It is no overstatement to say that 2020 was a tumultuous year that will be remembered for a long time in the post-pandemic future. Part of this tumultuousness was the enormous economic shock caused by the covid-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders across the globe.
While macroeconomic indicators in the past of couple years seemed to hint at the possibility of being in a rather late stage of the business cycle and there were some fears of a looming downturn, very few would have imagined the exact turn of events we witnessed last year. The year was also marked by the impact of social movements like Black Lives Matter and an increased awareness of climate and health issues.
In 2020, GCV Analytics tracked 3,450 deals worth an estimated $128.56bn of capital raised. While the deal count registered a modest increase on a year-on-year basis (5%) versus the 3,296 transactions reported in 2019, the total value of corporate-backed VC rounds decreased modestly, by 7%, down from the estimated $138.52bn in the previous year.
Nearly four out of every 10 tracked corporate-backed transactions in 2020 took place in the US (a total of 1,314). Other notable innovation geographies were Japan (551). China (327), the UK (180) and India (170).
Over the past decade, corporations around the globe have reaped a lot of benefit from venturing activity or have seen themselves forced to use it as part of their innovation toolkit. The growth of the number of active corporate venturers tracked by GCV Analytics illustrates this. Since 2011, GCV has tracked more than 4,800 distinct corporate investors – with or without a formal unit – which have taken a minority stake in at least one deal.
The number of corporate venturers per year increased sixfold in the past decade – from 360 in 2011 up to 2,126 in 2020. GCV Analytics also found a record 744, or 35%, of all corporate investors tracked doing at least one minority stake deal in 2020 were first-timers. This was up from the 28% and 26% in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
GCV Analytics found about 43% corporate investors that participated in at least one deal during 2019 returned to do a deal last year, across all sectors. In some sectors, such as telecoms (60%), financial services (51%) and transport (50%), there was a significantly larger proportion of returning investors. This was offset by others, including industrial (35%) and business services (32%).
Emerging businesses from the traditional sectors raised the largest number of corporate-backed rounds – IT with 707 deals, health with 703, financial services with 433, business services with 423, media with 295 and industrial with 288. But over the past decade there has been greater diversity in new and emerging sub-sectors.
Looking at 2020 on a quarterly basis, the deal count remained stable in the 800s – from 829 deals in Q1 up to 888 transactions in the third and fourth quarters. In terms of total value, the total estimated capital in corporate-backed deals went up from $25.06bn in Q1 to $40.77bn in the last quarter.
The pandemic has had virtually no negative effect on the relative proportions of deal size categories – deals below $10m and between $10m and $99m remain broadly similar to levels in 2018 and 2019. Interestingly, the proportion of $100m plus deals registered a spike in Q4 2020.
The top corporate investors for 2020 included diversified internet conglomerate Alphabet with 146 deals, telecoms company SoftBank with 96 investments, internet company Tencent (67) and enterprise software producer Salesforce (61). The top three investors involved in the largest rounds were Alphabet, financial services and investment group Fidelity and SoftBank.
GCV also tracked 321 funding initiatives that received corporate backing throughout 2020, including 193 venture funds, 68 venturing units (most of them newly launched), 39 corporate-backed accelerators, 15 other initiatives and six incubators. Most of these initiatives were set up in Asia (144), North America (77) and Europe (67). The countries that hosted the largest number of initiatives were the US (72), Japan (64), China (35), Singapore (16) and the UK (15).
The top funding initiatives we reported last year ranged in scope of their targeted sectors from IT and health through consumer and media. However, one notable trend last year was the rise of climate change funds – shown by both Amazon and Microsoft’s climate-oriented funds, as well as the emergence of impact-oriented funds, though of smaller size, focusing on diversity, propelled by the prominence of the Black Lives Matter movement and a pressing need for further social inclusion.
Deals
GCV Analytics tracked many large deals through 2020. Eight of the top 10 deals were above the $1bn mark. These sizeable rounds were raised mostly by emerging businesses in transport, health and services. The most-often-found corporate backer of these top rounds was Alphabet.
Alphabet invested $4.5bn in Jio Platforms, the digital services spinoff of diversified India-based conglomerate Reliance Industries. Google, part of Alphabet, took a 7.7% stake in Jio and announced it was planning to collaborate with the company on the development of technology including an affordable entry-level smartphone. Jio operates a mobile network and broadband service, as well as about a dozen proprietary apps offering music, film and television streaming, cloud storage and chat. Other corporate backers of Jio include Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, wgucg provided $97.1m. Intel Capital, semiconductor producer Intel’s strategic investment arm, committed $253m.
US-based electric truck developer Rivian completed a $2.5bn financing round that featured e-commerce and cloud computing firm Amazon. The round was led by funds and accounts advised by investment manager T Rowe Price and also featured Fidelity Management and Research, Soros Fund Management, Coatue Management, Baron Capital Group and funds managed by BlackRock. Founded in 2009, Rivian is developing a plug-in electric truck dubbed R1T and an electric sports utility vehicle known as the R1S that will both use a flexible skateboard chassis it has developed. The company struck a partnership agreement with existing investor Amazon in September 2019 to jointly create an electric delivery van and manufacture 100,000 of the vehicles for its use.
Self-driving car developer Waymo raised its first external funding in a round backed by several corporates. Alphabet, from which it had spun off, was among the backers that committed $2.25bn to Waymo. Other corporate backers were automotive component manufacturer Magna International and car retailer AutoNation, the latter investing $50m. Founded in 2009 as part of Alphabet and spun off in 2016, Waymo has developed a unified autonomous vehicle which aims to combine internally developed technology in areas like cameras and lidar sensors as well as versions of traditional automotive systems covering functions such as brakes and steering. Later in 2020, the round was extended by $750m, which took the total funding raised by Waymo to $3bn.
SoftBank’s Vision Fund co-led a $1.7bn funding round for Manbang Group, a China-based trucking services provider also known as Full Truck Alliance. The round was co-led with Fidelity, Permira’s Growth Opportunities Fund and Sequoia Capital China. It included Tencent, Hillhouse Capital, GGV Capital, Lightspeed China Partners and YF Capital. The round reportedly valued the company at almost $12bn. Manbang operates an app-based service that uses AI to match drivers with space in their trucks to customers who require cargo to be transported, taking a cut of the fee and plotting optimal routes for drivers. Manbang was formed by the November 2017 merger of peers Huochebang and Yunmanman and it has reportedly reached profitability.
China-based online tutoring platform developer Zuoyebang closed a $1.6bn series E-plus round featuring e-commerce group Alibaba and SoftBank’s Vision Fund 1. Hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management, VC firm Sequoia Capital China and private equity fund FountainVest Partners also participated in the round. Zuoyebang runs an online education platform with 50 million daily active users and 170 million monthly active users, offering services such as live tutorials and homework assistance, the latter through an app with some 300 million answers to education questions. The funding will support the expansion of its categories and the growth of a business-focused offering.
WM Motor, a China-based electric carmaker backed by internet companies Baidu and Tencent and metals trader China Minmetals, raised RMB10bn ($1.47bn) in a series D round co-led by SAIC Motor. Shanghai Automotive Industry, the parent company of SAIC Motor, had reportedly invested $73.1m. WM Motor sells smart electric vehicles with features such as autonomous driving and connected electronics systems. It also markets a mobile app called GetnGo to pay for vehicle charging.
Tencent co-led a $1bn series G round for China-based online education platform developer Yuanfudao with investment management firm Hillhouse Capital. Private equity firm Boyu Capital and venture capital group IDG Capital also participated in the round. The funding was reportedly secured at a $7.8bn valuation. Spun off from social media platform Fenbi in 2014, Yuanfudao runs an online education platform which claims to have attracted 400 million registered users. The company offers online courses and homework plans, covering primary and secondary school age groups.
MGI Tech, a gene sequencing technology developer spun off by China-based genomics services provider BGI, completed a $1bn series B round. VC group IDG Capital and private equity fund CPE Capital co-led the round, which included investment bank China Renaissance’s New Economy Fund and Goldstone Investment which, like CPE, is part of state-owned investment manager Citic. Formed in 2016, MGI Tech is developing a high-throughput sequencing technology, reagents and consumables for applications in life sciences, precision medicine and agriculture. The applications of the company’s systems range from mass spectrometry and medical imaging to laboratory automation.
China-based retail group Suning spun off e-commerce services subsidiary Yunwang Wandian with RMB6bn ($913m) in funding. The capital came from Shenzhen Capital Group, SenseRobot Management, Ningbo Xianshi Enterprise Management and Central China Asset Management, a subsidiary of investment bank Central China International. The transaction reportedly valued the spinoff at about $3.8bn. Suning operates a chain of roughly 1,600 stores across China selling consumer electronics and home appliances. It is also an occasional corporate venturer, with a portfolio including AI technology producer SenseTime and online fresh food retailer Yiguo. Yunwang Wandian brings together a range of Suning’s online and e-commerce-focused business activities. It was launched during Singles Day, a national shopping day somewhat like Black Friday in the west. The company will function as Suning’s e-commerce outlet, in addition to providing supply chain, last-mile delivery and after-sales services to online merchants and product suppliers who serve them.
Singapore-headquartered on-demand ride provider Grab secured $856m in funding from IT services provider TIS Intec’s TIS subsidiary and financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). MUFG provided $706m for the company, while TIS invested $150m. Grab runs an on-demand transport service spanning 339 cities across eight Southeast Asian countries, offering food and package delivery, as well as payment services, lending, wealth management and insurance through the Grab Financial Group subsidiary it launched in 2018.
Exits
GCV Analytics tracked 370 exits involving corporate venturers and companies backed by such investors. This represents a 29% increase on the previous year’s level (287).
The total estimated capital involved in the exits stood at $120.05bn, more than double the $57.78bn registered in 2019 (the figure includes the $27.7bn acquisition of Slack). Most of the top exits for 2020 were acquisitions in addition to a few high-profile initial public offerings (IPOs).
The US hosted 216 of those transactions, followed by China (36), Japan (10) Israel (10) and India (8).
Salesforce agreed to acquire Slack, the US-based publicly listed communication platform which previously counted SoftBank, Alphabet and media group Comcast among its backers. The transaction was sized at $27.7bn, of which $26.8bn cash and the remainder in Salesforce shares. Salesforce plans to leverage the platform as the new interface for Salesforce Customer 360, its application and customer identity management tool. The added capabilities are intended to expand Salesforce Customer 360 into a platform that enables company employees, customers and partners to communicate with each other through existing workflows.
Founded in 2009, Slack runs an enterprise messaging platform with about 12 million daily active users. The covid-19 pandemic gave it a boost, growing its user base. However, Slack is still behind Microsoft Teams in terms of user numbers. The company had gone public in a direct listing in June 2019, bypassing an expensive IPO (which relatively few tech companies like Google and Spotify have been able to afford to do in the past), with a $26 guidance price valuing it at about $13.1bn. Its shares closed at $43.84 on the announcement of the acquisition, giving it a market capitalisation of more than $24.5bn.
US-based medical diagnostics technology Grail agreed to an $8bn acquisition by genomics technology producer Illumina, which had originally spun out the former. Grail will receive $3.5bn in cash and another $4.5bn in stock. Grail and Illumina have also signed a $315m merger termination agreement. The deal remains subject to regulatory approval. Grail, which was spun out in 2015 is working on technology that combines gene sequencing with population-level clinical studies to detect cancer at an earlier stage. The company had filed for an IPO with a $100m placeholder amount.
Financial software provider Intuit agreed to buy US-based credit management platform developer Credit Karma for $7.1bn, allowing Alphabet to exit. Intuit is best known for tax preparation software platform TurboTax and the potential acquisition would be the largest in its history. Credit Karma is set to maintain its independence as an Intuit subsidiary after the deal closes. The transaction involves a mixture of cash and shares. The price is nearly double the $4bn valuation at which Silver Lake made a $500m secondary investment in the company in early 2018. It includes almost $1bn in equity awards that will be issued over the next three years. Credit Karma has created an online platform with more than 100 million members who can get free access to their credit scores and online identity status in addition to filing their taxes and finding credit card and consumer loan deals.
Visa had agreed to acquire one of its portfolio companies, US-based financial data network operator Plaid, in a $5.3bn transaction that would have allowed peers Mastercard and American Express and financial services firm Citi to exit. The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit in November and the companies decided to cancel the deal instead of fighting the suit. Founded in 2013, Plaid has built technology that enables users to transfer their data to third-party financial technology platforms. When a customer opens an account with a finance management platform, for example, Plaid’s software allows them to link their bank account to the app.
US-headquartered short-term accommodation marketplace Airbnb went public in an IPO on the Nasdaq Global Select Market representing an exit for Alphabet. The company issued 50 million class A shares priced at $68. each, significantly above the offering’s initial $56 to $60 range, while existing shareholders divested just over 1.32 million shares at the same price. Airbnb was aiming to raise $3.49bn in proceeds from the flotation. The initial price valued Airbnb at roughly $47bn, although the price of the stock rallied violently on the first day of trading and closed at $139.25, effectively doubling its market capitalisation.
Airbnb runs an online platform that enables users to list properties and rooms for rental. Although its business has been impacted sharply by social distancing measures amid the pandemic, 5.6 million of its 7.4 million listings were active as of the end of September 2020. Airbnb’s IPO filing showed its revenue declined more than 30% year-on-year from about $3.7bn in 2019 to $2.52bn by September 2020. Its net loss rose from $323m to $698m over the same period.
China-headquartered e-commerce group JD.com’s medical and healthcare-focused spinoff, JD Health, floated on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in a HK$27bn ($3.48bn) IPO. JD Health issued approximately 382 million shares priced at HK$70.58 each, at the top of the HK$62.80 to HK$70.58 range set earlier by the company, valuing it at almost $29bn. The offering was sponsored by UBS, Bank of America and Haitong Securities. JD Health’s online platform sells prescription medication in addition to a range of products including health supplements, medical supplies and contact lenses. It also manages a telemedicine service that allows users to book online consultations with qualified doctors.
US-based data analysis software provider Snowflake went public on the New York Stock Exchange, which came with a $250m investment by Salesforce. Snowflake issued 28 million shares at $120 each, above the $100 to $110 range it had set, after having lifted it from $75 to $85 a share. Salesforce subsidiary Salesforce Ventures and investment holding company Berkshire Hathaway provided $250m each via a private placement that took place concurrently. Founded in 2012, Snowflake has developed a cloud software platform which enables users to unify large amounts of data that are siloed in different places, combine them with new data and analyse them in a variety of ways.
Enterprise communication software producer Twilio agreed to acquire US-based customer data platform developer Segment for $3.2bn in shares, enabling Alphabet’s GV subsidiary to exit. Twilio will pay for the deal entirely through common stock. The valuation is more than double that at which Segment last raised money, in a $175m series D round co-led by GV in April 2019 that increased its overall funding to $284m. Founded in 2012, Segment has built a software platform that allows users to standardise and unify the collection and management of customer data so it can be efficiently channelled into other parts of the company.
Pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co agreed to acquire oncology therapy developer VelosBio for $2.75bn in cash, enabling pharmaceutical companies Chiesi and Takeda, to exit. Founded in 2017, VelosBio is working on cancer drugs targeted at a type of protein known as the tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1. The company’s lead product candidate, VLS-101, is an antibody-drug conjugate in a phase 1 clinical trial for haematologic malignancies and a phase 2 trial for solid tumours. It had secured $202m in funding prior to the acquisition agreement.
Lufax, the China-headquartered digital financial services platform operator spun off by insurance group Ping An, raised more than $2.36bn in an IPO in the United States. The offering consisted of 175 million American Depositary Shares, each representing half an ordinary share, issued on the New York Stock Exchange and priced at the top of its $11.50 to $13.50 range. The share price valued the company at almost $32.9bn.
Lufax operates an online peer-to-peer lending and wealth management platform that manages some $53bn of assets for its users. Its income grew slightly to more than $3.63bn in the first half of 2020 and it generated more than $1bn in net profit over the same period.