Corporate venturing deal net: 26-30 November 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
Zeroth to partner with SoftBank’s Deepcore
The Animoca Brands-backed accelerator will share information and invest alongside SoftBank’s artificial intelligence-focused Deepcore.
Base10 brings in Banco Sabadell
Banco Sabadell’s InnoCells subsidiary will invest $10m in an AI-focused fund managed by Base10, which has now raised at least $147m.
Michelin Ventures is in the process of closing its fourth investment and hopes to invest between $28.5m and $34m per year.
SK China has put $266m into a new fund launched by Legend Capital that will focus on early-stage companies in the IT and healthcare sectors.
Bitfury joins Plekhanov university for blockchain accelerator
Bitfury and Plekhanov Russian University of Economics will pilot the program with Russian government funding.
Qualcomm thinks up $100m AI fund
The fund will invest a total of up to $100m in artificial intelligence startups and has already made its first investment in facial and object recognition company AnyVision.
People
Howard steps away from CapitalG
After four years as a partner at Alphabet’s CapitalG unit, Gretchen Howard has left to join trading app Robinhood as a vice-president.
Agarwal joins LG Tech Ventures as team expands
Anshul Agarwal has joined LG Technology Ventures from Mitsui, joining a team of directors led by Dong-Su Kim.
Bulthuis leaves M Ventures for Inkef
Roel Bulthuis, senior vice-president and managing director at M Ventures, has moved on to Inkef Capital as head of healthcare.
Serge Taborin has joined Capita two months after stepping down from his position as group digital innovation director at Aviva.
Exits
Bustle forks out $5m to buy Mic Network
Bustle has agreed to buy Mic for $5m, marking a significant down valuation for the news publisher backed by Axel Springer, Hakuhodo, You & Mr Jones, Time Warner and WPP.
Moderna adjusts IPO target to $521m
AstraZeneca, Merck and Alexion-backed Moderna Therapeutics has set its pricing range at $22 to $24 and would raise more than $521m if it floats at the top end.
Corel to buy Cisco-backed Parallels
Corel will buy the cloud software developer in a deal that would see Ingram Micro and Cisco exit.
The Bertelsmann automotive e-commerce platform has priced its shares at the lower end of its range to raise $20m instead of its targeted $150m.
Data storage business Noobaa, which counts Akamai and OurCrowd among its shareholders, has been acquired by Red Hat.
Enlivex dashes towards Bioblast Pharma
Enlivex Therapeutics is set to conduct a reverse merger with publicly traded Bioblast Pharma, which will be renamed to Enlivex following the transaction.
IT
PebblePost delivers $31m series C
Capital One Growth Ventures has contributed to a $6m extension that brought PebblePost’s series C round to a $31m close.
General Electric-backed product lifecycle management platform Aras collected $70m in a Goldman Sachs-led round.
Roam Robotics walks away with $12m
Yamaha’s corporate venturing unit has led the robotic exoskeleton maker’s series A round which also featured half a dozen venture capital firms.
CyberGRX detects $30m in series C
The third-party cyber risk management platform has raised $30m in series C funding from return investors including Aetna Ventures, GV and MassMutual Ventures.
Sinar Mas and AirAsia have backed the communication platform’s global expansion plans by joining its series B round.
Red Star Macalline Group has co-led a $60m series A round for artificial intelligence company Aibee that also attracted Lenovo Capital and Incubator Group.
Axa’s corporate venturing unit has led the temp agency’s series B round, which included existing investors Acton, Redalpine and Atlantic Labs.
Data Grand nabs $23.1m in funding
Text automation business Data Grand has taken its total funding to more than $28.8m with a series B round that included Legend Holdings.
Samsung-backed artificial intelligence technology developer Wave Computing has taken its total funding to over $200m following a $86m series E round.
Venafi secures $100m in funding
Intel Capital-backed cybersecurity company Venafi has raised $100m, with $12.5m going towards its Machine Identity Protection Development Fund.
Health
Prescient Surgical stitches together $10m
Baxter Ventures has led a $10m series B round for Prescient Surgical, which also attracted corporate-backed Summation Health Ventures.
The company will take its wearable technology and healthcare platform to Japan following a Mitsui-led series B round that was worth between $30m and $35m.
Wuxi NextCode programs $200m series C
Ireland Strategic Investment Fund has led a $200m series C round for Wuxi NextCode after the latter’s acquisition of ISIF and GV-backed Genomics Medicine Ireland.
Rheostat Therapeutics subject to $23m series A
Merck & Co and AbbVie co-led the biotech company’s funding round, which included Mayo Clinic, Alexandria Venture Investments and Amgen.
Stelis reaches $35m in first series B close
Drugmaker Strides Pharma Science has invested $15m in the first close of a series B round with a $100m target, bringing the first tranche to $35m.
Shanghai Cell Therapy diagnoses $39m series C1
Legend Capital has put its weight behind Shanghai Cell Therapy’s $39.6m series C1 round, two years after leading a $26.6m series B.
Kanova captures $16.6m series A
Legend-backed biotherapeutics developer Kanova has secured capital from investors including Tsinghua University-managed Lotus Lake Ventures.
Media
Getty Images gets $500m from Koch Industries
Koch Equity Development will invest $500m in Getty Images following the professional photography platform recently gained independence from Carlyle Group.
Mythical cashes OKCoin in $16m series A
Apart from Mythical, investors in blockchain videogame studio Mythical’s series A round included corporate-backed vehicle Eos VC Fund and Javelin Venture Partners.
Consumer
Altria ignites interest in Juul Labs
Tobacco maker Altria is said to be seeking an expanded footprint in the e-cigarette market through a proposed investment in Juul.
Financial
Open Mineral mines $5.5m in series B
The metal trading platform has raised $5.5m in a series B round that featured mining company Goldcorp, which previously backed a $2.3m seed round in April.
Securitize lands $12.5m series A
The respective corporate venturing units of Coinbase and Ripple have taken part in a series a round that will help Securitize complete a digital security offering next year.
SevenWest Media and Hollard Insurance have joined the insurtech platform’s series A round which was led by AirTree Ventures.
The fintech platform has raised $13m in series A funding from investors including Deutsche Bank to beef up its team.
Smartphone maker Xiaomi led the fintech platform’s series A round which featured Harvest Partners and existing backer Beijing Qingquanshi Investment Center.
Berjaya Group and Sinar Mas have co-led a series A round for microlending platform Oriente.
Instarem nabs $20m in series C first close
The cross-board payments provider has reached the first close for a targeted $45m round thanks to a first tranche backed by Telkom Indonesia, Kasikorn Bank, Rocket Internet and SBI.
Form3 grabs $13m in series B funding
Existing investor Barclays has returned for a $13m series B round raised by fintech platform Form3.
InsGeek collects $14.4m in Legend-backed round
Legend Holdings has backed the insurance brokerage whose existing shareholders include Fosun and Tsinghua Holdings.
Tandem Bank cycles towards $19m
Financial services firm Convoy Global Holdings is considering a $19m investment in Tandem Bank a year and a half after the latter’s $43m deal with Sanpower fell through.
Voyager Innovations completes $215m journey
PLDT and Tencent-backed Voyager Innovations has secured an additional $40m in funding from International Finance Corporation to bring its total to $215m.
Botkeeper brings $18m on board
Google’s Gradient Ventures unit was part of a series A round that will enable the automated bookkeeping company to expand its team and bolster its marketing efforts.
Tiger Global and DST Global have invested $21m in the mobile wallet developer, which already counted Telkom Indonesia unit MDI Ventures as investors.
Energy and Natural Resources
ChargePoint energises $240m series H
American Electric Power, Chevron, Daimler, BMW and Siemens are among of consortium of backers that also included Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.
Industrial
Lingbao Wason Copper Foil to pick up $240m
SK Holdings is set to invest $240m in the copper foil manufacturer as the corporate pursues a strategy to increase its ecosystem of electric vehicles-related companies.
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings and Niantic have joined a series C round for DigiLens that stood at $25m as of May this year and already included Continental.
Services
Drivezy motorises $20m series B
Yamaha has joined existing investors in the series B round which was secured alongside a $100m asset financing deal backed by Anypay.
NeueHouse works its way to $30m
The Great Eagle-backed co-working space provider has raised $30m to open additional sites across the US.
QuintoAndar goes home with $64m
Existing investor Qualcomm Ventures has returned to back the apartment rental website’s $64m series C round, which will support an expansion into additional cities.
Rocket Internet has returned for a $17m funding round, just over a year after contributing to a $26.4m round, with the money going towards acquisitions of rivals including Move24.
HolidayMe books $16m series C and agrees merger
Al Sanie-backed HolidayMe is set to merge with fellow travel agency Tripfez after it raised $16m in a series C round.
Deskera processes $60m series A
Cisco and Susquehanna International Group were part of a consortium that supplied $60m in series A capital to business management platform Deskera.
Topica Edtech studies $50m series D
CyberAgent-backed edtech company Topica has secured $50m in a series D round led by Northstar Group.
GLP helps deliver $216m to Juma Peisong
Juma Peisong has collected $216m in series C funding from investors including Global Logistic Properties to accelerate its expansion activities.