The Art of Corporate Venture

The company priced an upsized IPO nearly doubling its valuation six months ago. It is part of a the food delivery space which was given a boost by the pandemic.

Cloud-based enterprise software producer Salesforce agreed to acquire Slack, the US-based publicly listed communication platform which previously counted telecoms firm SoftBank, internet conglomerate Alphabet and media group Comcast among its backers.

Property engine developer Homesnap agreed to a $250m cash acquisition by Real estate data provider CoStar Group. This is a notable exit in the space in which corporates have been actively investing over the past five years but there have not been many exits.

Marketing and imaging software producer Adobe agreed to acquire US-based work management software provider Workfront in a $1.5bn deal, giving quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG) an exit.

Monthly report: October 2020

Innovative region: Brazil

Sector challenged amid fintech disruption

IQM Quantum Computers, a Finland-based quantum computing spinout of Aalto University and VTT Technical Research Centre, attracted a €39m ($46m) series A round from investors, including internet group Tencent.

China-based financial services provider Ant Group, spun off by e-commerce group Alibaba, intended to float on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets.

Ant Group, the financial services subsidiary of China-based e-commerce group Alibaba, was due to raise a targeted $37bn in a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong but the mega-initial public offering was unexpectedly blocked by an intervention from financial regulators in Beijing at the eleventh hour.

Expected budget for European Innovation Council of €3.5-4bn to entrepreneurs less than planned €10bn over the 2021-2027 period