Manus Bio makes series A breakthrough
The MIT spinout has raised $19.4m from unnamed backers, and the plant-based ingredient developer will use the cash to expand its production capacity.

Tsinghua to host corporate-backed blockchain hub
Oben has co-founded a $5m blockchain research project based at Tsinghua University’s PBC School of Finance, while Tencent is also a backer.

Xcelerator embraces first cohort
The Tel Aviv University-backed accelerator, formed in partnership with the Israel Security Agency, has welcomed its first seven participants.  

Liquidia looks to fill up with IPO funding
Liquidia Technologies, a spinout from UNC Chapel Hill, has filed to raise up to $57.5m in its initial public offering.

Facebook processes Bloomsbury AI addition
Natural language processing technology developer Bloomsbury AI has joined Facebook for up to $30m, enabling UCL Technology Fund to exit.

Université PSL assembles deep tech fund
PSL Innovation Fund will be managed by Elaia Partners and has targeted an $87.5m close having secured several corporates as backers.

VarmX firms up $8.7m series A
Leiden thrombosis therapy spinout VarmX had raised an undisclosed seed sum in June 2017 and converted debt to equity in its latest round.

Walshe finds his place with Map
Campbell Walshe has returned to Melbourne Accelerator Program as director, having co-founded a participant and been an entrepreneur-in-residence.

Cerebri celebrates $5m series A
Customer engagement platform Cerebri AI has received funding from University of Texas’s Horizon Fund having been co-founded by an ex-student.

Clearbridge crosses over to $4.8m round
Precision oncological diagnostics developer Clearbridge BioMedics is planning to float, almost a decade after it was spun out from National University of Singapore and Smart Centre.

Neurable interfaces with Michigan in series A round
Michigan student-run Zell Lurie Commercialization Fund has returned to back Neurable’s neurological activity-based VR and AR technology.

Forty Seven fetches $112m in IPO
The cancer drug developer and Stanford spinout floated at the top of its range in an offering that could reach $129m.

Corporate venturing deal net: 2-6 July 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

Sunway beats $50m path to corporate venturing

The conglomerate has formed a fund called Sun Sea Capital to make early-stage investments in Southeast Asian technology developers.

PSL places corporates in tech fund

BNP Paribas, Naval Group, MGEN, KPN and Clarins will all contribute to a targeted $87.5m close for PSL Innovation Fund.

Telstra and HarbourVest ring in $500m fund

Corporate venturing unit Telstra Ventures has transferred its assets into a partnership with HarbourVest reportedly sized at $500m.

Exits

IndiaMart to infiltrate public markets

Intel Capital will sell shares in an initial public offering in which e-commerce marketplace IndiaMart is expected to raise up to $88m.

Liquidia looks to fill up with IPO funding

PPD and Siemens-backed biopharmaeutical developer Liquidia Technologies has filed to raise up to $57.5m in its initial public offering.

Uber and Careem explore merger deal

The ride hailing platforms have begun talks over a deal that could involve Uber buying Careem or merging the company with its local business.

Neuronetics magnifies IPO to $107m

The Pfizer and GE-backed medical device developer has closed its initial public offering after the underwriters took up the over-allotment option.

Hujiang to graduate to public markets

The online education platform, which counts Baidu and Wanxin as investors, plans to float in Hong Kong.

BP fuels BMW exit with Chargemaster acquisition

BMW i Ventures is set to exit EV charger developer Chargemaster in a purchase of undisclosed size by BP.

Pinduoduo pursues billion-dollar IPO

The Tencent-backed group buying platform has filed to list in the US having raised almost $2.4bn in funding over the past year.

Forty Seven fetches $112m in IPO

The GV-backed cancer drug developer floated at the top of its range in an offering that could reach $129m.

IT

Google fuels KaiOS with $22m investment

KaiOS Technologies, the developer of a low-memory mobile operating system, has received $22m from new strategic partner Google.

XL Innovate goes Windward in series C round

Marine data provider Windward has now raised almost $39m, having secured $16.5m in a round led by XL Catlin’s corporate venturing unit.

Dolead loads up with $15m

The digital marketing software provider, which counts Adverline as an existing investor, quadrupled its total funding in a Ring Capital and XAnge-backed round.

Citrix identifies Veridium as series B target

The biometric authentication technology developer has closed a $16.5m round featuring Citrix that will fund product development, sales and marketing.

ThetaRay threads $30m of new funding

The financial security technology developer doubled its total funding to $60m with a round featuring long-term backer General Electric.

Corporates help Savioke secure series B cash

The $13.4m round took the delivery robot developer’s total funding to $31m and featured Swisslog Healthcare, Brain Corp, Recruit and NEC.

Abeja attracts corporates for series C round

Nvidia, Topcon, Daikin, Musashi Seimitsu Industry and Japan Post Capital all contributed to the $38.3m round as new investors.

Dell monitors Jask in $25m series B

Dell Technologies Capital has returned to invest in the cybersecurity technology developer after co-leading its series A round last June.

Cordial sends out $15m message

The email platform developer, a graduate of R/GA’s Connected Commerce Accelerator, has closed a series B round led by PeakSpan.

BitSight builds $60m series D

The risk management technology provider has closed a Singtel Innov8-backed round that increased its total funding to $155m.

DC Thompson makes Trax in $125m round

Retail data analytics provider Trax increased its overall funding to $235m in a DC Thompson-backed round that valued it at almost $1bn.

Intel pounces on Preempt in series B round

Cybersecurity software developer Preempt raised $17.5m in a round backed by Intel Capital, taking its funding to $27.5m altogether.

Balbix bills Singtel to raise $20m

Singtel Innov8 co-led the cybersecurity software developer’s series B round with Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company.

Codefresh cracks series B with $8m

Microsoft’s M12 unit led software delivery platform’s Codefresh’s latest round, which included CreditEase’s Israel Innovation Fund.

JD.com bids hello to BoCloud

JD.com has provided about $15m in funding for cloud services provider BoCloud through its JCloud and JD Finance subsidiaries.

Domo oversees $193m flotation

The business management platform, which had raised $700m from investors including Salesforce and WPP, floated near the top of its range.

Nextail nails down $10m

The AI retail inventory tracking platform has closed a series A round that included telecoms and retail group Sonae’s corporate venturing unit.

Puppet pops up with $42m

The software automation platform has now raised $127m in funding in total, raising cash in a Cisco Investments-led round that included VMware.

Noodle.ai threads its way to $35m

The enterprise AI software startup increased its overall funding to $51m in a Dell Technologies Capital-led series B round.

Catalog sells investors on $9m

Line has backed Catalog Technologies’ DNA-based approach to data storage to take the startup’s total funding to $14m.

Health

NBE invites corporates to double its series B

Novo and returning investor Boehringer Ingelheim both contributed to the second tranche of a round that is now just over $40m in size.

Corporates get in Bind for $70m round

Health insurance platform Bind has raised funding from a consortium featuring strategic partner UnitedHealthcare and Ascension Ventures.

Philips to help fill American Well with cash

Telehealth platform American Well has raised $291m of a planned $315m round, the investors including strategic partner Philips.

I-Mab imports $220m in series C round

Tasly Pharmaceuticals contributed to a series C round for the immunotherapy developer, a year after backing its $150m series B.

Inthera binds funding to series A round

The cancer therapy developer has closed an $11.1m series A round featuring M Ventures and seed-stage backer Novo Seeds.

HaploX hacks series B

The SoftBank-backed genetic liquid biopsy technology developer has raised a nine-figure renminbi amount in a Shenzhen Capital-led round.

Media

Philo feeds itself with $40m

Existing corporate backers AMC Networks, Discovery and Viacom have returned for a series C round that will fund marketing and product development.

Fever heats up $20m series C

The social discovery platform has closed a series C round co-led by Atresmedia and Labtech that took its total funding to more than $43m.

High Fidelity amplifies funding with $35m

The GV-backed virtual reality development platform has now raised more than $70m in total, after closing a Galaxy Digital Ventures-led series D round.

Oh BiBi shoots for $21m

Gumi-backed mobile game developer Oh BiBi has now raised more than $25m altogether, as it prepares to launch its next title.

Signal attracts GMG for $16m series B

The media tracking platform received the funding in a GMG Ventures-led round backed by fellow corporate venturing units Hearst Ventures and REV.

Consumer

Califia Farms harvests $50m in funding

Sun Pacific spinoff Califia will use the proceeds from the round, which included its parent company, to expand its plant-based drink product range.

Comcast goes Away again in $50m round

Luggage brand Away took its funding to $81m inside two years, raising  $50m from existing investors including Comcast Ventures.

Aikucun stocks up with series B funding

Legend Capital led an $87.5m round for Aikucun, which helps fashion brands offload excess inventory to online retailers.

B8ta bags $19m

Macy’s led retail space provider B8ta’s series B round, which also featured property developer CapitaLand, taking its total equity funding to $30m.

Parachute sets down with $30m

The home products producer will use the proceeds from the Grace Beauty Capital-backed series C round to expand its range and open more stores.

Financial

Furongbao fulfills series B pursuit with $120m

The undisclosed controlling shareholder of appliance maker Wanjiale has supplied SoftBank-backed business lending platform Furongbao with funding.

ETechAces emits more funding details

A stock exchange filing has revealed Info Edge and Temasek have invested $27.7m in the company, perhaps as part of its recent series F round.

Bought By Many sells CommerzVentures on series B

The specialist insurance network has received $19.8m in a CommerzVentures-led round backed by Marsh and Munich Re/HSB Ventures.

Airwallex accesses corporates for $80m

Existing investor Tencent and BCA’s Central Capital Ventura unit took part in a series B round that will fund international growth.

Liberty Mutual takes Rein stake

Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures has led a $7.3m round for insurance risk technology provider Rein, which released a drone insurance product last month.

Energy and Natural Resources

Tokyo Electric powers up new unit

Tepco Ventures will take the place of the power producer’s New Business Task Force and will focus on incubating new companies.

BrightFarms reaps $55m in series D cash

The Tengelmann-backed urban farming company took its overall funding to $111m in a series D round led by Cox Enterprises.

Transport

Jybd trucks in $46m

Trucking services platform Manbang Group put up the series A cash as part of a strategic partnership with the automotive services provider.

Shuttl rides to $11m series B

Dentsu Ventures, BCC and Amazon are reportedly set to be among the investors in a round that will add to the company’s 2015 series A.

Services

Investors gather around Campfire in $18m round

Kwai Hung Group led a series A round for the shared space provider that was also backed by Sa Sa International, and which will fund growth.

Haifeng hits up TAL Education for cash

The education provider has co-led a series C-plus round for tutoring platform Hafeng that took its funding for the last two rounds to more than $100m.