Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 20-24 April 2015
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
China’s parliament is set to bring in rules giving markets the ability to choose who floats and allowing foreign companies to list in the country.
Xiaomi to invest in 100 companies, CEO says
Lei Jun has told the Chinese media that the smartphone producer intends to invest heavily in order to build out its internet of things product offering.
Fundraising
Box thinks outside itself with $40m fund
The cloud storage company, which went public three months ago, has set up a $40m fund to invest in startups developing services on top of its platform.
DBS co-launches Hong Kong fintech accelerator
The financial services provider has joined forced with accelerator Nest to launch a Hong Kong-based fintech-focused programme for startups.
Singapore Press Holdings forms accelerator joint venture
Singapore Press Holdings, Plug and Play and Infocomm Investments have formed a media and technology-focused accelerator programme that will begin in mid-2015.
BBVA could bank on London office
The bank is also considering an increase in the size of its $100m dedicated fintech fund, as it seeks to improve its activity in the sector.
MEVP closes first tranche of corporate-backed fund
Middle East Venture Partners has secured $15m for the first tranche of its $30m MEVP II fund, which will support startups in the Middle East and North Africa.
Orange Fab Asia, an accelerator run by telecoms company Orange, has chosen 15 startups from Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei for its spring cohort.
People
Schuder emerges at HP Ventures
Schuder joins the computing company after leading AMD Ventures, where he led 13 investments including backing video collaboration business ViVu and mobile photo editor Aviary.
Ex-GCV staffer wins Canary Wharf prize
A team including former Global Corporate Venturing data researcher Joanna Slota-Newson wins a prize from Canary Wharf Group.
Exits
Apigee interfaces with Nasdaq for $87m IPO
The app development platform, backed by Accenture, Juniper Networks, Sapphire Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners, had raised more than $200m in VC funding.
Recruit exits as ClassPass enlists FitMob
Recruit-backed fitness class subscription service FitMob has been acquired by competitor ClassPass for an undisclosed sum.
Siemens-backed ViewRay has postponed a $64m initial public offering that would have been used to help commercialise its radiation therapy system.
Wayra exits as Rocket takes away Volo
Online food delivery platform is the first exit for the Munich academy of Telefonica’s Wayra accelerator, which will be added to Rocket Internet’s food portfolio.
Galapagos is the destination for $150m IPO
Johnson & Johnson-backed Galapagos, already listed in Amsterdam and Brussels, has filed for an initial public offering in the US.
Nokia makes huge exit from Ganji acquisition
58.com has acquired local listings service Ganji in a $2.8bn deal that gave Nokia Growth Partners its largest ever exit.
IT
Chef serves up $32m for series E
The IT infrastructure company, which had previously raised $65m from investors including Citi, has raised the first tranche of its series E round.
Corporates come back around for Swirl series C
Hearst and SoftBank both returned for Swirl’s $18m series C round and were joined by Twitter’s newly formed corporate venturing unit.
Google services $50m series E for Freshdesk
The customer support software provider has now raised more than $80m over the past year, with Google Capital funding both recent rounds.
Pepperdata seasons series B with $15m
Citi Ventures and Silicon Valley Data Capital both participated in a $15m series B round for the software company that will support product development.
Recorded Future documents $12m series D
Reed Elsevier, Google and MassMutual backed a $12m round raised by the threat intelligence and analytics services provider, boosting its total to almost $33m.
Sprinklr nourishes Japanese spin-out
Sprinklr Japan, a regional spin-out of the social media management company, has launched with $8.4m of funding from backers including Recruit and Piped Bits.
Relationship Science applies itself to $31m round
The Hearst and Salesforce-backed networking management platform has now raised $120m in total and has appointed a new chief executive.
Salesforce-backed Appirio secures $35m
The cloud app developer has now raised $110m in total, after raising a series E round funded by a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments.
Health
The Intel-backed medical administration software provider has now raised almost $100m in financing in total and has just appointed a new chief executive.
Wuxi PharmaTech joins DNAnexus with $15m
A subsidiary of medical research firm DNAnexus provided the cash for the Google-backed genome data platform as part of a strategic agreement.
Corporate-backed Auxogyn merges with Fertility Authority
GlaxoSmithKine and Merck Serono, both existing investors of Auxogyn, have participated in a funding round for the newly merged company, dubbed Progyny.
Immuno-oncology company Jounce receives $56m jolt
Pharmstandard was among the participants in the series B round, which lifted Jounce’s overall funding above the $100m mark.
Bright Lifecare spins out online pharmacy with $6m
Bright, the operator of health and wellness products site Healthkart, has spun out new business 1MG with money sourced from existing backers including Intel.
The Novartis and Johnson & Johnson-backed immuno-oncology company’s shares opened at almost double their initial public offering value last week.
PureTech stimulates Taj in $14m round
Taj Medical will use the money to advance clinical research for its neuromodulation device, intended to treat depression.
Catheter developer Contego raises $5.6m
The Medical Mutual baked series B round will fund an increase in Contego’s workforce and the development of new products based on its technology platform.
Hydra heads for Boehringer partnership with $10.5m
Hydra Biosciences, backed by MedImmune, Eli Lilly and Biogen Idec, raised the cash as it inked a deal with Boehringer Ingelheim to help develop its technology.
Media
MLB calls Shots for $8.5m series A
Major League Baseball’s corporate venturing arm was among the investors in a round that took the selfie app’s overall funding past $10m.
PLDT helps supply $30m to streaming service iFlix
The startup, which is about to launch a Netflix-like subscription service in Southeast Asia, will use the funding to expand and build its range of content.
Jinzi Ham joins Weimob for $24m series B
Weimob, which provides marketing services to users of messaging service Wechat, has closed its series B round led by food producer Jinzi Ham.
Naspers has returned to invest another $40m in the mobile software and services developer following Movile’s $55m series D round last year.
Qualcomm helps to scale Peak with $7m
Peak, the developer of a brain training app, has now secured $10m altogether and plans to build its team using the cash from its series A round.
Consumer
SanDisk helps 3DR series C soar higher
The flash storage technology company helped contribute $14m to consumer drone company 3DR’s latest round, taking it to $64m altogether.
Ensogo raises $29m after striking another deal
A month after it raised $12.6m from VIPShop and Ward Ferry Management, the daily deals service has obtained an additional $29.3m.
Google puts Spring back in its step
Google Ventures and Groupe Arnault have returned for a $25m series B round for mobile shopping app provider Spring, taking its total funding to $32m.
Fanli achieves unicorn status in a flash
Flash sale e-commerce company Fanli has received up to $100m in series C funding from Rakuten in a deal that values it at $1bn.
The wearables product maker, which counts Deutsche Telekom among its investors, raised the cash from BlackRock and has inked a joint development deal with Amex.
Financial
The peer-to-peer lending company has now raised more than $120m in its last two rounds, both of which have featured smartphone maker Xiaomi.
CompareAsiaGroup prices $40m series A
Jardine Pacific was among the backers in the price comparison site’s series A round, which will support an expansion in its service as it seeks to consolidate its position.
Commerzbank extends Etoro series D to $39m
CommerzVentures invested $12m in the social trading platform’s series D round, previously backed by Ping An and Sberbank, which now stands at $39m.
Just Eat visits TouchBistro for series A
TouchBistro, which is developing point-of-sale payment systems for restaurants and cafes, has raised $6m in a round that doubled its total funding.
The Telefonica-backed mobile wallet developer has now raised $15m in less than a year and will use the capital to build its team as it prepares to enter the US market.
Industrial
ConXtech constructs $25m series D
Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures led the construction technology provider’s series D round, which it will use to enter new markets.
IDG helps pipe $15m into Cnano
Nanotube manufacturer Cnano Technology has secured $15m for a series B round backed by returning investor IDG Capital Partners.
Rethink Robotics upgrades series D to $40m
GE Ventures led a $26.6m first tranche of a series D round for the robot maker that has now been closed at $40m.
Transport
Peloton races to $16m series A
Intel, Denso, Castrol, Volvo, Magna and UPS all contributed to an oversubscribed round for the vehicle systems developer, which will invest the cash in its technology.
Services
Gengo translates interest into series C funding
Recruit, Intel, Saudi Telecom, Allied Architects and Libertad all participated in a $5.4m round that will support an expansion of Gengo’s sales and marketing resources.
Norwest parks in Zirx for $30m series B
Zirx will use the capital to expand its on-demand valet and car services app across multiple markets in the US.
New Oriental Education & Technology invested the money in the educational robotics company, which received funding from Zhen Fund in 2014.
Sulekha puts Norwest back on investor list
Mitsui-backed local listings services provider Sulekha is set to expand in its home country after raising almost $28m from Norwest Venture Partners and GIC.
The e-commerce services company, in which Alibaba is the largest shareholder, will use the proceeds for sales and marketing, and to improve its warehousing and technology infrastructure.