Zebra Technologies took part in a $25.8m round for the retail automation technology provider as offline retailers look to automate to compete with e-commerce.

Live Nation was among the investors that supported the Pernod Ricard-backed heavy water retailer, which is benefitting from a series of memorable marketing initiatives.

In the first part of our look at 2021's corporate venturing trends, we examine the growth in funding, IPOs and SPAC mergers, a big year for M&A and the emergence of CVC in new sectors.

Data storage technology producer Dera pulled in over $150m through a China Unicom-backed series C round while GlobalBees raised in excess of $110m in a round featuring SoftBank and FirstCry.

Multiple corporates have helped staffing software provider Paradox close a $200m series C round, and electronic parts maker BOE Technology is putting up about $47m in a Chinese state-backed vehicle.

Chinese drug discovery platform QureBio raised corporate funding last week while JD.com and Qi-Anxin Technology Group were among the LPs that helped set up the $470m Shoudu Pan Healthcare Industry Fund.

Drug development platform creator Xbiome has raised nearly $100m in series B funding while bioindustrial startup services provider 21st.Bio secured a similar amount from Novo.

Corporate-backed unicorns Via and Cohesity have both confidentially filed to go public while autonomous driving technology developer Haomo.AI raised nearly $157m.

Mobile wallet developer Momo grabbed $200m in a Mizuho Bank-led round valuing it above $2bn while silicon wafer producer Mieke pulled in $188m.

China-based chipmakers Chipone Technology and Vastai Technologies raised a total of over $1.2bn while Reddit has confidentially filed to go public.