More than 450 delegates have gathered in Sonoma, California for the second annual Global Corporate Venturing Innovation Summit, discussing topics such as diversity and the internet of things.
“The time is now” for 500 delegates, who discussed topics such as diversity and internal versus external innovation on the second day of the GCVI Summit.
GCVI Summit: Opportunities in fintech and insuretech
Russ MacTough hosted a breakout discussion on fintech and insurance technology.
GCVI Summit: Proseeder integrates Pitchbook
The integration, announced at the summit this morning, will enable users to view detailed company data embedded in Proseeder’s deal flow management system.
Corporate venturing deal net: 23-27 January 2017
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
AMP quiets down corporate venturing activities
The Australia-based financial services firm is closing the New Ventures subsidiary it formed in early 2015, having invested in three companies.
Singapore Press Holdings halts accelerator
The media company has closed SPH Plug and Play, its accelerator joint venture, and will instead focus on direct investments through its SPH Media Fund.
Mishcon de Reya to experiment with MDR Lab
The law firm has formed an accelerator called MDR Lab in partnership with early-stage investment firm L Marks for startups in the legal space.
Iron Pillar to support Fosun in VC partnership
Chinese conglomerate Fosun is set to make a splash in India through an investment partnership with local venture capital fund Iron Pillar.
China switches on $14.5bn internet fund
The Chinese government has raised $4.35bn for the first close of its China Internet Investment Fund, sourcing capital from a range of state-run firms.
SCB syncs with Nyca Partners fund
Siam Commercial Bank’s Digital Ventures subsidiary is set to commit an undisclosed sum to Nyca Partners’ Nyca Fund II, which will invest in early-stage fintech.
Alchemist converts corporate interest to gold
Johnson Controls, Ericsson and Analog Devices are among the limited partners for Alchemist Accelerator’s second fund, for which it has raised $2.5m.
NetApp invests to reach Escape Velocity
Data storage technology provider NetApp has launched an accelerator called Escape Velocity that could reportedly be equipped with up to $150m in capital.
HTC Vive goes for impact with $10m
The virtual reality headset provider will provide the cash to content developers through a scheme called VR for Impact.
Chanel, Cisco, Ecnocom, EDF, Groupama, JCDecaux, Orange and RATP were among the limited partners for the first close of Paris-Saclay University’s seed fund.
People
Lifetime achievement award 2017: Claudia Fan Munce
Lifetime achievement award 2017 presented at the Global Corporate Venturing & Innovation Summit
Intel Capital director Tobi Oke has left the unit to help launch Nigeria-based accelerator and venture firm V8 Ventures as one of its two founding partners.
Chapman joins Johnson & Johnson from GE
Rowan Chapman has left her position as managing director of new business creation and healthcare investing at GE Ventures to run J&J Innovation’s California team.
Graeme Martin hands over to Michael at Takeda
Graeme Martin, a member of the Global Corporate Venturing Powerlist last year, will leave Takeda Ventures in March and will hand over the reins to Michael Martin.
Philipp Ulbrich is the new head of Eon Strategic Co-Investments, as Susana Quintana-Plaza departs for Siemens.
Exits
Novo and Merck Group have exited ObsEva in an offering that involved the reproductive health treatment developer floating in the middle of its range.
AnaptysBio snaps $75m in initial public offering
AnaptysBio, which filed for the IPO in 2015, has gone public in an offering that will give long-term investor Novo an exit.
Adelphic finds Time for acquisition
Alphabet is set to exit programmatic advertising software provider Adelphic, which has agreed to an acquisition of undisclosed size by Time subsidiary Viant.
Kik makes Rounds for acquisition
Samsung and Verizon will exit social video app developer Rounds in a deal reportedly sized at between $60m and $80m.
WuXi AppTec clears HD acquisition
HD Biosciences, a contract drug research services provider backed by Pfizer and Eli Lilly, has been acquired by WuXi AppTec for an undisclosed sum.
IT
Rakuten drops into CafeX for $18m series C
Intel-backed digital engagement technology developer CafeX Communications has raised $18m in a Rakuten-led round, taking its overall funding to $50m.
Alibaba eyes Lumus potential with $6m investment
Lumus, which produces lens technology for use in augmented reality, is already backed by HTC, Quanta Computer, Crystal-Optech and Motorola Solutions.
Secret Double Octopus sucks in $6m
Liberty Media’s Israel Venture Fund was among the contributors to a series A round that will be used by the cybersecurity startup to support geographical growth and R&D.
Aryaka connects to Deutsche Telekom in $45m series D
Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners was among the participants in a round that took the total raised by the software-defined wide area network platform developer to about $120m.
Strategic partners Sony, Foxconn, Continental and Panasonic have all taken part in a series B round for optics technology provider DigiLens.
Health
Temasek veers to Verily for $800m investment
The Singaporean state-owned firm will acquire a minority stake in Alphabet’s life sciences spinout and will take a board seat in the process.
KPN beats its way to Personal MedSystems
Personal cardiac monitor developer Personal MedSystems has secured $5.4m in a round backed by KPN’s corporate venturing subsidiary, Personal MedSystems.
Mabworks engineers $39m series B
Industrial park Beijing E-Town Biomedical Park has invested in Mabworks Biotech, which is working on antibody drugs for cancer and Ebola.
Ovid takes funding from Takeda
Takeda has made an equity investment in new strategic partner Ovid Therapeutics as part of a round sized at $25.9m, according to a securities filing.
Atlas Genetics displays $35m in funding
Wondfo Biotech joined Novartis, Johnson & Johnson and Consort Medical for a series D round that boosted the in vitro diagnostics developer’s total funding to $86m.
Adarza advances to series C with $17m
Siemens-backed immunoassay developer Adarza BioSystems has closed a series C round that took its overall funding to almost $29m.
Macrophage moves to series A with $11m
Novo Seeds has participated in a series A round for immuno-oncology treatment developer Macrophage Pharma.
Media
Ozy gets in the zone with $10m
Axel Springer has taken part in the latest round for digital reportage and long-form media platform Ozy Media, after investing $20m in 2014.
Raze goes on air with series A round
UTA is an investor in the Latin-focused digital media content producer, which has raised nearly $5m as it prepares to launch a mobile platform later this year.
Whistle Sports blows series C up to $27.5m
The sports media platform has expanded its series C round, which already included Tengelmann, as well as media companies Tegna, Sky and NBC Universal.
Kitty Live goes to NewBornTown for series A
Mobile internet company NewBornTown has led livestreaming app developer Kitty Live’s $21m series A round, and will help the startup with global expansion.
Dentsu Ventures and returning backer Intel Capital have taken part in a series B round that will fund development of the company’s first micro-amusement park.
Consumer
SoftBank-Indosat Fund picks Berrybenka
Berrybenka has raised an eight-figure dollar sum from investors including the $50m venture capital vehicle formed by SoftBank and Indosat.
Ring greets corporates for $109m
Qualcomm, American Family Insurance and JF Shea all contributed to the series D equity portion of the round, taking the smart doorbell maker’s total financing to $209m.
Vestiaire Collective brings in $62m
The Condé Nast-backed pre-owned luxury fashion marketplace has secured another $62m, doubling its overall funding in the process.
Miss Fresh produces $100m series C
The online produce retailer has closed a round co-led by Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group that included existing investor Tencent.
Financial
First Performance shows off $17.5m
Mastercard led a round for the payment card management platform that included fellow strategic partners Regions Financial, Synchrony Financial and RRE Ventures.
The Beenos-backed online payment services provider expanded from Turkey into Iran in 2016 and will use the series C funding to move into new markets.
The CME Group-backed payment transfer platform has raised $6.85m and will use the funding to increase headcount at its Iowa headquarters.
Transport
Divergent 3D assembles $23m series A
The automotive manufacturing platform developer has closed a round led by Horizons Ventures that includes its strategic partner, engineering firm Altran.
Alstom shuttles $15m to EasyMile
EasyMile, the developer of a driverless shuttle vehicle, has received $15m from Alstom and will put the capital towards global growth and research and development.
Services
Cuemath adds CapitalG to its investors in $15m round
The maths tutoring service, which closed a $4m series A round just seven months ago, has raised another $15m in a series B round backed by Alphabet’s CapitalG unit.
Alibaba and Ant Financial’s local services venture has raised funding at a reported $8bn valuation, from investors including Silver Lake, CDH Investments, iPrimavera Capital and Yunfeng Capital.
Xuebajun gets a $100m answer for its series C round
The educational answer provider has now raised a total of $155m since 2014, securing $100m in a series C round featuring Wanxin Media.
Qualcomm makes Flirtey move in $16m series A
Drone delivery service Flirtey has raised funding in an early-stage round co-led by Qualcomm Ventures and Menlo Ventures
IFC to carry $10m to BlackBuck
International Finance Corporation is lining up an investment of up to $10m in Flipkart-backed business-to-business logistics services provider BlackBuck.