Vasomune seeks Anges for commitments
Multi-million-dollar investments by Anges will help Vasomune progress its peptide-based therapy for blood vessel-related diseases to the clinic.

Plex forklifts Dattus for acquisition
Industrial connectivity technology provider Dattus, which received support from Purdue Foundry, will bolster Plex System’s own manufacturing automation offering.

Inecosys progresses with six-figure prototype
Engineering technology startup Inecosys was co-founded by three then-doctoral candidates at TU Munich and has now secured HTGF’s backing in its first funding round.

Hazy sheds more light on seed round
UCL Technology Fund has returned for a $1.8m extension to Hazy’s seed round, bringing the total to $2.8m after a first close was achieved earlier this year.

Healthmyne drills into $15m round
UW Madison’s commercialisation arm has backed medical informatics developer Healthmyne together with 4490 Ventures, the VC firm co-founded by Warf.

Iricor catalogues $19.2m public funding
Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer has secured funding from CECR, the same government agency that supported its launch ten years ago.

Apeel Sciences attracts $70m
Apeel has taken its total funding to $110m after raising $70m in a series C round led by Viking Global Investors.

GV eyes Verana in $30m series C
Verana Health, a life sciences product development platform spun out from Stanford and formerly known as DigiSight, has received funding from GV and GE Ventures.

Facher finds himself in permanent Pitt role
After taking the role on an interim basis a year ago, Evan Facher is now permanent director of Innovation Institute in addition to vice-chancellor for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Pitt pedals 23 spinouts
The result is a new record for University of Pittsburgh and includes two businesses delivering surgical apparatus and one developing a poisoning antibody.

Wellspring partners Unitt
Japan’s TTO association has joined forces with tech transfer software spinout Wellspring to create a database of the country’s university-linked companies.

Mammoth thaws $23m series A
UC Berkeley spinout Mammoth Biosciences emerged from stealth in February 2018 with a Crispr-based approach for detecting diseases in DNA or RNA sequences.

LeoLabs picks up $13m in series A
Weru Investment co-led the space debris-tracking technology startup’s latest round with Airbus Ventures.

Lantern to shut off
The UPMC Enterprises-backed mental health tool provider had raised more than $21m but is shuttering after failing to secure an acquisition.

Scandit canters to $30m series B
The computer vision technology spinout from ETH Zurich has secured $30m in a GV-led round that included NGP Capital, bringing its total funding to $43m.

Rapyuta engineers $9.5m investment
ETH Zurich spinout Rapyuta Robotics has signed up investors including Sony Innovation Fund for a $9.5m cash injection, two years after raising $10m from SBI Investments.

Corporate venturing deal net: 30 July-3 August 2018

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

Fundraising

Golden Gate lets in $65m

Naver and Hanwha have backed the first close of Golden Gate Ventures’ latest fund, which has a $100m target and a focus on Southeast Asia.

Eggen and Saijo form Counterpart fund

Counterpart Ventures has been formed by Patrick Eggen and Joe Saijo, who came from Qualcomm Ventures and Recruit Strategic Partners respectively.

Senior to send funding to startups

The enterprise software producer plans to back 10 startups through its Senior Ventures fund by the end of 2022.

Facebook fills out Brazilian accelerator

The social impact accelerator being run by Facebook and Artemisia has named the first 10 startups that will be taking part.

People

Statkraft Ventures attracts Alkassar for partner position

Ammar Alkassar, founder and ex-CEO of cybersecurity software provider Sirrix, has been hired as a venture partner at the unit.

Exits

Ofo gets $2bn acquisition offer

Ofo investors Didi Chuxing and Ant Financial are exploring the possibility of a joint acquisition of the bicycle rental platform.

Cisco certifies $2.35bn Duo Security acquisition

Cisco has agreed to buy Duo Security, an Alphabet and Workday-backed user authentication platform that was valued at $1.7bn as of October.

Spice spies exit for Luharia investment

Spice Digital has exited Luharia, the operator of online lending marketplace AnyTimeLoan, having invested late last year.

Arm to hoard Treasure in $600m acquisition

Dentsu is set to exit marketing technology developer Treasure Data in an acquisition by Arm reportedly sized at about $600m.

Didi Chuxing considers cut-price Ofo acquisition

Bicycle rental platform Ofo is mulling a $1.5bn acquisition by Didi Chuxing, one of the backers that have invested $2.2bn in the company.

Facebook raids Redkix in $100m acquisition

Salesforce Ventures was one of the investors that had supplied $17m in funding for the enterprise collaboration platform pre-acquisition.

Liquidia licks IPO process to raise $50m

Biopharmaceutical company Liquidia Technologies, which counts PPD and Siemens as investors, floated in the middle of its range.

Cango hangs $44m up from IPO

The Didi Chuxing, Tencent and Taikang Life-backed automotive sales services provider had originally targeted $300m and then $150m.

IT

LeoLabs picks up $13m in series A

Existing investor Airbus Ventures co-led the round, having backed the space debris-tracking technology startup’s seed round last year.

Yellowbrick stores $44m in series A round

The data warehousing technology provider has emerged from stealth having secured cash from backers including GV and Samsung Ventures.

LoginRadius measures out $17m in series A

Microsoft subsidiary M12 co-led the customer identity software provider’s series A round with ForgePoint Capital.

Terminus closes $11m in funding

Hubspot-backed marketing software developer Terminus Software has raised $11m according to a securities filing, and more than $30m in total.

Scandit canters to $30m series B

The computer vision technology provider has secured $30m in a GV-led round that included NGP Capital, bringing its total funding to $43m.

GroundTruth locates $18m

The location-based consumer data provider, whose past backers include SoftBank and Microsoft, has raised $147m in total.

Health

Centrillion goes to WeDoctor for new funding

The DNA analysis chip producer has revealed a WeDoctor investment that likely formed part of the $56m in funding it closed last month.

ReViral revs up with $55m series B

Antiviral drug developer ReViral has secured series B funding in a round co-led by Novo Ventures that included Brace Pharma Capital.

GV eyes Verana in $30m series C

Verana Health, a life sciences product development platform formerly known as DigiSight, has received funding in a GV-led round featuring GE Ventures.

Express Scripts prescribes new funding for MedAvail

Digital pharmacy MedAvail raised $16.6m in a round featuring Express Scripts, with the corporate taking a board seat through its investment.

Ascension helps Olive rise to series D funding

The healthcare automation technology provider received $32.8m in a round featuring Ascension Ventures, boosting its equity funding to $68m in total.

Healthmyne drills into $15m series B

Ascension Ventures led a round that will fund the overseas commercialisation of Healthmyne’s cancer imaging analysis software.

China Diagnostics gets $294m result

Ping An Ventures was among the participants in China Diagnostics Medical Corporation’s latest round, which was co-led by Legend Capital.

6 Dimensions helps hurl $150m to Curon

Cancer immunotherapy startup Curon Biopharmaceutical has raised $150m in series A funding from backers including the WuXi AppTec-backed 6 Dimensions Capital.

Omniome homes in on $60m series B close

Nan Fung Life Sciences and Lam Research Capital both invested as the DNA sequencing system developer concluded its series B round.

Medlinker prescribes $146m series D

The medical social media platform has added $146m to its coffers, though Tencent and China Electronics Corporation Data elected not to return at this stage.

Patientco bills investors for $28m

BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners returned to invest in the medical billing platform’s series B round, six years after co-leading its series A.

Sutro sucks in series E funding

Merck & Co, Celgene, Amgen and Eli Lilly all took part in an $85.4m round that boosted the cancer drug developer’s total funding to more than $175m.

Agendia generates $35m

Athyrium Capital Management provided the capital for Debiopharm and Axa-backed breast cancer diagnostics system developer Agendia.

Gengmei gets $50m in series D1 round

The cosmetic surgery services platform has collected $50m in a Meitu-backed round, its existing backers including Tencent, Fosun and CHJ.

Care Sourcer finds Legal and General investment

Legal and General has participated in an $11.1m round for care services platform Care Sourcer that included Accelerated Digital Ventures.

Media

Deezer seizes $185m

Access Industries, Orange and Rotana have committed capital to the music streaming platform, which raised the cash at a $1.16bn valuation.

Canxing wins funding from Tencent and Alibaba

The corporates invested $52.6m in Canxing, a television production company best known for its talent shows, at a valuation of about $2.5bn.

Tikin takes series A-plus funding

Sequoia China led a $17.6m round for lift advertising network Tikin Media, whose early investors reportedly include several corporates.

Sumitomo adds $20m to Ada’s coffers

Ada, a digital advertising technology spinout from Axiata, has received $20m in a strategic investment by Sumitomo.

Funding goes to the Swift in $37m series A

Telstra contributed to a round that will help eSports team owner Swift pursue strategic investments and build a dedicated training and media centre.

Improbable attracts NetEase for $50m investment

NetEase has provided $50m for game development software producer Improbable in a deal that reportedly doubled its valuation to $2bn.

Consumer

Peloton Interactive pushes its way to $550m

The exercise equipment and service provider has raised series F financing from investors including Comcast NBCUniversal at a $4.15bn valuation.

SoftBank helps produce $240m for Brandless

SoftBank Vision Fund led a GV-backed series C round for consumer goods producer Brandless that valued it at more than $500m.

Samsung subscribes to Grover’s latest round

The pay-as-you go consumer product supplier has raised $14m in series A funding from investors including Samsung Next alongside more than $29m in debt.

Financial

Rakuten selects 10 for Singaporean accelerator

Additor, AND Global, Elumium, Groovy Antoid, Immersive Systems, Jazzy Pay, Retarget Links, Rooit, Talk-A-Bot and Shoffr are Rakuten Accelerator’s first entrants.

SoftBank chases Wefox for nine-figure round

Wefox, the online insurance platform that counts Salesforce as a backer, is lining up a round in which SoftBank could be the lead investor.

Credit Suisse helps throw $104m to Judo Capital

Business-focused lending platform Judo Capital has raised funding in a Credit Suisse Asset Management-backed round as it looks to secure a banking licence.

C88 scores $28m in Experian-led round

The financial comparison marketplace operator has raised funding in a series C round that also featured existing backer Telstra Ventures.

Energy and Natural Resources

Cool Planet cooks up more funding

The GV, BP and Shea-backed biocarbon development technology provider has raised $20.3m in equity funding and note conversion.

Transport

Xiaopeng Motors charges to $585m

Alibaba, Fosun, UCar and Foxconn-backed electric car developer Xiaopeng secured $585m in series B-plus funding at a $3.7bn valuation.

Grab ramps up latest round to $2bn

A $1bn investment by Toyota was matched by backers including Ping An and Naver, valuing the on-demand ride service at $11bn post-money.

Ather to accelerate with more Hero investment

Existing investor Hero MotorCorp has agreed to supply $18.9m of convertible debenture financing for electric scooter developer Ather Energy.

Services

CapitalG goes to Freshworks in $100m round

Freshworks, the customer engagement software developer formerly known as Freshdesk, secured the funding at a $1.5bn valuation.

Alphabet maintains appetite for Gusto

CapitalG returned to invest in Gusto’s $140m series C round, which reportedly valued the HR management platform at about $2bn.

GLP helps sustain Zhaoyouwang with $150m

GLP co-led the petroleum trading platform’s series C round, just under a year after another corporate, Huochebang, backed its series B.

Optoro gets $75m return in latest round

The UPS-backed returns optimisation platform developer has now raised $190m altogether, Franklin Templeton having led the new round.

Zen Rooms admits Yanolja for $15m investment

Yanolja has provided funding as part of a deal that gives it the option to wholly acquire the short-term accommodation booking platform.

Byju’s speaks to SoftBank over $250m round

SoftBank is reportedly in talks to invest in education and tutoring app developer Byju’s in a $200m to $250m round that could value it at $2bn.

Analysis: Glovo picks up $134m

Last-mile delivery company Glovo raised $134m in a round backed by online retailer Rakuten and restaurant operator AmRest. The latter contributed $29m of the total funding.