Evox voices $45.4m series B
Oxford Sciences Innovation has contributed to a series B round for Evox Therapeutics, a spinout of University of Oxford that has also added GV as a shareholder.

Cambridge scientists devote capital to $129m fund
Eight researchers from Cambridge have raised a $129m patient capital fund that has attracted limited partners including Aviva.

Beier books in Purdue promotion
Brooke Beier has been promoted to vice-president of Purdue’s office of technology commercialization, having started there as a project manager in 2013.

SkyRyse glides steady with $25m
Air transit assistance system startup SkyRyse has accrued $25m in seed and series A funding from investors including Stanford University.

Beactica formulates funding round
Almi Invest and trade union Unionen have both returned with funding for Beactica, a drug discovery company based on Uppsala University research.

TwinStrand intertwines with $1.2m round
University of Washington spinout TwinStrand has now raised a total of $8.4m in equity and debt to develop its DNA sequencing technology.

BurnAlong clocks up $1.2m
Health and fitness platform operator BurnAlong was backed by Johns Hopkins University in February this year after participating in the institution’s accelerator, M-1 Ventures.

Arago labels Oxford investment
Biomolecule classification technology developer Arago Bioscience emerged out of Oxford in April this year and has now been backed by two of the university’s funds.

Clariant identifies Haelixa for stake purchase
ETH Zurich spinout Haelixa has secured chemical supplier Clariant’s support in commercialising DNA tracers for industrial purposes.

Viclink taps Booster for $6.6m innovation drive
The commercialisation arm of Victoria University of Wellington has secured $6.6m for its spinouts under an initiative funded by local financial services firm Booster.

NUS grips $18m fund
The NUS Graduate Research Innovation Program will invest a total of $18m over the next five years to support the creation of 250 spinouts.

Investcorp cultivates Softgarden
Softgarden, a spinout of Saarland University, has been acquired for Investcorp Technology Partners for an undisclosed sum.

4D Molecular forces its way to $90m
Berkeley Catalyst Fund has helped close a $90m series B round for 4D Molecular Therapeutics, which emerged out of UC Berkeley.

VitalSource exercises Acrobatiq acquisition
Educational content creation platform Acrobatiq spun out from Carnegie Mellon University in 2015 and had been backed by the university’s Carnegie Innovations division.

PolyActiva sees clearly with $11.5m
MRCF and Yuuwa Capital have both returned for PolyActiva’s latest round, bringing the ocular implant developer’s funding tally to $23.6m.

Sullivan segues into Canberra job
Leigh Sullivan will leave his position as vice-chancellor for research and innovation at Federation University Australia to take on the same position at Canberra.

UCSD makes a splash with $65m Poseidon fund
UC San Diego is the fourth university to launch a $65m initiative with Deerfield Management, following Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Johns Hopkins.

PhaseBio attracts $34m in series D round
Existing backers AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson returned for a round that will advance PhaseBio’s orphan disease drug pipeline, based on research from Duke University.

Allogene tallies up $120m
The cancer therapy developer has secured $120m in a convertible note offering featuring the University of California office of the chief investment officer.

Forendo fixes up $4.7m round
Vesalius has provided $4.7m to Forendo Pharma, whose existing shareholders also include Karolinska Development, Novartis, Novo and Merck Group.

Azeria pioneers $5.2m series A
Azeria’s oncological drug candidate is based on research from University of Cambridge’s collaboration with Cancer Research UK.

Poli360 to take on spinouts with $70m
Politecnico di Milano has partnered 360 Capital Partners to launch a $70m university venture fund that has been backed by Itatech and will invest in the institution’s spinouts.

UT Austin enters Sputnik trajectory
Students will be able to access online entrepreneurship materials based on the Sputnik ATX accelerator, with one each year invited to sit in on Sputnik classes.

Stanford-StartX finds comfort in Haystack TV
News streaming app developer Haystack TV raised $2m from investors including Stanford-StartX Fund and appliances manufacturer Vestel to prepare for an expansion into Europe.

Corporate venturing deal net: 3-7 September 2018

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

Fundraising

NAB Ventures nets $36m for second fund

National Australia Bank is doubling the capital allocated to its strategic investment unit through a second fund.

Aviva devotes capital to $129m fund

Eight researchers from Cambridge have raised a $129m patient capital fund that has attracted limited partners including Aviva.

People

Suennen surfaces from GE Ventures

Lisa Suennen, a GE Ventures managing director that focused on healthcare, has left after two years at the unit.

Hartanto hurries to MDI Ventures

Aldi Adrian Hartanto has departed from Mandiri Capital after two years to take up a position at another Indonesia-based corporate venturing unit.

Exits

Meituan Dianping confirms $4.4bn IPO plans

The Tencent-backed local services portal plans to float in Hong Kong in two weeks time and has locked up $1.5bn in investment already.

Robinhood gets ready to mark IPO spot

The Alphabet and Roc Nation-backed trading platform is gearing up to go public after achieving a $5.6bn valuation earlier this year.

Hearst makes Acrobatiq exit in VitalSource acquisition

VitalSource has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire Hearst Ventures-backed educational content technology provider Acrobatiq.

Landis picks up GoldenKey

Lowe’s and Capitol Broadcasting have exited real estate sales services provider GoldenKey in an acquisition by Landis.

Apttus accepts Thoma Bravo’s majority stake purchase

Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy a majority stake in the sales software producer, though it is unclear whether Salesforce and AT&T will exit.

Maoyan Weiying buys IPO ticket

Rumours about the mobile ticketing platform’s initial public offering first surfaced earlier this year and have now been confirmed thanks to a stock exchange filing.

Liulishuo talks through $100m IPO plans

Hearst Ventures is in line for an exit following Liulishuo’s filing for a $100m initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange.

Meituan Dianping sets price range

The company has set its price range at $7.64 to $9.17 and is aiming to raise a total of $1.5bn from five cornerstone investors, including the previously disclosed $400m from Tencent.

Funding Circle to embrace $385m IPO

Rocket Internet-backed peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle plans to raise $385m in an initial public offering in which private investor Anders Povlsen is set to purchase a 10% stake.

IT

AnchorFree breaks away with $295m

WndrCo led the mobile VPN provider’s latest round, increasing its overall funding to almost $360m.

ThinCI to build on $65m series C

Denso and NSitexe co-led the AI technology producer’s latest round with Temasek, while Daimler and the Toyota-backed Mirai Creation Fund also invested.

HSB wins Relayr race in $300m acquisition

Munich Re’s Hartford Steam Boiler has acquired existing portfolio company Relayr for $300m, providing an exit to Deutsche Telekom.

Dulian processes $7.3m

Baidu has established a new subsidiary to focus on blockchain technologies and supplied $7.3m to the business through another subsidiary, Dinglu Zhongyuan Technology.

Health

Allogene tallies up $120m

The Pfizer-backed cancer therapy developer has secured $120m in a convertible note offering led by Perceptive Advisors.

PhaseBio attracts $34m in series D round

Existing backers AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson returned for a round that will advance PhaseBio’s orphan disease drug pipeline.

Alpha Tau gets $29m in funding exposure

Medison Ventures was among the participants in a round that will fund clinical tests for Alpha Tau’s radiation-based cancer treatment.

Fulcrum fills up with $80m

Sanofi Ventures and the WuXi AppTec-backed 6 Dimensions Capital contributed to a series B round that took Fulcrum Therapeutics’ total funding to $140m.

4D Molecular forces its way to $90m

Chiesi Ventures and Pfizer Ventures have helped gene therapy developer 4D Molecular Therapeutics complete its series B round.

SoYoung gets $70m funding injection

Tencent-backed cosmetic surgery booking platform SoYoung has collected $70m in a series E round that increased its overall funding to at least $229m.

Evox voices $45.4m series B

GV has contributed to a series B round for Evox Therapeutics, a spinout of University of Oxford whose existing shareholders include Oxford Sciences Innovation.

NetMeds prescribes $35m series C

Daun Penh Cambodia Group and Sistema Asia Fund were among the investors in a $35m series C round for online pharmacy  NetMeds.

Media

Caffeine cashes $100m from 21st Century Fox

Fox supplied some of the cash in equity funding and the rest to help fund a joint venture with the social broadcasting platform developer.

Sky pays $4m to Reimagine Ventures

Remagine Ventures, a fund formed by ex-corporate venturers Eze Vidra and Kevin Baxpehler, has secured Sky as a limited partner.

IQiyi Sports scores $124m

The iQiyi spinoff, which was formed with  Super Sports Media last month, has secured series A funding at a $490m valuation.

Baidu Video records $100m series B

Baidu led its video aggregation platform’s series B round, which followed a $155m round two years ago.

Activ8 mobilises $5.4m funding

Gumi has returned for a third funding round in virtual talent management firm Activ8.

Consumer

Farmer’s Fridge packs in $30m

The proceeds from the Danone-backed series C round will support the healthy vending machine provider’s regional expansion.

Tencent helps produce $450m for MissFresh

Online grocer MissFresh will use the proceeds from the round, co-led by Tencent and Goldman Sachs, to enhance its supply chain capabilities.

Souche trades series F shares for $578m

Alibaba and Sunshine Insurance Group have contributed to a series F round for Souche, which also revealed its acquisition of Iyunche and Breakthrough.

Rappi wraps its head around $200m

Delivery Hero-backed on-demand delivery services provider Rappi has secured $200m from investors including DST Global, achieving unicorn status in the process.

Financial

Monese teases out $60m

The mobile bank operator will use the funds from the PayPal and International Airlines Group-backed round for hiring and international expansion.

Beacon shows investors to series A round

Barclays and Global Atlantic helped financial software provider Beacon Platform complete a series A round with a targeted $19m close.

SlicePay cuts into series A

FinUp Financial Technology has led a reported $15m series A round for online lender SlicePay.

Lianlian swipes $146m

American Express-backed payment services provider Lianlian has raised $146m from Sequoia Capital and Boyu Capital.

Salary Finance wages $20m series B

Legal & General has co-led a $20m series B round for Salary Finance, a financial wellbeing platform for employees.

Energy and Natural Resources

Saudi Aramco scrutinises plans for $1bn fund

The oil and gas provider, which already runs the $500m Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures unit, is reportedly mulling plans for a larger fund.

Industrial

GreyOrange squeezes out $140m from investors

Robotics developer GreyOrange has raised series C funding from investors including Mitsubishi and Flipkart to drive international growth.

Sarcos arcs to $30m series B

Caterpillar, General Electric, Microsoft and Schlumberger were among the returning investors in a round that will support hiring and production.

Transport

Ofo approaches nine-figure fundraising

Didi Chuxing and Ant Financial are said to be close to reinvesting in Ofo following reports last month they were discussing a $2bn acquisition.

Services

Kaochong caches $55m in series D round

Tencent reinvested in Kaochong, six months after leading the online study aid provider’s $29m series C round.

Yopa increases estate by $26m

Online estate agent Yopa has closed a $26m funding round backed by return investors Daily Mail and General Trust and Savills.