Weekly corporate venturing deal net 20 – 24 June 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Hepalink to invest $60m in TPG Biotech fund
Shenzhen Hepalink Pharmaceutical is set to inject capital into TPG Biotechnology Partners V, which focuses on the biomedical and life science sectors.
Kellogg gets up for $100m fund
The cereal producer has founded a corporate venturing unit named Eighteen94 Capital that will fund food, ingredients, packaging and enabling technology startups.
Deutsche Boerse sets up corporate venturing unit
The stock market operator has set up a strategic investment unit called DB1 Ventures to manage its VC portfolio and fund new companies.
Corporates find Radicle agtech solution
Bayer and DuPont have joined a consortium of investors to co-found a $15m agtech-focused accelerator fund dubbed Radicle, which has closed $6m so far.
People
Moran resurfaces at Lockheed Martin
Christopher Moran had previously spent eight years from 2005 as general manager of Applied Ventures, and will head Lockheed Martin’s newly formed CVC unit.
Nikesh Arora, who had moved SoftBank’s corporate venturing strategy toward larger and fewer investments, has left his position as president and COO.
Exits
F2G grows on investors to raise $60m
Novo and existing shareholder Novartis have contributed to a funding round that will allow antifungal drug developer F2G to advance its lead candidate.
Selecta hits markets with $70m IPO
Sanofi-backed Selecta Biosciences had raised $117m prior to the offering, and will use the proceeds to advance its gout treatment through clinical trials.
Twilio to raise $150m in upsized IPO
The business communication technology provider, which had raised $240m from investors including Amazon and Salesforce, will float above its range.
IT
Autodesk casts three new participants for Forge
Autodesk has invested in 3D Robotics, MakeTime and Seebo through the $100m fund formed to support its cloud services platform.
The Mitsui-backed mobile virtual network operator has now secured almost $34m in total, after raising $5.7m from Singaporean state-backed Pavilion Capital.
Rescale performs $14m series A move
Microsoft and Itochu contributed to a $14m round for high performance computing software producer Rescale, adding to a $6.4m seed round.
Corporates fund Within with $12.6m
Virtual reality video provider Within has raised series A cash from backers including 21st Century Fox, WME, Live Nation, Vice Media and Legendary Pictures.
Zerto continues series E round, boosting it to $70m
The Access Industries-backed business continuity software company has now raised $130m in total, adding $20m to the $50m it secured in January.
Cybersecurity monitoring and testing company NSS took its overall funding to $27m, just over a year after raising cash from backers including Chevron.
The workplace performance monitoring technology provider has completed a series B round that will fund sales, marketing, and research and development.
Resson figures out $11m series B
The round was led by Monsanto’s corporate venturing unit, Monsanto Growth Ventures, and follows a $3m series A two years earlier.
Microsoft Ventures invests in Outreach project
Sales communication platform Outreach became the fifth company to receive funding from Microsoft Ventures in the space of a month, raising $17.5m in series B capital.
LightCyber detects Access for $20m round
Access Industries’ Israel-based subsidiary co-led cyberthreat detection software provider LightCyber’s latest round, taking its overall funding to more than $31m.
Health
Novo-backed SI-Bone has added $20m to its coffers in a funding round led by Arboretum Ventures that featured all its major existing shareholders.
Takeda, which formed a strategic partnership agreement with Mersana in February, has taken part in a series C round to help the company expand its Fleximer platform.
Investors equip Kit Check with $15m
The medication tracking and kit processing software provider secured funding in a series C round led by Baxter Ventures that included Kaiser Permanente.
Annexon generates $44m in series B round
Novartis and Clarus reinvested in Annexon, which is developing treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, and which has now raised $79m in total.
Hengrui joint venture invests $100m in US spinout
A joint venture co-founded by China-headquartered Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine has provided $100m to an oncology startup named Hengrui Therapeutics.
Novartis spells out series A support for IFM
Novartis has supplied cash to IFM Therapeutics’ $27m series A round to help the biopharmaceutical company’s efforts to develop a cancer treatment.
Media
Comcast visits Felix & Paul for $6.8m round
Cinematic virtual reality studio Felix & Paul has closed a series A round led by Comcast Ventures that will fund staffing, technology and distribution.
Legend Holdings tunes into Kaola FM
Kaolo FM, a network operated by AutoRadio Group, has raised $26m in a round featuring Legend’s corporate venturing unit.
LeVR interacts with China Bridge for $46m
Internet company LeEco’s virtual reality affiliate is raising a $46m funding round led by investment bank China Bridge Capital.
Consumer
Nanit tracks $6.6m for series A
Nanit has raised funding from investors including Flextronics and plans to begin shipping its advanced baby monitor in September.
Vorwerk makes Juniqe investment in $15.9m round
Direct selling company Vorwerk’s corporate venturing vehicle made its second investment in Juniqe as part of the affordable art platform’s series B round.
Financial
Alibaba’s financial services affiliate is set to take a 20% stake in Thailand-based Ascend Money, shortly after investing $35m in Shanghai Suntime Information Technology.
Plaid forms funding pattern with $44m
Goldman Sachs has led the first round for the Alphabet-backed financial app technology provider since it came out of stealth last year.
Ant Financial joins Xinmei Life consortium
Ant Financial has joined an investor base that already includes several corporates to help put up $150m in capital for mutual life insurer Xinmei.
Axel Springer-backed mobile banking service provider Number26 has closed a series B round and boosted its total funding to approximately $53m.
OptioPay converts $7.7m into capital
Nord LB and Commerzbank are among the investors in a funding round for payment-to-voucher conversion platform OptioPay.
IDG Capital has co-led a fourth funding round for Circle, with participation from Baidu, Wanxiang and CreditEase, as the payment technology producer reveals its China plans.
Industrial
Kespry lifts off with $16m series B
The automated drone systems developer has added Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati to its shareholders and signed a partnership with Nvidia.
Parsable collaborates with corporates for $20m
Saudi Aramco, Airbus and Schlumberger all took part in a round that boosted the GV-backed industrial collaboration technology company’s total funding to about $28m.
Transport
Poly Group discloses $400m ride on Didi Chuxing
The real estate and trading company was among the investors that provided the $4.5bn equity portion of the ride ordering company’s recent $7.3bn round.
Services
Andela recruits GV for $24m series B
The Alphabet subsidiary has taken part in a round for Andela, which recruits Africa-based programmers on behalf of US tech companies.
Legend helps supply cash to Guoke Hengtai
Legend Capital, one of conglomerate Legend Holdings’ investment units, has co-led a series B round for medical device supply chain services provider Guoke Hengtai.
UrWork undertakes $46m pre-series B
The work space provider’s latest cash injection follows a $31m series A+ round three months ago, and is backed by commercial real estate developer Yintai Land.
CaterWings takes flight with corporate backing
Tengelmann and Rocket Internet were among the investors in a $6.8m round for the catering marketplace startup, launched in autumn last year.
51Shebao sources $10m in Zhubajie-backed round
Zhubajie led corporate outsourcing services provider 51Shebao’s series B round, lifting its overall funding to $14m.