Startups

The corporate venturing unit of Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever has made plans to increase its assets under management with its latest $450m fund from its parent, Global Corporate Venturing can reveal.

Modern consumer corporations generally continue to pump out the kind of products that the world population simply cannot stop buying. Yet these industries, which have been brutally competitive, as well as profitable, since ancient times, are being transformed by a rapidly growing world population, where consumer spending power is truly globalising.

Corporate venturing investments slowed in March by number and value as exits were boosted by three initial public offerings. The slowdown in deal activity came as nerves appeared to creep back into wider market trading, as eurozone country Cyprus negotiated a bailout that involved haircuts for bank depositors.

US-based chip design software manufacturer Tensilica, backed by Japan technology companies Fujitsu and NTT, and US-based technology company Cisco, was the biggest sale of the quarter, in an exit to US-based chip design software manufacturer Cadence Design Systems for $380m. The biggest initial public offering of the quarter was the $108m raised by US-based marketing software company Marin Software.

The number of corporate venturing units, tracked by Global Corporate Venturing, has risen to 971. We examine their development.

Sequoia Capital was the venture capital firm most active alongside corporates in the first quarter. It was in the syndicate backing Xoom, which raised $101m in its initial public offering, at a market capitalisation of $509m, as was SVB Capital, the private equity division of Silicon Valley Bank.

A look at the largest deals in the quarter, including the $700m round of private equity funding for China-based e-commerce site 360Buy, as eye-catchingly large Asia deals continue to be a staple of our coverage.

The main investment and exit stats from the quarter.

A look at how Japan is trying to find its own path in corporate venturing beyond Silicon Valley.

The challenges faced by all three - Q.Cells, SunTech and SunPower - have been more broadly reflected across the clean-tech industry but there could be light at the end of the tunnel, judging by a new report by Global Corporate Venturing in partnership with Baker Botts.

Corporate venturing activity continues largely unchanged, although broader
mergers and acquisitions were handed a boost by the re-emergence of the private
equity buyout, with a $24.4bn bid for US-based computer maker Dell and a $23bn
offer for US-based consumer goods company Heinz.