A Tail of Loss

Tiger Globalā€™s Funds Grapple With Losses, Vice Ventures Looks to Break Taboos With its New Fund, and a Startup Looks to Radiate Success With its New Funding.

Author

Adam from VC Brags
April 21, 2023

Welcome Shareholders,

In this daily edition of the Brags Newsletter, weā€™ll cover Tiger Globalā€™s 2022 Investment Saga. Also, a Venture Firm looks to help startups rebel with its new fund, and Abdera steps out of the shadows for a Radiotherapy Revolution.

So sit back, grab a snack, and enjoy!

Venture Today šŸ‘

  • Crossover Investing Giant, Tiger Global has experienced a 20% paper loss, net of management fees, on its $12.7 billion fund as of December 2022.

The news comes a month after a report showed that Tiger Global had marked down the value of its investments across its funds by 33%. Tiger Global's Private Investment Partners XV faced notable writedowns, including its entire $38 million investment in the now-bankrupt FTX and FTX.US, as well as stakes in MoonPay, Helium, and Bored Ape Yacht Club. The firm's $126.8 million investment in NFT marketplace OpenSea saw a 76% drop to $30.2 million.

A significant writedown also occurred in Tiger's largest holding, ByteDance, with a $144.6 million investment in mid-2021 devalued to $100.8 million by September. Following the writedowns, Tiger Global reduced its latest venture fund target to $5 billion, and its decreased investments may reflect a broader trend among VC firms.

Whoā€™s Raising?

  • Vice Ventures has secured a $25 million second fund to invest in industries catering to human vices, often considered "badā€ by the traditional venture lens.

The Vice Ventures fund two will build on its first fund, targeting non-traditional verticals including cannabis, alcohol, sextech, wellness, esports, gambling, caffeine, nicotine, psychedelics, addiction recovery, and other unexplored vice-related industries. Vice Ventures' investment approach may be countercyclical during tough times, with the fund's focus primarily on "bad" industries such as cannabis, alcohol, and gambling.

Despite the potential controversy, the fund highlights the hypocrisy of supporting harmful industries like big oil or guns while overlooking the superficial nature of vices that do not harm others. The company draws a line between "bad" and "really bad" industries, seeking to challenge the social stigma around the former.

Startup of the Day

  • Abdera Therapeutics has emerged from stealth, raising $142 million in combined Series A and B funding to advance its radiopharmaceuticals, with plans to seek regulatory approval for human trials next year.

Abdera Therapeutics' Series A round was led by Versant Ventures and Amplitude Ventures, while the companyā€™s Series B saw venBio Partners take lead. The company intends to create a novel antibody capable of transporting radiotherapy more rapidly, leading to reduced toxicity and limiting damage to surrounding tissues.

Abdera also aims to explore new, distinct therapeutic targets, such as delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3), which is prevalent in small-cell lung cancer and other solid tumors but has been challenging to treat due to low expression levels. The company plans to seek regulatory approval for a phase 1 trial targeting DLL3 in 2024 and is actively working on four additional undisclosed targets to expand its portfolio.

Fresh Finds

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Memes and Other Things

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