A quarter of the money will be used to buy out former sharesholders, which has included local mobile phone operator France Telecom-Orange with an 11% stake.

Venture capital firm Aster Capital, which is sponsored by Schneider, Alstom and Solvay, has invested $5.2m in clean-energy company SolarFuel.

Germany-based biotech Affimed Therapeutics has closed it's Series D round, led by return backers Novo Nordisk, at $20m.

US-based Viewdle, which is corporate venturing-backed, is sold after holding talks with Motorola last year shortly before Google acquired it. Google sealed the deal through its Motorola Mobility unit.

Electranova Capital, a fund which supports energy start-ups specialising in environmentally-friendly technologies which is backed utility EDF, has invested in two companies, Seatower and Actility.

The company has renamed its corporate venturing unit Volvo Group Venture Capital, headed by Johan Carlsson (pictured), to reflect its broadened mandate, which includes being able to make acquisitions and take majority stakes.