Consumer

Sister publication Global University Venturing’s analysis of the second quarter of 2019 shows increased investment activity as the year progresses and record-breaking amounts generated through exits.

The developing digital health sector has had to wait almost three years for the public markets to open up to it, but when they did, it was corporate venturing portfolio companies that were first through the flotation exit doors.

Sector review: Telecoms

“WeWork’s Bonkers IPO,” said Fortune’s daily newsletter. “The Weirdness of WeWork’s IPO Filing”, sister publication CEO Daily called it, adding: “If a recession is coming, the WeWork IPO filing… will be a fitting capstone for the peak.”

Furniture-focused e-commerce marketplace MadeiraMadeira has secured funding in a round led by SoftBank's Latin America fund that will support hiring, logistics and technology improvements.

Baidu and Fosun-backed automated retail system developer SandStar has now secured a total of $25m in funding and rebranded from YI Tunnel.

Returning investor Central Group has contributed to a round that boosted fashion e-commerce platform Pomelo's overall funding to more than $83m.

Brand standardisation platform developer Akeneo took its total funding past the $60m mark with a round featuring existing backer Salesforce Ventures.

September started out with news on several life sciences companies about to go public as well as a large acquisition deal of another one of them. This space enjoyed a great number of exits last year and the trend appears on a path to be continued through 2019.

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

CAA Ventures-backed department store Neighborhood Goods has added $11m of series A capital to bring its total funding to $25.5m.