Nitin Gajria tells us why Google formed a $50m African VC fund and why it is investing in everything from mobile gaming to haulage services.
Category: Region
Daily Deal Round Up: October 11, 2022
Salesforce, ANZ and Tencent helped Airwallex boost its series E round to $300m while Hermes-Epitek chipped into a $30m series A for Ochre Bio.
Daily Deal Round Up: October 10, 2022
BBC Studios bought portfolio company Firebird Pictures while SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a nine-figure round for dental product maker SprintRay.
Bytedance posts $75.6bn in mark-to-market losses
Such enormous losses help explain why Bytedance in January said it was dissolving its corporate venturing unit.
The Standout Six: Turning water into gold
Strong branding helped give a canned water producer reach a $700m valuation while the promise of long-term energy storage fueled a $450m mega round.
Daily Deal Round Up: October 6, 2022
Q2 Holdings has acquired National Bank of Canada and OpenText-backed Sensibill while ArcelorMittal’s XCarb unit was part of Form Energy’s $450m series E round.
MassMutual doubles diversity venture funding to $200m
MassMutual’s diversity-focused fund-of-funds has been granted an extra $100m, bringing the amount it has invested in CVC activities to $900m.
Asami withdraws from Eisai Innovation
Daiichi Sankyo has hired Shun Asami, previously senior investment director and San Francisco division head at Eisai Innovation.
Daily Deal Round Up: October 5, 2022
Solid Biosciences is merging with Sarepta-backed AavantiBio in a $215m deal while Amazon has formed a minority founder-focused $150m fund.
ArcelorMittal takes XCarb CVC commitments close to $200m
As ArcelorMittal’s XCarb Innovation Fund backs Form Energy’s $450m series E round, its head tells us why the unit is targeting clean energy, hydrogen and smart carbon technology.
Daily Deal Round Up: October 4, 2022
Braskem has formed a $150m corporate venturing initiative while Saudi Aramco’s Prosperity7 Ventures fund took part in SingleStore’s $146m series F2 round.
Beyersdorf moves to EnBW New Ventures
EnBW New Ventures has brought in renewable energy expert Melanie Beyersdorf to bolster its investment team.
What next after being “whacked in the face” by CVC?
Companies that struggle with early corporate venturing efforts will often turn to CVC-as-a-service, says Bill Reichert of Pegasus Ventures.
Daily Deal Round Up: October 3, 2022
General Mills was among the investors in a $120m round for GrubMarket while Polaris and Hero MotoCorp helped Zero Motorcycles raise $107m.