Clipperton: Looking back on 2022
2023, the year of intermediation
The year 2022 will have been another „exceptional“ year, with an unprecedented crisis. War in Europe, global warming, inflation, soaring energy prices, rising interest rates, a thrilling World Cup and, more generally, unprecedented economic and political uncertainty have marked the last few months.
Tech, which had become a safe haven for both the capital markets and the private equity investors, particularly since the crisis of 2020, is no longer immune to macroeconomic uncertainties. However, the sector’s solid fundamentals give reason for cautious optimism: liquidity levels are at an all-time high – with record venture capital and growth equity fundraising even in 2022 (more than €30 billion raised in Europe compared to €18 billion in 2021, which was already a record year), which will necessarily be deployed in the coming quarters.
More fundamentally, technology continues to transform the world. For both individuals and companies, software and data – via the use of artificial intelligence – are proven vectors for efficiency gains. Certain segments are particularly promising, especially when they contribute to improving the response of organizations to ESG issues. At Clipperton, certain emblematic transactions of 2022 illustrate this perfectly, such as the sale of Reporting 21, a leading ESG software measurement platform, to Cority (backed by Thoma Bravo) or Astorg’s investment in Ecovadis.
Abundant liquidity, the secular trend of digitization and less risk appetite from investors should characterize the tech sector as we enter 2023. In this context, the role and the value of intermediation take on their full meaning and there is no doubt that Clipperton will be eager, as in every economic cycle since its creation in 2003, to put its experience and expertise at the service of its clients and the opportunities that this economic situation will generate for them.
To find out more about the tech deals on which we have advised across Europe in 2022, as well as our previous transactions, click here.