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Global secondary transactions in VC-backed companies have skyrocketed in size this year, according to PitchBook. In 2018, 80 deals have involved a total $10.8B in capital invested compared to the 181 deals and $1.6B last year. The year kicked off with the closing of the SoftBank-led (OTCPK:SFTBF, OTCPK:SFTBY) $8B backing in Uber (UBER). Other notable deals: GPI Capital-led $500M in LegalZoom, Silver Lake’s $500M in Credit Karma, and another $600M for Uber.
Fortnite studio: Tencent-affiliated (OTCPK:TCEHY, OTCPK:TCTZF) Epic Games raises $1.25B on the back of its blockbuster game Fortnite. The round included KKR, Iconiq Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Tencent is a minority shareholder along with Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Endeavor.
Epic Games creates the Unreal game engine and, until Fortnite, released free-to-play games basically just to show off what the engine can do to potential buyers. Now Epic has been able to cut prices on the engine while still upgrading the technology. The changing tide has allowed Epic to reinvest into esports tournaments like the $100M prize pool for Fortnite competitions.
Competitors: Unity Technologies’ game engine Unity and larger game companies like Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI).
