IT

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

Oxford spinout Semmle has been acquired by GitHub, a subsidiary of Microsoft, providing exits to investors including Accel that had supplied $31m in funding.

Goldman Sachs has led a $147m funding round for cybersecurity developer Acronis, pushing the company’s valuation beyond the $1bn mark.

The data management technology producer plans to invest $100m through an innovation fund and $50m through a social impact vehicle.

A new $10.4m vehicle targeting South Africa's university ecosystem is due to be approved on September 28.

Existing shareholder Goldman Sachs has co-led a $268m series E round for GitLab that valued the GV-backed software development platform at $2.75bn.

Intel Capital was among the returning investors in a round confirmed by the enterprise AI software provider, now valued at $1.2bn, to be $206m in size.

Edenred, Samsung, Swiss Post and Swisscom all returned in a $45m series B round for Beekeeper, which is targeting accelerated adoption of its workforce communications platform.

Monthly analysis: July-August 2019

Three corporate venturing windfalls have resulted in three different strategies to maximise shareholder value over the long-term.

With innovation in technology fast outpacing traditional business processes, corporations are increasingly turning to investments as a way of adapting to change and staying ahead of the competition.