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July 2024

Wellington Private Investing Quarterly Update

In this edition of Wellington’s Private Investing Quarterly Update, we share updates from across our private investing platform and highlights our 2024 Mid-year Outlook, new investments, the latest sector trends, and more.

The views expressed are those of the author at the time of writing. Other teams may hold different views and make different investment decisions. The value of your investment may become worth more or less than at the time of original investment. While any third-party data used is considered reliable, its accuracy is not guaranteed. For professional, institutional, or accredited investors only. All investing involves risk. Please refer to risks at the end.

Fund / Strategy name

Hadley Harbor IV

Late-stage growth

Closed

Total assets raised

US$2.6 B

total assets raised and more than US$200 M in co-investments

Fund name

Climate Innovation I

Climate Growth

Target fund size and target final close

Closed

Deals completed 1Q23

US$385 M

total assets raised

Fund name

Investment Grade Private Placement

Private Credit

Target fund size and target final close

Open

Deals completed 1Q23

US$463 M

committed capital in the strategy 

New Investments

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Wiz is the unified cloud security platform for cloud security and development teams that includes prevention, active detection, and response. Their self-service model was built for scale and speed of cloud development.

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Finvero is a credit management platform for the next generation of financial services in Latin America. They provide personalized financing solutions from a single platform to enhance your business’ physical and/or online stores.

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BlueJay Therapeutics is discovering life-changing medicines and cures for people with viral and liver diseases, starting with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and chronic hepatitis D (CHD).

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GrayMatter Robotics offers surface treatment industrial robots through a “Robot-as-a-service” (RaaS) model to manufacturing customers, by integrating third-party industrial robot hardware with its proprietary AI software to deliver application-specific, turnkey automation solutions.

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The Company is transforming the complex Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) application landscape by offering a digital platform that simplifies and expedites the submission process for the 17 million Americans living with a serious mental illness.

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The Company is a clinical stage company pursuing a clinical development strategy developing small molecule inhibitors for solid tumor indications.

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The Company is a retail data solutions provider that links CPG brands with real-time POS and inventory data from 40+ leading retailers.

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The Company is an emerging leader in the cloud email security market that leverages an AI-based, cloud-native product that detects cyber-attacks.

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The Company produces advanced conductors used in transmission lines (i.e., high-voltage power cables) that deliver 2x – 3x capacity increases for transmission lines.

2024 Mid-year Private Investment Outlook 

In our mid-year private investment outlook collection, we explore the themes driving the evolution of private credit and private equity markets. Amid widespread private credit headlines, we highlight how trends like disintermediation and the convergence of public and private markets are fueling diverse opportunities across private credit. In addition, we examine the venture capital landscape, noting a shift towards capital efficiency, a recovering IPO market, the growing importance of AI, and much more.

8 emerging venture capital trends
We share eight of the themes driving venture capital markets in 2024, including capital efficiency, DPI, the IPO market recovery, and more.

Beyond the noise: Four key drivers of private credit opportunities
With recent negative headlines around private credit, we think it's crucial to move beyond the noise and explore the asset class's recent trends like disintermediation, the convergence of public and private markets, and much more.

Learn more about what our venture capital and private credit teams are seeing in the markets in our 2024 mid-year outlook: “https://www.wellington.com/en/insights/private-investment-outlook “

Information

SECTOR TRENDS

Public-stock price appreciation, private companies' insatiable need for capital, and a reduced but consistent supply of late-stage funding are combining to drive renewed activity in late-stage growth. Despite the anticipatory buzz, however, industry deal activity in our sectors and geographies suggests that a full-blown financing rebound has yet to materialize.

We suspect that today’s mismatch of improved deal activity and late-stage funding at 15-quarter lows is due to a lag in the data. For example, between the beginning of the year and early April, we issued 3 term sheets that were accepted. None of these deals are reflected in the Q1 figures above, however, as it often takes months to go from closing a deal to a press release or public filing. We expect the increased activity we’re seeing will instead be reported in Q2 or Q3 figures.

Source: Pitchbook Data, Inc.

In our view, the current biotech landscape is supported by stabilized macroeconomic factors and multiple signals of an acceleration in capital market activity. While the public biotech market has lagged this recovery to date, early signs of improvement are evident. In today’s discerning IPO environment, we continue to believe that high-quality biotech firms with differentiated assets, scientific merit, and measured valuations are well positioned for success in 2024 and over the long term.

The climate tech market has seen slow activity in 1H24, resulting in a 20% decrease in funding. Both investors and founders continue to be cautious due to resilient valuations, a high interest rate environment, persistent inflation, and geopolitical uncertainty. However, we are now witnessing a large number of climate tech companies approaching our late venture/early growth stage (typically Series B+). We have been monitoring these companies since 2021 and are excited to see some of them seeking funding. Most VCs have mandates to allocate capital to either early or late-stage companies, leaving a funding gap in the middle. In fact, according to CTVC, raising a Series B now takes approximately 2.5 times longer than it did in 2021. Notably, we believe our highly active deal flow is combining with a more reasonable valuation environment to make our pipeline more actionable than it was throughout much of 2023.

Source: CTVC by Sightline Climate

Early-stage VC continues to move at a fast pace and rapidly change, reflecting the ever-evolving dynamics of the startup world. Most notable is the expansion in funding, which suggests a growing optimism among investors who appear to be ready to partner with innovative early-stage companies. For the past couple of years, the market has been in a state of anticipation, awaiting signs of ‘normalization’ in valuations, deal terms, diligence timelines, and the IPO market. It appears we have finally reached a point where our focus industries – consumer technology, fintech, and software – have begun to normalize. The shift toward more reasonable valuations and terms suggests that the market is recognizing the need to balance optimism with practicality. Though advancements in AI and machine learning will likely continue to warrant potential outlier terms and funding, broader sentiment has moved into a more balanced approach, emphasizing importance of realistic numbers and sustainable growth projections.

Issuance in the private placement market remained robust in the first half of 2024, although demand continues to outpace supply. This strong investor appetite is primarily being driven by the desire to lock in target returns at current market yields with the incremental spread, diversification, and portfolio resilience that private placements can offer. Borrowers appear to be gaining comfort with the higher interest rate environment, and we continue to see a broad range of issuance across maturity, geography and sector, further highlighting the diversification benefits inherent in the asset class. Additionally, investors have started to demand increasing spread premiums for private placement deals that reflect the higher-rate environment and recent demand dynamics. We continue to believe that historical spread premia expectations will continue to adjust higher to reflect the current market conditions.

Source: Wellington Management

During 2020 – 2021, many high-growth companies were able to raise large amounts of venture capital at high valuations. In the 1H24, some of these companies are slowly starting to access the growth debt market to extend their runways with limited ownership dilution. Simultaneously, lenders are now exhibiting elevated lending standards to pick the highest quality company among a record number of startups. This combination has reduced the deal account and capital deployed during 1H24. However, today’s diminishing runways will likely push high-quality companies to seek capital soon. On the other hand, limited runways can challenge poorly-performing companies which can impact portfolio quality as shown in some venture/growth debt BDCs recent quarterly reports. Importantly, tech downturns have historically indicated that portfolio issues are typically short-lived, provided there is no significant macroeconomic downturn. We are very excited about the market opportunity this environment creates for the growth stage in the next couple of months.

Source: Pitchbook and Wellington Management’s analysis from SEC filings

Portfolio Company Support:

  • The Impact Measurement & Management (IMM) Team works with portfolio companies to provide feedback and guidance on best practices for impact calculations and sustainability reporting. In Q2, we conducted impact due diligence on a range of companies across sectors, from reducing food waste to improving the grid infrastructure. We also engaged with portfolio companies operating in the energy transition and health sector space, focusing on improving their impact communication and measurement.
  • The PI ESG team released our Human Capital Management (HCM) Toolkit, a compilation of talent and HR-related resources and best practices available exclusively to our portfolio companies. In conjunction with the Toolkit’s release, we also hosted an HCM for Private Companies webinar that was attended by numerous portfolio companies as well as representatives from our partner investment funds.

News

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Article Private investing

Matt Witheiler named to Forbes “The Midas List: The World’s Best Venture Capital Investors in 2024.”

Congratulations to Matt Witheiler, Sector Lead, Consumer & Technology who was named to Forbes’ The Midas List: The World’s Best Venture Capital Investors in 2024, for the fourth year in a row!

Wellington Management did not pay a fee to be considered. Winners were selected by a data-driven approach, the Midas List is produced from a combination of public data sources and the submissions of hundreds of investment partners across hundreds of firms each year. This award was announced on June 4, 2024, a submission made in January 2023 and is based on 5 years of trailing data. Wellington Management was the only winner in the Top Tech Investors category, which was judged based on Forbes’ criteria. The award may not be representative of any one client’s experience. The award is not indicative of Wellington Management’s future performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Article Private investing

Pensions&Investments | Wellington, the quiet giant, wades into private credit amid boom in lending

Director, Private Credit, Emily Bannister and Head of Client Group, Scott Geary, spoke with Pensions&Investments on the firm’s move into Private Credit as part of its growing Private Investing platform. In 2023, the firm launched its Private Credit capability with the investment-grade private placements strategy and is expanding into growth lending this year.

Source: Pensions&Investments

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Press release Private investing

Wellington Management announces US$385 million final close for Climate Innovation I

We are pleased to announce the final close of Wellington’s inaugural fund to invest solely in private companies developing solutions to help mitigate and adapt to climate change.
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Article Private investing

Axios | Exclusive: Wellington raises $385M for first private climate fund

Greg Wasserman, Head of Private Climate, sat down with Alan Neuhauser at Axios to discuss the final close of the private investing platforms first climate innovation fund and the sector opportunities the investment team is focusing on.

Source: Axios

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Article

Wellington’s Private Investing co-heads, Michael Carmen and Shanna O’Reilly, are named to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Power100 Angels List

We’re proud to announce that on the heels of our Wellington Access Ventures (WAV) team’s recognition on the Diversity, Equity & Inclusive Capitalism (DEIC) Power100 Asset Management list, our Private Investing co-heads, Michael Carmen and Shanna O’Reilly, have been chosen for the DEIC Power100 Angels list. The Angels list recognizes trailblazers across the asset management industry who are helping to move toward a more inclusive future. Michael and Shanna are committed to promoting change in venture capital and their work has been recognized for effecting positive change.

Wellington Management did not pay a fee to be considered for this award. Winners were selected by Blueprint Capital Advisors. This award was announced on 25 February 2024. Wellington Management was one of 100 winners in the Angels category, and the selection methodology included a collective consensus based on a broad cross-section of industry participants. The award may not be representative of any one client’s experience. The award is not indicative of Wellington Management’s future performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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Private Investing Insights:

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Investment risks

Major risks

Market risks: Directional; not market neutral. Primarily invests in equity. Will experience equity-like volatility at times. At times, markets experience great volatility and unpredictability. | Broad investment flexibility: No benchmark orientation; few investment restrictions. Geographic, sector, market-cap, and asset-class emphases may shift over time. | Liquidity risk: Portfolio of illiquid/private companies.The return of invested capital to limited partners may be dependent on the success of the companies held in the portfolio, and the timing of such liquidity is uncertain. | Sector risk: May concentrate by sector; potential for lack of diversification. | Country/currency risk May concentrate by country. | Transparency risk: Holdings, pricing, and other data may be limited and thus less transparent than certain other investments. | Regulatory risk: Not subject to the same regulatory requirements as mutual funds or many other pooled investments.

Early-stage venture risks

Concentration risk: In general, investing in funds with concentrated exposures to (i) particular asset class(es), and/or (ii) a particular sector, and/or (iii) one or a select few markets involves greater risk than investing in funds that have greater diversification.| Risk of underlying assets: In general, each fund will be subject to the same risk factors as those relating to the underlying securities or assets held in its portfolio. | Extended term and liquidation: The total hold period for an investment in the Fund will be much longer as compared to that of other investment products. The Fund’s term may extend for ten (10) years from the final closing date, with the possibility of five (5) or more years of extensions, followed by an indefinite liquidation period. This risk is increased by expected significant follow-on investment activity later in the Fund’s term and investments in underlying funds that will also have indefinite liquidation periods. Costs and expenses incurred by the Fund in connection with an extended term and liquidation period are expected to be significant.| Layered fees: The Fund has a layered fee and expense structure that makes total costs and expenses higher relative to other investment products.Loss of key personnel | The performance of an underlying fund is largely dependent on the skill and decisions made by its manager and key personnel, and the loss of any such individual could have a material adverse effect on the performance of the Fund. | Change in investment policy: The manager of an underlying fund typically has the authority to alter its investment policy within certain parameters (set out in its constitutional document) by amending the fund’s prospectus. This could represent a fairly significant change in the nature and risk profile of the fund from the one in which you originally invested. | Summary of some of the major risks. Consult the fund’s Private Offering Memorandum for a more complete description of risks specific to the fund.

Investment Grade Private Placement Investment RISKS

CONCENTRATION RISK: Concentration risk is the risk of amplified losses that may occur from having a large percentage of your investments in a particular security, issuer, industry, or country. The investments may move in the same direction in reaction to the conditions of the industries, sectors, countries and regions of investment, and a single security or issuer could have a significant impact on the portfolio’s risk and returns. | CREDIT RISK: The value of a fixed income security may decline due to an increased risk that the issuer or guarantor of that security may fail to pay interest or principal when due, as a result of adverse changes to the issuer’s or guarantor’s financial status and/or business. In general, lower-rated securities carry a greater degree of credit risk than higher-rated securities. | FIXED INCOME SECURITIES RISK: Fixed income security market values are subject to many factors, including economic conditions, government regulations, market sentiment, and local and international political events. In addition, the market value of fixed income securities will fluctuate in response to changes in interest rates, and the creditworthiness of the issuer. | INTEREST RATE RISK: Generally, the value of fixed income securities will change inversely with changes in interest rates, all else equal. The risk that changes in active interest rates will adversely affect fixed income investments will be greater for longer-term fixed income securities than for shorter-term fixed income securities. | LIQUIDITY RISK: Investments with low liquidity may experience market value volatility because they are thinly traded (such as small cap and private equity or private placement bonds). Since there is no guarantee that these securities could be sold at fair value, sales may occur at a discount. In the event of a full liquidation, these securities may need to be held after liquidation date. | RESTRICTED SECURITY RISK: Restricted securities are securities acquired in unregistered, private sales from the issuing company or from an affiliate of the issuer. These securities may not be transferable until certain criteria are met and under the federal securities laws, generally may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, resulting in liquidity risk.

Important disclosures

For professional, institutional, or qualified investors only. Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results. There can be no assurance the funds will achieve their investment objectives or avoid significant losses. Any securities mentioned are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be an investment recommendation. There can be no guarantee an investment in any portfolio company will be profitable or avoid losses. For a complete list of the private equity funds’ investments please see https://www.wellington.com/en/capabilities/private-investing.

The funds differ in stage with some making earlier-stage or venture-stage investments whereas others are later-stage funds. The risks associated with early-stage investing differ from late-stage investing. Additionally, each fund considers ESG and sustainability in different ways according to its investment strategy and objectives. Please refer to each fund’s private offering memorandum for a complete discussion of risks and details regarding investment strategy.

This material is prepared for, and authorized for internal use by, designated institutional, professional, or qualified investors and their consultants or for such other use as may be authorized by Wellington Management Company LLP or its affiliates. This material and/or its contents are current at the time of writing and may not be reproduced or distributed in whole or in part, for any purpose, without the express written consent of Wellington Management. Any views expressed herein are those of the author(s), are based on available information, and are subject to change without notice. Individual portfolio management teams may hold different views and may make different investment decisions for different clients. While any third-party data used is considered reliable, its accuracy is not guaranteed. Forward-looking statements should not be considered as guarantees or predictions of future events. Past results are not a reliable indicator of future results. Wellington assumes no duty to update any information in this material in the event that such information changes. This material is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute investment advice or an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to purchase any interest in any Wellington Alternative Investments LLP or Wellington Funds US LLC fund (together, the “Wellington Funds”).Investors should always obtain and read an up-to-date private offering memorandum, which qualifies the information set forth herein and contains a description of the risks of investing, before deciding whether to invest in a Wellington Fund. Any such offer of the Wellington Funds is exempt from registration with the SEC and will be made only by means of the private offering memorandum. The Wellington Funds may not be appropriate for certain investors depending on their investment objective and risk tolerance. Wellington Funds are speculative, involve a high degree of risk, can be highly volatile and an investor can lose all or a substantial amount of their investment. Further, the Fund’s substantial fees and expenses may offset its trading profits. There is no secondary market for an investor’s interest in a Wellington Fund and none is expected to develop. Securities may be offered through Wellington Funds Distributors Inc., an SEC-Registered Broker/Dealer, Member FINRA and SIPC. Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction: 280 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02210. Tel. 617-951-5000. Fax. 617-951-5250. Wellington Funds Distributors Inc. is an affiliate of Wellington Management Company LLP. For more information, contact Wellington Funds Distributors Inc. Not FDIC Insured ------ No Bank Guarantee ------ May Lose Value

Wellington Management Company LLP (WMC) is an independently owned investment adviser registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). WMC is also registered with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a commodity trading advisor (CTA) and serves as a CTA to certain clients including commodity pools operated by registered commodity pool operators. WMC provides commodity trading advice to all other clients in reliance on exemptions from CTA registration. WMC, along with its affiliates (collectively, Wellington Management), provides investment management and investment advisory services to institutions around the world. Wellington Management Group LLP (WMG), a Massachusetts limited liability partnership, serves as the ultimate parent holding company of the Wellington Management global organization.

All the partners are full-time professional members of Wellington Management. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, Wellington Management also has offices in Chicago, Illinois; New York, New York; Radnor, Pennsylvania; San Francisco, California; DIFC, Dubai; Frankfurt; Hong Kong; London; Luxembourg; Madrid; Milan; Shanghai; Singapore; Sydney; Tokyo; Toronto; and Zurich.

In Canada, this material is provided by Wellington Management Canada ULC, a British Columbia unlimited liability company registered in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan in the categories of Portfolio Manager and Exempt Market Dealer.

In the United Kingdom, this material is provided by Wellington Management International Limited (WMIL), a firm authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Reference number: 208573). This material is directed only at eligible counterparties or professional clients as defined under the rules of the FCA. In Europe (excluding the UK and Switzerland), this material is provided by the marketing entity Wellington Management Europe GmbH (WME), which is authorized and regulated by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). This material is directed only in countries where WME is duly authorized to operate and shares of Wellington Funds may not be distributed or marketed in any way to German retail or semi-professional investors if the fund is not admitted for distribution to these investor categories by BaFin. In Switzerland, this material is provided by Wellington Management Switzerland GmbH, a firm registered at the commercial register of the canton of Zurich with number CH-020.4.050.857-7. This material is directed only at Qualified Investors as defined in the Swiss Collective Investment Schemes Act and its implementing ordinance. In Dubai, this material is provided by Wellington Management (DIFC) Limited (WM DIFC), a firm registered in the DIFC with number 7181 and regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (“DFSA”).To the extent this document relates to a financial product, such financial product is not subject to any form of regulation or approval by the DFSA. The DFSA has no responsibility for reviewing or verifying any prospectus or other documents in connection with any financial product to which this document may relate. The DFSA has not approved this document or any other associated documents nor taken any steps to verify the information set out in this document, and has no responsibility for it. Any financial product to which this document relates may be illiquid and/or subject to restrictions on its resale. Prospective purchasers should conduct their own due diligence on any such financial product. If you do not understand the contents of this document, you should consult an authorized financial adviser. This document is provided on the basis that you are a Professional Client and that you will not copy, distribute, or otherwise make this material available to any person. In Hong Kong, this material is provided to you by Wellington Management Hong Kong Limited (WM Hong Kong), a corporation licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission to conduct Type 1 (dealing in securities), Type 2 (dealing in futures contracts), Type 4 (advising in securities), and Type 9 (asset management) regulated activities. By accepting this material, you acknowledge and agree that this material is provided for your use only and that you will not distribute or otherwise make this material available to any person. Wellington Private Fund Management (Shanghai) Limited (WPFM), which is an unregulated entity incorporated in China, is a wholly owned subsidiary of WM Hong Kong. Wellington Global Private Fund Management (Shanghai) Limited (WGPFM) is a wholly owned entity and subsidiary of WPFM and is registered as a private fund manager with Asset Management Association of China to conduct qualified domestic limited partnership and management activities. In mainland China, this material is provided for your use by WPFM, WGPFM, or WMHK (as the case may be). In Singapore, this material is provided for your use only by Wellington Management Singapore Pte Ltd (WM Singapore) (Registration Number 201415544E). WM Singapore is regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore under a Capital Markets Services Licence to conduct fund management activities and deal in capital markets products and is an exempt financial adviser. By accepting this material, you represent that you are a non-retail investor and that you will not copy, distribute, or otherwise make this material available to any person. In Australia, Wellington Management Australia Pty Ltd (WM Australia) (ABN 19 167 091 090) has authorized the issue of this material for use solely by wholesale clients (as defined in the Corporations Act 2001). By accepting this material, you acknowledge and agree that this material is provided for your use only and that you will not distribute or otherwise make this material available to any person. In Japan, Wellington Management Japan Pte Ltd (WM Japan) (Registration Number 199504987R) has been registered as a Financial Instruments Firm with registered number: Director General of Kanto Local Finance Bureau (Kin-Sho) Number 428. WM Japan is a member of the Japan Investment Advisers Association (JIAA), the Investment Trusts Association, Japan (ITA) and the Type II Financial Instruments Firms Association (T2FIFA). WM Hong Kong and WM Japan are also registered as investment advisers with the SEC; however, they will comply with the substantive provisions of the US Investment Advisers Act only with respect to their US clients. PAST RESULTS DO NOT PREDICT FUTURE RETURNS.

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