A round up of all the latest news on www.globalcorporateventuring.com for our subscribers.
Corporate venturing deal net: 23-27 April 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
Changcheng Investment Partners is an independent firm sponsored by Baidu and managed by its ex-CFO that will target internet and artificial intelligence.
Telia makes corporate venturing call
Heikki Mäkijärvi has taken the CEO role at Telia Ventures, a newly formed corporate venturing subsidiary of telecoms company Telia.
Pivotal sticks a pin in $638m IPO
The underwriters have bought 5.5 million more shares, allowing the EMC spinoff to close its initial public offering.
Nominet logs onto Cylon accelerator
Nominet has committed funding and in-kind support until December 2020 to aid the UK leg of Cylon’s cybersecurity accelerator.
SoftBank to move ride hailing assets to Vision Fund
SoftBank is planning to shift its stakes in Uber, Ola, 99, Grab and Didi Chuxing to its Vision Fund, adding more than $20bn of investments to its portfolio.
People
Michael Zeisser, Alibaba’s chairman of US investments, has departed having overseen deals for Lyft and Snap, and will likely be replaced by Peter Stern.
Jack Eadie, formerly an investor at Fidelity’s Eight Roads Ventures unit, has moved to Siemens subsidiary Next47 as principal.
Aaltonen joins Yara for agtech fund
Erkki Aaltonen has left StartAD to oversee YaraGerminate, a corporate venturing fund formed by Yara International.
Thayer Ventures scores Grass as venture partner
Katherine Grass, global head of innovation for Amadeus Group and founder of its corporate venturing unit, has joined VC firm Thayer Ventures.
Exits
Square roots out Weebly in $365m deal
Tencent will make a loss when it exits website building software developer Weebly, valued at $455m three years ago, through an acquisition by Square.
Comcast Ventures and GV are both selling shares in an upsized offering that will give the digital signature technology developer a $4.4bn market cap.
Razer stakes $61m for the rest of MOL
The gaming equipment maker, which already owns 35% of online payment platform MOL, will wholly acquire the company at a valuation of almost $100m.
Surface Oncology reaches public markets in $108m IPO
Novartis invested another $11.5m in the immuno-oncology drug developer, which is also backed by Eli Lilly and Amgen, alongside the offering.
Didi Chuxing considers IPO ride
The on-demand ride provider, which is backed by a host of corporates, could float as soon as this year with a valuation of $70bn to $80bn.
IT
PlaySight hits $21m in series C round
SoftBank Ventures Korea and CE Ventures added $10m to the sports analytics technology developer’s Verizon-backed first close last June.
Innovium gets $77m series D intake
Qualcomm Ventures, an investor in the data centre switch producer since its series A round, returned to help boost its total funding to $165m.
Horizon stretches toward nine-figure round
The Intel-backed autonomous driving chip developer is raising hundreds of millions of dollars, while smart EV developer Nio will shortly close a $500m fund.
Health
Innovent Biologics pinpoints $150m in series E
Existing investors Legend Capital, Lilly Asia Ventures and Taikang Insurance all took part as the drug developer took its total funding to more than $530m.
Corvidia gets on course with $60m
Corvidia’s series B round has been backed by Fresenius Medial Care and AstraZeneca as its kidney disease treatment nears the end of a phase 2 trial.
NuProbe finds $11m in series A
Wuxi AppTec Corporate Ventures has participated in a round that will support development of NuProbe’s molecular blood test.
Doctor on Demand makes $74m funding call
Qualcomm Ventures returned to back the virtual healthcare platform’s series C round, bringing its overall funding to $160m.
Grail prepares for new funding quest
Illumina’s oncology screening spinoff, which has a range of corporates among its investors, plans to raise about $1bn prior to an initial public offering.
Airway clears path to $11m series B
Lung disease therapy developer Airway Therapeutics, a Cincinnati Children’s Hospital spinoff, has now raised more than $22m in total.
RubiconMD runs in series B financing
Optum Ventures co-led a $13.8m round for the online health consultancy portal that included Centene and Heritage Medical Systems.
Media
SIG helps put series B cash into Castbox
Podcast platform Castbox took its total funding to almost $30m with a $13.5m round that included returning investor SIG China.
Customer engagement platform developer Plaid has attracted capital from investors including Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, Mitsui and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.
Consumer
Xiaohongshu picks $200m target for next round
The recommendation-based e-commerce platform is already backed by Tencent and plans to raise $200m or more at a $2.5bn+ valuation.
Meituan Dianping drops in to Heytea
Milk tea chain Heytea has received just over $63m from Meituan Dianping as it looks to more than double its number of branches this year.
The beauty retailer added $11.2m to a round now sized at $25.5m, on the heels of 2016 investments from Max Group and TCL.
BigCommerce sells investors on $64m round
Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing led a round that boosted SoftBank, Telstra and Amex-backed BigCommerce’s overall funding to $219m.
Walmart moves toward $12bn Flipkart investment
SoftBank is set to sell a big slice of its stake at a 60% profit as part of a deal that will value the India-based e-commerce company at $20bn.
New Leshi Smart Home channels $437m
Tencent, JD.com, Lenovo, TCL and Evergrande have backed LeEco’s smart television unit, while smart car developer Faraday Future has raised $2bn.
PatPat packs in series C funding
Existing investor SIG Asia was among the participants as the maternal and baby clothing retailer raised $47.6m to spend on marketing and supply chain enhancement.
Financial
Clark draws $29m in series B round
The insurance management platform, backed by ProSiebenSat.1 and Axel Springer at series A stage, has now raised $45m altogether.
Capital Float raises series C to $67m
Amazon has supplied $22m to help the business lending platform boost its latest round to $67m and its overall funding to almost $110m.
Line helps measure out $23m for True Balance
Line Ventures and Naver contributed to a bridge round for the mobile balance-checking and recharging app developer, which launched a mobile wallet in December.
Energy and Natural Resources
Corporates beam funding to Oxford PV
Existing backers Legal and General Capital and Statoil Energy Ventures have returned for an $11.2m round that took Oxford PV’s total financing to $77m.
Industrial
Investors fork over $30m to Formlabs
The Autodesk-backed 3D printer developer increased its overall funding to $85m in a series C round that will support growth in Asia.
Transport
Singulato sources series C funding
The Qihoo 360-backed electric vehicle developer is set to close a $474m round in May this year, according to its founder and CEO.
The car sharing initiative received the funding from investors including Legend Capital across two rounds that will soon be joined by a third.
Savari savours corporate participation in $12m round
The automotive sensor developer secured funding in an Aviva Ventures-led round that included SAIC Capital and Flex.
Ola prepares to help Vogo shift gears
The scooter rental service is set to raise up to $7m in a round co-led by Ola, Stellaris Venture Partners and Matrix Partners India.
Services
Bertelsmann-backed learning assistance platform Knowbox has received series C funding from returning investor Tal Education Group and Yunfeng Capital.
iTutorGroup to graduate to $300m investment
Alibaba and CyberAgent-backed online education platform iTutorGroup aims to secure up to $300m in a round that would double its valuation to about $2bn.
Yamap scales series B with corporate help
ICI Ishii Sports led a $10.9m round for the mountaineering community app developer that also featured Morinaga and Company, Japan Asia Group, SRL and several banks.
Sony and CMU cook up research deal
Sony’s Seed Acceleration Program and its Sony Innovation Fund unit will assist Carnegie Mellon University alongside a research deal focusing on food preparation technology.
Manbang Group takes $1.9bn capital delivery
SoftBank Vision Fund, Alphabet’s CapitalG unit and Tencent all took part in a round that valued the trucking services platform at $6.5bn.
Shapeways sculpts $30m series E round
HPE and Sumitomo-backed Shapeways has added $30m to its coffers and will use the cash to launch three new services around its 3D printing platform.
