October might be a month for Halloween but research by Global Corporate Venturing finds a series of large trade sales and flotations of portfolio companies meant it was a time for treats rather than tricks.

The value of exits from corporate venturing firms exceeded the disclosed investments into portfolio companies in October, according to research by Global Corporate Venturing.

With at least 10 exits, including three flotations, the value of the company exit prices was about $1.8bn.

The initial public offerings raised more than $2.2bn, including the UK listing of gambling group Betfair, which was backed by Japan’s Softbank.

The largest disclosed exit was General Electric’s purchase of healthcare company Clarient for $580m.

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