SoftBank's artificial intelligence-focused DeepCore fund took part in a $29.5m round for the software development platform, which will now move into Asia.

SoftBank Ventures Korea, which previously led a $2.1m seed round for Rael six months ago, has returned to contribute to a $17.5m series A alongside GS Retail Fund.

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

Tsinghua University has led a round for Trifo, with the funding to support the launch of the startup's smart home robot.

Ayar Labs has raised $24m to commercialise its technology that enables data transmission using light, based on research at MIT and CU Boulder.

Samsung Ventures contributed to a Tsinghua University-led round for Trifo, with the funding to support the launch of the startup's smart home robot.

Lloyds took a 10% stake as it led a $23.5m series A round for Thought Machine, gaining access to the fintech developer’s cloud-based banking platform.

GlobalFoundries and Intel both took part in a $24m series A round for Ayar, which will use the money to commercialise its light-based data transmission technology.

Itochu, SBI Investment, Nippon Gas, UFI Futech and SMBC Venture Capital all invested as mobile payment technology developer Pring raised $11.4m.

Peer-to-peer lending platform PPDai was among the investors in a $14.4m round for the online insurance portal, whose earlier investors include Fosun Kinzon Capital.