Weekly corporate venturing deal net 27 June – 1 July 2016

Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.

Fundraising

Wipro Ventures joins TLV Partners LPs

IT services firm Wipro has invested a sum sized at under $5m in venture capital firm TLV Partners’ $115m debut fund.

JSW Ventures gets regulatory go-ahead to start investing

Conglomerate JSW Group’s corporate venturing vehicle has received permission from the Indian regulator to begin making investments.

SBI to co-manage ICCP Venture Partners

SBI Holdings has acquired a 35% stake in the corporate venturing subsidiary of ICCP Group, which plans to raise up to $100m for its next fund, for an undisclosed sum.

Partech Ventures closes corporate-backed fund at $440m

The venture capital firm has reached the final close of its growth fund, the LPs of which include Renault, Carrrefour, Ingenico, AG2R La Mondiale and CNP Assurances.

Google and NY Times reach heart of Matter

The New York Times and Google News Lab have joined forces with Matter Ventures to bring its accelerator initiative to Manhattan.

Siemens to put $1.1bn into Next47

The industrial product maker will launch the Next47 unit in October and invest $1.1bn in innovative technology developers over the next five years.

Inifinity goes beyond with $75m for third fund

Infinity Venture Partners’ third fund, backed by Recruit, Orso, Sammy Networks, Mixi and United, has reached $75m with help from the Taiwanese government.

HTC launches 28-strong VR funding initiative

Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance is helmed by HTC Vive and made up of 28 partners including Colopl and Legend Holdings with a total of $10bn in deployable capital.

People

Intel promotes four as exits ramp up

Intel Capital has promoted four to managing director and agreed at least 10 exits in the first half of the year.

Harvey leaves Merrill to set up CVC at Octo

Insurance telematics technology provider Octo Telematics is setting up a corporate venturing unit with Paul Harvey, who has joined from Bank of America.

Inagawa replaces Akimoto at NTT

Akimoto, a 2016 GCV Rising Star, said by email: “I am pleased to announce that as of July 1, Mr Takayuki Inagawa is taking over my responsibility of NTT Docomo Ventures.”

Teo goes from Comcast to B Capital

Comcast Ventures prinicpal Gavin Teo has taken a partnership position at Boston Consulting Group-sponsored venture capital firm B Capital Group.

Exits

Line shoots for $1.1bn in IPO

The messaging service has set its range at $26.50 to $31.50 per share, potentially raising $1.1bn when it floats in Tokyo and New York next month.

Cisco springs $293m for CloudLock

Cisco has agreed to acquire cloud security software provider Cloudlock in a deal that will allow backers including Salesforce Ventures to exit.

E2open conducts Orchestro acquisition

Clark Enterprises has celebrated an exit through the acquisition of retail analytics software developer Orchestro by supply chain services firm E2open.

Syros activates $50m IPO

The WuXi PharmaTech-backed genomic medicine developer floated below its range, after raising $125m in venture capital.

Sungevity goes public through Easterly merger

The solar installation company, which has raised $210m from backers including GE, Lowe’s, E.ON and Solon, will merge with listed special purpose vehicle Easterly Acquisition Corp.

IT

Broadlink connects to investors for series C round

The Qualcomm-backed connected device technology developer has raised $10.5m in a round led by holding company China Merchants Group.

Natural Cycles proves fertile ground for Bonnier funding

Media company Bonnier has taken part in a $5.9m round for fertility tracking app provider Natural Cycles through its Bonnier Media Growth investment subsidiary.

SecurityScorecard counts $20m for series B

GV, the corporate venturing unit formerly known as Google Ventures, led the risk monitoring system developer’s latest round, bringing its overall funding to near $35m.

Ayla manufactures $39m series C

3Nod has co-led the IoT platform’s latest funding round, with participation from investors including corporates Cisco and Mitsui.

Orbital Insight maps out $20m series B

GV and Bloomberg have reinvested in the geospatial data technology developer, while CME Group’s corporate venturing unit has made its own strategic investment.

Resin.io compounds funding with $9m

General Electric and Erisson came on board as new investors as the software development and management technology provider secured $9m.

Citi helps Cylance close $100m series D opportunity

Cybersecurity software developer Cylance has added Citi Ventures to its list of shareholders, achieving the final close of its $100m series D round.

Netradyne goes deep for $16m

Deep learning technology developer Netradyne has secured series A funding from Reliance Industries to help bring its products to market.

Cisco helps instrument Verodin’s series A with $10m

Cybersecurity startup Verodin has closed a series A round backed by Cisco Investments, two months after it came out of stealth.

Health

Storm approaches with $16m

Pfizer and Merck’s corporate venturing vehicles have contributed to small-molecule oncology treatment developer Storm Therapeutics’ series A round.

Earlens filters $51m for series C

The round, made up of an initial $34m and the conversion of $17m in bridge financing, included Medtronic and Cochlear and has a target size of $65m.

Crispr heats up with $140m

Gene-editing technology developer Crispr Therapeutics has secured $38m to increase a round backed by $65m from Bayer and Vertex Pharmaceuticals to $140m.

Morphic transforms interest into series A cash

GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer have co-led a $51.5m round for Morphic Therapeutic that also included AbbVie, Schrödinger and ShangPharma.

JDP gets $17m reaction in series A

Pharmaceutical company CoSci Med-Tech led the round, which will help JDP Therapeutics advance a treatment for allergic reactions in hospitals through phase 3 trials.

SalvaRx finds Intensity for $10m series A

Immuno-oncology therapy developer Intensity Therapeutics has added a $10m SalvaRx-backed round to $2.25m of earlier financing.

Ancera detects corporates in $8.9m round

The food contamination risk assessment platform has raised money in a series A round that included strategic partners Packers Sanitation Services and Metabiota.

Media

Blue Whale swallows $15m

The Chinese business media company. a spinout of People’s Daily, has secured series B capital in a round featuring Xiaomi and Cheetah Mobile.

Consumer

MisterFly takes off with $22m

E-commerce firm and existing investor Vente-Privee has returned to take part in another funding round for online flight booking startup MisterFly.

AW Virtual Mall sells ePayWeb Asia on $100m investment

AW Virtual Mall, a visual-based e-commerce spinout of Allied Wallet, received the money from payment processor ePayWeb Asia at a $1bn valuation.

Thrive Market subscribes to $111m

The online organic grocery subscription service has added new funding to the $30m Scripps Network-backed series A round it closed last year.

Danone’s CVC unit lines up Michel et Augustin investment

Danone Manifesto Ventures is set to make its first investment, entering talks with food brand Michel et Augustin, reportedly to acquire a stake of up to 40%.

Naspers goes Movile again in 40m series F

Naspers made its fifth investment in the mobile commerce company, which has just invested $4m in online ticketing platform Sympia.

Novel Group heralds series A funding for PredictSpring

Novel’s investment subsidiary Novel TMT Ventures has returned to back an $11.4m series A round for mobile-first e-commerce platform PredictSpring.

Qualcomm books room in FabHotels’ $8m series A

Online budget hotel booking platform FabHotels has added series A funding to a seed round closed a year ago, Qualcomm having invested in both.

Financial

Bertelsmann hops aboard Lendingkart in $32m series B

The online lending platform’s latest round, made up of $20m in equity and $12m in debt, was led by Bertelsmann’s local corporate venturing unit.

Infibeam follows Avenues India to invest $8.8m

E-commerce company Infibeam Incorporation has agreed to provide the funding to online payment and e-commerce service Avenues India, already a strategic partner.

Energy and Natural Resources

Silatronix shows the right material for $8m round

Hitachi Chemical and Inabata have formed strategic partnerships with Silatronix as well as investing as part of a round that took the company’s total funding to almost $14m.

Transport

Meru Cabs hails $25m investment

Media firm Bennett Coleman & Co has invested $25m in taxi service operator Meru Cabs as part of a round that could eventually reach $100m.

Services

AMP backs Employment Hero

Alfred Lo, head of AMP New Ventures, said: “As Australia’s largest pension, wealth management and retail life insurer, we will supercharge Employment Hero’s ability to reach the many SMEs that are underserved in this space.”

GlobalTranz sends off 10-4 Systems with $13.9m

Logistics service GlobalTranz has spun out its freight tracking technology developer 10-4 Systems, with GlobalTranz co-founder Andrew Leto leading its series A round.

Zenefits shreds series C valuation to quell investor discontent

The HR software provider has raised the stake issued in May 2015 through the $500m Comcast-backed round from 11% to 25% in the wake of a regulatory scandal.

Editorial: Brexit, pursued by Brussels

As the dust begins to settle following the chaos after the referendum results, spinouts, startups and government-backed businesses are facing an uncertain future.

Big deal: Twitter favours Magic Pony Technology

Imperial College London’s Create Lab celebrates an exit as Twitter acquires machine learning systems developer Magic Pony Technology.

Casting a light on the university venturing world

Gregg Bayes-Brown, former editor of GUV, is working on a survey of university venturing funds commissioned by KAUST and supported by Global University Venturing.

Freeline catches $1.35m

The UCL Technology Fund invests in gene therapy company Freeline, which hopes to treat blood diseases such as haemophilia B.

StretchSense reaches series A

Auckland spinout StretchSense resinceives series A funding from Start Today, adding to an earlier investment from investors including the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund.

Delft shines on Exasun

Delft University of Technology-backed venture fund Icos Capital supplies capital to solar technology developer Exasun.

B-Mogen closes series A

Minnesota University co-leads a series A round in its spinout, which is working on gene editing therapies.

Israel gains Christian university support

A healthcare fund in Israel gets a boost as Liberty University invests $5m from its endowment in a move to stand against calls for education institutions to divest.

Tsinghua to research $7.6bn investment

Tsinghua Holdings, the investment firm backed by Tsinghua University, commits at least $7.6bn to research over the next five years and will set up a commercialisation fund.

Farm Hill harvests $3m

Stanford StartX-backed Farm Hill secures $3m in funding round, boosting the food delivery company’s total to $4m.

Cambridge CMOS Sensors detects acquisition

Cambridge University spinout and Cambridge Enterprise Fund portfolio company Cambridge CMOS Sensors has been acquired for an undisclosed amount by Ams.

Trackbill records $400,000

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign’s EnterpriseWorks incubator graduate Trackbill raises $400,000 in funding.

Storm approaches with $16m

Imperial Innovations has contributed to a series A round for small-molecule oncology treatment developer Storm Therapeutics, a Cambridge spinout.

Silatronix shows the right material for $8m round

Hitachi Chemical and Inabata have formed strategic partnerships with Silatronix as well as investing as part of a round that took the company’s total funding to almost $14m.

Detroit driven by universities

The three universities that make up the Michigan University Research Corridor added $958m and 11,600 jobs to the city of Detroit in 2015.

Allecra is treated to $24m

EMBL Ventures backs Allecra Therapeutics’ series B round that will support a phase 2 clinical trial for a therapy aimed at drug-resistant bacteria.

Cambridge peeks at material commercialisation

Research into a material that can transform from opaque to transparent draws the interest of companies as Cambridge Enterprise commercialises the work.

Sinode is energised by $4m

Three car manufacturers fund the development of new battery anode technology through a $4m grant to Northwestern University spinout Sinode Systems.

Mironid signals $5.7m series A

Scottish Investment Bank invests in Strathclyde spinout Mironid’s $5.7m series A to support its therapy for degenerative kidney disease, major inflammatory disease and cancer.