Pitch Best Venture Capital Deal 2019 – IC-Technology: CapitalG – Collibra

Category:                      Best Venture Capital deal IC-Technology
Name of the deal:        CapitalG, Google’s investment arm, leads €110 million Series D Investment Round in Collibra.            
Date closed:                 24th of January 2019
Published value:          €110 million    
Buyer:                          CapitalG and existing shareholders
Target:                         Collibra    
Seller:                          Collibra    
M&A Database:          https://mena.nl/deal/11663

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Involved firms and advisors target:
Legal: Van Olmen & Wynant, Wilson Sonsini Goodricht & Rosati P.C.

Involved firms and advisors buy side:
Legal: Stibbe US, Morgan, Lewis and Bockius LLP

Pitch

Brief description deal / Deal outline:
Collibra, a leader in data governance and catalog software, performed a EUR 110,000,000 Series D Financing Round at a post-money valuation of more than USD 1 billion, to become the first Belgian “unicorn”. The round was led by CapitalG, Google’s growth investment fund, with participations of existing equity investors Iconiq Capital, Battery Ventures, Dawn Capital and Index Ventures. The deal consisted of a primary and a secondary investment, more specifically:(i) a primary investment, whereby an amount of EUR 87,889,998.10 was invested in the company by means of a capital increase in cash, in return for the issuance and subscription of a total of 3,562,523 Series D Preferred Shares; and(ii) a secondary investment, whereby a number of existing shareholders, such as managers (as well as current and former employees who acquired shares through Collibra’s various stock options plans), sold an aggregate number of 1,020,319 Ordinary Shares to certain investors against a total purchase price equal to EUR 23,409,961.57.While the primary investment made further development and expansion of the company’s business possible, the secondary investment created value for the company’s shareholders.

Deal rationale:
Collibra is in a hyper growth phase and will continue this growth, backed by the capital funding closed per 24 January 2019. The funding comes on the heels of a record revenue year, with an 80 % increase in annualized recurring revenue and rapid expansion across the globe. More than 300 global customers (in industries ranging from financial services to healthcare, retail and technology) are leveraging Collibra’s Data Governance and Catalog platform to bolster their data-driven digital transformations. Collibra has become the de-facto choice for chief data officers tasked with implementing a strategic approach to their data and maximizing its value for their organizations.
To support its growth and the underlying market potential, Collibra keeps on investing heavily in people and in the Collibra software platform. The investments in the Collibra software platform and in attracting new talent remain the highest priority and require substantial funding in order to achieve the mid/long term ambitions. The Series D Financing Round has provided necessary funding to insure further business development.

What is the impact of this deal for the company?
The deal resulted in an expansion of the product portfolio and a growth acceleration across Collibra’s business. More specifically, the proceeds of the Series D Financing Round allowed the company to extend its artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities both within its cloud-native platform — building more automation into its smart catalog product — and in its support of data science teams for their own advanced analytics initiatives.

What is the impact of this deal for the direct stakeholders?
The Series D Financing Round is testament to the investors’ lasting trust in Collibra’s management, activities and business model. Collibra makes sure to actively involve its employees in the business’ growth through numerous stock option plans, which allow for employees to become a shareholder under certain conditions. As a consequence, investors, management and employees have all benefited directly from the company’s increased value following the financing round.

What is the impact of this deal on the society?
By allowing the further development of Collibra’s tech activities, the financing round directly contributes to the overall development of the world of data governance, in compliance with applicable data protection legislation, such as GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act).

Why does this deal deserve a nomination?
As a direct consequence of the Series D Financing Round, the company has acquired a unique status in Belgium: Collibra is the first Belgian unicorn (private high-growth company worth more than USD 1 billion). This investment is a testament to Collibra’s leadership and its ability to help customers transform their market proposition through data-driven insight. With this latest round, they are well-positioned to leverage their heritage in understanding data to help their customers utilize the most cutting-edge innovation to power their digital transformation journeys. Furthermore, it continues to receive significant accolades from the data and technology community.                                        

Comments Panel of judges
The jury emphasizes that Collibra is currently the only Belgian unicorn. It is therefore not entirely surprising that the company manages to get 110 million out of the market. That the investment branch of Google has led this investment round is not only a quality stamp in itself, it is also the largest investment by Google in the Benelux. With the money invested, Collibra can not only expand its product portfolio, but also benefit from the knowledge that Google / Alphabet has in the field of machine learning and artificial intelligence.