Financial

This is the second in a bimonthly series of articles about the personal alternative investments markets available to the professional corporate venturer. This section in Global Corporate Venturing magazine looks beyond our readers' day jobs at how they manage their time and wealth using the same skills of insight, trend analysis and managing risk they bring to their professional careers.

These pages summarise last month's deal activity with a corporate venturing involvement. To report a deal or add your data, email Toby Lewis at tlewis@globalcorporateventuring.com

A trend to watch for much of this year will be corporates coming in to lead rounds for exciting new technologies of a capital intensive nature. For contrarian corporates getting in, while others are pulling back, the opportunity is promising.

Separately, Mitsui's portfolio company BrightStar, a US-based provider of distribution and related services to the wireless device industry, has withdrawn its plans for a $300m flotation.

The multi-track element signifies Astellas is developing its innovation toolkit - including R&D, venture-backed entrepreneurs and licensing - so various units can work relatively independently on similar medical problems and leave it up luck and judgement as to which one might work and then be distributed if successful enough.

For US-listed IBM, which coined the term era of smart, its own value will be created from amplifying innovation and creating technology and a platform for others to help increase the abilities of individuals and institutions.

The $79m oversubscribed up-round for Quantenna, comes after corporate venturing units played a part in putting the wi-fi chip company on a path to success.

Alexander Taub joins the US-based mobile payments business backed by employee recognition and rewards platform BetterWorks.

Visa-backed mobile payments service Square recruited Google Wallet co-founder Rob von Behren at the beginning of the month.

SAP Ventures' Violin Memory deal appears to be another deft selection by the corporating venturing unit of the Germany-based technology company.