A round up of all the latest news on www.globalcorporateventuring.com for our subscribers.
Corporate venturing deal net: 6-10 November 2017
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Plastic Omnium helps mould $280m fund
Plastic Omnium has committed capital to a $280m fund being raised by Aster Capital, which already counts Alstom, Solvay and Schneider Electric as backers.
Partners HealthCare puts $171m into corporate venturing
The healthcare provider’s hospitals have committed $105m to its Partners Innovation Fund, and it has raised $66.1m from external backers for another fund.
Merck and CRDC establish innovation fund
The pharmaceutical firm has joined forces with Centre for Drug and Research Development to fund new life science therapies.
SoftBank grows Vision Fund to $97.7bn
SoftBank revealed the enlarged size of its Vision Fund in its quarterly earnings report, with the additional $4.5bn coming directly from the corporate.
HDFC Bank to handle startups with VC fund
Reports suggest that the financial services firm has launched a fund sized at up to $30m and hopes to scale it quickly.
Exits
Fazer makes smooth move with Froosh acquisition
Unilever Ventures had held a majority stake in smoothie brand Froosh since 2008, but has exited through an acquisition by Fazer for an undisclosed sum.
Proofpoint checks off $110m Cloudmark acquisition
Proofpoint will purchase fellow cybersecurity software provider Cloudmark in a $110m cash deal that will allow Nokia and Sumitomo to exit.
Bytedance moves for Musical.ly in $800m acquisition
Cheetah Mobile and Legend Capital are among the investors exiting music-based social media app Musical.ly in a purchase by Bytedance.
InflaRx infiltrates public markets in $100m offering
The Germany-based, Ammann and Staidson-backed inflammatory disease therapy developer has floated in an initial public offering in the US.
Aquantia acquires NYSE listing
The fabless semiconductor producer, which counts GlobalFoundries, Cisco, Intel, LSI and Xilinx as investors, has gone public in a $61.4m initial public offering.
Web.com acquires marketing software provider Acquisio
Crédit Mutuel Group and Desjardins Group have exited Acquisio in an acquisition by Web.com of undisclosed size.
Meituan-Dianping eyes 2018 IPO
Tencent, Priceline, Xiaomi, Fosun and Wanda are all in line for exits, as reports indicate the local services platform will seek $3bn in a US flotation.
The wireless earbud developer has closed after raising more than $50m from investors including WME, Live Nation, Universal and Chernin Group.
The Intel Capital-backed gaming equipment and accessories provider will float near the top of its range in Hong Kong.
Expedia has exited travel services provider Trip.com, which had raised $39m, in an acquisition of undisclosed size by online travel agency Ctrip.
Tencent, Baidu, JD.com and BitAuto are all set to record exits, after the automotive financing platform filed to go public in Hong Kong.
Metamarkets gets bought in Snap acquisition
Snap has acquired Metamarkets, an analytics technology developer backed by AOL Ventures, for a sub-$100m amount.
Spero hits public markets with $77m IPO
The bacterial infections drug developer, backed by Alphabet, Partners Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co and Lundbeck, has gone public.
IT
Excelero closes $25m block of funding
The data storage provider has secured $25m in a series B round led by Battery Ventures that included Qualcomm Ventures.
Yotpo secures Access in $51m series D
Access Industries subsidiary ClalTech has led a round that doubled the marketing platform developer’s total funding, and which will support further growth.
Goldman Sachs sends funding to Sansan
Business contacts storage platform Sansan is set to receive $17.6m from Goldman Sachs, after raising $76m from a corporate-packed investor base.
Sogou sucks up $585m in US offering
The Tencent and Sohu-backed search engine operator will go public in the US today, floating at the top of its range.
The cloud integration platform, which is backed by Autodesk and Salesforce, has secured $25m in series C funding to expand its international presence.
Alibaba has led a $27m tranche that doubled MariaDB’s series C round to $54m and took its overall funding to $93m.
Salesforce Ventures was among the investors in a round closed in March that boosted I.am+’s overall funding to $117m.
VeloCloud to float over to VMWare
VMWare has agreed to acquire portfolio company VeloCloud Networks, in a deal that will give exits to Telstra Ventures and Cisco Investments.
CrossEngage reaches $5.8m funding target
The targeted marketing software devloper has raised funding in a round co-led by corporate venturing unit Vorwerk Ventures.
Instart Logic finishes $30m round
The Telstra-backed cloud computing optimisation platform has brought in $30m in a round led by ST Telemedia that took its total funding to $140m.
GV helps provide $8.5m for Reaction
Proceeds from open-source commerce software developer Reaction Commerce’s GV-led series A round will be used for hiring and product development.
Analysis: Megvii faces a $460m round
The $460m funding round for Megvii, also known as Face++, featured a host of corporates: Foxconn, SK Group and Ant Financial.
Health
KingMed Diagnostics and WuXi AppTech have contributed to a $28m round that will fund the precision medicine developer’s cancer DNA research.
Softbank vists Alodokter for $7m series B
Softbank has backed the online health portal in a $7m series B round that will fund expansion into new markets in Southeast Asia.
Luye helps Exicure extend latest round
Exicure has added an $11.2m private placement led by Luye Pharma to the $20.1m it raised from investors including AbbVie last month.
Ribometrix rides out seed round with $7.5m
Abbvie and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma participated in the RNA therapy startup’s first round through their corporate venturing units.
The autoimmune drug developer has received $4.6m from Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund to take its series A round to $20.8m.
Media
Sansiri sinks $80m into deal spree
The property developer paid $58m for a 35% stake in Standard International and co-led Hostmaker’s $15m series B round as part of six deals.
The Unilever-backed augmented reality game developer has secured $5.8m to grow its presence in the UK and expand internationally.
Mag Interactive completes new funding game
Nokia-backed Mag Interactive will acquire fellow game developer FEO Media following a $9.7m investment from Swedbank Robur.
Consumer
Bolt Threads spins $106m series D
Nan Fung-backed biotechnology developer Bolt Threads has already secured close to $57m in a series D round it aims to close at $106m.
ShopClues gets $15m in ad-for-equity deal
The e-commerce marketplace has sold an undisclosed stake to media group Bennett, Coleman and Company in a $15m ad-for-equity deal.
Credit Saison goes ShopBack in $25m round
E-commerce platform Shopback has received $25m in a round led by the payment services provider that included Intouch, SoftBank and SingTel
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Financial
Fosun focuses on Kissht in $10m round
Consumer credit platform Kissht has secured $10m from a consortium including Fosun to fund expansion in India and improve its data science capabilities.
WeLab welcomes Alibaba in $220m round
Alibaba’s Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund has backed the peer-to-peer lending platform’s series B+ round, which also included Credit Suisse and CCB.
Existing backer Orange Digital Ventures and fellow corporate investor Stripe have participated in mobile bank Monzo’s latest round.
Big Deal: TransferWise receives $280m
International financial transfer platforms TransferWise and Remitly each announced nine-figure rounds last week, highlighting the growth of the sector.
Energy and Natural Resources
Thermondo retains heat to raise new funding
The digital heating installation platform, which is backed by Eon and Rocket Internet, has secured $24.3m from a consortium including Vorwerk and Eneco.
Industrial
Markforged manufactures $30m series C round
The industrial 3D printing platform developer has closed a round led by Siemens’ Next47 fund that included Porsche and Microsoft Ventures.
3YourMind erects $12m series A round
The industrial 3D printing platform developer has received funding in a round featuring investment vehicles for Trumpf and Eos.
Transport
Volocopter lands Intel as investor
E-Volo has secured $5.8m in funding from Intel and Btov Partners as it continues development on its Volcopter unmanned aerial vehicle.
CargoX delivers $20m in series C round
Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm and Ability Logistics invested in a round that boosted the trucking services provider’s overall funding to $34m.
Verizon Ventures has contributed to a $12m series A round that Optibus will use to further develop its transport optimisation technology.
Tencent drives Nio to $1bn round
Autonomous electric car developer Nio has raised more than $1bn in a Tencent-led round that valued it at about $5bn.
Magna and Allianz exit Argus after acquisition
Continental has acquired Argus Cyber Security, which had raised about $30m in venture funding, in a deal that reportedly valued the company at $400m.
Optimus Ride accelerates to raise $18m
The Nvidia-backed autonomous vehicle technology developer has secured $18m in series A funding to increase its vehicle fleet and expand its team.
Services
Panorama Education widens funding with $16m
The GV-backed learning data provider has secured series B cash that will support data integration and hiring, taking its total funding to $32m.
Nokia, New Oriental Education and Technology Group and SIG all backed the online education provider’s latest fundraising.
Compass locates $100m in series E
Advance Publications-backed real estate platform Compass added Fidelity Investments to its shareholders in a $100m round that took its total funding to $325m.
Corporates join Rallyteam’s series A investors
The talent development platform has secured $8.6m from a consortium including Cornerstone and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati.
Intersection crosses $150m funding mark
Graham Holdings has led a $150m funding round for Intersection, a smart cities technology developer that will use the money to expand to additional markets.
The Kaiser Permanente-backed compliance services provider will focus on global expansion following a round that took its total funding to $195m.
The home services marketplace was backed by Susquehanna International Group in a round that will support expansion into new markets.
Phoenix goes on $105m series C tour
Investors including Lenovo, Haier and Legend Capital contributed to a series C round for travel services provider Phoenix Travel Worldwide.
