AAA News round up 8 May 2017

News round up 8 May 2017

Big Deal: Cloudera gathers $225m in IPO

Big data software provider Cloudera has gone public, but the gap between its market cap and the valuation at which Intel invested three years ago may be an ill omen for backers of other unicorns.

Corporate venturing deal net: 1-5 May 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

Xiaomi ventures to Hubei for $1.7bn fund

Xiaomi will put up a third of the capital for Xiaomi Yangtze Industry Fund, which will target hardware investments, with Hubei’s guidance fund and the province’s largest city the other LPs.

Ping An to put up $1bn for corporate venturing

The insurance firm, which has had a dedicated venture capital unit since 2012, will invest in healthcare and financial technology developers through the Ping An Global Voyager Fund.

Vendep gets Gerako in for VC fund

The utility software provider has contributed to the $33m first close of venture firm Vendep’s Vendep Capital Fund II, which has secured Tesi as a cornerstone investor.

Krungsri finances $30m fund

Financial institution Krungsri has set up a corporate venturing subsidiary called Krungsri Finnovate to back fintech startups that can be integrated with its products.

Hootsuite to integrate startups in $5m fund

The social media management platform has created a $5m vehicle dubbed Hootsuite Integration Fund to support developers building apps on its platform.

Corporates elevate Elaia Delta Fund to $125m

France-based venture firm Elaia Partners has reached the first close of its fourth fund, with EDF, Nexity, ADP and Mgen all contributing capital.

Corporates help invest $212m to build Fifth Wall

CBRE, Prologis, Lennar and Hines are among the anchor investors for newly formed real estate technology-focused VC firm Fifth Wall Ventures, which has just closed its $212m fund.

Salesforce lifts $100m to Platform Fund

Salesforce Platform Fund will back startups developing apps on the corporate’s platform, and was launched alongside an initiative to bring more products to its AppExchange.

 

People

Del Palacio delves into Microsoft Ventures

Microsoft Ventures has hired Itxaso del Palacio from merchant bank Lefe Partners as an investment partner, and she will oversee European investments from the unit’s London office.

 

Exits

Yik Yak’s founders give up the ghost

The Renren-backed social media platform has formally announced it will shut down this week, with Square paying about $1m for some of its engineers and IP.

Whirlpool swallows up recipe platform Yummly

Intel, Unilever and Bauer Media will exit online recipe recommendation platform Yummly, which was valued at $100m as of 2015, in an acquisition by appliance maker Whirlpool.

Zymeworks zooms to public markets

The cancer-focused antibody developer has secured $58.5m in a US flotation that involved existing investors Celgene and Eli Lilly buying more than $7m of shares.

 

IT

Xee tracks corporates for funding

Total and Bridgestone have contributed to a $13.2m funding round for car analytics technology developer and Mobivia spinout Xee.

Deutsche Telekom books a place in $17m Fornova round

Hotel industry data provider Fornova has closed a series B round led by Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners that will support sales, marketing and product development.

Nvidia reveals CVC investments

The company has revealed several additions to its GPU Ventures portfolio, including Abeja, Datalogue, TempoQuest and Zebra Medical.

Orbital Insight spies corporates for $50m

Itochu and existing backers Alphabet and CME Group were among the investors in a Sequoia Capital-led series C round for the satellite imagery analysis provider.

Domo draws $100m in series D2 round

The Salesforce and WPP-backed enterprise data management platform has added $100m to the $330m in series D funding it has raised over the past two years.

3D Robotics adds a new dimension with $53m

Autodesk Forge was among the participants in a series D round that does not appear to have included earlier investors Qualcomm, SanDisk, JF Shea and O’Reilly Media.

 

Health

Boehringer Ingelheim ticks ImCheck’s series A box

Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund has co-led a $21.8m round for ImCheck Therapeutics, which announced its new CEO in conjunction with the funding.

Corporates visit Vivet for $41m series A

Novartis Venture Fund co-led the gene therapy developer’s series A round, which also included funding from Roche Venture Fund.

LensGen filters through $21m

Hoya Group’s corporate venturing unit has led a series A round for fluid-optic intraocular lens developer LensGen which could be increased to $26m.

Magenta gets a $50m capital transplant

Stem cell transplantation technology developer Magenta Therapeutics has closed a $50m series B round led by GV that included Access Industries and Partners Healthcare.

Sosei Group sends $45m Mina’s way

Sosei will pay $45m for a 25% stake in RNA therapy developer Mina Therapeutics and could buy the company outright for about $180m more.

Wuxi NextCode unlocks $75m series B

Amgen Ventures has come on board as an investor in genomics services platform Wuxi NextCode, in a round co-led by Temasek and Yunfeng Capital.

Epic Sciences weaves $40m narrative

Genomic Health is among the investors in a series D round for Epic Sciences, a cancer diagnostics specialist that had previously received backing from Roche and Pfizer.

Congenica convinces corporates for series B

BGI Genomics and Healthlink were among the investors that added an undisclosed sum to the $10m in series B funding Congenica raised in February.

Times Internet prescribes funding for Myra

Online pharmaceutical retailer Myra has raised between $7m and $8m in a round co-led by Times Group’s internet services subsidiary.

Evidation veers to Sanofi in $10m round

Healthcare data platform developer Evidation Health took its total funding to $31m in a round led by Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures that included GE Ventures.

 

Media

Live.me streams $60m of funding

Internet company Cheetah Mobile is part of a consortium that committed $60m in funding to its video streaming spinout, Live.me.

 

Consumer

Yuedongquan trains for $14m series C

Nokia Growth Partners has led a series C round for fitness app developer Yuedongquan which also featured a contribution from Xiaomi.

 

Financial

Nav gets extra credit in $38m series B

The small business lending platform has boosted its Experian-backed series B round from $25m to $38m, with part of the new funding coming from CreditEase.

Insurance software provider One counts up more cash

American Family Ventures has led a $15.5m round that included AXA Strategic Ventures and MassMutual Ventures, taking One’s total funding to more than $52m.

Airwallex receives $13m in series A transfer

Tencent and Mastercard provided capital for the round, disclosed eight months after the cross-border payment processing platform joined Mastercard’s Start Path accelerator.

 

Energy and Natural Resources

Weiyang farms $23m series A

Corporates Meituan-Dianping and JD.com have joined Sinovation Ventures to co-lead a series A round for high-grade pig farming business Weiyang.

Primus Power pounces for $32m

The battery storage system developer took its total funding to $94m with a round that featured new strategic partner Success Dragon and existing backer Anglo American Platinum.

 

Industrial

Calysta to catalyse growth with $40m

Mitsui has led a series D round for the feedstock protein producer that included existing investor and strategic partner Cargill.

 

Transport

Go-Jek picks up $1.2bn in Tencent-led round

The Rakuten-backed on-demand ride platform has raised cash at a $3bn post-money valuation as it seeks to bat away competition in its home market of Indonesia.

Renovo requisitions $10m

Verizon Ventures joined True Ventures to invest $10m in autonomous vehicle software developer Renovo Auto, taking its total funding to $14.5m.

Didi Chuxing collects $5.5bn as SoftBank reinvests

Existing backer SoftBank has contributed to a round that took the on-demand ride company’s overall equity funding to more than $13.2bn, valuing it at over $50bn.

 

Services

Oddup scores $6m

Times Group has led a series A round for Oddup, which is developing a platform that ranks startups by taking into account factors such as funding and media buzz.

Huochebang loads up another $156m

Baidu Capital, which has just appointed a CEO, has co-led the logistics platform’s series B-2 round, adding to a $115m tranche co-led by Tencent in December.

 

Telecoms

Flytxt mobilises DAH for $11m

DAH, a holding vehicle for Service Innovation Group, has supplied $11m in financing for mobile customer data analytics company Flytxt.

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