Weekly corporate venturing deal net 6 – 10 March 2017
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Big Deal: NBCUniversal invests $500m in a Snap
The media provider, also an investor in Buzzfeed and Vox, extended its online and mobile media access by buying a 2.1% stake in Snap when it went public last week.
Fundraising
IDG Ventures and Axilor look to new Frontier
IDG Ventures India and Axilor Ventures have formed an initiative called Frontier Tech Innovators to invest in early-stage disruptive technologies.
Accion accepts $141m for fintech fund
Mastercard, AXA, MetLife and Prudential are among the limited partners for the Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund, which will back technology that will make financial services more accessible.
Joyme and Kee Ever Bright launch $360m gaming fund
The gaming services and media companies have put in an initial $140m and will target game developers, distributors, eSports and ancillary businesses.
Digital+ Partners deals with corporates for growth fund
Deutsche Börse Group and Zeiss are among the limited partners for the venture firm’s growth fund, which has reached a $139m first close.
Innogy and OurCrowd look to energise CVC investments
OurCrowd will source investments for the energy company in areas such as big data, connected technology and blockchain.
Dymon Asia pulls in SCB to raise $20m
The hedge fund has raised $20m for the first close of its fintech fund from limited partners including Siam Commercial Bank’s strategic investment subsidiary.
Roc Nation decrees a start to venture investment
The entertainment agency has formed a startup services and investment unit called Arrive and has plans to establish a formal venture capital arm in future.
Comcast NBCUniversal to give startups a LIFT
The mass media company has announced a startup assistance plan called LIFT (ie. Leveraging Innovation For Tomorrow) Labs for Entrepreneurs.
Exits
LightCyber heads to Palo Alto in $105m deal
Palo Alto Networks has bought cybersecurity technology producer LightCyber, giving an exit to Access Industries’ Israeli subsidiary, ClalTech.
Neurovance gets Otsuka’s attention for acquisition
Otsuka Pharmaceutical will pay $100m up front for ADHD technology developer Neurovance, which had raised $27m in equity from investors including Novartis.
Relayr acquires Wayra graduate Neokami
Data security technology startup Neokami is a graduate of Telefónica’s Wayra Germany accelerator, and had raised $1.1m in 2015.
MuleSoft loads up for $182m IPO
The software integrator has set the range for an initial public offering that will provide exits to investors including Salesforce.com, Cisco and ServiceNow.
The insolvent Hearst-backed online auction platform, which had raised more than $130m, is closing after failing to find interested investors.
CA Technologies secures Veracode in $614m acquisition
The Symantec cloud app security spinout is set to be bought for $614m in a cash deal that also provided exits for Telus and Tivo.
The visual media company has sold an additional 30 million shares to close an offering that provided exits to Yahoo, Tencent and Alibaba.
GeoPost picks up portfolio company Stuart
Stuart has been acquired by its existing shareholder GeoPost, which had held a 22% stake since a $23m series A round in 2015.
Lakala latches on to public markets
Legend-backed payment platform Lakala intends to list on the ChiNext stock exchange following a failed attempt at a reverse merger with Shanghai-listed Tibet Tourism.
IT
Confluent streams forward with $50m series C
LinkedIn-backed data streaming software provider Confluent took its overall funding to $81m in a round led by new investor Sequoia.
FBN reaps $40m in series C round
GV and Acre Venture Partners were among the returning investors as Farmer’s Business Network increased its overall funding to about $88m.
ID.me accesses $19m in series B cash
The USAA-backed identity verification specialist has now raised $30m in equity funding.
Western Digital Capital, Samsung Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures co-led the database technology developer’s series B round with VC firm Magma Ventures.
Health
Sanford sends $20m to InGeneron
Sanford Health has supplied $20m in series D capital for InGeneron, which is trialling its regenerative cell therapy in its hospital network.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center was among the investors as lung disease treatment developer Airway Therapeutics raised bridge financing.
Velano Vascular draws another $17m
Velano will use the financing, provided by backers including Sutter Health, Griffin Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, to commercialise its blood drawing device.
Spero shoots through series C target
GV has led a consortium that included SR One, MRL Ventures, Lundbeckfonden Ventures and Kraft Group in an overubscribed round that closed at $51.7m.
Media
Corporates stream $90m to iFlix
Liberty Global and Zain joined existing backers Sky, Catcha and Evolution Media Capital to provide $90m that will help the streaming service expand into Africa and the Middle East.
Ping An bigs up Bigo in series C round
A Ping An subsidiary has led a series C round for the livestreaming platform developer that valued it at $400m and took its total funding to $180m.
Universal seeks Mass Appeal in $6m series A
Hip hop media company Mass Appeal has secured $6m in a series A round led by UMG that included Evolution Media, MediaLink and Macro.
Consumer
Alibaba adds some $250m to its One97 investment
Reliance Capital, Sapphire Ventures and Saama Capital have reportedly exited One97 Communications, selling a combined 4.3% stake to e-commerce firm Alibaba.
Instacart rides investor interest to raise $400m
The grocery delivery service has secured series D funding at a $3.4bn valuation despite none of its corporate backers reportedly participating in the round.
Airbnb clears $1bn in series F round
The round, which reportedly included Alphabet’s CapitalG unit, boosted Airbnb’s overall equity funding to $3.4bn and values it at $31bn.
Financial
Euronext trades $10m for equity in Algomi
Exchange operator Euronext has provided $10m in funding for bond information platform Algomi in the wake of a joint venture formed in November.
OpenText files away Sensibill in its portfolio
Sensibill, the developer of a receipt management tool for mobile banking apps, has raised $12.9m in a series A round co-led by OpenText’s Enterprise Apps Fund.
Atom smashes through with $102m in funding
Existing investor BBVA maintained its 29.5% stake in the mobile bank, investing $36m to lead its latest round, raised as Atom prepares to roll out new features.
Bexio beckons Swisscom to raise $7.4m
The accounting software provider has added Swisscom Ventures to its shareholders, while existing backers also returned for the latest round.
Tata, Kotak Mahindra Old Mutual Insurance and Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance have contributed to a funding round for microfinance provider Fincare.
Veem realigns with $24m series B
NAB Ventures led the cross-border payment platform’s latest round, which included GV and which was raised as it rebranded from Align Commerce.
PayPal’s Singapore incubator graduates three
Axinan, TenX and InvoiceInterchange are the first three participants to graduate from the online payment platform’s Start Tank initiative.
Viva Republica celebrates $48m series C
PayPal joined a selection of VC firms to provide funding for the finance transfer app, which raised more than $23m in a Qualcomm-backed round in September.
Energy and Natural Resources
AgroStar digs up $10m for series B
Existing backer IDG Ventures India returned to take part in a round that will support an expansion across India for the farming data platform developer.
Boragen bonds with corporates in $10m series A
Bayer, Syngenta, Elanco Animal Health and Alexandria Real Estate Equities were among the investors as fungicide developer Boragen launched with $10m of funds.
Industrial
Littelfuse houses $15m in Monolith
The circuit protection equipment maker has invested $15m in portfolio company Monolith Semiconductor, taking a majority stake in the process.
The Airex Industries spinout will put the funding towards the building of a pilot facility that will demonstrate its biocoal production technology.
Transport
Baidu’s $100m to drive next NextEV round
Baidu is reportedly set to invest $100m in smart electric vehicle technology developer NextEV as part of a series C round that will follow a $500m series B in 2015.
Fosun catches The Floow in $15.9m round
Fosun led a round that included United Electronics and existing investor Direct Line, and the telematics technology provider will use the cash for hiring and product development.
Services
WorkJam schedules Novel TMT for $12m round
Novel’s venture capital arm has taken part in a funding round for the employee management app developer that included Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Founder Collective and Blumberg Capital.
OpenRent locates Global Founders Capital for new funding
The property letting service, which counts Northern & Shell as an investor, has raised $5.5m from venture capital fund GFC.
Peerspace makes room for Mitsui Fudosan
The property developer has contributed to an $11m round for peer-to-peer space rental platform Peerspace, bringing its financing to about $18m.