Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 18-22 May 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
Fund in the News: Sinclair Digital Ventures
Rob Weisbord, COO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, spoke to Global Corporate Venturing about the company’s new fund, which is sized at $250m.
Twilio to back startups with $50m fund
The cloud communication technology provider has set up a venture capital-backed development fund aimed at startups developing technology on its platform.
Statkraft reveals corporate venturing aims
The Norway-based company, which claims to be Europe’s largest renewable energy producer, will invest more than $110m in energy-based companies in the next 10 years.
Glilot Capital closes $77m Bank Hapaolim-backed fund
The venture capital firm, which achieved three exits from its $30m first fund, has closed a second fund that will also fund cybersecurity and enterprise software companies.
Flextronics supplies cash for $100m Formation 8 fund
Venture capital firm Formation 8 has secured supply chain management company Flextronics as a limited partner for a hardware fund being raised alongside a seed fund.
University Corner: Oxford launches world’s largest university venturing fund
GUV editor Gregg Bayes-Brown takes a closer look at Oxford’s record-breaking university venturing unit Oxford Sciences Innovation.
Ant Financial announces $160m internet finance fund
Ant Financial, the financial services affiliate of Alibaba currently raising money at a valuation of up to $40bn, will look to fund internet finance companies through the unit.
Safran sets out corporate venturing terms
The company, which announced a corporate venturing unit earlier this month, will invest in three to four aerospace, defence or security technology companies a year, it has told GCV.
China Mobile to co-launch $800m fund
The telecommunications firm will kick in more than $240m for the fund, which will be formed with a state-owned investment entity to fund mobile internet companies.
Interview: Mahle to put foot on investment pedal
The engine and automotive technology company plans to step up its corporate venturing activity, Head of Corporate Venture Capital Kai Engelhardt revealed.
People
Latcham to boost Schlumberger’s corporate venturing activities
Jake Latcham, previously a technology interface manager for Schlumberger subsidiary OneSubSea, has been promoted to venture principal at the company.
Exits
AppFolio to open doors to markets in $100m IPO
The property management software company, which counts Cisco among its investors, had raised $30m as of its last disclosed funding round.
Acquisition comes in Handy for Homejoy
Domestic cleaning services provider Homejoy, which has raised $40m in funding from backers including Google, is in talks to be acquired by rival Handy.
Alibaba-backed Baozun raises $110m in IPO
The e-commerce services provider, backed by Alibaba and SoftBank, floated below its range but finished its first day of trading slightly up.
T-Venture disconnects from Lantiq
Deutsche Telekom’s corporate venturing unit has exited internet of things chip manufacturer Lantiq, which was acquired by Intel earlier this year.
Welltok buys IT analytics company Predilytics
Digital health company Welltok has acquired Predilytics for an undisclosed amount, providing exits to Google Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures.
Xactly to incentivise investors with $75m IPO
The Salesforce-backed incentive comparison company has raised approximately $83m in venture funding since it was founded in 2005.
IT
Feedzai stays safe with $17.5m series B
EDP-backed big data analysis and fraud detection company Feedzai has raised funding from investors including SAP-backed venture firm Sapphire Ventures.
Toshiba upgrades Exablox series C to $23m
Toshiba America Electronic Components has joined the data storage technology provider’s series C round with a $7m investment, expanding the round to $23m.
Jide mobilises $16m for series A
Foxconn and JD.com have participated in a funding round for Jide, which is developing a custom-engineered version of the Android operating system.
JD.com pays $168m tribute to Kingdee
E-commerce company JD.com has agreed to purchase a 10% stake in cloud-based software provider Kingdee as part of a strategic collaboration agreement.
Baidu discovers Taboola for ‘multimillion’ dollar investment
Baidu has invested an undisclosed sum in the content discovery platform, which raised $117m in the first tranche of its series E round in February.
Morningstar points way to $6m for YCharts
The financial data platform has now raised $14.5m altogether after securing funding in a round featuring Morningstar and Reed Elsevier.
Online security company FraudMetrix raises $30m
IDG Capital Partners has backed a Qiming Venture Partners-led series B round for the internet security company, bringing its total funding to more than $41m.
The big data search platform, which has just emerged from stealth with $14m, is backed by ConocoPhilips, Chevron, General Electric and Intel.
Corporates help Coho scale $30m series C
Hewlett-Packard and Intel both contributed to a $30m round that will help the flash storage provider expand into new markets.
Phison Electronics and Kingston Technology were among the investors in the data centre technology developer, which is still in stealth mode.
Mulesoft integrates corporates into $128m round
Cisco, Salesforce, ServiceNow and SAP-backed Sapphire Ventures all took part in the integration platform provider’s latest round, raised at a $1.5bn valuation.
Health
PsiOxus receives $39m funding injection
Immuno-oncology company PsiOxus has secured $39m in a series C round featuring existing investors including GlaxoSmithKline and Lundbeck.
Healthcare IT company Jiff has raised a $23.5m series C round from investors including General Electric’s corporate venturing subsidiary.
Media
Wibbitz converts investor interest into $8m
The text-to-video technology provider will use the NantMobile-led series B funding to build out its US office and expand its staff.
BookBub reads Bloomberg for $7m series B
BookBub, which alerts users to e-book deals, has now raised almost $11m since it was founded, after closing a second Bloomberg-backed round.
Consumer
Baihe engages corporates for $242m
Shengda Mining and Dahu Acquaculture have participated in a $242m funding round for online dating platform Baihe.com, which is preparing to go public this year.
Flipkart accelerates with $550m, raised at $15bn valuation
The e-commerce company, which includes Naspers and IDG among its shareholders, has now raised almost $3bn since it was founded.
Jawbone’s $300m fundraising revealed to be debt
Originally reported as equity funding, the $300m raised by Deutsche Telekom-backed wearable product maker Jawbone last month has been revealed to be debt financing.
Financial
Digital payment technology company Ripple Labs has closed a series A round backed by corporates including Seagate, CME, and International Data Group.
The payment processing company has now raised $75m altogether, after securing $40m in a Rakuten-backed round.
Utilites
GE and IES embrace Evolution with $22.5m
Evolution Networks will use the cash to expand its energy management software, aimed at mobile network operators, to new markets.
Energy and Natural Resources
Cenovus goes nuclear as General Fusion secures $22m
Nulcear energy technology company General Fusion has closed the first tranche of ts latest funding round, which was backed by existing investors including Cenovus.
The advanced battery developer’s series C round was backed by investors including solar power providers OCI and NRG Energy.
Industrial
Farmers Business Network harvests $15m
Google Ventures has led a series B round for the agriculture-focused big data company, which has now raised almost $28m since it was founded.
BGF explores investment in Rovop
Corporate-backed fund Business Growth Fund has invested $15.7m in the remotely-operated vehicle maker, which plans to now expand in the Americas.
Frutarom flavours offering with $17m Sonarome investment
Flavour and ingredients maker Frutarom plans to strengthen its presence in Africa and India through the investment, taking a 60% stake in Sonarome.
Transport
Undisclosed investors have provided fresh funding for the General Motors-backed logistics software provider.
Singapore Post helps deliver $9.7m to TrucksFirst
Logistics services provider TrucksFirst will use the series A funding to support technology development, strengthen its back-end infrastructure and expand its team.
Lyft has secured a $150m extension to a $530m series E round led by Rakuten in March, with $100m of the new funding comping from Icahn Enterprises.
Services
SoftBank to book room in $100m Oyo round
SoftBank has entered talks to lead a $100m series B round for the India-based budget hotel booking platform.