Telecoms

Canada-based telecommunications company Telus launched a C$100m ($76.5m) impact investment fund in late November called Telus Pollinator Fund for Good.

If the sector can weather the economic storm, it has huge potential.

In October and November, Global Corporate Venturing asked ‘What will be the biggest investment opportunities in 2021?’ The response was so overwhelming, we have given about half the answers below.

The payment tech space saw a flurry of activity in mid-January with two series D rounds and an aborted acquisition at corporate-backed companies.

SoftBank paid $350m for a 30% stake in the satellite internet system developer, which has emerged from bankruptcy, while Hughes Network Systems supplied the other $50m.

Orange Ventures has been spun off into an independent venture firm with an extra $426m from its former parent company, and added Mathieu de La Rochefoucauld as managing partner.

The Cisco-affiliated asset managment firm is now the largest external investor in fixed-wireless broadband service WeLink.

Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce marketplace Udaan extended its series D round with a $280m tranche, featuring Tencent. The company is one of the comparatively few B2B e-commerce deals we have reported, despite the relative size and importance of the B2B in it.

Hanwha Systems has agreed to provide $30m in funding for the satellite technology provider, whose existing investors include Liberty Global and Intelsat.

This is a draft of a speech I'll be making at the www.GCVDigitalForum.com on 27 January - feedback much appreciated in comments or email jmawson@mawsonia.com 

Battery producer Sila Nanotechnologies, previously backed by a number of corporates, raised its latest multimillion dollar round, tripling its valuation.