Services

Pod Foods, which links emerging food brands to nationwide retailers, has secured seed funding from investors including Microsoft's M12 and plans to now expand across the US.

The co-working space service is aiming to raise up to $200m in an initial public offering in the US next year, with multiple real estate developers in line for exits.

Personal development app Degreed, a 2013 graduate from Kaplan’s Edtech accelerator, secured $35m in equity funding as part of the round.

Grab has so far raised $4.8bn series H round, after Invesco chipped in $300m in addition to the funding provided by corporate investors like SoftBank Vision Fund, Microsoft, Toyota, Ping An and others since June last year.

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

Robotic security guard provider Cobalt Robotics has added a Coatue Management-led series B round to the Bloomberg Beta-backed series A it closed last year.

Laundrapp and Zipjet have combined their on-demand laundry services platform, which has raised funding in a round backed by Henkel.

L’Occitane has reinvested in the online beauty product seller and services provider, taking part in an $18.8m funding round that included Tano Capital selling $4.4m worth of stock.

Tencent and Legend Holdings offshoot Hony Capital helped take online art tuition provider Meishubao's funding total to roughly $73m.

Female executive-focused private network operator Chief, which is backed by Verizon's BBG Ventures unit, has increased its overall funding to $25m with the series A round.

The fund will focus on logistics technology developers and boasts JD Logistics, parent company JD.com and unnamed additional corporates among its limited partners.