AAA April 2013 – Page 8

AgBiome grows into $14.5m

AgBiome, a US-based developer of agricultural products to improve crop productivity, has raised $14.5m in its series A round from a consortium including undisclosed corporate venturing units and the scion of a UK-based food retailer. Venture capital firm Polaris Partners led the A round and was joined by peers Arch Venture Partners and Harris &… Continue reading AgBiome grows into $14.5m

Kaplan climbs into Treehouse

Treehouse Island, a US-based online coding education platform, has raised $7m in its series B round from a consortium led by media group Washington Post’s Kaplan Ventures. Venture capital firm Social+Capital Partnership also invested in the B round. Kate Eberle Walker, vice-president for corporate investment and strategy at Kaplan Ventures, will join Treehouse’s board. She… Continue reading Kaplan climbs into Treehouse

Optimizely searches out $28m

Optimizely, a a US-based website testing company, has raised $28m in its series A round from a consortium including US-based search engine Google’s corporate venturing unit. Venture capital firm Benchmark Capital led the A round, which included peers Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures and InterWest Partners as well as Google Ventures. In June, Google Ventures… Continue reading Optimizely searches out $28m

Top-level focus on technological discontinuity

Corporate venturing (CV) funds are often established to generate strategic value for the corporate parent. Thesuccess of CV activities is therefore not only measured in terms of growth, but also how well CV can complementinternal research and development efforts or gain early access to potentially disruptive technologies and business models. For this reason, CV investments… Continue reading Top-level focus on technological discontinuity