In December 2010, oil major BP's corporate venturing unit had joined the consortium investing $110m in Abound.

The company priced six million common shares at $13.50 each, which was the middle of its $12 to $15 per share range and for an initial market capitalisation of $360m.

A source close to the deal said ARM, which declined to comment, was unable to find other venture capital (VC) partners that were ready to help create Cognovo and in the end decided not to be the only funding source.

Endress+Hauser, a family-owned Switzerland-based industrial group, has acquired corporate venturing-backed SpectraSensors.

The social network buys the Israel-based personal identification software company backed by Russia-based search engine Yandex. News provider TechCrunch says Facebook has paid $100m.

The stake is reportedly one of more than 2000 minority stakes bought by Western group in the country, according to news provider Financial Times.

US-based software company Microsoft nears buy of enterprise social networking company Yammer for $1bn.