Traversing the valley of innovation death
Kirsten Leute of Osage University Partners asks: what gets an invention across the divide?

NanoCellect categorises Highlander commitment
The cell sorting technology developer has become the first company to be backed by the University of California Riverside-focused VC vehicle Highlander Venture Fund.

PharmaFluidics collects $9m
The VUB spinout has been backed by multi-university venturing firm Qbic and ULB’s Theodorus fund as it prepares to increase production of its chemical separation technology.

Vaccitech threads $27.1m series A needle
Oxford Sciences Innovation, GV and Sequoia China have co-led a series A round for the universal flu vaccine developer, based on research at University of Oxford’s Jenner Institute.

Harvard publishes OpenScholar
The internal web page development platform has been spun out of Harvard University and will be marketed to other higher education bodies.

Edinburgh joins FinTech Scotland’s register
FinTech Scotland will be funded by University of Edinburgh along with government and private-sector backers in a bid to drive innovation in the country’s fintech sector.

AzBio helps seed $200m fund
Trade body AzBio has joined two non-profit organisations to launch the AZ-HCIF commercialisation fund for life science discoveries.

Watchguard secures Percipient Networks
The internet security software developed by Percipient, backed by Allied Minds, will be integrated with Watchguard’s own offering starting later this month.

Red Cedar Ventures brings in Wesley
Michigan State University Foundation has named Jeff Wesley as executive director for its investment subsidiary, Red Cedar Ventures.

Techcyte diagnoses $4.3m series A
The University of Utah spinout is using deep learning technology to power image analysis in pathology.

Via Oncology finds path to acquisition
Via Oncology has been acquired by Elsevier for an undisclosed amount, nine years after being spun out of UPMC.

Sofant connects to funding
Old College Capital has contributed to a $1.1m funding round for Sofant Technologies, a smart antenna developer spun out of University of Edinburgh.

SetSquared Bristol startups score $180m
The figure represents the incubator’s best performance since it launched in 2003 and helped create 1,300 jobs for the wider region.

Virginia’s seed fund stocks trio
The university’s seed fund disclosed investments in three companies – Type TearSolutions and Mission Secure – as it announced the appointment of Carleen Bowers as associate.

Weekly corporate venturing deal net 15 – 19 January 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

Ring Capital notches up $172m for first fund

Danone, AG2R La Mondiale, Bred and BPifrance are among the limited partners for the recently launched, France-based venture firm.

AOI Tyo beams $5m to Spiral Ventures

The media and advertising group provided the capital for venture capital firm Spiral Ventures’ Asia fund, which has a $50m target.

IBM and Comcast state blockchain funding intentions

MState Growth Lab has raised a fund and accelerator for blockchain technologies, with commitments from IBM and Comcast Ventures.

Pi increases numbers with help from Hero

Hero Electronix was among the limited partners as venture capital fund Pi Ventures reached a $25m second close on its way to a $30m+ target.

MetLife unleashes $100m co-investment arm

The insurance group launched strategic investment vehicle MetLife Digital Ventures alongside an accelerator partnership with Techstars.

MediaMath works out corporate venturing equation

The marketing technology producer will be a partner for MathCapital, a newly formed venture capital fund that will operate out of the corporate’s head office.

Kuehne + Nagel and Temasek package investment agreement

The joint venture will target early-stage logistics services and technologies such as big data, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence.

People

BMW’s Noske notches up Alliance Ventures MD position

Christian Noske, previously a partner at BMW i Ventures and a double GCV Rising Stars winner for 2016 and 2017, has taken the MD role at Alliance Ventures.

Klawitter climbs aboard InMotion

Lars Klawitter has been appointed as InMotion Ventures’ executive director for strategic business, having spent more than a decade at Rolls-Royce.

Exits

Mercari prepares to go to market

Mercari, whose corporate backers include Mitsui, Itochu, United and GMO, has set its sights on a Tokyo initial public offering that would value it at more than $1.8bn.

Retailers compete for Boxed acquisition

American Express Ventures could exit bulk-buying e-commerce platform Boxed, which is considering acquisition offers of up to $500m.

Maoyan Weiying to promote $1bn IPO

The company, which holds the largest share of China’s mobile ticket retail market, is backed by Tencent, Meituan-Dianping and Enlight Media.

Luma takes acquisition route to Newell

Amazon Alexa Fund and GV have exited wifi router developer Luma, which had raised $22m, in an acquisition reportedly sized at more than $10m.

Cardlytics careers to $75m IPO

The purchase data platform, which has raised more than $200m in financing, is backed by investors including Aimia and Fidelity Information Services.

SurveyMonkey begins IPO climb

The CapitalG-backed online polling platform, valued at $2bn as of 2014, is reportedly in talks with banks for an offering later this year.

Innovent explores $200m IPO

The corporate-backed cancer drug developer is reportedly valued at $1bn and is eyeing an initial public offering that could raise up to $200m.

IT

ShareChat builds network with series B funding

Xiaomi invested $5.8m in social networking app developer ShareChat as part of an $18.2m round that took the startup’s overall funding to almost $24m.

eStruxture expands funding with $180m

The Canderel-backed data centre operator has secured debt and equity financing that will be used to expand its portfolio of facilities.

Dell helps VDoo raise lucky $13m

The internet-of-things security technology startup has secured its first funding in a 83 North-ed round that included Dell Technology Capital.

Bugsnag snares $9m

GV led software bug detection platform Bugsnag’s latest round, which increased its overall funding to more than $17m altogether.

Beijing Trusfort locks up series B2 funding

SIG Asia was among the investors as enterprise device authentification technology provider Trusfort raised $18.6m.

Anomali attracts $40m in series D funding

The cybersecurity software provider boosted its total funding to $96m in a round featuring Telstra, Deutsche Telekom and existing backer GV.

Salesforce helps Bringg in $22m series B

Salesforce Ventures has contributed to a $12m second tranche of the supply chain software provider’s latest round, which already included Coca-Cola.

Nyansa calibrates $15m series B round

Intel Capital has led IT infrastructure management company Nyansa’s series B round, investing alongside existing backer Formation 8.

Health

CareDox canters to $16m

The paediatric care platform has now raised more than $29m in total, closing a Wanxiang-backed round co-led by an affiliate of Access Industries.

Sparta ups performance for $7m series A

Qualcomm-backed physical performance analysis platform Sparta Science has raised series A funds as it looks to expand from sports into clinical health.

Zelgen sells Minsheng on $62m series B

Minsheng Life Insurance has co-led a series B round for Suzhou Zelgen, which is developing drugs for diseases including cancer.

Vaccitech gets GV-backed funding injection

The corporate venturing unit co-led the vaccine developer’s $27.1m series A round with Oxford Sciences Innovation and Sequoia Capital China.

Aprinoia traces corporates for series B round

The neurogenerative disease diagnostics technology developer has secured $11.1m in a ShangPharma and TaiAn Technologies-backed round.

HalioDx hails Sham in series B round

Sham Innovation Santé backed the immuno-oncology diagnostics technology developer’s series B round, which closed at $22.3m.

Media

Wattpad absorbs $51m

Tencent and Globe Telecom were among the investors in a round that reportedly values the publishing platform at almost $400m post-money.

Consumer

301 seeks Urban Remedy in $17m round

Organic packaged food supplier Urban Remedy has secured new funding in a series B round led by General Mills’ 301 unit.

True Fit tries on $55m series C

Returning investor Intel Capital has reinvested in a round that took clothing personalisation platform True Fit’s total funding to more than $100m.

Liking Fit works out over $54m in funding

The company has revealed a $7.8m series B and $46.6m series C round, the latter featuring Terminus Technologies and the Focus Media-backed Guangkong Zhongying Capital.

Fosun helps place $80m in BingoBox

Automated convenience store operator BingoBox will use the proceeds from the Fosun-led series B round for expansion and technology development.

Tiki takes in more funding

JD.com has become one of the largest shareholders in e-commerce platform Tiki following a round reportedly at least $44m in size.

Financial

Folio pages corporates for $63m

Line, Dentsu, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mitsui are among the backers of the asset management platform’s series A2 round.

Visible Alpha invites banks to $38m round

Goldman Sachs led the financial research platform developer’s latest round, which included several other financial services firms.

Razorpay sharpens up with $20m

The GMO and Mastercard-backed business payment technology provider has closed a series B round co-led by Tiger Global and Y Combinator.

Goji goes to Axa for funding

Axa Strategic Ventures has backed an Anthemis-led round of undisclosed size for online lending platform and technology provider Goji.

Ledger books in $75m series B

The cryptocurrency security system developer, which was backed by Maif Avenir at series A stage, has now raised about $84m altogether.

Energy and Natural Resources

Solaria swallows $23m

The solar energy technology developer, which counts a range of corporates as past investors, has raised cash from Presidio Partners, Kline Hill Partners and Structural Capital.

Bidgely to build with $27m series C

Eon and Innogy will likely be joined by Constellation Technology Ventures for a round that took the energy use analysis platform’s total funding to $51m.

Industrial

Seurat manufactures series A round

Porsche, GM Ventures and Siemens Next47 have helped provide $13.5m that will help commercialise Seurat Technologies’ metal printing technology.

Transport

Uber closes $1.25bn SoftBank investment

The deal, closed alongside a multibillion-dollar secondary purchase, makes SoftBank the ride hailing company’s largest shareholder.

Alibaba reportedly acquires $3bn of Ofo shares

Alibaba has bought $3bn of shares in Ofo from another existing backer, GSR Ventures, according to a relative of GSR’s managing director.

Pony.ai rides momentum to raise $112m

Comcast Ventures and Legend Star took part in the autonomous driving startup’s series A round, which was co-led by Legend Capital.

Caocao Zhuanche charges to $155m

The Geely-backed, electric vehicle-equipped ride hailing platform has closed its series A round at a valuation of more than $1.5bn.

Go-Jek welcomes more corporates aboard $1.2bn round

Google, Meituan-Dianping and Temasek have joined a $1.2bn round for Go-Jek that incudes investments by JD.com and Tencent last year.

Services

Alibaba joins Space Cycle for series B

The fitness class operator has secured $15.6m in a round led by Alibaba’s Taiwan Entrepreneurs Fund II fund that will support expansion.

WeWork India gets Embassy as an investor

Real estate developer Embassy Group has provided $15.7m for WeWork India, a spinoff of co-working space provider WeWork.

JD Logistics to pick up $2bn

JD.com has invited investors including Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital China, to invest in its logistics subsidiary at a $10bn valuation.

Ziroom houses $621m in series A funds

Tencent was among the investors in a Warburg Pincus-led round that valued the accommodation provider, a spinoff from Lianjia, at $3.1bn.