WeBuy Global and J&T Global Express announce IPOs, Payzer is acquired and news funds launched.

It was a busy week in the world of corporate venture, with a total of nine acquisitions, two IPOs and three new funds. We have the weekly round-up below, and as October draws to a close, you can see a complete summary of this month’s CVC deals.

Merger

Flagship Pioneering is merging Laronde and Senda Biosciences to create Sail Biomedicines, a pioneer in programmable medicines using Endless RNA (eRNA) and AI. Sail’s platform combines eRNA, nanoparticle deployment, and AI to design versatile and tunable programmable medicines for a range of therapeutic areas. The move aims to accelerate product development and create strategic partnerships to deliver transformative vaccines and therapies. Laronde has several corporate investors, including Samsung, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Mayo Clinic

Acquisitions

Global commerce platform WEX has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Payzer, a cloud-based field service management software provider. Payzer’s field service management solution covers scheduling, dispatching, invoicing, and more, catering to small businesses in the HVAC, plumbing, and roofing sectors. This acquisition will help WEX expand its offerings for around 150,000 small business customers running field service companies, streamlining operations and improving collections. Payzer had several corporate investors, notably plumbing supply distributor Ferguson, financial services company Scale Finance, Acta Wireless and payments company Dash Solutions.

Company acquired Description Sector Sub-sector Country Acquirer ($m) Date Corporate investors in acquired company Other Investors in acquired company
Ixaka France In vivo immunotherapy developer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals UK Alaya.bio Undisclosed 23 October 2023 ZenPharma Innovate UK
AllStripes Evidence generation software provider for rare diseases Healthcare Pharmaceuticals US PicnicHealth Undisclosed 23 October 2023 McKesson (McKesson Ventures), Medidata Lux Capital, Trajectory Ventures, Maveron, Bossanova Investimentos, Arif Nathoo, Leila Zegna, Jazz Venture Partners, Spark Capital
Arcion Database replication software producer IT Big data & analytics (IT) US Databricks 100 23 October 2023 Databricks (Databricks Ventures), Hewlett Packard Enterprise (Hewlett Packard Pathfinder) Bessemer Venture Partners, First Rays Venture Partners, Bossanova Investimentos, Emergent Ventures, Niels Gron, Founders.ai
Ponder Open-source data library operator IT Big data & analytics (IT) US Snowflake Undisclosed 23 October 2023 Intel (Intel Capital) The House Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, 8VC
Siklu  Wireless fibre connectivity provider for rural and suburban areas  Telecommunications  Wireless technologies  US Ceragon Networks 15 24 October 2023 SerComm, Qualcomm (Qualcomm Ventures) European Innovation Council,  Agronaut Private Equity, Scale Up Venture Capital, Tamares, Amiti Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Evergreen Venture Partners
Brazen Hiring and talent acquisition software producer Services Human resources US Radancy Undisclosed 24 October 2023 Randstad (Randstad Innovation Fund) Osage Venture Partners, Militello Capital
WhenFresh Residential property data platform Services Real Estate UK PriceHubble Undisclosed 25 October 2023 CLS Group (CLS Data)
Payzer Management software provider IT Enterprise software US WEX 250 26 October 2023 Ferguson (Ferguson Ventures) Scale Finance, Acta Wireless, Dash Solutions Alerion Ventures, Grotech Ventures, Harnert Growth Partners, Route 66 Ventures, Idea Fund Partners, MetaBank, Alumni Ventures, Tom McCarthy, Elevate Innovation Partners, Sqaure 1 Bank
Manta Software Data lineage platform IT Big data & analytics (IT) UK IBM Undisclosed 24 October 2023 Alteryx, SAP (SAP.io) Forestay Capital, Dan Fougere, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Senovo, Credo Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Emmanual Cassimatis

Funding

Stellantis is buying a 21% stake in Chinese EV maker Leapmotor for $1.6 bn, aiming to gain a foothold in China’s booming EV market and secure access to advanced EV technology. The Netherlands-incorporated joint venture will start exports in 2024, and Stellantis plans to have two seats on Leapmotor’s board. The partnership will help Stellantis expand its EV lineup and meet its 2030 goal of EVs accounting for all European sales and half of US sales.

See the rest of October’s funding deals.

IPO

Indonesia’s J&T Global Express has been officially listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising HKD 3.528 bn in net proceeds through its IPO. The company intends to use the funds to expand its logistics network, enhance infrastructure, and strengthen sorting and warehouse capabilities. The funds will also support entry into new markets, service diversification, and research and development for delivering faster and more convenient logistics services globally. Corporate investors in J&T Global Express included Tencent and delivery service SF Express.

Southeast Asian community ecommerce retailer Webuy Global has priced its IPO at $4.00 per share, offering 3.8m ordinary shares and aiming to raise $15.2m before deducting underwriting expenses. They have also given underwriters a 45-day option to purchase an additional 570,000 shares. Webuy intends to use the net proceeds for marketing, business development, expansion, and general corporate purposes. Rocket Internet were an investor in WeBuy.

Funds

Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI), the corporate venturing arm of Indonesia-based Bank Mandiri, is set to launch Global Climate Tech Fund, having partnered with Australian venture capital firm Investible. Read the full story.

Store Nº8, the incubation subsidiary of American retail group Walmart, is looking to experiment with virtual worlds as it partners with venture capital firm Outlier Ventures to launch a web3 accelerator scheme. Read the full story.

Indonesian startup Kopital Ventures, initially an angel investor network called Kopital Network, has raised $12m in its first close, surpassing its $5m target. The sector-agnostic VC aims to invest $50,000 to $300,000 per startup, with plans to back 30 to 40 firms over the next three years. Kopital Ventures connects founders with mentors and later-stage investors while emphasising patient, sustainable growth. The VC has attracted strategic investors, including Credit Saison’s Saison Capital. It aims to be an early investor in future unicorns.

Edison Fu

Edison Fu is head of Asia development at Global Corporate Venturing.