HoliStick takes wholesome approach to funding

HoliStick will advance technology developed by researchers at Harvard and MIT as well as the Brigham & Women’s and Boston Children’s hospitals.

L’Oréal likes the look of ModiFace

ModiFace, founded by University of Toronto professor Parham Aarabi in 2006, has been acquired by L’Oréal for an undisclosed amount.

Chicago steps into Foxtrot’s $6m series A

The university invested $450,000 in Foxtrot, a curated convenience store business, participating through its UChicago Startup Investment Program.

Saga pinpoints $1.2m seed round

The Lund University spinout, which is working on diagnostics technology for applications in oncology, will use the proceeds to pursue a recruitment drive.

Fazua changes gears with $8m round

The electric bicycle drive manufacturer has been backed by Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners.

Oxford Nanopore comes into $140m

The spinout, which has developed a portable real-time DNA and RNA sequencer, has attracted $140m in funding from investors including GIC, China Construction Bank and Hostplus.

TwoXar identifies $10m series A

Stanford-StartX Fund-backed TwoXar has added $10m in funding to its coffers thanks to SoftBank Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and OS Fund.

Concarlo activates $1m seed round

SUNY Downstate spinout Concarlo is working on tests to establish the suitability of breast cancer patients for a therapy known as CDK4 inhibitor treatment.

Causeway surmounts $1.7m round

Qubis has backed Causeway’s bid to create a nanochip-powered sensor that would help prevent ineffective antibiotic prescriptions.

Emcision flows into Boston Scientific

Boston Scientific has bought Emcision, a spinout from Imperial College London that is developing a range of surgical instruments.

Arcus accomplishes $138m IPO close

The cancer immunotherapy developer, backed by Stanford University, has closed the offering after the underwriters bought another $18m of shares.

SoftBank leads Mythic series B round

Mythic, an AI chip developer that emerged out of UM, has closed a $40m round led by SoftBank Ventures that included another corporate venturing unit, Lockheed Martin Ventures.

Pairwise reaps $25m in series A round

Monsanto Growth Ventures has co-led the first round disclosed by Pairwise Plants, an agricultural gene-editing company based on Harvard University research.

Cernostics diagnoses $2.5m series A1

Illumina Ventures has led a series A1 round for Cernostics, a cancer diagnostics company that has now raised $13m from backers including UPMC Enterprises.

Silanna powers Appulse acquisition

Appulse Power, a spinout from University of Toronto, has been acquired by Silanna Semiconductor for an undisclosed sum.

Agility strides confidently towards $8m round

OSU spinout Agility Robotics has raised $8m for robotic legs that are set to enhance the usefulness of robots for military or courier purposes.

Wyoming boosts entrepreneurship drive

Wyoming expects a new office for co-ordinating entrepreneurship to increase the number of viable startups linked to the institution.

UniQuest appoints Grant and Moore

John Grant will add to UniQuest’s IT expertise pool, while Moore brings knowledge of mathematics, corporate finance and computer science.

Skyroam reaches Delta in $20m series C

Delta Electronics Capital contributed to a Jafco Asia-led series C round that took the wifi hotspot technology provider’s total funding past the $50m mark.

Fundraising

Seventure admits Adisseo to latest fund

Adisseo is the cornerstone investor in a Seventure Partners fund that has reached a first close of almost $30m.

Sinar Mas and Yahoo Japan form $150m fund

The corporates, together with venture firm Yahoo Japan, have committed $100m to a Southeast Asia-focused tech fund that will invest up to $15m at series B stage and later.

Anterra Capital accelerates fund to $200m

The Rabobank-backed food and agriculture venture firm has added $75m to the $125m first fund it initially closed in early 2016, and announced two new investments.

Eight Roads directs $375m to third fund

Fidelity subsidiary Eight Roads Ventures has attracted $375m for a Europe and Israel-focused fund that will target enterprise, consumer, fintech and healthcare IT.

Five Seasons counts out first fund

Five Seasons Ventures has secured almost $74m from investors including Nestlé for the first close of a fund that will target food, nutrition and agriculture-focused technologies.

People

Vincent leaves Engie for Demeter

Earlier this year the city of Paris chose Demeter to manage its €200m ($220m) Paris Green Fund.

Zaveri finds partner position in Gradient

Google-backed AI fund Gradient Ventures has hired Muzzammil Zaveri, a former member of Tencent’s Silicon Valley team, from an investor role at venture firm KPCB.

Sun moves to Robert Bosch Venture Capital

Xiaoguang Sun, a former Intel Capital director, has moved from an MD role at private equity firm Yellow River Capital to head RBVC’s China activities.

Hawkins leaves Universal for LocalGlobe

Julia Hawkins, formerly head of strategy and investments for Universal Music UK, has joined venture firm LocalGlobe as a partner.

Exits

Dropbox stores $756m from IPO

Existing investor Salesforce invested another $100m in a private placement, as the file storage platform floated above its range at an $8bn+ valuation.

Meituan-Dianping gears up for $60bn IPO

The local services platform is exploring an IPO in Hong Kong at a $60bn valuation, setting up Tencent, Priceline, Xiaomi, Fosun and Wanda for exits.

Salesforce musters $6.5bn for Mulesoft acquisition

Salesforce has agreed to buy Mulesoft, a portfolio company that has more than doubled in value since its 2017 IPO, in a deal with an enterprise value of $6.5bn.

Diageo brings Belsazar on board

Vermouth brand Belsazar is the first portfolio company of Diageo-backed accelerator Distill Ventures to be acquired by the corporate.

Alzheon approaches public markets

The Aptus Therapeutics-backed neurodegenerative disorder drug developer has filed for an $80.5m initial public offering on Nasdaq after raising roughly $30m in VC funding.

Arcus accomplishes $138m IPO close

The cancer immunotherapy developer, backed by GV, Celgene, Novartis and Taiho Ventures, has closed the offering after the underwriters bought another $18m of shares.

DocuSign signs for confidential IPO filing

DocuSign, valued at $3bn as of its last funding round, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering that would offer exits to more than a dozen corporate investors.

IT

Naspers to net $10bn in Tencent share sale

Naspers, which invested $32m in the internet group in 2001, three years before its IPO, will reduce its stake from 33.2% to 31.2%.

SoftBank leads Mythic series B round

AI chip developer Mythic has closed a $40m round led by SoftBank Ventures that included another corporate venturing unit, Lockheed Martin Ventures.

Nox is all at Sea in series B

Sea has contributed to a $31.6m round for Nox, the China-based developer of a programmatic advertising platform that aims to overcome regional differences.

Corporates help direct $30m to Digital Reasoning

Artificial intelligence software provider Digital Reasoning boosted its overall funding to $127m with a BNP Paribas-led round featuring HCA, Nasdaq, Square and Barclays.

Dell joins Faction in $18m series B

The cloud software provider took its overall financing to at least $67m in a Dell-backed round and will spend the proceeds on growth, product development, sales and marketing.

Solebit Labs gets $11m result

MassMutual Ventures helped Solebit close a series A round that will support the cybersecurity platform’s commercialisation, sales and marketing.

Blue Vision pinpoints GV for series A

GV has led a $14.5m series A round for Blue Vision, which has emerged from stealth as it prepares to roll out its collaborative augmented reality platform.

Zscaler weighs in with $192m IPO

The Alphabet and Dell-backed cloud security software provider saw its stock more than double on the first day of trading and now has a market cap of almost $3.9bn.

Airspace intercepts SingTel to secure $20m

Proceeds from the Singel Innov8-led series A round will support development and production of Airspace Systems’ drone interception system.

Health

Mitsui treats Columbia Asia in $210m round

Hospital and clinic operator Columbia Asia has secured $210m in a round that contained $140m from Mitsui, which had previously supplied $101m in 2016.

TCR2 squares $125m series B

Alexandria Venture Investments and 6 Dimensions Capital have participated in an oversubscribed second round for immunotherapy developer TCR2 Therapeutics.

Unity brings investors together to raise $55m

WuXi PharmaTech and Mayo Clinic-backed anti-ageing disease therapy developer Unity Biotechnology has secured series C funding to take its total equity financing to more than $200m.

Oxford Nanopore comes into $140m

The Illumina-backed DNA and RNA sequencer provider raised the funding from investors including GIC, Hostplus and China Construction Bank.

SoftBank pairs up with TwoXar for $10m round

SoftBank Ventures led the drug discovery platform developer’s series A round, participating together with OS Fund and Andreessen Horowitz’s Bio Fund.

Navitor nets new funding

Depression therapy developer Navitor, which counts EMS, Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline as investors, has raised $11.3m of an expected $25m round.

Lundbeck pounces for Prexton in $1.1bn acquisition

Prexton Therapeutics, a Parkinson’s disease-focused spinoff of Merck Group that had raised $41m in funding, has agreed to an acquisition that could reach more than $1.1bn in size.

Ideaya forms $94m series B

Celgene and WuXi Healthcare Ventures returned for the immuno-oncology drug developer’s series B round, which included GV and Roche Venture Fund.

Media

Cheddar rolls up another $22m

The business and politics-focused online broadcaster’s series D round includes Antenna Group, Dentsu, Liberty Global and existing backers including several other corporates.

Microsoft comes back to Kahoot in $17m round

Microsoft Ventures, which took part in the game-based learning platform’s series A round, has returned for a round that valued it at $100m.

GV joins TheSkimm in $12m round

Millennial woman-focused email media brand TheSkimm took its total funding to $28m in a GV-led round that will support the expansion of its product and services.

Consumer

Phlur fills up with Symrise funding

Symrise has led a $2.4m first close of environmentally friendly fragrance developer’s Phlur’s series A round, which is expected to reach a $6m final close.

Alibaba lays down another $2bn for Lazada

Alibaba has doubled its investment in the Southeast Asian online marketplace, having accumulated an 83% stake as of June last year.

Grofers bags more SoftBank funding

SoftBank invested $40m to lead a $61.4m funding round for Grofers that valued it at $300m, increasing its stake in the online grocer to between 35% and 40%.

Financial

Investors prove bullish as eToro raises $100m

The Ping An, Sberbank and Commerzbank-backed social trading platform has attracted $100m in funding at an $800m valuation from investors including SBI.

N26 cashes in $160m series C

The mobile banking platform has closed a round co-led by Tencent and Allianz X, boosting its total funding to $215m as it prepares to enter the UK and US.

Industrial

Pairwise reaps $25m in series A round

Monsanto Growth Ventures has co-led the first round disclosed by Pairwise Plants, an agricultural gene-editing startup helmed by an ex-Monsanto vice-president.

Ford drives $65m round for Desktop Metal

The metal 3D printer developer has now raised $277m in total, with Ford joining existing strategic investors like BMW, Saudi Aramco, Lowe’s, GE and Stratasys.

Transport

Blackmore picks up corporates for $18m round

BMW i Ventures led the lidar sensor developer’s series B round, which also featured another corporate venturing unit, Toyota AI Ventures.

Chehejia drives series B to $475m

Corporates Shougang and Intime Retail invested a series B round for EV developer Chehejia Information Technology, which is also backed by Leo Group.

Fortem tracks Boeing for $15m series A

Boeing’s HorizonX unit was among the participants in the drone tracking technology startup’s latest round, which was led by existing investor Data Collective.

KeepTruckin pulls in $50m

GV returned to back a series C round that increased the telematics and fleet management technology supplier’s overall funding to more than $78m.

Ascent Robotics soars with SBI funding

SBI Investment’s blockchain and artficial intelligence fund has led a $10.4m series A round for autonomous driving software developer Ascent that will fund R&D.

Mydadao divulges corporate funding

The on-demand car rental startup has revealed it has secured an eight-figure total across three rounds, two being led by subsidiaries of Baidu and Bertelsmann respectively.

Services

Oyo to make room for up to $800m

Existing backer SoftBank and two new investors are reportedly in discussions to invest between $500m and $800m in the budget accommodation provider.

AllyO brings $14m on board

Randstad Innovation Fund and Gradient Ventures are among the investors in the recruitment automation platform, which has just emerged from stealth.

Hunliji ties up $65m series C

The wedding services platform developer has received funding from investors including Fosun subsidiary Fosun RZ Capital.

Breed Reply taps Europe for two

Reply’s internet-of-things fund has invested in rounds for energy intelligence technology developer Metron and temperature analysis startup Tag Sensors totalling $5.3m.