SoftBank is investing an amount reported to be approximately $556m in tour booking service GetYourGuide, though the company itself has not provided confirmation.

Astellas, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline are in line for exits as oncology drug developer Bicycle Therapeutics prepares to float, having filed to raise $86m in its IPO.

France’s 13 regional tech transfer offices have now launched 370 spinouts since 2012, after adding another 112 new companies last year.

Genentech, University of Cambridge and Babraham Bioscience Technologies have backed accelerator Start Codon, which plans to work with some 50 life sciences startups.

University of Nottingham spinouts amassed a record return for the university’s equity management division in 2018, with a share of the haul earmarked for further high-impact research.

Sports Tech Tokyo, a joint sportstech accelerator initiative between Dentsu and Scrum Ventures, has chosen the first group of startups since its launch in October last year.

Virtual laboratory provider Labster boosted its total funding to $35m in a series B round featuring Swisscom Ventures that will allow it expand its content and increase staff numbers.

Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.

Hitachi will begin investing through the newly formed Hitachi Ventures in June, and the unit’s CEO will be ex-3M New Ventures president Stefan Gabriel.

Enzymatic measurement spinout Zymoptiq has formally launched on the back of research from Lille Institute of Electronics, Microelectronics and Nanotechnology and is now considering raising funding.