Edwards hooks Harpoon in $250m deal

Medical device maker Edwards Lifesciences has acquired cardiovascular device developer and University of Maryland, Baltimore spinout Harpoon Medical.

CIC sees Cytora to $5.9m

QBE Insurance and Starr Companies have joined CIC to invest in Cytora as it prepares to launch a risk assessment engine for property and casualty insurance.

Red & Blue chases $20m for Pennsylvania ecosystem

The VC firm has raised $13.9m for a $20m venture fund that will target IT University of Pennsylvania-linked businesses.

Bici and Comb+ launch AI fund

Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation is partnering accelerator Comb+ for a fund that has already raised more than half its $76.8m target.

Indiana bets on Dream Tech forecast

Dream Tech has been spun out to develop a better method for conducting risk assessments on food, pharmaceuticals and pesticides.

CIC portfolio continues to grow

Cambridge Innovation Capital has released the numbers for its performance during the first half of the financial year, boasting a rise in its portfolio’s fair value to $116m.

UCD sues Applied Process

University College Dublin has launched legal proceedings against Applied Process, co-founded by two of its professors, for a stake in the company.

Opsydia mines funding

The optical systems designer has received cash from the Parkwalk Opportunities Fund, approximately four months after being spun out of Oxford.

Upswing turns to Stanford for funding

Stanford Graduate School of Business is among the investors in a $1.5m funding round for Upswing, which helps online students connect with their cohort.

UA illuminates Lum.AI

University of Arizona has spun out Lum.AI to commercialise an automated system for extracting relevant information from research papers and journals.

Unity Robotics grabs seed funding

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft and High-Tech Gründerfonds have injected money into Unity Robotics, which will use the money to launch its retail services robot.

BioHub Birmingham to add lab space

The university-owned incubator is set to expand next year, after the ground floor reached capacity while demand for space has continued.

Phase Genomics points out $1m

The company is the first to have spun out of University of Washington’s Genome Sciences department and will use the cash to hire additional staff.

South Korea is ready to boost spinouts

The government of South Korea is ready to support university innovation, launching several initiatives and passing deregulation.

NestAway finds room for $50m

UC-RNT, an investment fund established by University of California and Ratan Tata, has contributed to a funding round for NestAway, whose shareholders already include Flipkart.

Corporate venturing deal net: 4-8 December 2017

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

Fundraising

AmorChem generates second Merck-backed fund

VC fund manager AmorChem has launched AmorChem II, a $44.2m seed-stage life sciences fund backed by Merck & Co.

Viola tunes up corporate-backed fintech fund

Travelers Companies, Scotiabank and Bank Hapoalim are among the LPs for Viola FinTech, which has raised $100m of a $120m to $150m target.

Evonik chips into $354m fund

Digital+ Partners’ Digital Growth Fund I vehicle will focus on fintech and industrial technology businesses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

RDIF and Alibaba form internet investment alliance

The firms will back Russia-based online businesses assessing international expansion as well as investments that improve the country’s network infrastructure.

Nokia Growth Partners rebrands to NGP Capital

The venture capital firm, which was founded by Nokia in 2005, is dropping the firm’s name from its branding.

Google Launchpad lets on 24

Google’s Launchpad Accelerator has announced a new class of 24 startups that will begin the six-month initiative next month.

People

Fang cuts away from Baidu

Peter Fang, who joined Baidu in 2014 after a few months at Fidelity’s Asian corporate venturing unit, has returned to Sinovation Ventures.

Exits

Quanterix tracks route to IPO

Quanterix, a digital immunoassay developer backed by BioMerieux and Stratec, has raised $64.1m in its initial public offering.

LivaNova imbibes ImThera in $225m deal

LivaNova will pay $78m up front to acquire sleep apnoea device maker and portfolio company ImThera Medical in a deal that could reach $225m.

Chase lands WePay for up to $400m

Rakuten has exited payment processing platform WePay in an acquisition by JP Morgan Chase for between $300m and $400m.

Corporates count down as iClick heads to IPO

Bertelsmann and Sumitomo are set to score exits as marketing technology producer iClick Interactive seeks to raise $53m when it floats.

Xiaomi expects a 2018 IPO

The Qualcomm-backed electronics manufacturer is reportedly seeking a $50bn valuation for the offering and has initiated talks with banks.

IT

ForceManager sells Axa on $12m series B

ForceManager, the creator of an artificial intelligence-based field marketing assistant, has raised cash in an Axa Strategic Ventures-led round.

NS8 confirms $7.5m seed round

The Bloomberg-backed cybersecurity startup will use the cash to expand in North America, Western Europe and India.

NGData customises $19m series C

ING-backed customer data software developer NGData will use the series C proceeds to accelerate international growth.

Kespry records $33m in funding

Cisco Investments, Shell Technology Ventures and ABB Ventures all came on board for the aerial data provider’s series C round, taking its total funding to $61m.

LaunchDarkly programs $21m series B

Redpoint Ventures and Vertex Ventures have funded the Bloomberg-backed software management tool developer’s series B round.

Nexenta enters next stage with $20m

Nexenta, already backed by several corporates, has entered into a strategic partnership with SoftBank as part of a $20m funding round.

Anaplan puts together $60m series F

Corporate venturing unit Salesforce Ventures returned to invest in a round that valued business planning platform Anaplan at $1.4bn.

Salesforce helps Simplus add series B funding

Enterprise services provider Simplus has closed a $9.3m equity round backed by Salesforce Ventures alongside $8.5m in debt supplied by SVB.

ReversingLabs gets $25m result

JPMorgan Chase has co-led a series A round for cybersecurity software provider ReversingLabs that will support international growth.

Analysis: SenseTime detects $227m from Alibaba

Alibaba invested $227m into artificial intelligence technology producer SenseTime, one of the most recent large rounds in the booming AI space.

Seebo reconfigures series A round

The Autodesk-backed industrial IoT software developer has raised $8m, extending its series A round to $16.5m in the process.

Pwnie Express picks up $8m

The MassMutual Ventures-backed IoT security software provider has now raised $28m altogether.

Health

Etong Healthcare books series B funding

Dalian Yifang Group has contributed to a $30.2m series B round for Etong, which will use the funding to expand its customised checkup services.

Corporates pay for a piece of Obsidian

Alphabet, Takeda, ShangPharma and Amgen were among the investors in gene and cell therapy startup Obsidian Therapeutics’ $49.5m series A round.

Medlinker makes $60m appointment with corporate investors

China Electronics Corporation Data led the doctor-focused social media app’s latest round, which included existing investor Tencent.

Neon Therapeutics lights up $106m series B

Pharmstandard and Access Industries participated in a $36m extension to Neon’s series B round, which now stands at $106m.

Atox Bio secures $30m

The infectious disease drug developer has raised $30m in a round featuring Asahi Kasei, SR One and Lundbeckfonden Ventures.

Mytonomy mines corporates for $7m

Mytonomy, the developer of a patient education platform for hospitals, has raised money in a series A round backed by Philips and MedStar Health.

12 Sigma inhales series B funding

The medical imaging technology developer has secured $30.2m in a series B round featuring SoftBank subsidiary SBCVC and will use the funding for hiring.

PhaseBio enters next financing stage

Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca helped fund a $15.6m round for PhaseBio that included $7.5m in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank.

Media

51HiTech shows corporates to series B round

The startup, a developer of AR and VR technology for the real estate industry, has raised $31.7m in a round co-led by SenseTime and Modern Land.

Kuaikan Manhua traces $177m in series D

Toutiao-backed comic artwork platform Kuaikan Manhua has added $177m to its coffers following a series D round led by Coatue Management.

Consumer

Moda Operandi shows off $165m in funding

The Advance Publications and IGM-backed fashion e-commerce platform has now raised $297m since it was founded in 2011.

Investors get into Groove X

Toyota-backed Mirai Creation Investment has co-led a corporate-packed series A round for robotics developer Groove X initially sized at $38.7m.

Tengelmann helps serve $10m to Chefs Plate

Tengelmann unit Emil Capital has taken part in a series C round that will support the enhancement of meal delivery service Chefs Plate’s fulfilment centres.

NestAway finds room for $50m

UC-RNT, an investment fund established by Ratan Tata and University of California, has contributed to a funding round for NestAway, whose shareholders already include Flipkart.

Financial

Earny claims $9m

Comcast Ventures has contributed to a $9m round for payment claims services provider Earny that was led by Mayfield Fund.

Payrailz stays on track with $6.1m

The fintech startup has received cash from First Data as well as financial services firms Live Oak, Woodforest National and Webster.

Corporates see Cytora to $5.9m

QBE Insurance and Starr Companies have joined CIC to invest in Cytora as it prepares to launch a risk assessment engine for property and casualty insurance.

VPC buys control of Borro

Victory Park Capital, which provided debt financing to Rocket Internet-backed luxury online pawnbroker Borro in 2014, has bought a majority stake in the company.

Energy and Natural Resources

Norsk Hydro plots course for Corvus

Lithium-ion battery producer Corvus Energy has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Norsk Hydro, which has taken a 25.9% stake.

Industrial

Fetch Robotics brings in $25m

The robotics technology developer has now raised $48m in total, after completing a series B round backed by SB Group and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures.

Denso conducts funding for Canatu

Denso invested half the money in a $14.2m round also backed by Faurecia that took the 3D conductive technology developer’s total financing to $57m.

Big Deal: SpaceX shows space is the place

The Alphabet-backed spaceflight operator has extended its latest round to $450m, indicating the continued investor interest in space technologies.

Transport

Ofo accepts $1bn Alibaba-backed funding offer

Existing investor Alibaba has participated in a round that valued the rapidly expanding bike hire service at $3bn.

Japan Airlines goes Boom with $10m investment

Japan Airlines has invested in Boom and has an option to pre-order 20 of its developmental supersonic planes when they are launched in the mid-2020s.

Lyft upgrades CapitalG-led round to $1.5bn

Existing backer Rakuten was also among the investors, as on-demand ride service Lyft added $500m to a round that values it at $1.5bn post-money.

Chehejia charges to series B round

Electric vehicle developer and rental service Chehejia has raised $151m in a round backed by insurers China Taiping and Ping An.

Ponycar traps series C funding

Electric vehicle developer Zhihe Chuxing has led a $37.8m series C round for Ponycar, which has now raised about $83m in just over a year

WM Motor gears up for corporate cash

Baidu Capital is set to lead a round for the the electric vehicle expected to be sized in the nine figures that will also feature SIG.

Hellobike reaches $350m in new round

WM Motor and Ant Financial both participated in the round, a month after Hellobike merged with fellow bike sharing platform Youon Ditan.

Services

SoftBank considers $300m delivery for DoorDash

SoftBank is in talks with food delivery service DoorDash regarding a $300m investment from its Vision Fund.

Compass points to SoftBank for $450m investment

SoftBank Vision Fund has provided $450m for the real estate platform at a $2.2bn valuation, weeks after its $100m series E round.

Boxful boxes up series B cash

Shimao Property, Nan Fung and Shui On Land have contributed to a $17.9m series B round for property storage provider Boxful.

Naspers helps move $82m to Movile

The Latin American mobile services platform has now raised more than $250m altogether, and will invest part of the funds in food delivery platform iFood.

Dunzo gets series B funding done

Google has paid $10m for a 33.8% stake in Dunzo as part of a $12.5m series B round the company will use for geographical expansion.

Luminance reveals $10m series A

Existing investor Slaughter and May was among the participants as legal software developer Luminance added to the funding it raised last year.