This Week in Pre-IPO Stocks

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E62: OpenAI $1.0b revenue, Klarna 67% better net income, Redwood raises $1.0b!, Elf buys Naturium for $355m, Cohere to raise, Greyscale to spot BTC ETF? | Pre-IPO Stock Market Update – Sep 1, 2023 Sep 01, 2023

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00:09 | Redwood raises $1.0b!
- Redwood Materials, a battery recycling startup, raised $1 billion in a Series D round co-led by Goldman, T Rowe Price at an estimated $5.0b valuation
- US Dept of Energy also provided a $2 billion loan
00:41 | Greyscale beats SEC in lawsuit for spot BTC ETF?
- Federal appeals court challenges SEC's denial of Grayscale's bitcoin spot ETF application
- Court says SEC’s decision was "arbitrary and capricious"
- Bitcoin-related assets surge
02:06 | OpenAI revenue projected for $1.0b
- OpenAI is posting $80m in monthly revenue vs $28m one year prior, outpacing estimates
- ChatGPT Enterprise announced this week. Aims to assist employees in learning new skills and analyzing internal data. Focus on data privacy.
03:41 | Elf Beauty buys Naturium for $355m
- Elf doubles its skincare market share
- Elf's stock rises 250% in a year
- Investor interest in beauty brands is hot!
04:32 | Klarna’s net income +67% better in 1H 2023
- Klarna reduces losses by 67% in H1 2023, with a 21% increase in net operating income
- Company emphasizes AI advancements, launching a feature that saves 60,000 hours annually.
05:45 | Cohere AI to raise a primary round
- Cohere hires JPMorgan and Goldman to raise capital
- Tiger Global is selling in the secondary at a $3.0b valuation
- Cohere last raised in the primary at $2.2b in Jun 2023
06:11 | Big capital raises
- Ramp (www.ramp.com) | $300m Series D, $5.8b valuation
- Gympass (www.gympass.com) | $85m Series F, $2.4b valuation
- Zepto (www.zeptonow.com) | $200m Series E, $1.4b valuation
- Korea Credit Data (www.kcd.co.kr) | $76m Series F, $990m valuation
- Cellares (www.cellares.com) | $255m Series C, $666m valuation
07:09 | Pre-IPO +0.75% for week
- IPO Watch: I have Instacart at a $12.4b valuation, Klaviyo $4.3b. Keeping an eye out on where this IPOs will price.
- Week’s winners: Instacart +9.1%, Anthropic +6.8%, Databricks +5.9%, Brex +2.1%, SpaceX +2.0%
- Week’s losers: Neuralink -19.3%, Deel -8.7%, Airtable -8.4%, Rippling -7.6%, Chainalysis -3.1%
- Top 5 largest companies by valuation: ByteDance $206b, SpaceX $150b, Stripe $49b, Databricks $35b, OpenAI $32b

E61: SPECIAL POD! New SEC Private Fund Advisors Rule – PE/VC Perspectives & Highlights | Clint Sorenson, Nick Fusco, Aaron Dillon Aug 29, 2023

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01:13 | Enhanced performance reporting requirements for VC/PE/RE funds
- Private funds are required to deliver a fee table and performance reporting similar to mutual funds/ETFs, some metrics are difference for VC/PE/RE funds
- A standardized approach to performance reporting will lead to a renewed focus on marking assets to market prices
- Late stage pre-IPO positions should use an ApeVue-like product that sources real world prices from 20+ institutional brokers
06:16 | 3rd party valuations on advisor-led secondary transactions
- Advisor-led secondary transactions require a 3rd party valuation on the asset being traded
- LP-led secondary transactions are out of scope
- Using a 3rd party pricing source or model valuation mitigates pricing risk when self-dealing; e.g. one AG Dillon Fund is buying LP interests from another AG Dillon Fund both with AG Dillon as general partner
14:29 | No more side letters?!
- Advisors running private funds are now required to disclose economic side letter terms to all investors
- Transparency will most likely push advisors to standardization, like mutual fund sales load breakpoints
- Many GPs will simply not allow 0/0 SPVs going forward pushing for buyers and sellers to find a 0/0 solution on their own

E60: Tiger sells Cohere AI stock, Arm IPO, Coinbase invests in Circle, Ramp’s down round, Shein’s Sparc investment, Better down 90% | Pre-IPO Stock Market Update – Aug 25, 2023 Aug 25, 2023

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00:10 | Tiger sells Cohere AI stock
- Tiger Global is close to selling shares in AI startup Cohere at a $3b valuation, 40% rise since Cohere’s last round in June
- Cohere, competing with Anthropic and OpenAI, focuses on AI for tasks like email and document processing
00:51 | Arm IPO
- British chipmaker Arm hints at an IPO despite 2.5% revenue decline and a 50% profit drop
- SoftBank's Vision Fund recently valued Arm at $64b by purchasing 25%; market speculation on whether this valuation will hold in public markets
01:26 | Coinbase invests in Circle
- Coinbase acquires minority stake in Circle, platform responsible for USDC stablecoin
- PayPal launches its own stablecoin
02:00 | Ramp’s down round
- Ramp raises $300 million in funding at a $5.8 billion valuation, down from $8.1b in April 2022, but sees a surge in annualized revenue to $300 million
- Starting as a corporate card startup, Ramp diversified its services, recently acquiring AI tool Cohere.io, and serves over 15,000 businesses as of Aug 2023
02:52 | Shein’s Sparc investment
- Shein acquires about a third of Sparc Group, enabling it to feature Forever 21 products; Sparc to gain a minority stake in $66 billion-valued Shein
- Shein's recent U.S. marketplace initiative targets popular brands, and the partnership may lead to its in-store presence in Forever 21 outlets
03:36 | Better down 90%
- Better.com's shares dropped 90%+ post-SPAC merger, with its valuation falling to $2.4b from a planned $7.7b in 2021 amid mortgage market shifts
- Despite setbacks and anticipated decline, CEO Vishal Garg remains optimistic about the housing market and Better.com's tech-driven mortgage solutions
04:32 | Big capital raises
- SafetyCulture (www.safetyculture.com) | $34m Series F, $2.70b valuation
- BitGo (www.bitgo.com) | $100m Series C, $1.75b valuation
- Jada AI (www.jada-ai.com) | $25m Series A, $415m valuation
- Viome Life Sciences (www.viomelifesciences.com) | $87m Series C, $359m valuation
- Pivotal Commware (www.pivotalcommware.com) | $87m Series D, $297m valuation
05:16 | Pre-IPO +0.75% for week
- Week’s winners: Deel +21.9%, Brex +6.1%, Chainalysis +5.9%, Snyk +3.1%, Stripe +2.7%
- Week’s losers: Ramp -4.9%, Flexport -3.6%, Reddit -3.3%, ConsenSys -3.3%, Plaid -2.7%
- Top 5 largest companies by valuation: ByteDance $209b, SpaceX $147b, Stripe $50b, Databricks $33b, OpenAI $33b

E59: Instacart’s IPO, Databricks cuts deal with Microsoft, Securitize buys Onramp and benefits of buying LP interests | Pre-IPO Stock Podcast – Aug 21, 2023 | Clint Sorenson, Nick Fusco, Aaron Dillon Aug 22, 2023

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00:24 | Instacart’s IPO
- Home delivery or store pick groceries is very popular
- Instacart did not have a primary round since they top ticked in 2021 at $39b
- Very interesting to see where IPO will be priced, secondary has Instacart at $11.4b implied valuation
06:48 | Databricks cuts deal with Microsoft
- Microsoft is letting customers create their own AI models with Databricks
- Microsoft appears to have an open architecture model with OpenAI and Databricks
- Databricks is up 50% in the secondary market since May 2023
12:32 | Securitize buys Onramp, benefits of buying LP interests
- Securitize allows crypto holders to buy private funds
- Onramp empowers independent wealth management firms invest into crypto, natural synergies for Securitize
- Its unclear on the exact benefit of tokenizing a private fund as fund counsel will still want to negotiate legal terms, if legal terms of a transaction can be standardized there is a lot of benefit to market participants

E58: ByteDance $15b 2022 net profit, Wiz $10b valuation, Parade sells, Yieldstreet acquires Cadre, Epic Games + Lego = Fortnite, SpaceX Q1 $55m profit | Pre-IPO Stock Market Update – Aug 18, 2023 Aug 18, 2023

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00:31 | ByteDance $15b 2022 net profit
- Revenue growth decreased from 68% to 25%, prompting a search for a new growth engine
- TikTok's access to the US ad and commerce market is becoming increasingly vital, TikTok's e-commerce business
01:15 | Wiz $10b valuation
- Wiz, a cloud security company, raised $300 million in a Series D at a $10b valuation
- Wiz claims to be the fastest to reach $100 million in ARR, 35% of the Fortune 100 as customers
02:00 | Parade sells to Ariela & Associates
- Parade, valued at nearly $200 million last year, struggled to convert its Instagram following into profitable growth
- Deal terms not disclosed
- Instagram to no-profits is a trend, including Cuup and Great Jones, selling themselves in recent months
02:41 | Yieldstreet acquires Cadre
- Asset manager Yieldstreet nearing deal to acquire Cadre, a real estate investment firm, for $100m
- Cadre’s peak valuation of $800m six years ago
- Cadre's shareholders expected to receive stock in Yieldstreet
03:18 | Happy Money, Sable sell
- Happy Money, an online lending startup, is in talks to sell itself, valued at $1.1b in Feb 2022
- Sable, a Y Combinator-funded credit card startup, sold to specialty lender Snap Finance
04:12 | Epic Games + Lego = Fortnite, sounds like Minecraft?
- Epic Games and Lego are creating a shared online space within Fortnite, where children can play, build, and communicate
- Aims to provide a child and family-friendly "immersive, creatively inspiring, and engaging digital experience"
- Expected to be launched within the year
05:21 | SpaceX Q1 $55m profit
- In Q1 2023, SpaceX generated a profit of $55 million on revenue of $1.5 billion
- SpaceX continues to invest heavily in ambitious projects, including the Starship rocket and the Starlink satellite internet service.
- $2 billion in proceeds from issuing stock last year
- $150b valuation as of last round in Jun 2023
05:52 | Big capital raises
- Capital Rx (www.cap-rx.com) | $72m Series D, $1.0b valuation
- Resilience (www.cyberresilience.com) | $100m Series D, $950m valuation
- ADARx Pharma (www.adarx.com) | $200m Series C, $840m valuation
- Modula (www.modular.com) | Series A, $600m valuation
- Tome (www.tome.app) | $60m Series C, $600m valuation
07:03 | Pre-IPO +1.25% for week
- Week’s winners: Discord +22.3%, Airtable +5.3%, Reddit +4.9%, Ramp +4.5%
- Week’s losers: Snyk -3.0%, Revolut -1.6%, Databricks -1.4%
- Top 5 largest companies by valuation: ByteDance $209b, SpaceX $147b, Stripe $49b, Databricks $33b, OpenAI $32b

E57: Canva valuation drops 36%, Neuralink raises $280m, Revolut kills US crypto biz, Discord layoffs | Pre-IPO Stock Market Update – Aug 4, 2023 Aug 11, 2023

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00:28 | Canva valuation drops 36%
- Coatue Management and ICONIQ Capital acquired Canva shares at a $25.5b valuation, -36% from its $40b in 2021
- T Rowe Price marked down its Canva stake by 67.6% in Jun 2023
- Despite the decrease, Canva's co-founder views the valuation as "solid"
01:15 | Neuralink raises $280m
- Neuralink secured $280m in a series D round led by Founders Fund
- The company focuses on brain-computer interface technology for human implantation
- PitchBook estimates Neuralink's funding at $363 million as of Sept 2021
01:55 | Revolut kills US crypto biz
- Revolut halts crypto trading for U.S. users due to regulatory uncertainties
- The decision affects only 1% of Revolut's crypto clientele and follows the delisting of three tokens for U.S. users
- The SEC has increased its scrutiny on crypto, targeting major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase
02:42 | Discord layoffs
- Discord laid off 37 employees, 4% of its workforce, mainly from marketing, talent, and public policy teams.
- The layoffs were attributed to a "reorganization of some business units."
- Other social media giants like Meta, Snap, and Twitter have taken similar actions, though Discord's cut was smaller in percentage.
03:07 | Pre-IPO down rounds are happening
- Quora altered investor rights, hinting at a potential down round
- Turntide Technologies +80% valuation cut in its upcoming funding
- Rho Technologies 10% reduced valuation for next round
- Nuro, previously valued at $8 billion, considering a sale or cram-down financing , lowering valuation, after its new capital request was denied by board
03:54 | Big capital raises
- Weights & Biases | $50m Series D, $1.25b valuation
- Credgenics | $50m Series B, $340m valuation
- Tractian | $45m Series B, $205m valuation
- Halalbooking | $3m Series B, $102m valuation
- TechMagic | $15m Series C, $85m valuation
04:59 | Pre-IPO +3.67% for week
- Week to gainer: Neuralink +4.4%, Byju's +2.7%, Databricks +2.6%
- Week to losers: eToro -28.5%, Ramp -21.8%, Flexport -13.4%, Brex -11.0%
- Top 5 current valuation: ByteDance ($208b), SpaceX ($161b), Stripe ($48b), OpenAI ($33b), and Databricks ($33b) lead in current valuation

E56: Will pre-IPOs chose the SPAC structure (Better)?, Pre-IPOs give employees liquidity (eToro), Pre-IPO valuations need to reset before going public (Stripe, Klarna)? | Pre-IPO Stock Podcast – Aug 7, 2023 | Clint Sorenson, Nick Fusco, Tim Urie, Aaron Di Aug 08, 2023

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00:45 | Will pre-IPOs chose the SPAC structure (Better)?
- SPACs are still around in 2023; 16 SPACs having IPO'd and 64 having de-SPACed in H1 2023
- There are pros/cons of the SPAC structure vs traditional IPOs. SPACs have been speculative recently due retail optimism and platforms like Reddit
- Reputable companies prefer the traditional IPO route with support of big investment banks and proper roadshows
09:08 | Pre-IPOs give employees liquidity (eToro)
- High growth private companies are staying private for longer and are now offering secondary liquidity events for employees
- Secondary market liquidity events are beneficial for retaining talent, especially when a significant portion of their net worth is tied up in company stock
- Are company-led secondary market liquidity events good for the secondary market? They provide better price discovery and broadens the shareholder base but can reduce overall transaction activity.
16:52 | Pre-IPO valuations need to reset before going public (Stripe, Klarna)?
- Do companies need to bite the bullet and do a primary down round so they can prepare to go public
- Companies like Stripe and Klarna had primary rounds that reset their prices, and now their secondary market valuations align with their last primary round
- Liquidity and capital are important, especially for high-growth companies … taking a down round might be necessary for survival

E55: Stripe's profitability, Twitter’s new direction, Shein’s record profit, AI fast food take over Jul 28, 2023

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www.agdillon.com to invest in pre-IPO stocks like SpaceX and OpenAI
00:29 | Stripe returns to profitability
- Stripe aims to increase its workforce by up to 12% by 2024, a move to return to profitability
- $100 million in adjusted 2023 ebitda, -$75 million in 2022
01:26 | Twitter’s new brand/direction
- Twitter rebrands to X
- X aims to be the China’s WeChat for the US market; social, messaging, payments, app store
- X has reduced advertising prices
03:35 | Shein’s record profit
- Shein reported record profits in the first half of 2023, with accelerated sales volume growth and improved profits compared to the latter half of 2022
- Expanded marketplace strategy incorporates third-party vendors, increasing revenue and attracting new customers
- Rumors of a US IPO by the end of 2024
04:24 | AI starts fast food take over
- Fast-food chains including White Castle, Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s, Del Taco, and Checkers are increasingly using AI chatbots to take drive-through order
- Presto is one company that makes this tech
- AI is being praised for its efficiency and ability to upsell vs humans
05:28 | Big capital raises
- Musinsa | $154m Series C, $2.3b valuation
- Sky Mavis | $11m Series B, $1.9b valuation
- Thunes | $72m Series C, $802m valuation
- Hightouch | $38m Series C, $615m valuation
- Manta Network | $25m Series A, $500m valuation
06:43 | Pre-IPO +3.67% for week
- Week to gainer: Brex +71%, Flexport +23%, Klaviyo +21%, OpenAI +11%
- Week to losers: Deel -5.5%, ConsenSys -5.3%, Revolut -4.4%, Neuralink -4.1%, Chainalysis -3.9%
- Top 5 current valuation: ByteDance/TikTok $207b, SpaceX $156b, Stripe $47b, OpenAI $36b, and Databricks $32b lead in current valuation

This Week in Pre-IPO Stocks - Market Update - Jul 14, 2023 - E54 Jul 21, 2023

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SpaceX hits $5b in revenue, Kardashian’s Skims raises $270m, Binance fires 1000 employees, Tucker Carlson to start new media company, Oddity Tech’s successful IPO | Pre-IPO Stock Market Update - Jul 14, 2023
00:30 | SpaceX hits $8b in revenue
- SpaceX's 2023 revenue is projected at $8b, up 100% from 2022
- Starlink's estimated $2b annualized run rate revenue
- $3 billion in 2023 EBITDA (37% profit margin)
01:38 | Kardashian’s Skims raises $270m
- Skims’s Series C funding round valued the company at $4b
- New capital will aid expansion into new areas like men's clothing and physical stores
- Skims predicts $750m in 2023 revenue, IPO expected within a year
02:37 | Binance fires 1000 employees
- Binance has laid off over 1,000 employees amidst escalating legal issues and numerous executive resignations
- The company has investigations/lawsuits with US Department of Justice, SEC, and CFTC.
03:18 | Tucker Carlson to start new media company
- Carlson raising “hundreds of millions” in capital
- New media company will be direct to consumer and potential subscription based
04:24 | Oddity Tech’s successful IPO
- Oddity, known for selling makeup brands Il Makiage and SpoiledChild, differentiates itself by using data and AI for customer recommendations
- Oddity’s IPO saw a 40% surge in trading, starting at $49.10 a share and reaching a market capitalization of about $2.8b
05:03 | Big capital raises
- SKIMS | $500m Series C, $4.0b valuation
- AlphaSense | $150m Series E, $2.5b valuation
- HawkEye 360 | $58m Series D1, $958m valuation
- Bobbie | $70m Series C, $570m valuation
- Cardurion Pharma | $300m Series A, $510m valuation
06:11 | Pre-IPO stocks were up 0.94% the past week
- Flexport +9.59%, OpenAI +9.43%, Ramp +6.65%, Chainalysis +6.40%, Stripe +2.89%. Airtable was down big at -9.04%.
- Top 5 companies by current implied valuation; $206b ByteDance, $157b SpaceX, $46b Stripe, $32b OpenAI, $31b Databricks.

EPISODE #14 - Air AI could be your next sales person, Elon Musk launches xAI, IPOs can only heat up after market clearing prices? | Pre-IPO Stock Podcast – Jul 17, 2023 | Nick Fusco, Jud Mackrill, Aaron Dillon Jul 18, 2023

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00:35 | Air AI could be your next sales person
- Air AI launches product that can act as a sales person or customer service rep
- Imaging 100,000 sales people at your fingertips
- Could lead to AI wars … my AI is talking to your AI and no humans every speak
- There could be an 18 month window where early adopters really benefit
12:02 | Elon Musk launches xAI
- AI companies are starting to trade in the secondary market
- Look to the blue chips LPs are investing to see who the winners will be in AI
- Cloud providers, and their AI partners/businesses, stand to be the winners in the AI space
- Access to data will be a major driver of winners in the AI space
18:31 | IPOs can only heat up after market clearing prices?
- Several notable pre-IPO stocks are rumored to IPO in 2023, early 2024
- Pre-IPO stocks need market clearing prices in the primary or secondary private markets before they go public
- Pre-IPO stocks that have already cleared market in the primary market … Stripe, Klarna, etc … are primed to IPO if they elect to do so

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