Big Deal: Instacart raises $220m
The grocery delivery service’s series C funding illustrates the vast sums available for companies diversifying what has become known as the Uber model into new industries.
Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 19-23 January 2015
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Orange forms $23m corporate venturing fund
Orange Digital Ventures will fund early-stage companies in the telecommunications and digital technology sectors.
Lockheed Martin funds UK cybersecurity hub
The aerospace company has provided $375,000 for the project, which will help develop the UK’s cybersecurity startup sector.
FutuRx opens corporate-backed healthcare accelerator
Johnson & Johnson and Takeda are among the investors committing $28m to fund graduates from the Israel-based programme.
Technogym to exercise innovation through accelerator
The fitness equipment company has co-launched an accelerator that will target health and wellness technology startups.
Holtzbrinck Ventures closes $331m Fund VI
The venture firm, spun out of media company Georg von Holtzbrinck in 2010, raised the oversubscribed fund in less than four months.
People
Dharmesh Thakker leaves Intel Capital
Thakker, the managing director that led the unit’s cloud and big data activities, will join Battery Ventures as a general partner at the start of next month.
Exits
Box to raise $175m from long-awaited IPO
The corporate-backed online content management company will float above its range today, after raising nearly $600m in venture capital.
ARM exits Annapurna Labs in $370m acquisition
Amazon has reportedly agreed to buy the ARM-backed semiconductor technology developer, which was still in stealth, to boost its Amazon Web Services division.
Harman sees Red Bend in $170m acquisition
Financial services firm Poalim has exited the connected device software provider after audio equipment producer Harman bought it in a cash and share deal.
DNA Electronics buys NanoMR for $24m
Dow Chemical exited the diagnostic testing company, which had raised $24m in total, through the acquisition.
Twitter has agreed to buy the Times Internet-backed mobile marketing company for a price reported to be about $40m.
Polaris drives off with Brammo
Electric motorcycle company Brammo has been acquired by one of its investors, vehicle company Polaris Industries, with Best Buy also exiting in the deal.
Cantargia files for IPO in Sweden
The Lubio-backed biopharmaceutical company’s initial public offering is set to raise more than $12.2m and will support development of its leukemia treatment.
Cisco and UMC-backed fabless semiconductor producer EnVerv has been acquired by semiconductor supplier Semtech.
Kabam finds new player in TapZen
Mobile game developer Kabam has acquired games studio TapZen, which had raised $18m in venture funding from Tencent and Zynga.
IT
Fastback goes forward with $15m series C
Juniper Networks has made its third investment in Fastback, contributing to a series C round that took its total funding to $41m since 2011.
Data centre technology developer Pluribus raises $50m
Ericsson and Newtech have joined the networking technology provider’s investors, increasing its total funding to $95m.
Qualcomm and SanDisk combine for Ravello series C
Qualcomm and SanDisk co-led a $28m round for the virtualisation software developer, boosting its total funding to $54m.
AppsFlyer takes off with $20m series B
The mobile advertising measurement platform, which graduated from a Microsoft accelerator in 2012, has now raised $28m since 2011.
Persado persuades corporates to back $21m series B
Persado, a spin-off from marketing firm Upstream, raised the cash from investors including Citi Ventures and American Express Ventures.
The O’Reilly Media-backed satellite imaging company has closed the majority of a $70m series C equity round and a $25m credit facility.
SIG helps Apus develop $100m series B
Susquehanna International Group has backed the app developer’s $100m series B round, raised only a few months after its $7m series A.
Taykey continues fundraising trend with $15m
Topical advertising technology developer Taykey has raised $15m from investors including SoftBank Capital, which invested in the company for a third time.
Rubikloud converts potential to $7m series A
Access Industries and several China-based conglomerates contributed to a series A round raised by the big data-focused marketing technology provider.
DeNA plans to make virtual investments reality
Gaming company DeNA intends to make up to four seed investments in the virtual reality technology sector through September this year.
Virgin and Qualcomm enter OneWeb’s orbit
OneWeb, which plans to provide the internet through low-orbiting satellites, has secured capital from corporates Virgin, the owner of Virgin Galactic, and Qualcomm.
Health
Legend Holdings joined existing backers including Eli Lilly, Fidelity Biosciences and Fidelity for drug developer Innovent’s series C
Cancer vaccine developer Ultimovacs secures $5.9m
Norway-based Ultimovacs raised the funding through a share placement to investors including corporates Canica and Sundt.
GoBalto passes test for $12m series C
Mitsui has a led the round that took the Qualcomm-backed clinical testing software company’s overall funding to $38m.
Samsung contributed half of the $20m raised in the series F round, increasing the medical device maker’s total funding to about $66m.
Media
Corporate-backed audio recognition specialist Shazam has closed a series F round that was raised at a billion-dollar valuation.
Qyuki broadcasts $10m series B target
The funding would put the Cisco-backed digital broadcasting network’s funding total at $15.5m since its launch.
Consumer
Bauer dresses Navabi’s series D in $28.5m
The Bauer Media-backed round has increased the plus size fashion retailer’s total funding to more than $45m, and gives Navabi access to Bauer’s publishing portfolio.
Jibo interacts with Samsung for series A
The $25.3m Jibo raised will fund its first range of interactive personal robots, following a $2.3m crowdfunding campaign.
Meituan groups investors together for $700m series D
The Alibaba-backed group buying company raised the cash at a $7bn valuation, and is planning to go public sometime after 2016.
Financial
Taulia receives $15m payment for series E
Telus-backed Taulia adds another $15m to its funding, just four months after closing its $40m series D round.
Coinbase cashes in $75m series C
Coinbase has raised the largest ever round for a Bitcoin company, backed by BBVA, Docomo and New York Stock Exchange.
Renren finds attractive Motif for investment
The e-commerce company has provided $40m for stock trading platform Motif Investing, increasing the company’s total funding to $126m.
Energy and Natural Resources
Flint Hill refuels Edeniq for $16m series D
Biofuel technology company Edeniq has raised $16m to roll out an improved ethanol production platform that can increase ethanol yield by up to 6%.
Investors fuel another $130m for Bloom
Bloom Energy, an E.ON-backed fuel cell energy company, has further pushed backed an initial public offering as it increases its total funding to more than $1.3bn.
Industrial
Green Biologics recycles investors for $76m series B
The cash, which included a $42m equity portion co-led by Swire Pacific, will be used to repurpose a US manufacturing facility to produce Green Biologics’ renewable chemicals.
Zhaogang fortifies $100m series D
IDG Capital co-led the steel trading website’s series D round, which boosted its overall funding to approximately $137m since 2012.
Agrivida finds catalyst for $12m series D
Syngenta and Sumitomo-backed Agricultural biotechnology company Agrivida has secured $12m in its latest funding round.
Transport
Uber picks up $1.2bn in convertible debt
The Google and Baidu-backed taxi hailing app operator has now raised a total of $4.5bn in financing, and is seeking an additional $600m from hedge funds.
SpaceX confirms $1bn Google-backed round
Space Exploration Technologies, which had previously raised about $250m, will use the cash for satellite-based internet technology.
Services
SoftBank goes shopping at Work Market
The telecommunications firm returned to invest in freelance and contractor management platform Work Market’s $20m series C round, boosting its overall funding to $36m.
The online home improvement marketplace has now raised $100m in total, after receiving $65m in a round backed by retail chain Lowe’s.
To update us on your deals contact Robert Lavine, news editor, on rlavine@globalcorporateventuring.com.