Sizing up Stemcentrx: The 20 Largest VC-Backed M&A Deals
The massive $10.2B acquisition of cancer startup Stemcentrx ranked it in the top five of M&A deals for VC-backed companies.
In one of the largest-ever VC-backed sales for a private company, cancer therapeutics startup Stemcentrx announced last week it will be acquired for as much as $10.2B by pharmaceutical giant AbbVie. We’d been highlighting Stemcentrx in our research on funding to cancer startups and how hedge funds and investment banks are leaping into private healthcare investing.
But how does it rank alongside other mega deals? Using CB Insights data, we took a historical look at the largest mergers and acquisitions of VC-backed companies to see how Stemcentrx stacks up.
In first place for largest VC-backed M&A remains WhatsApp‘s record-breaking acquisition byFacebook, which settled at $22B when the deal was completed in 2014.
Second-largest was the cancer-drug maker Stemcentrx, with its recent $10.2B deal.
And in third was biotech company Acerta Pharma, which sold a majority stake to AstraZeneca at a $7.3B valuation.
(Note: Only first exits of private companies were included. Acquisition finance was omitted. Dollars are in nominal terms so there is some bias toward more recent deals.)
Taking a look at the sectors that produced the largest M&A, the most well-represented in the top 20 was mobile & telecommunications, which had 6 companies in the top 20 (including the top deal WhatsApp). Next most represented was the internet sector, followed by healthcare (which had three companies ranked).
At first glance, the list looks dominated by dot-com era deals. And, in fact, 7 deals occurred in a single year: 2000. However, exactly half of the top 20 M&A deals have happened in 2005 or later.
See the full table below (click on the companies for profiles on each):
Largest VC-backed M&A History | ||||||
Rank | Company | M&A Type | Acquirer | Date | Valuation ($M) | Sector |
1 | Acquired | 2/19/2014 | 22000 | Mobile & Telecommunications | ||
2 | Stemcentrx | Acquired | AbbVie | 4/28/2016 | 10200 | Healthcare |
3 | Acerta Pharma | Corporate Majority | AstraZeneca | 12/17/2015 | 7273 | Healthcare |
4 | Cerent Corporation | Acquired | Cisco Systems | 11/16/1999 | 6900 | Mobile & Telecommunications |
5 | WebMD Health | Acquired | Healtheon | 5/20/1999 | 4800 | Internet |
6 | Chromatis Networks | Acquired | Lucent Technologies | 6/15/2000 | 4760 | Mobile & Telecommunications |
7 | Siara Systems | Acquired | Redback Networks | 3/10/2000 | 4500 | Mobile & Telecommunications |
8 | Ganji | Merger | 58.com | 4/15/2015 | 3600 | Internet |
9 | Legendary Entertainment | Corporate Majority | Wanda Group | 1/5/2016 | 3500 | Media (Traditional) |
10 | Sirocco Systems | Acquired | Sycamore Networks | 9/20/2000 | 3490 | Electronics |
11 | Octane Software | Acquired | E.piphany | 5/8/2000 | 3414 | Internet |
12 | Xros | Acquired | Nortel Networks | 6/19/2000 | 3230 | Computer Hardware & Services |
13 | Nest Labs | Acquired | 2/12/2014 | 3200 | Energy & Utilities | |
14 | Supercell | Acquired | GungHo Online, Softbank Corp. | 10/15/2013 | 3000 | Internet |
15 | Cyras Systems | Acquired | Ciena | 12/20/2000 | 2826 | Electronics |
16 | Avito | Corporate Majority | Naspers | 10/23/2015 | 2729 | Internet |
17 | Boston Biomedical | Acquired | Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma | 3/1/2012 | 2630 | Healthcare |
18 | Skype | Acquired | eBay | 6/16/2005 | 2600 | Mobile & Telecommunications |
19 | Qtera Corporation | Acquired | Nortel Networks | 1/10/2000 | 2483 | Mobile & Telecommunications |
20 | Kinko’s | Acquired | Fedex Corporation | 1/22/2004 | 2400 | Retail (non-internet/mobile) |