In 2018 GCV Analytics tracked 2,775 deals worth an estimated total of $180.17bn. While the number of deals increased on a year-on-year basis – 14% compared with the 2,427 transactions reported in 2017 – the total value of corporate-backed VC rounds grew by 55%, reaching an all-time high.
Nearly half the corporate-backed transactions last year took place in the US (1,322). Other notable innovation geographies were China (328), India (173), the UK (156), Israel (90) and Canada (59).
Emerging businesses from six sectors raised the largest number of corporate-backed rounds – IT with 556 deals, health with 465, financial services with 391, business services with 364, media with 262 and consumer with 259.
These figures do not necessarily always coincide with the sectors that have drawn most attention in the media or raised most capital.
Looking at 2018 on a quarterly basis, the deal count rose from 642 deals in the first quarter to 740 transactions in second, briefly plateauing at 729 transactions in the third, only to slide back down to 664 deals in the fourth.
In terms of total value, there was an upward trend during the second and fourth quarters in comparison with preceding quarters. The second and fourth quarters registered the the highest estimated total capital involved in corporate-backed rounds per quarter at $50.46bn and $58.84bn, the latter a record.
Similar to 2017, US and Asia-based investors were the top corporate investors in 2018 – diversified internet conglomerate Alphabet with 104 deals, telecoms company SoftBank with 69 and internet company Tencent with 65, e-commerce firm Alibaba with 62, financial services firm Goldman Sachs with 54, semiconductor manufacturer Intel with 49 and cloud service provider Salesforce with 49, among others. The top three investors involved in the largest rounds were SoftBank, Alibaba and Tencent.
Deals
GCV Analytics tracked many large deals through 2018. All the top deals were well above $2bn. These rounds were raised mostly by emerging businesses in consumer-oriented businesses such as food delivery, bike rentals as well as in logistics, autonomous automotive technologies and other areas. The most frequent corporate backer of these top rounds were Alibaba, Tencent and SoftBank.
Cigarette manufacturer Altria Group paid $12.8bn for a 35% stake in e-cigarette maker Juul Labs. The transaction valued the company at $38bn. The stake purchase reportedly gave hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management a $1.6bn dividend, while Juul’s employees were said to have received some $2bn through the deal. The company had declined Altria’s initial approach in early 2018, when it proposed acquiring Juul at a valuation of approximately $5bn. Juul was formed by vaporiser producer Pax Labs in 2015 before being spun off two years later.
Ele.me and Koubei, the merged local services subsidiaries of Alibaba, raised $4bn at a $30bn valuation from investors including the SoftBank Vision Fund, Alibaba and its financial services affiliate Ant Financial, and private equity group Primavera Capital. The capital was provided to support the merger of Ele.me, the portfolio company Alibaba fully acquired at a $9.5bn valuation, and Koubei, the Alibaba spinoff that had secured $1.1bn from investors at an $8.8bn valuation. The merged company will provide mobile users with access to a wide range of local services including retail, food delivery, travel and accommodation.
China-based digital media company Bytedance raised $3bn from investors including SoftBank at a $75bn valuation. Growth equity firm General Atlantic and investment firms KKR and Primavera Capital Group also took part in the round. SoftBank had reportedly intended to invest $1.8bn in the round, depending on whether secondary shares were available. Bytedance’s best known property is news aggregation app Toutiao, which had 120 million daily active users at the start of 2018, but it also runs short-form video platform TikTok, which has more than 500 million monthly active users, and photo modification app Faceu. The company has recently launched additional products, such as budget e-commerce platform Zhidian and social commerce app Xincao.
The SoftBank Vision Fund invested $3bn in one of its biggest portfolio companies, US-based workspace provider WeWork, which agreed to receive the first $1.5bn this month and the other half in April, in the form of warrants that give the Vision Fund the opportunity to buy WeWork stock at $110 a share or higher by September. Founded in 2010, WeWork oversees a network of flexible workspaces in more than 30 countries on five continents. They are leased from landlords and rented out to businesses or individuals by the desk or office. It is also branching out into managing housing, leisure and educational spaces.
Alibaba bought $3bn of shares in China-based bicycle-rental platform Ofo from investor Allen Zhu. Alibaba reportedly acquired the shares at a $10bn valuation though the stake was probably held by GSR Ventures, the venture capital firm that backed Ofo at series A, B and C stages and of which Zhu is managing director. Founded in 2014, Ofo runs an app-based platform that had 200 million registered users worldwide at the end of 2017. It has 10 million bikes in service in 250 cities across 22 countries.
Exits
GCV Analytics tracked 228 exits involving corporate venturers and companies backed by corporates. This represents a 7% increase over the previous year’s level (214). The US hosted nearly two-thirds (148) of these transactions, followed by China (30). The total estimated capital involved in the exits was $82.88bn, a 70% increase over the $48.82bn tracked in 2017. Most of the top exits for 2018 were acquisitions and stake sales.
Retail group Walmart closed its record-breaking $16bn acquisition of a 77% stake in India-based online marketplace Flipkart, enabling SoftBank and e-commerce company eBay to exit. The deal valued Flipkart at approximately $20.8bn. Although some investors, including SoftBank and eBay, exited entirely through the deal, others, such as Tencent, software provider Microsoft and investment firm Tiger Global Management retained their stakes. Tencent and Tiger Global also kept their board seats. Flipkart runs an e-commerce platform that lists more than 80 million products in about 80 categories including electronics, appliances, clothing and home goods. It also owns fashion e-commerce subsidiaries Myntra and Jabong, as well as payment app PhonePe.
Media and e-commerce firm Naspers sold HK$76.95bn ($9.8bn) of shares in Tencent, the China-based internet group in which it was an early investor since 2011. Naspers had acquired a 46.5% share of Tencent through its $32m investment three years before its IPO in Hong Kong. The company sold 190 million shares, a 2% stake in Tencent, at HK$405 each. The share price fell 4.5% in Hong Kong when the transaction took place. Though the price has since recovered, Naspers pledged not to sell more shares for the next three years. Tencent operates a large-scale online services offering centred on its messaging app, WeChat, which has more than 1 billion users. By the fourth quarter of 2017 it was the fifth most valuable company in the world, and it had a market capitalisation of about $505bn at the time of the transaction.
China-based consumer electronics producer Xiaomi, which counts mobile semiconductor maker Qualcomm as an investor, raised $4.72bn in its IPO, pricing about 2.18 billion shares at the low end of the HK$17 to HK$22 range it had previously set. The price valued Xiaomi at about $54bn. The offering was originally intended to be a dual offering that would have raised up to $10bn, but Xiaomi was forced to drop the Shanghai portion, reportedly after failing to answer several questions from Chinese regulators. Founded in 2010, Xiaomi designs and manufactures smartphones as well as other electronic devices such as smart home products, tablets and televisions which are connected through its MIUI operating system. It made a RMB43.8bn net loss in 2017 from revenues of RMB115bn.
China-based local services platform Meituan Dianping raised $4.22bn in an IPO that included a $400m investment by Tencent. Meituan Dianping issued 480 million primary shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at HK$69 each, near the top of the IPO’s HK$60 to HK$72 range. The offering valued the company at about $52bn. Tencent was joined as a cornerstone investor in the IPO by asset manager Oppenheimer, which bought $500m of shares. Established in 2015 through a merger of group buying platform Meituan and restaurant listings service Dianping, Meituan Dianping now operates an online portal that links to a range of services including food delivery, travel booking and event ticketing.
Alibaba merged online food delivery subsidiary Ele.me with its local services spinoff Koubei with funding from SoftBank. The corporate had previously joined SoftBank to provide about $3bn of funding for the new but still unnamed entity to compete with Meituan Dianping. Alibaba had already invested $1bn in Ele.me when it acquired the rest of the company, which was valued at $9.5bn. It had also launched Koubei in tandem with its financial services affiliate Ant Financial three years previously. The newly-merged company will cover about 3.5 million merchants in more than 670 Chinese cities and use Alibaba’s expertise in areas such as new retail technology, membership, marketing, logistics and finance.
Its rival Meituan-Dianping agreed to acquire China-based bike rental service Mobike for $2.7bn. The transaction was reportedly being brokered by Pony Ma, chief executive of Tencent, which also owns a stake in Meituan-Dianping. Founded in 2015, Mobike operates an app-based dockless bike-sharing service that has attracted hundreds of millions of registered users. The company entered its 200th market in January 2018 when it launched its service in Paris. Mobike had attempted unsuccessfully to merge with its rival Ofo.
Funding initiatives
GCV tracked 273 funding initiatives that received corporate backing in 2018, including 157 venture funds, 66 new venturing units, 29 corporate-backed accelerators, eight incubators and 13 other initiatives. Most were set up in North America (111), Asia (88) and Europe (50). The countries that hosted the largest number of such initiatives were the US (101), China (38), Japan (16), France (16) and Singapore (13).
The overall number of initiatives was 7% lower than the 293 we reported in 2017. The total estimated value of the initiatives at $75.19bn was significantly higher than 2017’s $43.82bn, though this was largely due to the unusually large second Softbank Vision Fund, which is currently being raised and for which large commitments were announced in the second half of last year.
The top funding initiatives last year ranged in scope of their targeted sectors from logistics and consumer through energy and autotech to blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Asia accounted for $59.19bn or about 79% of the total capital raised in such initiatives in 2018.
The relative weight of Asia, however, was attributable to one new large fund. Saudi Arabia’s state-owned Public Investment Fund (PIF) agreed to commit $45bn to the second SoftBank Vision Fund, replicating the contribution it made to the first, which had secured $97.7bn of its $100bn target by the end of 2017. SoftBank was reported to have begun talks with prospective limited partners for a second fund. Its first fund included contributions from Apple, Foxconn, Sharp and Qualcomm, and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company.
Singapore-based logistics provider GLP launched a $1.6bn investment fund to target the logistics ecosystem in China. The fund will be managed by Hidden Hill Capital, the private equity arm of the corporate’s local subsidiary, GLP China. Limited partners include unnamed insurance providers and long-term institutional investors, such as investment firm China Post Capital. Hidden Hill Modern Logistics Private Equity Fund will be the only fund in China dedicated entirely to the logistics sector, according to GLP. The company currently has $50bn of assets under management, much of which is concentrated in real estate and expects to attract additional funds in future.
China-based oil, gas and chemicals supplier Sinopec formed investment firm Sinopec Capital equipped with RMB10bn. It will invest in emerging areas such as new energy, advanced materials, artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing and supply chain technologies. Although Sinopec did not state directly that the vehicle would invest in startups, it said its activities would cover equity investments and management as well as project investments and asset management. The fund will get 49% of its capital from oil and gas refiner Sinopec Corp and the remaining 51% from parent company Sinopec Group.
JD.com joined a range of partners to raise up to RMB40bn for venture capital fund Starquest Capital, which is also known as Xingjie Capital. It will be run by private equity firm China Reform Holdings, which already oversees the $30bn Chinese state-owned Capital Venture Investment Fund. VC firm Sequoia Capital China is also a limited partner in the vehicle. The renminbi-denominated fund will target later-stage investments in technology companies and it has secured 25% – about $1.45bn – of its target, reportedly raising capital from domestic backers.
China-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced a $1bn fund to invest in blockchain and cryptocurrency startups. The Community Influence fund will be denominated in Binance’s own cryptocurrency, BNB, and will invest both directly and through other funds. Binance will seek experienced fund managers – defined by the company as those that have managed at least $100m in assets – to create new funds. The company also hopes to launch a Binance Ecosystem Fund with 20 as-yet-unnamed partners.
Automotive manufacturing partnership Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi took the wraps off corporate venturing vehicle Alliance Ventures, through which it intends to invest up to $1bn. The unit plans to provide up to $200m to startups and open innovation projects during its first year of operation. It intends to commit the full $1bn over a five-year period. The alliance, initially formed when France-based automaker Renault and Japan-headquartered Nissan exchanged equity stakes in 1999, was extended in 2016 when Nissan acquired a 34% share of Japan-based Mitsubishi. The unit will target mobility technologies such as automotive electrification, vehicle connectivity, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. It intends to invest at all stages of company development as well as incubating new businesses. The unit will be co-located in Paris, Yokohama and Beijing. Renault and Nissan will each provide 40% of the capital, while Mitsubishi will supply the remaining 20%.
China-based venture capital firm Qiming Venture Partners closed a $935m fund, securing capital from limited partners including medical practice and research group Mayo Clinic. Qiming Venture USD Fund VI’s LPs also included Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Duke University as well as superannuation fund NGS Super, Commonfund, Hall Capital Partners and the Dietrich Foundation. The vehicle was announced alongside two other funds – the Chinese yuan-denominated Qiming Venture RMB Fund V (Qiming RMB V), which has attracted RMB2.1bn in commitments, and Qiming US Healthcare Fund I, which has secured $120m. Both Qiming VI and Qiming RMB V will target Chinese companies in the internet and consumer healthcare, IT and cleantech sectors, while the Healthcare Fund will invest in early-stage healthcare startups in the US.
Pharmaceutical firm Pfizer is planning to invest $600m in biotech and other emerging technologies through new corporate venturing division Pfizer Ventures. Early-stage neuroscience companies will be a key focus, with about $150m allocated to such startups. Initial areas of interest will include neuro-degeneration, neuro-inflammation and neuro-metabolic disorders. The $600m comes as part of a restructuring effort that combines Pfizer Venture Investments, the company’s existing corporate venturing arm, with research and development equity investment vehicle R&D Innovate. The unit will continue to invest in areas of strategic interest to its parent, including oncology, inflammation, immunology, rare disease, internal medicine and vaccines, as well as in companies working on novel approaches to drug discovery, development and manufacturing.
Trade organisation Electronic World Trade Platform (EWTP) launched a $600m investment fund featuring Alibaba and Ant Financial as anchor investors. EWTP was first proposed by Alibaba co-founder and chairman Jack Ma in 2016 to help lower trade barriers and support the expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises’ international activities by helping them operate online. The EWTP Technology and Innovation Fund will invest in companies expanding internationally and will support technology startups across the world. Alibaba will provide expertise on logistics, payment and e-commerce. The fund will also identify projects closely related to the Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese government policy that seeks to strengthen economic ties throughout Eurasia.
France-based energy management and automation technology producer Schneider Electric launched a dedicated corporate venturing unit to invest between €300m ($340m) and €500m in startups. Schneider Electric Ventures will target energy efficiency and sustainability, in areas such as energy use and industrial management, and will invest in startups directly, and in dedicated strategic funds, incubation initiatives and partnerships with entrepreneurs. In addition to external deals, Schneider Electric Ventures has incubated solar technology installer Clipsal Solar and electric vehicle fleet services provider EIQ Mobility, and has formed the Greentown Labs Bold Ideas Challenge in partnership with hardware incubator Greentown Labs.
This is our data snapshot based on last year’s investment activity. The charts and tables have been generated by our data platform GCV Analytics.
Note: Data can fluctuate as additional data are reported after GCV goes to press