Oregon launches VPRI fund
The VPRI Innovation Fund will invest between $25,000 and $75,000 at the proof-of-concept stage to drive commercialisation activities at University of Oregon.
Sitka absorbs $1.9m
Quark Venture and GF Securities have invested $1.9m in Sitka Biopharma, a spinout of University of British Columbia and Centre for Drug Research and Development.
Galecto collects $90m in series C
Bristol Myers-Squibb, Merck Group and Novo all took part in a $90m series C round for Galecto Biotech, which is commercialising research from Lund and Edinburgh universities.
Soul Machines to embody $20m series B
UniServices has committed $2m to a targeted $20m series B round through the Inventors Fund, with investors also including Daimler Financial Services.
ToolSense builds six-figure deal
The University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien spinout has secured a six-figure sum from state-owned fund aws Gründerfonds and Segnalita Ventures.
Des Solutio finds its way out of Nova
Nova University Lisbon has established chemicals producer Des Solutio with the support of Frontier IP, making it the second spinout launched in Portugal by the commercialisation firm.
Arch to shape $600m fund
Arch Venture Partners has filed to raise its largest fund to date that would increase assets under management by the venture capital firm to $2.86bn.
Sharkey prepares for retirement
Neil Sharkey, vice-president for research at Penn State University, will retire on June 30, with a national search for a replacement launching immediately.
Hydrogen Energy Fund to yield $100m
Yield Capital, established by a Tsinghua University institute, has partnered Hyundai Motor to raise a total of $100m for a hydrogen-focused fund.
Strategic Education devises seed fund
SEI Ventures will invest in seed-stage companies and give startups the opportunity to pilot their technologies across Strayer University and Capella University.
UAB introduces $500,000 fund
Researchers at University of Alabama at Birmingham will be able to apply for up to $35,000 in funding to support the commercialisation of their inventions.
Invectys administers $17m series A
Institut Pasteur spinout Invectys will use the funding to advance a drug candidate for a type of leukaemia into a phase 2 trial.
Rowley resurfaces at BioScience Managers
Kate Rowley, formerly a director of IP Group with a focus on the healthcare sector, has joined investment firm BioScience Managers.
Lensabl zooms in on $3.7m
Rogue Venture Partners, whose largest limited partner is Oregon State University, has led a $3.7m funding round for Lensabl.
Nerx Biosciences targets $2.2m
IU Philanthropic Venture Fund has committed $500,000 to a $2.2m bridge round for Nerx Biosciences, based on research at Indiana University.
Oracle catches DataFox
Stanford-StartX Fund has exited business intelligence software provider DataFox in an acquisition of undisclosed size by Oracle.
UNC reaches $65m Pinnacle Hill
UNC-Chapel Hill has become the latest university to join forces with Deerfield Management and launch a $65m commercialisation fund.
Acera adds $5m to its coffers
Acera Surgical, a spinout of Washington University in St Louis, has raised an initial $5.1m out of a targeted $10m.
Argonaut enters JW Pharma’s orbit
Oxford spinout Argonaut Therapeutics has received $2.6m from JW Pharmaceuticals in return for a 25% stake.
In Ovo hatches series A
Leiden University has backed a series A round co-led by Evonik and VisVires New Protein.
Ariel initiates Innoging Medical
Ariel University spinout Innoging has made its public debut and will commercialise ultrasound technology that lets radiologists manipulate scans without the patient being present.
Orchard IPO bears $200m of fruit
UCL Technology Fund-backed gene therapy developer Orchard Therapeutics raised $200m in an offering that could possibly close at $230m.
Significant Capital to stand out with $36m
Significant Capital Ventures was officially launched this week to invest in seed-stage spinouts emerging out of five Australian universities.
SciArt designs $530,000 seed round
Idea Fund has provided seed capital for SciArt Software, a spinout of Wisconsin-Madison that has developed a weight reduction tool for engineering structures.

Corporate venturing deal net: 29 October-2 November 2018

Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.

Fundraising

Significant Capital to stand out with $36m

Significant Capital Ventures was officially launched this week with backing from Hindmarsh to invest in seed-stage spinouts emerging out of five Australian universities.

Fortune VC finds favour with $667m fund

Real estate developer Century Golden Resources Group is among the contributors to the latest fund for venture firm Fortune Venture Capital, which has closed at $667m.

Hyundai looks to Yield for $100m fund

Carmaker Hyundai has teamed up with Yield Capital to set up a hydrogen-related investment fund and has targeted a $100m close.

Brightlands Agrifood Ventures builds to second close

Van Herk Ventures is one of three limited partners that helped the agrifood-focused venture fund reach a $22.7m second close a year after it was formed.

Naspers goes home with $96m fund

Naspers, which has had some substantial success with its overseas investments, will fund South African startups through the Naspers Foundry from 2019.

CIC joins Japanese banks for $1.8bn fund

Nomura Holdings, Daiwa Securities, Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial will aim to raise up to $1.78bn for the fund, in partnership with China Investment Corporation.

People

Jain jets into Sistema Asia Fund

Sumit Jain has taken on a managing partner job at Sistema’s Asia Fund on the back of nine years expertise at Kalaari Capital which included a role in seeding two VC funds.

Gaceta makes tracks to Mondelez

Mel Gaceta, a highly-experienced leader of corporate venturing units, has joined Nasdaq-listed packaged food and beverage producer Mondelēz International to set up its new venture capital unit.

Intel Capital renews carried interest payments

Wendell Brooks is set to reinstate carried interest for Intel Capital investors, a measure removed shortly before he took charge of the unit in 2015.

Paul leaves Driscoll’s for Yamaha

After four years leading Driscoll’s agtech corporate venturing investments, Nolan Paul will now oversee Yamaha Motor Ventures’ agricultural robotics and data activities.

Exits

Twist Bio hits public markets in $70m IPO

Illumina, WuXi PharmaTech, Kangmei and Institut Mérieux-backed synthetic DNA producer Twist Bioscience floated at the bottom of its range.

Simppler hustles with Teamable

Matchmaking recruitment platform Teamable has picked up its peer Simppler for an undisclosed sum, after the latter had been backed by Workday Ventures in 2016.

Orchard IPO bears $200m of fruit

GSK, Sphera Global and Medison-backed gene therapy developer Orchard Therapeutics raised $200m in an offering that could possibly close at $230m.

Axonics accepts $120m in initial public offering

The Legend Capital-backed sacral neuromodulation device developer floated in the middle of its range while upping the number of shares in the IPO.

Gamida Cell goes public in $50m IPO

Novartis and Access Industries were among the investors that bought $37.5m of the shares, which the cell therapy developer issued at a downgraded price.

Spring falls to Shoprunner in acquisition deal

Fashion e-commerce marketplace Spring had raised more than $97m from investors including GV, and has been bought for an undisclosed sum.

Zoom dashes towards IPO

Qualcomm-backed video conferencing platform Zoom is gearing up for an initial public offering that would reportedly value the company at several billion dollars.

Lyft gains Blue Vision in acquisition deal

GV has exited autonomous driving software developer Blue Vision in an acquisition by Lyft that was reportedly sized at $72m.

Pintec lends itself to public listing

Sina invested $5m as online financing platform Pintec, which also counts Xiaomi as an investor, went public in a $44.3m initial public offering.

StoneCo IPO tops $1.2bn

The Brazilian payment and commerce services provider floated above its range and raised an extra $100m from Ant Financial through a private placement.

IT

Starkware arcs to $30m round

Intel Capital and Coinbase Ventures both chipped in as the blockchain technology developer raised its second round in less than a year.

Relx helps Quid quicken fundraising pace

Data analytics software provider Quid has secured $37.5m in a round led by Relx subsidiary REV Ventures that included Lixil and Salesforce Ventures.

Conversica works out $31m series C

The Recruit-backed conversational AI technology provider took its overall funding to $87m in a round that will support product development and sales and marketing.

Quanergy surges to series C round

The lidar sensor provider, whose existing backers include Samsung, Sensata Technologies and Delphi Automotive, has raised an undisclosed sum at a $2bn valuation.

Arctic Wolf hunts down $45m in funding

The cybersecurity services provider almost doubled its overall funding to more than $90m in its second Sonae IM-backed round in the space of a year.

Soul Machines seeks $20m with Daimler help

Daimler Financial Services has committed $7m to a series B round for intelligent avatar technology developer Soul Machines that has a $20m target.

Siemens takes Yellowbrick road in $48m round

Yellowbrick Data has raised $48m in a round led by Siemens’ Next47 unit, adding to the $44m from investors including GV and Samsung Next it disclosed two months ago.

Health

PatientPop progresses funding to $75m

Athenahealth-backed PatientPop has now raised a total of $75m in funding, after receiving an undisclosed in a round led by Leerink Transformation Partners.

Terns burns through series B with $80m

Lilly Asia Ventures, which supplied $30m to help small-molecule therapy developer Terns Pharmaceutical launch last year, has returned for its $80m series B round.

Lenovo tips Scale toward series F close

Virtualisation technology provider Scale Computing has reached the $21.2m Lenovo-led first close of a round expected to close at $34.8m.

Milestone Pharmaceuticals pumps in $80m

Novo has returned for Milestone’s latest round, having led its $55m series C last year, helping the cardiovascular drug developer’s total funding to $167m.

Galecto collects $90m in series C

Bristol Myers-Squibb, Merck Group and Novo all took part in a $90m series C round for Galecto Biotech that was co-led by Ysios Capital and OrbiMed.

Galecto collects $90m in series C

Bristol Myers-Squibb, Merck Group and Novo all took part in a $90m series C round for Galecto Biotech that was co-led by Ysios Capital and OrbiMed.

XtalPi processes $46m series B extension

China Life’s Healthcare Fund led the series B-1 round, which followed a series B featuring fellow corporates Google and Tencent in January.

Media

Epic reaches next level with $1.25bn

Axiomatic was among the new investors in Epic Games, developer of the hugely popular Fortnite, which is now valued at almost $15bn.

Consumer

SoftBank drops off $375m for Zume

Pizza delivery service and food logistics developer Zume could also raise another $375m from SoftBank Vision Fund at a post-money valuation of $2.25bn.

Akulaku accumulates $70m in series C round

FinUp has returned to lead a $70m series C round for Akulaku, whose other existing shareholders reportedly include Legend Capital.

SoftBank looks to grow Grofers in $150m round

Grocery e-commerce platform Grofers is in talks to raise $100m to $150m in a SoftBank Vision Fund-led round that could value it at up to $650m.

Wadi gets $30m funding delivery

Majid Al Futtaim took part in the round in connection with a partnership agreement that will involve Wadi becoming its grocery delivery partner.

Financial

Wukongbao puts in series B claim

Guohua Life Insurance and 58 Group both took part in online insurance platform Wukongbao’s series B, adding to a $15.3m pre-series A sum secured in 2016.

Monzo successfully mounts $108m fundraising effort

The digital bank, whose shareholders include Orange and Stripe, has added $108m to its coffers in a round led by General Catalyst that valued it at almost $1.3bn.

Coinbase puts $300m in its coffers

The NYSE, BBVA, USAA and NTT Docomo-backed cryptocurrency trading platform and wallet developer is now valued at $8bn after a Tiger Global-led series E round.

Energy and Natural Resources

General Fusion gets more than $37m in government deal

Canadia’s Strategic Innovation Fund has invested $37.6m in the fusion power technology developer, which had previously raised more than $83m from investors including Cenovus.

Tado fires up $50m round

Amazon, Eon and Čez Group have backed a $50m funding round for smart thermostat manufacturer Tado that nearly doubled its equity to $102m.

Industrial

Astroscale captures $50m series D

Mitsubishi Estate and Koei Tecmo have backed a $50m series D for space junk removal service Astroscale that almost doubled its total funding to $102m.

Transport

DeepMap redrafts series B to $60m

Generation Investment Management has joined a series B round for DeepMap that is at least $60m in size and which already includes Nvidia and Robert Bosch.

Itochu charges up Dishangtie’s series B1 round

The electric vehicle rental service followed a $47m round in March with a $43.2m series B1 round that was led by Bojiang Capital and backed by Itochu.

Booking Holdings take a $200m ride on Grab

Ride hailing platform Grab raised the money from the travel and accommodation booking service through a partnership deal that will allow them to offer each other’s services.

Innovusion gets $30m funding infusion

The lidar technology startup has secured funding in a series A round co-led by Nio’s corporate venturing arm and Fidelity’s Eight Roads Ventures and F-Prime Capital units.

WM Motor begins journey to $287m round

Baidu is in talks to provide half the funding in the prospective round while another of the EV producer’s existing investors, Tencent, could also take part.

Services

Peilian strings together $150m series C round

Music tutoring platform Peilian has added $150m in funding from investors including Tencent to the series B funding it raised in January.

QinBaoBao sings series C lullaby

TAL Education joined conglomerate Fosun and VC firm Shunwei Capital for an eight-digit dollar round backing parenting app developer QinBaoBao.

PropertyGuru moves into series D with $145m

Emtek-backed online property real estate platform PropertyGuru has attracted $145m in a KKR-led series D round and acquired Batdongsan to expand into Vietnam.

Yunxuetang snags $50m in series C round

The employee training software provider has confirmed a $50m round that included SIG, the corporate that led its series B round in 2017.