Kevin Stevens

Rule of 40 Rules All

Since 2018, YoY revenue growth has been the primary metric explaining public market software valuations. Now, the "Rule of 40" is the predominant driver, signaling that efficiency matters more than ever. For those of you not familiar with software metrics, the "Rule of 40" is a standard metric used by

Energize Co-Leads Aurora Solar's Series D Round

At Energize, we promise to support our portfolio companies from Series A through to IPO. Today, we're thrilled to announce we've joined Coatue Management in leading Aurora Solar's Series D growth equity round, valuing the company at $4 billion. Energize is the largest Aurora shareholder and we've grown our position

What's Old is New Again

This week, Insight Partners announced an investment into Gamma Technologies, a physics-based simulation software. On the surface, nothing about this announcement seems out of the ordinary. Gamma offers simulation software that enables engineers to simulate fluid systems, thermal systems, fluid systems, and propulsion. Gamma's Software Simulation CapabilitiesThe investment makes total

Balancing Growth, Quality, and Valuations

Last week, software valuations finally overcame interest rate and inflation fears to post their first positive week of 2022. Where does that leave valuations after the sustained pullback, and where could they go from here? If the correction remains in place and sustains itself for a long time, the private

A Trillion Here, a Trillion There

Last month, Credit Suisse released their 2022 equities outlook and the top theme was decarbonization. Coming out of COP26, institutional financial managers committed $57T (yes, trillion) of AUM for net-zero by 2050. As of 2020, the number is $16T. In addition to an increase of capital with net-zero targets, 90%

Creative Capital

One of the key advantages of the software business model is capital efficiency. Efficient businesses earn the right to experiment in more capital-intensive customer segments that could produce higher returns at scale or deploy it more quickly to win big markets. However, the influxes of capital that fuel these experiments

Why did late-stage valuations skyrocket?

It's no secret that valuations spent the last 24 months on an incredible run. However, the conversation has often centered around early-stage multiples. We often see comments in the neighborhood of "this company raised at a $1B valuation with only $2M of ARR (or none)". Source: PitchbookYet, late-stage valuations have

Better Returns, More Impact

When I first started investing in startups, I knew that I enjoyed building companies and had a passion for the energy transition. But the more I studied investing, my passion became about applying the best investment techniques to a problem I loved. My thesis was simple, if economics drive mass

Will interest rate-driven multiple contractions make their way to private tech?

With the threat of an increase in interest rates looming, growth tech stocks in the public markets started 2022 on shaky ground. The average forward revenue multiple for these companies contracted by 50% from 22x to 11x. In a recent Bloomberg appearance, David Rubenstein of Carlyle speculated that we could

Big PE Changes the Equation

If you spend enough time venture capital or private equity, you'll eventually hear the phrase, "businesses are bought, not sold." This adage asserts businesses that sell for the highest price do so because they are valuable to someone else as part of another whole. The buyer sees the value and