For the second quarter running, US-based search engine Google was the most active corporate venturing unit by number of deals.
Google was involved in 27 rounds in the quarter worth $1.6bn. Deals involving Google Ventures included US-based vehicle sharing company Uber, raising $1.2bn at a $17bn valuation. Google Ventures also led the $130m series B round raised by Flatiron Health, a US-based clinical cancer data company, as well as backing the $115m in debt and equity financing for Lending Club, investing in the $40m follow-up series E for US-based IT automation software developer Puppet Labs, while the search engine’s growth unit Google Capital backed Hadoop distributor MapR’s $110m round, and Freshdesk, a US-based provider of customer support software, as part of a $31m series D round.
China-based Alibaba has been involved in the largest venturing deals, backing five companies worth $2.2bn.
These deals included Alibaba leading the $1.2bn round raised by China-based internet video company Youku Tudou, taking a $692m stake in China-based department store retailer Intime Retail, backing postal company Singapore Post with a $249m investment, and investing $250m in US-based ride sharing company Lyft.
The second most active unit by number of investments was Intel Capital, the corporate venturing unit of the US-based semiconductor company, which backed 25 deals worth $1bn. Intel Capital-backed companies including US-based Hadoop company Cloudera, in which Intel invested $740m. It also took part in Sweden-based mobile payments company $55.1m series C round, and the $40m round raised by Sprinklr, a US-based social relationship platform for businesses.
The third most active unit was Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the US-based chip company. Qualcomm Ventures backed companies including the $110m round backing MapR, electric car racing company Formula E’s $68.5m round, and the $29m round raised by Voluntis, a France-based medicine usage software company.
The fourth most active unit was Softbank Capital, the corporate venturing unit of the Japanbased conglomerate, which led the $50m series D round of US-based small business finance company Kabbage, and led the $50m round for US-based enterprise mobility company Kony.
Tencent, the China-based technology company, was the fourth biggest corporate investor by value, whose deals included the $736m round for China-based online marketplace 58.com and a $187m round backing China-based digital map provider NavInfo.
US-based media company International Data Group, across it various venture affiliates, was the fifth most active unit by number of deals, including backing the $310m round for China-based download software company Xunlei and the $210m round for India-based e-commerce company Flipkart. The Xunlei deal was also backed with a $200m investment by China-based mobile company Xiaomi and a $90m investment by China-based software producer Kingsoft.
Deals by Novo Ventures, the venturing unit of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, included the $49m round for US-based biotech company Otonomy, and the $41m round for US-based biotech company Alios Pharma.
Samsung Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the Korea-based technology company, was involved in deals including the $225m round for US-based flash storage company Pure Storage and the $42m series for US-based identity management company Centrify.
Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the US-based media company, backed the $150m round for US-based home design company Houzz and the $60m round for US-based beauty product company Birchbox. Siemens Venture Capital, the corporate venturing unit of the Germany-based industrial company, backed the $23.6m round for US-based car charging network Chargepoint.
Japan-based media company CyberAgent’s deals included a $10.7m round backing Acommerce, a Thailand based e-commerce service and logistics provider.
See our supplement PDF for all the data and graphs.