_{DEAL OF THE MONTH}

Amazon Makes its Biggest VC Investment

Amazon just dropped $2.75Bn on AI company Anthropic. Now that’s nothing to Jeff, let alone to Amazon, but it is Amazon’s largest venture investment to-date.

Amazon initially committed to funding up to $4Bn in September, but only advanced $1.25Bn at the time. This funding represents the second, and final, tranche of funding from Amazon from that round, at the same $18.4Bn valuation.

And Amazon wasn’t the only big-name investor in Anthropic…. FTX owned a majority stake in Anthropic up until last week. FTX just sold its stake to Mubadala, Jane Street, HOF Capital, and the Ford Foundation for $884M as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.

In the past year, Anthropic has raised $7.3Bn to advance its ChatGPT competitor, Claude.

According to company reports, the latest version, Claude 3, can outperform both GPT-4 and Gemini Ultra on all industry benchmark tests. Those of you wondering what this means for you, well those tests include undergraduate level knowledge, graduate level reasoning, and basic math.

In short, Amazon is financing a company that can do your banking job better than you without all of the complaining and Adderall.

_{INTERNATIONAL DEAL OF THE MONTH}

Relying on the Locals

Listen, it’s March and I’ve been getting rekt, so my humor has fallen off. Don’t judge me for the bad puns. Support your local investor / meme maker / news guy.

CYA out of the way, Reliance Industries is acquiring Paramount Global’s 13% stake in Indian media company Viacom18 for $517 million, increasing Reliance’s stake in the company to 70.5%.

Owned by Mukesh Ambani—labelled as Asia's wealthiest individual—Reliance has morphed from an oil conglomerate to a telecom behemoth and now to a media titan, rapidly becoming the unrivaled powerhouse in the industry.

Just a few weeks ago, Disney announced plans to merge its Indian business with Viacom18, creating a joint venture valued at $8.5 billion. That JV will capture ~85% of the country’s streaming service, and about half of the TV viewership, which makes it a threat to Netflix, Amazon, Apple, and Sony.

Since Reliance is such a strong presence in India, it will control this JV, which is expected to reach 750+ million viewers across India. It will also have exclusive digital and broadcasting rights in India, including the next four years of the IPL cricket tournament, ICC events, FIFA World Cup, Premier League, and Wimbledon.

Ultimately, India is a huge market for practically everything, so it isn’t shocking to see really every company looking to diversify into India.

That being said, it can be a tough nut to crack, so partnering with existing businesses like Reliance - who already have their hands in everything - can be an easy way to quickly gain traction in a growing market.

_{PRESENTED BY LEXAGENE}

Biopharma’s Million-Dollar Problem = Your Next Opportunity

Biopharma manufacturing companies are constantly plagued by one microscopic problem:

Microbial contamination.

Most detection solutions take between 14–28 days, and that can be expensive — especially when a company has to dispose of products after a contaminant is identified.

But LexaGene is pioneering an easier, onsite solution that takes just two hours, saving biopharma companies millions while also improving safety. 

This trailblazing technology’s annual TAM is estimated to be $2 billion, with potential clients like Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb, and more.

Accredited investors: Join LexaGene’s high-caliber team and invest before it goes industry-wide.

_{EXIT OF THE MONTH}

Canyon Partners Sells 19.9% to Dai-ichi

US-based Canyon Partners has sold 19.9% of its holding company to Dai-ichi Life Holdings for $225 million. As part of the deal, Dai-ichi has the right to increase its position to 51% by 2027 and acquire the remainder of the firm by 2029. 

While the purchase price may seem low, Dai-ichi has also agreed to commit up to $1.3 billion of LP capital to several of Canyon’s funds.

Canyon’s co-founders Josh Friedman and Mitch Julis - both billionaires in their own right - are expected to stay with the firm for the next 5 years. They are both already in their sixties, so having Dai-ichi poised to take the reins in 2029 when they may step down is a logical succession plan.

Additionally, Canyon has indicated that its management team will continue to run things day-to-day, and even if Dai-ichi does exercise its option to acquire 100% of the business in 2029, the Canyon team would retain the vast majority of incentive fees / carry to maintain alignment between the LPs and the investment team.

Canyon currently manages ~$25Bn across its various credit strategies, all of which has grown under the stewardship of Josh Friedman and Mitch Julis since they both left Drexel in 1990. We here at Buysiders hope that Canyon will continue to succeed as two more Drexel legends look towards what comes next for them.

_{NEWS ROUNDUP}

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