Ozdemir joins UCL Technology Fund

Tanel Ozdemir, an alumnus of UCL, has joined Albion Capital as an analyst of the UCL Technology Fund.

Japan clocks 2,093 spinouts

Biotech, healthcare and medical technology accounted for roughly one-third of the country’s more than 2,000 spinouts, with another third taken up by IT companies.

Voci talks about $8m series B

Carnegie Mellon spinout Voci will use the money to bolster sales and marketing activities.

OxSyBio constructs $13.9m round

IP Group and Parkwalk Advisors both took part in the round, which took regenerative medicine developer OxSyBio’s total funding to $18.3m.

Arcus arcs to $120m IPO

Cancer immunotherapy developer Arcus Biosciences will float at the top of its range, scoring an exit for Stanford University.

CFS lights $50m fuse

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, based on MIT research, has launched with $50m in initial capital from energy company Eni to develop fusion power.

TeraPore fabricates $6m series A

The capital will help push development of the Cornell University spinout’s copolymer-based materials for nanofabrication.

Valley Growth closes $6m fund

Valley Growth Ventures, whose founding partners include Youngstown State University, has begun talks with a healthcare-focused startup that could result in its first investment.

WSU and Phytelligence sue each other

WSU has filed a lawsuit ordering Phytelligence to cease growing its patented apple tree, despite retaining equity in the spinout.

Morgan State lights up Cykloburn

Cykloburn, which is commercialising technology to produce electricity and heat from poultry farm litter, is the first spinout to emerge out of Morgan State University.

Helsinn goes On Target in $44m round

Purdue spinout On Target Laboratories has closed a series B round at $44m after an $11.1m extension featuring Helsinn.

Corporate venturing deal net: 12-16 March 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

Singha cracks open $25m for venture fund

Singha Ventures will invest in areas such as consumer products, retail, logistics, enterprise healthcare and renewable energy as well as other funds.

Zhou Heiya greets Tiantu for $475m fund

The publicly-listed fast food retailer has committed almost $80m to a consumer and retail-focused fund that will be managed by Tiantu Capital.

SoftBank looks to fuse investment activities

The corporate could bring its $97.7bn Vision Fund and Fortress Investment asset management activities under an umbrella called SoftBank Financial Services.

Exits

Palo Alto Networks pays $300m to secure Evident.io

Cloud security software developer Evident.io, which had raised about $49m from investors including GV, has agreed to an acquisition by Palo Alto Networks for $300m in cash.

Arcus arcs to $120m IPO

Cancer immunotherapy developer Arcus Biosciences will float at the top of its range, scoring exits for Alphabet, Novartis, Celgene and Taiho.

Zen Rooms moves toward shutdown

Rocket Internet-backed short-term accommodation provider Zen Rooms is in talks with investors for a sale as its capital reserves reportedly dwindle.

Mindbody takes care of $150m Booker acquisition

Spa and salon management software producer Booker Software had raised $77m across three rounds from investors including First Data Ventures.

Conga to take Octiv higher in acquisition

GE Ventures is set to exit document collaboration platform Octiv in an acquisition of undisclosed size by Conga.

Analysis: Salesforce to exit Dropbox in upcoming IPO

Salesforce is expecting to exit the file storage and sharing platform Dropbox, which filed for an IPO after having raised more than $1.7bn in debt and equity financing.

IT

BioCatch takes hold of $30m

CreditEase and American Express Ventures participated in a round that took the total raised by the fraud and cyber threat detection platform to $47m.

Moogsoft detects corporates for $40m series D

Singtel Innov8 and HCL Technologies were among the returning investors in Moogsoft’s latest round, which was led by Goldman Sachs Growth Equity.

Taodata taps Fosun to lead latest round

Fosun has led financial data technology startup Taodata’s latest round, in which it raised $15.8m, as part of a big data and AI investment strategy.

Luminate lights its way from stealth with $14m

Enterprise security technology developer Luminate Security has received $14m across two rounds from investors including Microsoft ScaleUp.

Luminoso translates series A1 interest into funding

Digital Garage-backed customer service technology provider Luminoso has secured $12.6m in equity and convertuble note financing.

Upskill undertakes new fundraise

General Electric, Cisco, Boeing and Accenture contributed to a $17.2m round for the AR technology developer that will fund hiring and product development.

Verizon touches The Fabric in $15m fundraise

The company builder has raised capital from investors including Verizon Ventures and March Capital Partners for a first close of its third fund.

Dropbox looks to capture $648m in IPO

Existing backer Salesforce Ventures has agreed to invest a further $100m in the cloud collaboration platform through a private placement.

Voicera records $20m in investment

Cisco Investments, Microsoft Ventures, GV, Salesforce Ventures and Workday Ventures all backed a series A round for the digital meeting assistant developer.

Bose to sound out startups with $50m fund

Bose Ventures has been formed to support the audio equipment maker’s newly launched augmented reality platform.

Health

Helsinn goes On Target in $44m round

On Target Laboratories has closed its series B round at $44m after an $11.1m extension featuring Helsinn, following an initial tranche led by Johnson & Johnson in September.

Sprim helps spirit $50m to healthcare fund

The healthcare innovation services provider has joined forces with Tikehau Capital for a fund called TKS1 that has reached its first close.

TAE Life Sciences turns up with $40m

The cancer treatment startup, a spinoff of fusion energy system developer TAE Technologies, has publicly launched with an Artis-led series A round.

Hanwang hangs funding on 23Mofang

Hanwang Technology is among the participants in a $15.8m round for the genetic testing services provider, which has now raised $23m in total.

Xeris expands series C round to $85m

Mérieux Développement has helped to top up glucagon formulation developer Xeris Pharmaceuticals’ series C round, alongside $45m in debt financing.

Mars Petcare to adopt startups with $100m fund

The pet food and health product maker has formed a corporate venturing fund called Companion Fund and an accelerator dubbed Leap.

Humacyte fixes $75m series C

Humacyte, an Access Industries-backed developer of tissue-based biological repair technology, has now raised $290m in financing in total.

Prevail completes $75m series A process

Neurodegenerative disease startup Prevail Therapeutics has raised series A funding from backers including Alexandria Venture Investments.

Atomwise finds corporates for $45m series A

The biotechnology research platform developer has closed a round co-led by Monsanto Growth Ventures that included Tencent and Baidu.

Media

Qu Toutiao reports nine-figure funding round

The personalised news aggregator has raised more than $100m in a Tencent-led round that could reportedly precede an initial public offering.

Ovo catches Incoming Media for acquisition deal

Ovo has acquired the mobile video technology developer for just over $10m, with Incoming backers Intel, Citrix and Warner Brothers getting stakes in Ovo.

Atom Tickets gets $60m series C opening

Series B investors Lionsgate, Walt Disney Company and 20th Century Fox all returned for social movie ticketing app Atom’s latest round.

Consumer

Walmart weighs up $7bn Flipkart investment

Talks between the companies are reportedly at a critical stage and could involve Walmart buying shares from corporate investor SoftBank at a $20bn valuation.

Baidu cooks up $160m for Coocaa

A Baidu subsidiary will take an 11% stake in Skyworth’s smart TV spinout, which also counts Tencent and iQiyi as backers, after buying primary and secondary shares.

Gousto takes delivery of new funding

The Unilever-backed meal-kit delivery service has received $39.8m from Hargreave Hale, Angel CoFund, MMC Ventures and BGF Ventures to more than double its total funding.

Warby Parker frames $75m series E

T. Rowe Price, which previously led the eyewear retailer’s $100m round in 2015, has returned to lead a round that took its total funding to $290m.

Outdoor Voices calls GV for $34m round

GV has led a series C round for activewear producer Outdoor Voices, which will use the funding to grow its chain of brick-and-mortar stores.

Eight rests $14m in its account

Khosla Ventures has led the Comcast-backed smart mattress producer’s series B round, increasing its overall funding to $27m.

Rent the Runway shows off $20m investment

Blue Pool Capital, an investment vehicle for two Alibaba co-founders, has increased the Advance Publications-backed company’s total funding to $210m.

XGimi gets $95m in latest funding project

Baidu is now the widescreen projector maker’s largest external shareholder, having returned for a round that follows its initial investment last year.

Ecobee sets $61m for series C close

Amazon Alexa Fund made its second investment in the smart thermostat developer, which has now raised $146m altogether.

Pepperfry goes to State Street for funding

State Street Corporation has invested $38.5m in Bertelsmann-backed e-commerce platform Pepperfry, taking its total funding to almost $200m.

Financial

JD Finance seeks $2bn deposit

Cofco and China International Capital are in talks to lead a round that would value JD.com’s financial services spinout at up to $30bn.

Energy and Natural Resources

Eni lights $50m fuse for CFS

MIT spinout Commonwealth Fusion Systems has launched with $50m in capital from energy utility Eni to develop fusion power.

Industrial

Corporates explore Spaceflight in $150m round

Space launch services provider Spaceflight Industries has pulled in funding from Mitsui and the Thales Alenia and Telespazio-backed Space Alliance.

Transport

Magna comes louder in $200m Lyft deal

On-demand ride service Lyft has received $200m from automotive systems maker Magna International at an $11.7bn valuation as part of an autonomous driving partnership

Alibaba takes another ride on Ofo

Alibaba has led a $866m debt and equity round for bicycle rental service Ofo having reportedly bought $3bn of stock in January.

Hubert Burda makes Carsome investment

Used car e-commerce platform Carsome has secured $19m in a series B round led by Burda Principal Investments that will fund growth in Southeast Asia.

Services

HB Reavis plots $58m CIC deal

Cambridge Innovation Center has attracted $58m in funding from property developer HB Reavis to add additional locations to its network of innovation campuses.

RedDoorz books into $11m round

SIG’s Asia Investment Fund has returned as part of RedDoorz’s latest round, which will be used for regional expansion in Southeast Asia.

17zuoye stays course to raise $200m

Bytedance has reportedly led the online education provider’s series E round, bringing its overall funding to more than $335m.