A round up of all the latest news on www.globalcorporateventuring.com for our subscribers.
Weekly corporate venturing deal net 1 – 5 January 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
Qualcomm Ventures illustrates Indian strategy
Qualcomm’s corporate venturing arm has spent a third of its $150m India fund and plans to make six investments in the country per year.
NEC and TAU to welcome startups to class
NEC and Tel Aviv University have established an incubator called AlphaC in order to support cyber technology developers.
Waves concentrates on Basics with $30m fund
Blockchain platform developer Waves intends to raise $30m for its Basics fund, which will invest in blockchain startup projects.
Boehringer Ingelheim boosts CVC fund to $300m
The pharmaceutical firm more than doubled the size of its Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, which has scored exits in two nine-figure acquisitions.
StartUp Health stacks fund with corporate LPs
PingAn, GuideWell and Masimo are amoing the limited partners for StartUp Health’s $19.3m StartUp Health Transformer Fund II.
Exits
Microsoft advances to Avere acquisition
Western Digital and Google-backed data storage platform Avere Systems has agreed to be acquired by Microsoft, having raised $97m in funding.
GV and Celgene-backed Armo BioSciences has filed to raise up to $86.3m in an offering that will fund clinical tests for its lead immuno-oncology candidate.
Apple brings Buddybuild into the group
Corporate venturing unit Bloomberg Beta has exited app testing platform developer BuddyBuild through an acquisition of undisclosed size by Apple.
Menlo Therapeutics eases way to IPO
The Novo and Merck-backed pruritus therapy developer has filed to raise up to $97.8m, having already secured almost $110m in VC funding.
Solid Bio to sound out public markets
Biogen-backed Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) treatment developer Solid Biosciences has filed to raise up to $100m.
Spotify confidentially files for direct listing
The music streaming platform, which is backed by several corporates, has reportedly filed to go public in the US and could demand a $19bn valuation.
Restorbio readies $85m initial public offering
Restorbio, an aging-related disease drug developer co-founded by PureTech Health, also counts Novartis as a shareholder.
IT
Alibaba places pre-series A funds in Plex-VR
Plex-VR Digital Technology, which is applying light field and AI technology to virtual and augmented reality, has secured $15.4m.
Recruit fuels WizRocket as it secures $6m
Recruit Holdings’ RSP India Fund has invested in mobile and web analytics provider WizRocket, which has reportedly raised $6m.
Intel joins Swarm64 for series B round
Data analytics software producer Swarm64 has raised $12.5m in a round that was co-led by Intel Capital, taking its total funding to more than $21m.
NGCodec cracks $8m in series A round
Xilinx-backed NGCodec is a video compression software developer looking to facilitate cloud-based streaming on virtual reality headsets.
Rubikloud solves $37m series B puzzle
Intel Capital led a round for the retail analytics platform that included OpenText Enterprise Apps Fund and existing investor Access Industries.
WP Engine publishes $250m funding details
WP Engine, a WordPress software producer that counts WordPress operator Automattic as an investor, has raised $250m from Silver Lake.
Health
SoYoung breathes life into $60m series D
Tencent-backed plastic surgery marketplace SoYoung has obtained $60m in a series D round led by private equity fund Apax Digital.
Aegea greets corporates to raise $40m
Aegea has now raised $96m in overall financing, after securing funds from investors including existing backers Medtronic and BioMed Ventures.
Scholar Rock plays on in $47m series C
Scholar Rock will use the proceeds from the Kraft Group-backed round to advance its lead spinal muscular atrophy drug candidate into clinical development.
Corporates help fund RNA drug developer Expansion
Novartis Venture Fund and Sanofi Ventures are among the four investors that co-led Expansion Therapeutics’ $55.3m series A round.
CMab manufactures $38m series A round
BioBay, the industrialisation hub where contract pharmaceutical services provider CMab Biopharm is located, is among its investors.
Novartis takes a slice of Pear
Novartis participated in a series B round that raised $50m for Pear Therapeutics, the creator of a software platform that assists substance abuse treatment.
DNAnexus stores $58m in new financing
Microsoft joined a consortium including existing investors GV and WuXi NextCode to take the biomedical data platform’s overall financing to $105m.
Oculis absorbs series B funding
Novartis Venture Fund co-led a $20.3m round for Oculis, which is developing a topical liquid that can be applied to diseases at the back of the eye.
GV collaborates with Quartet in $40m round
Quartet, the creator of a collaborative healthcare platform, took its total funding to $87m with a series C round featuring existing backer GV.
Enterome swallows series D cash
Nestlé, Lundbeck and Bristol Myers-Squibb have invested in a $38.5m round for Enterome, which is working on therapies for inflammatory bowel diseases.
Rewind fast forwards to series A
Rewind Therapeutics, which is developing therapies for myelin-related diseases like MS, secured $18.3m in a Boehringer Ingelheim and Merck Group-backed round.
PGDx passes test to raise $75m
Bristol Myers-Squibb co-led the genomic testing technology provider’s series B round, which will support the expansion of its cancer tests to patients.
Cityblock attracts series A capital
Cityblock, a care coordination platform incubated by Alphabet-owned Sidewalk Labs, has raised $20.8m from investors including Sidewalk.
The deal was closed following commitments from Nan Fung Life Sciences and Madryn Asset Management, a year after iCarbonX made its anchor investment.
Media
Delish Kitchen cooks up new funding
Itochu and corporate venturing units GMO Venture Partners and Ad Hack Ventures were among the investors as the recipe video platform raised $18.4m.
Choushu confirms Google-backed round
The game livestreaming platform has now raised $120m in total, putting the round’s size closer to $42m than the $76.8m previously reported.
Consumer
Intel Capital co-led the smartphone and tablet maker’s series A round, as it looks to fund development of its data centre and notebook offerings.
Industrial
Katerra begins building next funding round
The Foxconn-backed construction services provider, valued at more than $1bn as of April 2017, has raised $28.8m and could close the round at up to $200m.
Transport
Alibaba considers $100m Xpressbees delivery
Alibaba is reportedly in the final stages of talks for an investment of up to $100m in e-commerce logistics provider Xpressbees.
Didi Chuxing digs out $600m for 99
The on-demand ride provider reportedly now owns a 90% share of its Brazilian counterpart, whose investors also included Qualcomm and SoftBank.
Services
Fuyoukache gets $23m funding delivery
Trucking logistics platform Fuyoukache took its total funding to $83m with a JD Logistics-led round that featured existing backers including GLP.
Mogoroom’s funding quest leads to Giant
Giant Network Group and its Giant Investment unit have put up $19m of the $29.3m raised by housing rental platform Mogoroom.
