Monthly data: March 2022

According to GCV Analytics, in March, the number of corporate-backed deals from around the world stood at 582, up 28% from the 453 rounds from the same month last year. Investment value stood at $24.79bn in total estimated capital –comparable to the $25.96bn of March 2021. The US came first in the number of corporate-backed deals, hosting 255 rounds, while Japan was second with 50 and the UK third with 43. The leading corporate investors by number of deals were gaming and blockchain technology group Animoca Brands, telecoms and internet conglomerate SoftBank, crypto asset exchange Coinbase and diversified internet conglomerate Alphabet. In terms of involvement in the largest deals, automaker General Motors, financial services firm Fidelity and Alphabet were on the top of the list. GCV Analytics reported 45 corporate-backed funding initiatives, including VC funds, new venturing units, incubators, accelerators and other. This figure was 22% higher than the one from March 2021, which had registered 37 such initiatives. The estimated capital stood at $3.68bn, nearly 28% below the $5.09bn from the same month last year. Deals Emerging businesses from the IT, health, financial and services sectors led in raising the largest number of rounds in third month of 2022. The most active corporate venturers came from the financial, IT, media and health sectors, as shown on the heatmap. Car manufacturer General Motors (GM) agreed to acquire a stake in US-based autonomous driving technology developer Cruise held by SoftBank’s Vision Fund for $2.1bn. GM also made a $1.35bn primary investment in Cruise which will replace the funding pledged by Vision Fund in 2018. It was set to be triggered when Cruise launched a commercially available autonomous taxi service, an event which occurred. Vision Fund made the pledge when it invested an initial $900m as Cruise was spun off. It returned for a $1.15bn round the following year alongside GM, automotive manufacturer Honda and T Rowe Price at a $19bn valuation.  Founded in Cruise has developed autonomous vehicles for use as taxis. It was spun off by GM in 2018, two years after it acquired the company in a $1bn cash and stock deal. GM and Honda both came back for a January 2021 round sized at over $2bn that included software provider Microsoft and undisclosed other investors. Retailer Walmart joined unnamed others to add $750m three months later. Cruise had acquired Voyage, an autonomous taxi developer backed by carmaker Jaguar LandRover and petroleum supplier Chevron, for $52m in March 2021.…

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