A round up of all the latest news on www.globalcorporateventuring.com for our subscribers.
Weekly corporate venturing deal net 8 – 12 February 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
RWE to transmit $145m to new fund
The Germany-based power supplier is also set to invest $15m in an as yet undisclosed green technologies fund.
Pentalog joins TheFamily in $6.6m round
IT services firm Pentalog invested in accelerator TheFamily through its incubator unit, PentaLabbs.
Intel alumni jump ship for $100m Luma fund
Sumeet Jain and Carey Lai have left Intel Capital and will act as general partners for Luma Capital Partners, a $100m fund formed by advisory firm Luma Partners.
Genentech offers startups a chance for $50,000 Quest
The Quest Award will involve entrepreneurs competing for the chance to develop technology that can help combat cervical cancer.
Pierre Fabre to back startups through innovation fund
The pharmaceutical group will invest in oncology and dermatology companies, startups and laboratories through the Pierre Fabre Fund for Innovation.
The aircraft engine manufacturer is set to invest further in startups, after forming an accelerator last year.
JetBlue fuels up corporate venturing unit
The airline company’s newly launched JetBlue Technology Ventures subsidiary will invest in startups in the technology, travel and hospitality sectors.
BBVA gets $250m of corporate venture capital to Propel
The Spain-based bank added $150m to the $100m it committed to corporate venturing three years ago and transferred it to a new venture firm called Propel Venture Partners.
Exits
Marketing automation company Upsight has bought gaming ad monetisation platform Fuse Powered, giving an exit to Blackberry spinout Relay Ventures.
One Medical gets a Rise out of GV
GV, formerly known as Google Ventures, has exited health coaching app Rise, acquired for $20m by One Medical after a $2.3m seed round.
Swiss Krono to exit flooring company Välinge
Swiss Krono and subsidiary Kronospan will each sell their 20% stakes in flooring product maker Välinge to KKR for an undisclosed amount.
Proteostasis arrives at $50m IPO
The company, backed by Novartis, Sanofi and Elan Science One, priced its initial public offering below its target range at $8 each.
AveXis marks the spot for $95m IPO
The gene therapy developer, backed by Roche Venture Fund, floated in the middle of its range after raising more than $80m in venture funding.
IT
Cisco helps eSentire secure $19.5m
Cisco Investments returned to back cybersecurity company eSentire, after taking part in a $12.7m round in 2014.
Capital One feeds Vast plans with $14m
Vast operates car and real estate marketplaces that exploit big data analytics to match buyers with the most suitable offerings.
Iron.io straightens out $11.5m series A
Sapphire Ventures invested $3.5m in a round that took the job processing company’s total funding to more than $17m.
Hexadite secures $8m in series A round
Hewlett Packard Ventures was among the backers in a round that will be used to beef up the cybersecurity startup’s R&D, sales and marketing.
Kingsoft and IDG both returned for a series C round for the cloud storage provider, which is also backed by Xiaomi, and which has now raised more than $146m overall.
Health
Kainos discovers Cirdan Imaging in $5m round
Enterprise software supplier Kainos joined Bank of Ireland-backed Kernel Capital for medical diagnostics company Cirdan’s latest round.
Mersana inks partnership with Takeda
The strategic partnership, potentially worth more than $800m, grants Takeda rights to Mersana’s lead drug candidate outside the US and Canada, and includes $20m of future equity funding.
EpiBiome executes $6m series A
EpiBiome, a past winner of Johnson & Johnson’s JLabs QuickFire Challenge, has raised $6m in an Alexandria Real Estate Equities-backed round.
Biogen and Sanofi are among the investors in a series A round closed by Yumanity Therapeutics, which plans to now advance its neurological disease treatment platforms.
Haisco connects to Regentis for $15m series D
Haisco has also signed an agreement to be the exclusive distributor of Regentis Biomaterials’ hydrogel, developed to treat cartilage damage, in China.
Armo Biosciences pinpoints $50m
The series C round featured Alphabet and Celgene, and will help Armo advance therapies for patients who have not responded to current immuno-oncology treatments.
Lantern lights the way to $17m
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center led a funding round that also featured all of mental health management platform Lantern’s existing shareholders.
Media
Pencil + Pixel draws Norwest for series A
Norwest Venture Partners led an $8m series A round for the visual design services startup, which is also backed by GV.
The virtual reality network operator has now accumulated almost $40m in financing, and attracted Samsung, HTC, Orange, Madison Wells and Digital Garage as backers.
Crowdynews gets social for $7m series A
The social media curation platform has received additional funding from Inkef Capital to boost its Singapore Press Holdings-backed series A round to $7m.
Consumer
ThirdLove raises $8m in second funding round
The online lingerie retailer secured the funding after raising $5.6m in a Novel Group-backed seed round in 2013.
AXA takes $83m trip to Africa Internet
The insurance firm has taken an 8% stake in Africa Internet Group as part of a strategic partnership, joining existing investors Rocket Internet, MTN and Millicon.
Rabbit emerges with $9m carrot
Rabbit Internet, a joint venture between mass transit group BTS and investment firm Alpha Founders, has raised $9.1m that will go to building its consumer internet offerings.
IfOnly has series B wish come true
Existing shareholders including American Express Ventures and Advance Newhouse, have been joined by a range of new backers for a $10.25m round.
Silk smooths out series A with $6m
Skincare brand Silk Therapeutics has secured $6m in a series A round featuring Lear Corporation and existing investor Kraft Group.
Alphabet steers $15m CarDekho round
Google Capital has co-led a $15m funding round for the car marketplace, after having been rumoured in December 2015 to be in talks for a $30m round.
Financial
Kraken wraps itself around SBI
Financial services group SBI led bitcoin exchange Kraken’s “multi-million dollar” series B round, which follows a $5m series A in 2014.
FiscalNote reveals details of $10m series C
Renren, which invested $10m in FiscalNote a year ago, has returned for another $10m round for the government data analytics platform.
Xignite sparks $20.5m series C
Nikkei subsidiary Quick Corporation led the round and will assist financial data services provider Xignite with its expansion efforts in Asia.
Riskified quantifies $25m series B
The company, which has developed fraud prevention technology for e-commerce, has added Phoenix Insurance and NTT Docomo to its shareholders.
One97 Communications, which is backed by Alibaba and Intel, plans to raise the funding to support the spinning out of its Paytm subsidiary.
Energy and Natural Resources
Sunverge powers up $36.5m series C
Intelligent energy storage system producer Sunverge Energy has added Australian utility AGL to an investor base already containing Siemens and Total.
Transport
Zendrive gets in front seat with $13.5m series A
The driving analytics software provider will use the cash raised in the BMW-backed round to expand its team and strengthen its technology.
Veniam makes series B connection for $22m
Verizon led a round for the connected vehicle technology developer that also included Cisco, Orange and Yamaha Motor Company.
Uber translates LetterOne interest into $200m
The corporate-backed ride hailing company, which is looking to raise $2.1bn in new funding, has received $200m from investment firm LetterOne.
Services
Tengelmann, Asia Pacific Internet Group and Holtzbrinck Ventures have all returned for the realty portal’s $31.4m series C round, after invetsing in its $18m series B.
StayNTouch books in corporates for $9.5m series A
Concur and Shiji Group have helped the hotel property management system developer complete a series A round that will support Asian expansion.
Xpressbees buzzes series A wings for $8m
Xpressbees, the logistics arm of IDG-backed babycare retailer FirstCry, has attracted funding from Vertex Venture and SAIF Partners.
Hired fulfils series C fundraising job with $40m
Return investor Comcast Ventures was among the backers in a Lumia Capital-led round that increased the recruitment marketplace’s total funding to about $73m.
The smart lock developer, a graduate of R/GA Accelerator, has now raised $16m in total after closing a series A round led by Lux Capital.
