Warsaw matriculates Matariki Bioscience
Matarki Bioscience has been spun out under a drug discovery model to carry Warsaw pharmaceutical research through pre-clinical and early clinical trials.

Discern Science embodies UA research
Discern will commercialise a deception tracker nicknamed Avatar designed to initially be deployed at border security and based on research at Arizona.

Bellwether smells the $10m series A coffee
University of California-backed Congruent Ventures is among the investors in Bellwether Coffee, which is marketing an ethical coffee roasting system.

Michigan programs secure $1.6m
Two initiatives open to projects from Michigan institutions have secured continued support from Michigan Strategic Fund.

Nanovis implants $5.5m in funding
Nanovis, a spinal implant nanotechnology developer, has been backed by Elevate Purdue Foundry Fund, which joins existing investors including Apex One Equity Fund.

ProteoMedix discovers $5.3m round
ETH Zurich prostate cancer diagnosis spinout ProteoMedix has now raised $17.4m from investors including Zürcher Kantonalbank.

TeleSense stores $6.5m series A
Food chain monitoring technology developer TeleSense has secured University of California-backed Congruent Ventures as an investor.

DataChemist measures out $1.4m seed round
DataChemist has spun out from Trinity College Dublin with support from University Bridge Fund to commercialise an analytics platform for disorganised data.

Blickfeld catches another glimpse of seed round
Lidar technology developer Blickfeld has secured a $5.7m extension from investors including Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners to bring its seed round to $10m.

Genomics detects $32.5m series B
Vertex Pharmaceuticals has led a series B round for Genomics, a spinout from University of Oxford that also attracted Oxford Sciences Innovation and IP Group.

645 calls universities for $40m fund
Princeton and Spelman College are among the investors in 645 Ventures’ $40m fund, targeting segments such as online marketplaces and digitally-native consumer brands.

Sutro starts IPO proceedings
A month after Sutro closed an $85.4m series E round, the cancer drug developer, based on research at Stanford, has filed for a $75m initial public offering.

Volumental tunes $1.4m round
KTH foot scanner technology spinout Volumental has secured cash from Forward VC, Walerud Ventures and Moor Capital after previously closing a seed round in 2014.

10x engineers Epinomics acquisition
Epigenomics services provider Epinomics, co-founded by Stanford University faculty and alumni, has been bought by 10x Genomics in a transaction which enables StartX to exit.

Corporate venturing deal net: 27 – 31 August 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

Wisconn Valley Venture Fund surges with $100m

Advocate Aurora Health, Foxconn, Johnson Controls and Northwestern Mutual have each put $25m into a $100m venture capital fund.

BLS gives blessing to accelerator

The outsourcing services firm’s BLS Accelerator will provide seed and series A stage investment to startups and plans to invest $700,000 in 2018.

Binance Labs experiments with incubator

Binance’s token-based impact fund has launched plans for an incubator that will supply $500,000 for each participant.

SCG cements investment in Capricorn chemistry fund

Siam Cement has taken a limited partner position in Capricorn Venture Partners’ Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund, which is aiming for a $193m close.

People

Steffek makes strides to Ara Partners

Cory Steffek, a US-based managing director for Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, has taken an MD role at private equity investment platform Ara.

Park drives his way to LG

Taejoon Park has become the second high-profile departure from Applied Ventures in recent months, moving to LG Technology Ventures.

García helps uncork Femsa Ventures

Beverage producer Femsa has promoted Javier García to head its recently launched corporate venturing unit.

Exits

Sutro starts IPO proceedings

A month after Sutro closed an $85.4m series E round backed by Merck & Co, Celgene, Amgen and Eli Lilly, the cancer drug developer has filed for a $75m initial public offering.

Lyft to beat Uber to public markets

Lyft has hired an initial public offering advisor with plans to list as early as March next year, in a bid to beat its rival Uber to the punch.

X Financial to cross over into $250m IPO

Corporates including Chow Tai Fook Enterprises are in line for an exit thanks to X Financial’s plans to raise $250m in an initial public offering.

Tubatu designs $200m flotation

58.com could exit when Tubatu, a marketplace for home renovation contractors, lists on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Viomi homes in on $150m offering

Xiaomi owns nearly a fifth of Viomi Technology, a smart home appliances producer that is seeking a flotation in the US four years after being incorporated.

SurveyMonkey assesses $100m IPO

Alphabet and Salesforce-backed SurveyMonkey, which most recently disclosed a valuation of $2bn in 2014, is targeting a $100m initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.

Amazon strikes Tapzo acquisition deal

Tapzo has been acquired by Amazon Pay India for a reported $30m to $40m, providing an exit to investors including American Express.

Nio charges towards $1.3bn IPO

Tencent-backed smart vehicle developer Nio has set its pricing range at $6.25 to $8.25 and stands to raise $1.32bn if it floats at the top of its range.

Alzheon relaunches IPO plans

Aptus-backed Alzheon hopes to raise $40.3m in proceeds, less than half as much as it had targeted earlier this year before withdrawing plans in May.

Gritstone girds itself for $80m IPO

The Lilly Ventures, GV and Bluebird Bio-backed cancer immunotherapy developer has raised at least $188m in the past three years.

IT

Makeblock builds $44m series C

Yue Xiu Enterprises has taken part in a $44m series C round for Makeblock, the Evolution Media China-backed robotic toy manufacturer.

Zadara stores $25m round

TAEC-backed enterprise cloud storage provider Zadara has secured $25m in funding led by IGP Capital, bringing its total equity to more than $60m.

Indegy identifies $18m series B

Liberty Media has led a series B round for industrial cybersecurity company Indegy, which also featured Centrica and Ofer Global.

Cloudian stores $94m series E

The figure includes $25m raised in February this year alongside $100m in debt financing, and brings Cloudian’s total equity to date to $173m.

UnaBiz connects to corporates for series A

Soracom and Engie have committed capital to a $10m series A round for UnaBiz, which operates a low-power wide-area network in Singapore and Taiwan.

Tascent touches on $19.5m series B

NEC has co-led a series B round for Tascent, which also welcomed Min Aik Technology as a backer.

Spotinst marks $35m series B

Intel Capital returned to back a $35m series B round for Spotinst, having previously led the cloud infrastructure technology developer’s $15m series A in July last year.

Lacework ties $24m to series B

Lacework has developed cybersecurity technology specifically aimed at the cloud and has now added $24m to its coffers thanks to investors including Liberty Global Ventures.

Health

Jacobio dispenses $55m series C

Qiming Capital and Hillhouse Capital have co-led a series C round for Eli Lilly-backed Jacobio Pharmaceuticals, which has now launched a corporate venturing arm.

Genomics detects $32.5m series B

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has led a series B round for Genomics, a spinout from University of Oxford that also attracted Oxford Sciences Innovation and IP Group.

Outset originates $132m series D

Baxter Ventures has participated in a series D round for Outset Medical that was led by Mubadala Investment Company.

SoftBank and ZhongAn form joint venture

SoftBank Vision Fund will own a majority stake in the business, which will sell ZhongAn’s technology to financial and healthcare firms and launch with $200m in capital.

China Life docks in Harbour for $85m round

Antibody therapy developer Harbour BioMed has completed a series B round backed by China Life and existing investor Legend Capital.

Media

Pagaya processes $14m series B

Siam Commercial Bank and Clal Insurance have put their weight behind Pagaya, a fintech company that uses artificial intelligence to offer asset management.

Avegant advances to $12m series AA

Intel Capital and Applied Materials-backed augmented reality technology developer Avegant has received $12m in a series AA round.

Readly spreads funding news

Channel 4-backed digital magazine platform Readly has added $11.7m to its coffers thanks to commitments from two new investors, Swedbank Robur and Zouk Capital.

Consumer

Mitte taps into corporates for funding

Danone Manifesto Ventures has led a $10.6m funding round for Mitte that also featured Kärcher.

Salesforce engages with Narvar series C

Narvar has obtained $30m in funding from a consortium that included Salesforce Ventures, though Fung Capital chose not to participate this time.

Berkshire Hathaway buys into One97

The investment holding company has made an investment in Paytm owner One97 Communications reportedly sized at up to $356m.

Financial

Terra digs into $32m seed round

Four cryptocurrency exchanges – Binance Labs, OKEx, Huobi and Dunamu – have co-led a $32m seed round for Terra, which is working on a digital payment platform for e-commerce.

Deserve merits $17m series C

Sallie Mae has led a series C round for Deserve, which offers credit cards to students without a credit history.

Xiaomi funds extension to ZestMoney series A

ZestMoney added a $13.4m second tranche led by Xiaomi to a round including PayU that now stands at $19.9m.

Transport

Yihang.ai drives $32m series B

CHJ Automotive-backed Yihang.ai has collected $32m in series B funding led by CICC Jiacheng Investment as it moves towards the launch of its first production model next year.

Blickfeld catches another glimpse of seed round

Lidar technology developer Blickfeld has secured a $5.7m extension from investors including Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners to bring its seed round to $10m.

Shansong picks up $60m series D1

Shansong Express has added $60m to its coffers following a series D1 round that featured return investors Hearst and SIG.

MaaS Global makes out with new funding

The corporate-backed transport booking and payment service has raised $10.4m in a round that took its total funding to almost $30m.

Big Deal: Toyota takes $500m to Uber

Uber has raised $500m from strategic partner Toyota at a $72bn valuation as the companies prepare to collaborate on driverless car technology.

Services

Puls finds $50m series C rhythm

Samsung has put its weight behind a $50m series C round for Puls, which connects consumers with technicians specialising in smart devices.

Flare draws in new funding

Point72 Ventures led a $15.4m round for Reinventure-backed human resources management platform developer Flare that will support hiring.

Planday schedules $40m series C

Planday, a workforce collaboration platform backed by Metro, has closed a $40.8m series C round led by SEB Private Equity.

Tencent to mete out $400m in Meituan Dianping IPO

Meituan Dianping’s forthcoming initial public offering, which is expected to be $4bn in size, will feature Tencent as a cornerstone investor.

Zhenkunhang finds corporate suppliers for $129m round

Legend Capital and Shell China backed a series C round for industrial e-commerce platform Zhenkunhang, which raised a total of $85m last year.

Qualcomm helps ship $60m to CargoX

Qualcomm has returned to support a $60m round for CargoX, having also participated in the trucking services platform’s $20m series C last year.