Weekly corporate venturing deal net 7 – 11 December 2015
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Welltok was one of two patient management platforms to raise more than $40m last week, showing the ongoing expansion of the sector.
Fundraising
Google Ventures, now GV, will unify funds in 2016
Corporate venturing unit Google Ventures will operate as a single global fund from January, after cutting seed investments and rebranding as GV.
Mobile utility app developer Apus has set up a fund, backed by all of its shareholders, that will fund Indian mobile internet startups.
Naspers takes aim at Silicon Valley
The internet and media conglomerate, which holds stakes in firms such as Tencent, Flipkart and Mail.ru, will look to expand its reach further into the US.
Express Scripts prescribes $25m for startups
Express Scripts has inked a deal with Lewis & Clark Ventures to invest $25m in software developers, device makers and life sciences startups at series A and B stage.
Aviva draws up $150m corporate venturing policy
The insurance group will allocate the funding to internet of things, data and analytics, sharing economy and customer experience startups over the next five years.
People
Norwest promotes two new general partners
Casper de Clercq and Ryan Harris have been promoted to GP at the Wells Fargo-funded venture firm alongside the promotion of four of its team to vice president roles.
Ipreo’s Grill to heat up Gemspring
Bennet Grill has left his business development post at market intelligence provider Ipreo to take up a position at private equity firm Gemspring Capital.
Exits
FoodPanda loses appetite for Vietnam
The food delivery service has sold its Vietnam-based operation to competitor Vietnammm a week after announcing it had decided to exit the country.
Mattel to pick up Fuhu for $9.5m
Fuhu, the corporate-backed producer of computing hardware for children, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after raising $65m in funding.
Cradlepoint absorbs Pertino into its network
Norwest Venture Partners has exited network virtualisation company Pertino, which had raised almost $29m in funding, through an acquisition by Cradlepoint.
IT
Gigster reaches series A stage
Gigster, backed by Bloomberg in its seed round, has secured $10m to invest in its core software development service technology.
The safety communication app developer has secured funding from corporates IAC and Hearst, and will use it to expand in the enterprise and education sectors.
Flipkart logs $87m MapmyIndia investment
Flipkart is acquiring a 34% stake in the Qualcomm-backed digital mapping company, enabling VC backers Lightbox and Nexus Venture Partners to exit.
Platfora finds $30m series D answer
Cisco and Citi returned to back the big data technology provider’s series D round, bringing its overall funding to $95m.
O3b reaches investor orbit to claim $460m
The satellite operator, backed by Google, SES, Liberty Global and Sofina, has now raised $1.9bn in total financing and will spend the cash on another eight satellites.
Swift Navigation finds its way to $11m
Flextronics-backed fund Eclipse and Qualcomm invested in the second round closed by Swift, which is developing GPS technology to help self-driving cars navigate roads.
Palantir locates another $125m
The big data analytics company, which counts RELX among its investors, has now raised $680m in a round that values it at $20bn.
Health
Prosetta assembles investors for $31m series D
Takeda Pharmaceuticals has backed a round that will help Prosetta continue research and development into treatments for a range of central nervous system disorders.
Aslan, which develops treatments for tumours prevalent in Asian patients, has secured funding from investors including Accuron and Tianda.
Corporates help administer $10m to GNS
Health analytics provider GNS has attracted Celgene, Cambia Health, Mitsui and Heritage Provider Network to its series C round, increasing its total funding to nearly $35m.
One Medical counts up another $65m
The Alphabet-backed healthcare provider plans to spend the funding on national expansion, and the strengthening of its enterprise, mobile and digital offerings.
Allena, which is developing treatments for kidney diseases, took its overall funding to $93m in a round featuring returning investor Pharmstandard.
GSK stars in $55m Constellation round
GlaxoSmithKline investment subsidiary SR One returned to back a round that will help advance two of Constellation’s cancer treatments through clinical testing.
Media
BrightFunnel filters $6m in series A capital
Salesforce and existing investor Bloomberg combined to support a series A round that will support the marketing intelligence platform’s sales, marketing and product development.
SocialFlow surges to $7.5m series C
Softbank returned to invest in AOL-backed social media management company SocialFlow’s latest round, taking its total funding to $27m.
Disney pays $400m for new Vice
Vice Media has secured another $200m from Walt Disney Company, which invested $200m last month, at a valuation of more than $4bn as it prepares to launch its own channel.
Magic Leap tries for $827m series C
The augmented reality developer, backed by Google, Qualcomm and Legendary Entertainment, is raising funding at a $2.9bn pre-money valuation.
Interlude continues funding streak with $18m
MGM, Warner Music and Intel have joined a shareholder base already including Samsung, as part of an $18.2m round for the digital media company.
NowThis raises $16m after leaving home
Axel Springer, SoftBank and NBCUniversal have reinvested in NowThis, a video media producer that has abandoned a homepage in favour of social networks.
Consumer
JoyRun reaches Arena to raise $18m
Corporate-backed fund Arena Capital has led a series B round that will support an expansion of social running app developer JoyRun’s event business.
Stauning guzzles $15m from Diageo
Distill Ventures, the accelerator funded by alcohol producer Diageo, has made its first investment, injecting more than $15m into whisky producer Stauning.
Shoes of Prey steps into $15.5m series B
Nordstrom invested in the personalised footwear producer’s latest round as part of a strengthened collaboration agreement, taking its total funding to almost $25m.
Gousto relishes $13.5m series B
Unilever has returned to back the meal subscription service’s latest round, having participated in the company’s $8.3m series A last year.
ShopClues seeks out investors for $150m round
Beenos-backed e-commerce service ShopClues is reportedly targeting up to $150m of series E funding and plans to invest $50m in startups.
Vinted is minted, raising $27m
The second-hand fashion marketplace has attracted $27m from a consortium including Hubert Burda Media, and plans to now expand into new markets.
Financial
Clip receives $8m series A payment
American Express was among the investors in a round that will fund payment processor Clip’s expansion in its home country of Mexico.
Energy and Natural Resources
The grid-scale battery producer, which had raised $200m from investors including Areva and GE as of January, secured another $50m in a First Solar-backed round.
Greensmith forges $18m series C
Energy storage software developer Greensmith has boosted its latest round to $18.3m after E.ON added to a round that already included $5m from American Electric Power.
Transport
The mobile ticketing app for public transport has added Keolis and Mastercard to its shareholders and has now raised more than $20m altogether.
Times Internet is reportedly among the investors in the shuttle services operator’s series A round, which follows a $3m round closed in August.
Services
Bertelsmann enrols in $84m Zhan series C
The online language learning platform has closed a series C round featuring Bertelsmann Asia Investments, eight months after a $29m series B.