans?
● Should we assume that all categories will tend towards the
consumption patterns seen in the most advanced ones, such as
retail
● The study provides a series of insights into what’s driving changes in
how users interact with digital products and services that have
significant relevance for any company seeking to target users via
mobile devices
● More than anything, the study serves as an objective reminder of
how difficult it is to acquire users, retain them, generate significant
usage and, ultimately, monitise them. Given these dynamics, app
developers can’t afford to ignore lessons that may help them
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What do you need to know?
Why does it matter?
Key questions
● ComScore released its 2017 US Mobile App Report and with it
shared important insights into the state of digital media consumption
in the US.
● The survey is one of the largest-scale and most detailed studies of
consumer behaviour in terms of consumption on smartphones,
tablets and PCs.
Taking stock of US digital media consumption trends
Source: ComScore 2017 US Mobile App Report
8. 8
Source: ComScore 2017 US Mobile App Report
Usage is VERY concentrated...
If you’re not in Top 10, you’re competing for <5 mins
...most users access <20 apps per month
Usage migration to app-centric model varies significantly...
9. 9
Source: ComScore 2017 US Mobile App Report
Many key app discovery channels seemingly less effective...
It’s not easy to convert users to paying users
“Size matters”
>50% of users download 0 apps per month
10. General News In Brief
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Footnotes
Companies What happened?
Norway SWF
The $1 trillion Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has ruled out expanding into new asset classes beyond its
three focus areas of public equities, bonds and real estate, driven by the fact that it believes allocations to new
areas such as private equity or VC simply wouldn’t move the needle.. Per the fund’s CEO, ““Today we’re close
to $1 trillion. Realistically speaking, whether we should invest in infrastructure, private equity or the likes isn’t a
very important question for the fund. It would be such a small proportion, and the duration of implementation
would be so long, that if it were to have an impact on returns, it would in reality be if the fund was going down in
size”
German government
Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure has announced (and plans to implement)
guidelines to address the ethical question of how self-driving cars should respond in situations that could
endanger human life. The guidelines propose that protection of human life should always have priority (over
e.g. animals and property). The cars, however, should not make decisions over who to save and cannot make
decisions based on age, sex, race, disabilities, etc. Black box-like technology must also be installed to record
the steps taken in the event of an accident.
Amazon
The patent on Amazon’s “one-click to buy” technology expires this month. Amazon has fiercely protected this
patent, licensing the technology to only one other company (Apple). The expiry of the patent opens the door to
all other online retailers to implement the same one-click process to enable a user to move from a product page
to order confirmation with no intervening steps for the user.
11. Acquiror Target Target desc. Amt Comments
Micro Focus HPE
Software division of Hewlett Packard
Enterprise
$8.8B
Formal completion of a transaction first announced in Sep 2016. Micro Focus now becomes
the largest UK-listed tech company (ca. $14B TEV)
Apax Partners
Matches
Fashion
Online and offline luxury fashion retailer $1B Transaction valued at £800M. Husband and wife founders
Ele.me Waimai Baidu’s food delivery business $800M
Alibaba-backed Ele.me (raised $3.3B) has acquired Baidu’s food delivery business as
consolidation comes to the category in China.
Cisco Spingpath Hyperconverged infrastructure software $320M
Springpath had raised $34M prior to exit, including from NEA. The acquisition is targeted to
boost Cisco’s competitive positioning versus players such as Nutanix and Dell EMC.
Juniper Cyphort Network security (threat intelligence) n/a
Cyphort had raised $54M prior to exit. Cyphort’s technology will be integrated into Juniper’s
existing network security stack to help round out its product suite for enterprise customers
Sequoia Capital
(India)
Faces
Cosmetics
Cosmetics company with online and
offline presence in India
$40M
Sequoia Capital India sponsored a management buyout of the company for approx. $40M,
including an injection of $10M of new capital into the business. Sequoia will own 98% of the
business. The company will be run by the current management team.
THQ Nordic
Black Forest
Games
Games developer n/a
THQ Nordic, a Swedish publicly-listed games company, continues a trend emerging in
Europe of consolidation of small- to mid-size games studios. Stillfront is another Swedish
company that has been pursuing this strategy.
Siemens Tass Software for self-driving vehicles n/a
Dutch company Tass International had €27M in revenue and ca. 200 employees. Solutions
aimed primarily at autonomous driving, integrated safety, advanced driver assistance
systems, and tyre modeling.
Signet Jewellers
JamesAllen.c
om / R2Net
Online diamond trading website $328M
Israeli startup, R2Net, has sold its diamond trading website for $328M. The deal was driven
by the technology R2Net had built to deliver a superior online experience for evaluating and
purchasing diamonds.
Fiserv Monitise Software for financial services industry ~£75M
Monitise, a one-time $B+ company and prioneer in London fintech, has seen the
completion of its sale to Fiserv, for around £75M.
M&A wrap up
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