Corporate venturing units Axa Strategic Ventures and InnovAllianz joined Idinvest Partners and Kima Ventures to invest $7.2m in encryption software developer Tanker.

The surgery robotics developer has added $26m from investors including ABB Technology Ventures to complete its series A round, 14 months after closing the first tranche.

Corporates Ginkgo Bioworks and Bayer have launched a plant microbiome technology startup that is equipped with $100m in series A funding.

Alphabet's GV, unit has participated in a series A round for Fauna, a US big data platform developer founded by ex-Twitter employees in 2012.

The round was co-led by China Life Insurance and SDIC Fund Management and valued the medical device developer at more than $5bn post-money.

A Duke University spinout based on research by Lawrence Carin, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has received $10m of initial funding from Carrick Capital Partners.

Merck Group and Illumina were among the investors in a $13.2m round, along with Idinvest Partners, Kurma Partners and existing backer Sofinnova Partners.