Financial

WR Berkley Corporation led a $12.5m round for the online insurance portal, which counts Fosun, Assurant, AmTrust and Nationwide as existing investors.

The telecoms firm SoftBank has backed a substantial $300m round of gym membership provider Gympass, which is part of the beauty and fitness space, which has seen stable corporate-backed deal flow with rising valuations in recent years.

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

General Electric had considered spinning out its corporate venturing operation, but has now shifted its focus to finding a buyer for a portfolio consisting of stakes in more than 100 companies.

Tencent returned for a $145m series C round, three months after leading a $74.5m series B round for the healthcare-focused crowdfunding service.

Wave Financial, the financial management software developer backed by National Australia Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and Power Corporation, has been bought by H&R Block for $405m in cash.

SoftBank has selected four senior management members – Chris Cooper, Patricia Menendez-Cambo, Francisco Sorrentino and Lee Bocker – for its Latin America Fund, SBGI subsidiary and new entity SoftBank Tech Hub.

Nubank is in talks with SoftBank to lead a funding round of up to $1bn that could more than double the fintech’s valuation to between $8bn and $10bn as it pursues additional markets.

Teenager-focused digital banking app Step collected $22.5m in the Stripe-led series A round, which featured WndrCo and existing backer Sesame Ventures.

Willis Towers Watson has created a corporate venturing subsidiary, WTW Strategic Ventures, and a new group, the Growth Board, to make strategic investments in startups.

SoftBank backed online lender Creditas, a company from the alternative lending space, which does not seem to have experienced exponential growth in valuations.