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VC/M&A Tech Multiples

France 2021
© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021
Introduction
VC fundraisings
Invested amount (€m) Deal count (#)
A “J” curb more than a “V” curb

After a bumpy but promising 2020, 2021 has been the true blossom of the
European Tech ecosystem. With more than €60bn in funding at the end of
Q3-21, it already represents almost a 2x growth from the 2020 full year figure
(€32bn). On the current trend, Europe should reach €80bn in total funding, i.e.
a 2.5x growth.
Europe also became a substantial contributor to the worldwide herd of
unicorns with 115 members (incl. 39 newcomers in 2021) out of 850
worldwide.

France has contributed to the European growth and one can clearly see that
the French Tech ecosystem has matured with €8.2bn in total funding YTD and
11 new unicorns. On the current trend, France would be around €11bn at the
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sept.
end of the year. Quite impressive! Yet, that’s only a 2x growth vs last year.
Less that Europe’s 2.5x. Less than UK’s 2.4x (€28bn expected for 2021). And Tech exits transactions
less than the astonishing Germany’s 3x (€15bn expected for 2021). Deal Value (€m) Deal count (#)

In a broader perspective, we expect worldwide VC funding to rise up to


€500bn in 2021, growing 2x from 2020 – just the same trend as France.

On the exit-side, we’ve seen some encouraging developments with the


Believe IPO on Euronext Paris for €2bn and the expected IPO of OVH in Q4-
21 at €3.5bn. 2021 should reach €7.6bn in total exit, which would be the best
year ever for the French ecosystem.

Arthur Porré, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Oct. 11th, 2021

Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sept.

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 2


VC trends

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021


VC trends
Overview of European VC fundraising
European startup fundraising is expected to growth 2x in 2021

Invested amount (€bn) Nb. of European unicorns (#)

25 140 €60bn 39
Invested in Europe
New Unicorns
(2021 YTD)
120

20
Mega rounds are still mainly in the UK
100
Mega rounds > €100m (#)

15
80 2021 YTD

60 2020
10

2019
40

5 2018
20

2017

0 0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 YTD 0 10 20 30 40 50

France Germany UK Rest of Europe Nb. of European unicorns UK Germany France

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 4


VC trends
Overview of French VC fundraising
French VC fundraising has grown at a 47% CAGR since 2014 and is estimated to reach €10.5bn in 2021

Invested amount (€bn) Deal count (#)

12 900

10.5
800
10
700

8 600

500
6 5.6
400
4.6

4 300

2.9
200
2.1 2.1
2 1.5
100
0.7

0 0
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021e

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 5


VC trends
VC deals: 536 funding rounds in 2021 for €8.3bn in total deal value
Record year for French VC fundraisings Top 5 funding rounds of 2021

Invested amount (€m) Deal count (#)

€574m

led by SoftBank

€472m

led by Silver Lake

€408m
Top 3 Top 10 Others No. deals
led by Eurazeo
Fundraising amounts continue to increase

Median deal value (€m)


€310m

led by 10T

€300m

led by General Atlantic

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 6


VC trends
VC investments by type of series (1/2)
Fewer seed deals in the ecosystem

Proportion of deals (%)

Series D+

Series C

Series B

Series A

Seed

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 7


VC trends
VC investments by type of series (2/2)
Median fundraisings keep rising especially for Series B+

Median fundraising amount (€m)


Seed Series A Series B Series C Series D+

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 8


VC trends
Startup cohorts and profiles by round
1 out of 4 startups goes on to raise a 2nd round of financing

Base 100

100 100

90

80

70

60

50

40
27
30

20
8
10 3 1 0.3
0
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6

Seed Series A Series B Series C Series D

Median TTM revenue €0.7m €1.3m €2.4m €5.6m €12.5m

Median fundraising €1.0m €3.0m €7.0m €18.3m €40.5m

Median pre-money valuation €3.5m €9.0m €17.5m €52.0m €179.5m

Median dilution 29% 28% 27% 22% 21%

Median age (years) 3 4 5 7 8

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 9


VC trends
Distribution of deals by business model
Subscription and Commission models continue to attract the majority of investments

Proportion of deals by business model (%)

Others

Research

Service

E-commerce

Manufacturing

Commission

Subscription

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 10


VC trends
Distribution of deals per industry
Majority of investments go to Fintech, Health and Gaming in 2021

YoY growth (%) Amounts invested per industry 2021 vs. 2020 (€m)

Fintech fintech
+146.8%
Health health
-26.7%
Gaming gaming
+1854.0%
Home living home living
+79.3%
Enterprise software enterprise -32.2%
software
Real estate real estate
+131.4%
Energy energy
+25.7%
Transportation transportation
+63.9%
Security security
+156.2%
Fashion fashion
+160.3%
Food food
-56.6%
Education education
+205.4%
Robotics robotics
-4.2%
Media media
+22.2%
HR jobs recruitment
+14.4%
Marketing marketing
-81.6%
Legal Legal
+298.5%
Wellness beauty wellness beauty
+26.8%
Hosting hosting
+778.2%
Semiconductors -76.7%
semiconductors
Sports -72.7%
sports

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
2021 2020

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 11


VC trends
Yearly trends: cumulative number of deals and amounts
Record breaking year in terms of investments… …even if number of deals remains lower than 2020

Cumulated deal value (€m) Cumulated deal amount (#)

2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014

12000 1000

900

10000
800

700
8000

600

6000 500

400

4000
300

200
2000

100

0 0
1
Jan. 2
Feb. 3
Mar. 4
Apr. 5
May 6
Jun. 7 Aug.
Jul. 8 Sept.
9 Oct.
10 Nov.
11 Dec.
12 1Jan. Feb.
2 3
Mar. 4
Apr. 5
May 6
Jun. 7
Jul. 8
Aug. 9
Sept. 10 Nov.
Oct. 11 Dec.
12

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 12


VC trends
11 startups have reached unicorn status in 2021, France being the home of 21 unicorns
French unicorns by last round valuation

Last round valuation (€bn)

4.5

4.0
1
3.9
3.5 3.7

3.0
2.9
2.5
2.5 1

2.0 2.3
2.2
1
1.9
1.5 1.7 1.7
1.5
1.4 1.4
1.0 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.1 1.1 2 2
>1 >1 1.0 1.0
0.5

0.0

Unicorn status reached in 2021 Unicorn status reached before 2021

1Headquarters in the U.S 2Exact amount not communicated by the company

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 13


VC trends
Avolta Next 20: who will be France’s next unicorns?
Possible French unicorns by last amount raised

Oct. 20 – Series C Jul. 21 – Series C Sep. 20 – Series C Jan. 20 – Series C Nov. 16 – Series C
€315m €142m €140m €104m €100m

Apr. 21 – Series C Jul. 21 – Series C Mar. 21 – Series D May 21 – Series B May 21 – Series B
€100m €100m €90m €84m €82m

May 21 – Series C Sep. 20 – Series C Jan. 19 – Series C Dec. 20 – Series B Apr. 21 – Series C
€80m €77m €72m €72m €70m

Jun. 20 – Series C Jun. 21 – Series C Jan. 20 – Series C Dec. 20 – Series B Apr. 19 – Series B
€70m €63m €63m €50m €36m

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 14


VC trends
Active investor trends and league tables
530 active investors on the market in France, with increasing amount of foreigners Top 10 active VCs (last 12 months)

# of active investors (excl. business angels)

350
1. 70 deals

300 2. 30 deals

3. 20 deals
250

4. 13 deals
200

5. 12 deals
150
6. 11 deals

100
6. 11 deals

50 6. 11 deals

9. 10 deals
-
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021e

French active investors Foreign active investors 10. 9 deals

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 15


25.0 25.0

VC trends
Participation of foreign VCs in French rounds
20.0 20.0
The French ecosystem is attracting more foreign investors EV/TTM revenue multiples

% of series with a foreign investor

40%
15.0 15.0

35%
12.4x

30%

10.0 9.2x 10.0

25%

20% 6.3x
5.0 5.0
15% 4.2x

3.0x
10%
1.9x
- -
5% French investors At least one foreign
only investor

0%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Med.
14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 17 17 17 17 18 18 18 18 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 21 21 21
1st Quartile 3rd Quartile
North America United Kingdom Germany Asia Foreign

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 16


VC trends
Overview of French VC funds
Record year for new VC funds raised Top 5 new VC funds raised in 2021

Funds raised by French VCs (€bn)

4
€1.6bn
Raised in Jul. 2021
3.6

3 €660m
Raised in Feb. 2021

2.1
€300m
2
Raised in Feb. 2021
1.7

1.3

1.1 €250m
1.0
1 0.9 Raised in Sep. 2021

0.4
0.3 0.3
0.2
€225m
Raised in Mar. 2021
0
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 YTD

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 17


VC trends
VC multiples by business model and industry over the last 24 months
EV/TTM revenue by business model EV/TTM revenue by industry

- 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 - 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
Fintech
Subscription
7.9x 5.3x 12.2x
4.7x 2.7x 10.8x
Health
6.4x 2.4x 11.2x
Commission

3.9x 2.1x 7.8x Enterprise software


4.8x 2.3x 6.3x

Manufacturing Marketing
3.6x 2.6x 8.1x
2.6x 1.5x 7.2x

Food
2.6x 1.7x 6.8x
E-Commerce

2.2x 0.9x 4.5x Transportation


2.1x 1.5x 3.1x

Service Real Estate


1.5x 0.9x 2.0x 3.1x 1.6x 10.9x

HR
- 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 3.5x 2.0x 6.7x
Med.
Median Quartile 1 Quartile 3 - 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 18


Tech exit trends

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021


Tech exit trends
Overview of French exits
French exits trends remain stable over the last 5 years

Deal value (€bn) Deal count (#)

9 400

8
7.6 350

7
300

6 5.8
5.5 250

4.9
5
4.5
200

150
3

100
2

50
1

0 0
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021e

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 20


Tech exit trends
Tech exit activity: 234 deals in 2021 for €3.5bn in deal value
Increasing exits trends mostly driven by top deals Top 5 tech exits in 2021 YTD

Deal value (€m) Deal count (#)

€1.9bn
IPO Euronext Paris

€450m

by Cegid

€200m
Top 1 Top 3 Others Nb. deals
Median EV remains stable
by Marlin Equity Partners
Median EV (€m)

€119m

IPO Euronext Paris

€106m

by Altus Group

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 21


Tech exit trends
Distribution of deals by deal type
Still few IPOs EV/TTM revenue by deal type
- 5.0 10.0 15.0
IPO Sponsor Corporate Dev
Percentage of deals (%) Corporate Dev

2.5x 1.4x 5.1x

Sponsor

2.4x 1.0x 4.0x

IPO

6.1x 3.2x 13.1x

Med.
-
Median 1st 5.0
Q. 1 10.0 3rd Q. 15.0

Larger exits for IPOs and sponsor deals


Median EV at exit (€m)

62
59

17

Corporate Sponsor IPO


Development

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 22


Tech exit trends
Yearly trends: cumulative number of deals and amounts
Tech exit deal value is comparable to previous years… …but greater number of deals

Cumulated deal value (€m) Cumulated deal count (#)

Year of Date in Press 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017


7000 350

6000 300

5000 250

4000 200

3000 150

2000 100

1000 50

0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec.

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 23


Tech exit trends
Distribution of deals by EV
13% of deals are over €150m EV

% of deal value

100%
3

90%
2

80%

70%

60% 1

50%
Exit value % of panel Var. YoY

40%
1 The Happy Few >€150m 13% +18%

30%
2 The Breakaways <€50m-€150m 25% +56%

20%
3 The Peloton <€50m 63% -14%

10%

0%
0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
0%
2%
4%
6%
7%
9%
11%
13%
14%
16%
18%
20%
22%
23%
25%
27%
29%
30%
32%
34%
36%
37%
39%
41%
43%
45%
46%
48%
50%
52%
53%
55%
57%
59%
60%
62%
64%
66%
67%
69%
71%
73%
75%
76%
78%
80%
82%
83%
85%
87%
89%
90%
92%
94%
96%
98%
99%
% of deals

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 24


Tech exit trends
VC-backed vs. non-backed exits
The majority of exits are bootstrapped companies… Top 10 VCs by no. of exits (last 12 months)

100%

90% Rank Investor # exits


80%
#1 21
70%

60%
#2 11
50%

40%
#3 10
30%

20%
#4 8
10%

0%
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 YTD #4 8
Bootstrapped VC-backed

#5 7
…however, VC-backed exits show higher performance, size and time to exit

#5 7
Median EV/TTM Revenue Median EV Median time to exit
5.00 60.00 12.00
4.2x 11 years
€48.1m #6 6
4.00 50.00 10.00
8 years
40.00 8.00
3.00
30.00 €23.8m 6.00 #7 5
2.00 1.8x
20.00 4.00
1.00 10.00 2.00 #7 5
- - -
VC backed
1 Bootstrapped
2 VC backed
1 Bootstrapped
2 VC backed
1 Bootstrapped
2

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 25


Tech exit trends
Tech exits characteristics
Exits are gaining maturity Targets’ characteristics

TTM revenue at exit (€m)

10 €9.2m
9

10 years
8
7
6 €5.3m
€4.8m median years to exit
5
4
€3.0m
3
2
1
0
2017 2018 2019 2020
€3m
Median EV has increased over the last 5 years median funds1 raised at
exit
Median EV (€m)

100

59%
80
€61m
60

40 €31m of companies are


€18m €25m €18m
20 profitable
0
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 YTD
1Sample is based on companies who have raised funds

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 26


Tech exit trends
Distribution of acquirers by geography
Around 70% of acquirers are French… …but foreign countries acquire the most value

Deal count Deal value

YTD YTD
Top acquirers since 2017 (#) Top acquirers since 2017 (€m)

4
France Europe North America Asia

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Tech exit trends
Avolta Partners’ Public French Tech Index1
Public tech companies show high performance IPO characteristics & breakdown

Index value

180

160
+55.0% €55m
median EV at IPO
140

120 +30.4% 34%


of companies show positive
100 returns since IPO

80 Health
14%

Energy
60 8% Robotics
Telecom
40 6%
Transportation
6%
Gaming
20 +570.2% for the B.V.P. Nasdaq Emerging 3%
Cloud Index (U.S) over the same period 2% Marketing
2%
9% Other
0
Jan-17 Jul-17 Jan-18 Jul-18 Jan-19 Jul-19 Jan-20 Jul-20 Jan-21 Jul-21

Tech index CAC Small


1Index represents returns of an equally-weighted portfolio of all tech IPOs since Jan. 2017

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 28


Tech exit trends
Exit multiples by business model and industry
EV/TTM revenue by business model EV/TTM revenue by industry

- 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0


- 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
Fintech
Subscription
4.6x
2.0x 10.5x 2.9x 15.0x
3.2x

Health
3.5x
2.5x 8.4x
Commission

3.8x 1.7x 8.4x Enterprise software


4.2x 2.1x 13.4x

Manufacturing Marketing
2.3x 1.6x 3.4x
2.1x 1.3x 4.8x

Food
3.6x 1.6x 5.7x
E-Commerce

1.3x 1.1x 1.5x Transportation


2.8x 1.4x 5.1x

Service Real Estate


1.1x 3.2x 2.7x 5.2x
0.9x 2.7x

HR
1.5x 0.8x 1.6x
- 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
Med.
- 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
Median 1st Quartile 3rd Quartile

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 29


Research team
Contact us

Arthur Porré Pascal Farrugia


Founding Partner Director

Alexandre Meiers Victor Ebersold Naomi Darko Déborah Bourgeot


Senior Analyst Senior Analyst Senior Analyst Senior Analyst

Matthieu Sion Jacques-Henri Checri David Kaddouch Pierre Pinsault Julien Gakpe
Analyst Analyst Analyst Analyst
Analyst

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 30


Methodology
Data. Data. Data.

Building a platform for Tech corporate finance

With 80 deals closed in 6 years, we chose from the beginning to be pan-European


• Corporate dev: the acquirer is a corporate
and data-driven. So we built Avolta.io, a unique platform to automate processes
and scale our ability to help fast-growing tech companies in Europe. • PE fund: the acquirer is a private equity fund (non-leveraged, LBO,
Exit types
MBO, OBO)
Our platform concatenates European deals in the Tech Industry with information on • IPO: Initial Public Offering though financial markets
valuation, revenues and structuration. We source this private data from our network
of providers, business partners and investors, combining it with unique insights from
our team of analysts.

We extracted from our 10,000+ deals private database all Tech companies
monitored from Q1-14 to Q3-21 for companies headquartered in France.
• Subscription: SaaS or more traditional licensing revenue
Enterprise Value (EV) • Commission: platform debiting a defined take rate from its flows
Calculated as Equity Value + Net Debt when legal information is found. Otherwise • Manufacturing: production and resale of goods
estimated EV from several sources: dealroom.co, Mergermarket, Crunchbase, • Performance: built around usage from a recurring user community
Business
CFNews, Avolta’s private networks and public media.
Models • eCommerce: buy and online resale of goods
• Audience: traffic-based revenue
• Service: margin between labor cost and service invoice price
• Research: strong R&D focus to keep high barriers to entry

Leveraging quality data providers

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 31


About Avolta Partners
Leading M&A Advisor in Tech in Europe on €10-300m Deals

§ 80 deals / €1bn completed in 6 years


- Incl. 15 deals / €300m in the last 12 months
- 20 deals for €600m in our current portfolio
(€30m avg. transaction)

§ All types of transactions (€10-€300m EV)


- M&A & LBO: 50% of our deals
- Fundraising (Series A/B/C+) : 50% of our deals

§ 70% cross-border deals

§ 100% Tech companies, with major focus on:


- Fintech / Insurtech
- Mobility
- B2B SaaS
- Marketplace/eCommerce
- Deeptech (AI, Blockchain, Space, etc.)
- FoodTech/Agtech
- Consumer brand
- HR/EdTech
- Health
- Proptech

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021 32


Disclaimer Avolta Partners

The information contained in this report has been produced by Avolta Partners based on third- With more than 80 deals closed in 6 years, Avolta Partners has proven to be one of the most active M&A
party information. While Avolta Partners has made every effort to ensure the reliability of the boutique in Europe in the Tech Industry. As a result, our team of 20 people has learned how to maximise the
data included in this report, Avolta Partners cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information value of a deal – both valuation and legal conditions – thanks to a proven methodology and hard-nosed
collected and presented. Therefore, the Avolta Partners cannot accept responsibility for any negotiations.
decision made or action taken based upon this report or the information provided herein.
This presentation is for the exclusive use of the people to whom it is addressed and is
intended for general information purposes only. It is not intended to constitute legal or other Dedicated team
professional advice and should not be treated as such. Arthur Porré Pascal Farrugia
Appropriate legal advice must be sought before making any decision, taking any action or Managing Partner Director
refraining from taking any action in reliance on the information contained in this presentation. arthur@avoltapartners.com pascal@avoltapartners.com
Avolta Partners does not assume any responsibility for any person’s reliance upon the
information contained herein.
Alexandre Meiers Victor Ebersold
© Copyright Avolta Partners 2021 Senior Analyst Senior Analyst
alexandre.meiers@avoltapartners.com victor.ebersold@avoltapartners.com

© 2021 Avolta Partners // www.avoltapartners.com VC/M&A Tech Multiples - France 2021

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