Health

Innovative region: Kenya

Monthly analysis: November 2021

Kaloyan Andonov spoke with Tianyi (Tony) Sun, director of corporate venture capital at GC International, about the experience of the relatively young CVC arm of Thailand-based PTT Global Chemical Public Company (PTT GC or GC), its alignment with the strategy of its corporate parent and what it can offer to entrepreneurs it backs

Fintech and technology startups have continued to see their coffers grow

The animal-free protein producer raised a series C round from investors including Prosus Ventures. This sizeable round is indicative of the upward pressure on valuations and increased deal making activity in the space.

SoftBank helped e-commerce brand aggregator Merama hike its series B round to $285m while Koch Industries took part in a round valuing supply chain finance provider Tradeshift at $2.7bn.

Cerebral, Robotic Research, ABclonal Technology, Ola and RainMed Medical all pulled in nine-figure rounds, the first two featuring SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Q&A with John Banta, president and managing director, Blue Venture Fund

The cancer diagnostics technology developer raised $300m from investors also including Kaiser Permanente, Intermountain, Novartis and Roche, but its machine learning model points to where GV is increasingly active.

Incode and Odyssey Therapeutics each secured over $200m while Alvotech Holdings, BenevolentAI and Tomorrow.io have agreed reverse mergers at unicorn valuations.

Since its passage, the Bayh-Dole Act has bolstered US economic output by up to $1.7 trillion, supported 5.9 million jobs and helped lead to more than 14,000 spinouts.