Consumer

Cloud-based enterprise software producer Salesforce agreed to acquire Slack, the US-based publicly listed communication platform which previously counted telecoms firm SoftBank, internet conglomerate Alphabet and media group Comcast among its backers.

Jon Balousek is heading up the garden and pet supplies retailer's newly formed Central Ventures subsidiary.

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

Rakuten has paid an undisclosed amount for the autofill tool developer, which had received $3.9m in funding from backers including SoftBank China and Reinventure.

The appliance and electronics retailer has spun off an e-commerce and retail services arm with external funding valuing it at $3.8bn.

Every day, Global University Venturing rounds up the smaller investments from across the university innovation ecosystem in its deal net.

Unilever Ventures was among the investors in a $14.9m round for Pureplay Skin Sciences, the owner of vegan-friendly beauty and skincare brand Plum.

The community buying service has raised money for the fourth time this year, this time in a series C3 round co-led by existing backer Alibaba.

Burda Principal Investments was among the participants in a series C round for the Chinese-focused food and groceries delivery service.

FMR has bought a secondary stake in fashion and beauty marketplace Nykaa, which already counts Max Group and TVS as shareholders.

Property engine developer Homesnap agreed to a $250m cash acquisition by Real estate data provider CoStar Group. This is a notable exit in the space in which corporates have been actively investing over the past five years but there have not been many exits.