Corporate venturing deal net: 8-12 January 2018
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Alexandria Venture Investments plants Seed Capital Platform
The newly formed investment platform, part of biotech REIT Alexandria Real Estate Equities, will invest at life sciences startups at seed stage.
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi unveils $1bn investment vehicle
The automotive alliance plans to supply $200m for startups and open innovation schemes out of Alliance Ventures in the next year.
Agent finds $52m for first fund
Agent Capital, formed by Ex-Baxalta Ventures managing partner Geeta Vemuri, has raised $52m of a planned $150m for its first fund.
AMI and Baidu board $200m mobility fund
The Apollo Southeast Asia fund will extend Baidu’s $1.5bn Apollo Fund, formed to support its autonomous driving technology, to a new region.
Pfizer analyses plans for neuroscience fund
The pharmaceutical company, which has overseen a venture capital unit since 2004, will form the fund as it cuts internal neuroscience research.
Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi start up $200m fund
The strategic alliance will officially launch a $200m mobility-focused corporate venturing fund tomorrow at electronics trade show CES.
LifeTech and Ally Bridge treat medtech fund
The partners intend to combine LifeTech’s expertise in China with ABG global healthcare investment profile.
People
Larizadeh Duggan kicks GV for Kobalt
GV general partner Avid Larizadeh Duggan has left the unit for a chief strategy and business officer position at GV portfolio company Kobalt.
Exits
Dropbox files confidentially for IPO
The Salesforce Ventures-backed file storage service has some 500 million users and was valued at $10bn as of 2014.
Celgene provides Sanofi with $1.1bn Impact exit
Sanofi will exit cancer drug developer Impact Biomedicines in an acquistion by Celgene that consists of $1.1bn up front and potentially billions in milestone payments.
Viacom identifies WhoSay for acquisition
Viacom has acquired online marketing agency WhoSay, allowing investors including Comcast, Tencent and Amazon to exit.
Luxcel reaches conclusion with Agilent acquisition
Mocon has exited cellular testing services provider Luxcel Biosciences, seven years after it paud $3.6m for a 16.9% stake in the company.
Allscripts carries out $100m Practice Fusion acquisition
Qualcomm-backed Practice Fusion has agreed to an acquisition by Allscripts, having once been touted for an IPO that would have valued it at $1.5bn.
BrightFunnel reaches its Terminus in acquisition deal
Terminus has bought BrightFunnel, a marketing analytics platform that had raised $9.5m from backers including Salesforce Ventures and Bloomberg Beta.
IT
Rho Capital Partners subsidiary Rho Acceleration has invested $25m in the Cox Enterprises-backed marketing content publisher that will fund growth and innovation.
Unbabel untethers capital in $23m series B
Microsoft Ventures, Samsung Next and Salesforce Ventures were among the investors, as the language translation platform took its total funding to $31m.
Collibra calibrates $58m series D
BI3 Solutions-backed data governance software developer Collibra has closed a $58m series D round to accelerate its expansion plans and product development.
Igloo houses $47m in new funding
Frontier Capital supplied the funding for Royal Bank of Canada-backed workplace communication and information software provider Igloo Software.
The e-commerce design platform Base has secured $13.3m in a Money Forward-backed round that took its total funding to about $38m.
Drop heats up with $8m series A
Drop, which is developing smart kitchen appliance software, was backed by supply chain services company PCH in a previous round.
Health
Stratos secures $20m from funding sequence
DNA sequencing technology developer Stratos Genomics, a spinoff from Stratos Group, also counts Roche Ventures as a backer.
The asthma monitoring device developer aims to raise $15m in a two-tranche series C-2 round that will be led by existing backer NGK Spark Plugs.
Allianz refills American Well in strategic investment
Allianz has entered a strategic partnership with telehealth platform American Well, injecting $59.2m through two subsidiaries as part of the deal.
Neural Analytics signals $15m series B
The brain monitor developer has now raised a total of $42m from backers that include clinical development services provider TigerMed.
Tai takes $10m in series A round
United Therapeutics has invested in the transplanted organ monitoring system developer as part of a collaboration agreement.
Intuity feels its way towards $70m
The Sarnoff spinoff will use the financing to commercialise its diabetes management and glucose measuring technology in the US.
Storm picks up more series A cash
Taiho Pharmaceutical has invested in a series A round for the small-molecule therapy developer that now totals $21.6m.
KBP Biosciences, which is developing drugs for disease areas of unmet need, raised the series A funds from investors including Ping An Ventures.
Genetron generates series C funding
Oncology drug developer Genetron Health, which closed a Vcanbio-led series B round in 2016, has added $61.6m to its coffers.
Genome Medical mixes with corporates
GE Ventures, Kaiser Permanente Ventures and existing backer Illumina Ventures have helped Genome Medical take its total funding to $23m
Consumer
K11 eyes Oben for $10m investment
New World Development subsidiary K11 has backed avatar development platform Oben, which counts Tencent, SoftBank and Dunan as backers.
Chronext makes time for $34m series D
Tengelmann Ventures has co-led a series D round for luxury watch seller Chronext, which will use the cash to expand to the US and Asia.
Financial
NextCapital accounts for corporates in $30m round
Manulife Financial and Transamerica returned for NextCapital’s series C round, which took the financial advice provider’s overall funding to $52m.
EarlySalary earns $15.8m in series B round
Mortgage provider Dewan Housing Finance has backed short-term loan provider EarlySalary, four months after investing in its series A round.
Grupo Sura returned to back a $42m series B round for MoneyLion, which has now secured a total of $67m in equity funding.
Energy and Natural Resources
SkySpecs observes Statkraft for $8m series B
Statkraft Ventures led drone-based wind turbine inspection service SkySpecs’ latest round, which included safety and compliance firm UL.
SolidEnergy powers up with $34m series C
The GM, Applied Materials and SAIC-backed battery technology developer has received $34m from undisclosed investors, taking its total funding above $50m.
Industrial
Nozomi gets Invenergy boost to raise $15m
Industrial cybersecurity software developer Nozomi Networks will use the proceeds from the Invenergy-led series A round to strengthen its sales and marketing.
The mining analytics software provider, which is backed by Orica Mining Services, is targeting a $12m final close for the round.
Industrial and commercial drone developer Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory raised $18.8m in a round led by Toyota-backed Mirai Creation.
AgroFresh packages $10m investment for Food Freshness
AgroFresh has taken a 15% stake in Food Freshness Technology, a food packaging developer that is its latest strategic partner.
Johnson & Johnson solidifies Carbon investment
3D manufacturing technology developer Carbon has added Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC to a series D round expected to reach $200m.
Corporates locate Element for series A funding
Industrial data platform Element Analytics has secured $19.5m in a round featuring General Electric, Honeywell, ABB, Mitsui and Aster.
Transport
Big Deal: Didi Chuxing buys a 99
Didi Chuxing’s reported $600m acquisition of a majority stake in its Brazilian counterpart indicates a new level to its expansion plans.
Grab hits up Hyundai for funding
Hyundai has invested an undisclosed sum in Grab’s $2.5bn series G round, which includes SoftBank, Didi Chuxing and Toyota, as part of a strategic partnership.
Zoomcar collects corporates for $50m round
The vehicle rental service has reportedly signed a term sheet for a round that will involve $30m from Mahindra & Mahindra and $20m from Ford.
FAW moves to invest in Mobike Chuxing
The carmaker has taken a 10% stake in Mobike Chuxing, a car sharing spinoff launched by Mobike with more than $300m last month.
Element Fleet Management has invested $5.7m for a 12.5% stake in car rental service Splend together with $173m in debt financing.
Analysis: Didi Chuxing invests in 99
China-based on-demand ride hailing service Didi Chuxing acquired 90% of its Brazilian counterpart 99
Corporates drive AImotive’s $38m series C round
The autonomous driving software developer, which also counts Nvidia as a backer, raised new funding from investors including Robert Bosch, Cisco and Samsung.
Services
SIG’s Susquehanna Growth Equity has made a $43m investment in Evive, marking the first time the enterprise benefits engagement platform has received external funding.
36Kr’s co-working space spinout has closed a $92.3m funding round featuring new and existing investors such as IDG Capital and Gobi Partners.
Peilian plays on with series B funding
Tencent has participated in a nine-digit renminbi round for online musical tuition platform Peilian alongside its existing investors.
DadaABC translates interest into $100m
TAL Education and Tiger Management have supplied series C funding for English tutoring services provider DadaABC.