Vanessa Colella, managing director and global head of venture investing at Citi Ventures, said: “In the past year, we have met with more than 1,000 entrepreneurs, startups, VCs and academics in areas that intersect with financial services to build deep domain expertise that enables us to bring new insights to our partners across Citi. We have expanded our portfolio with several investments, including the online investment adviser Betterment and the security company VArmour.”
Other groups are also investing heavily. Harshul Sanghi, head of American Express Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the US bank, said: “Since our launch in 2011, our portfolio of companies has grown to include 21 startups working in the areas of digital commerce, data and analytics and more recently, financial inclusion. We are pleased with the diversity of companies and see value in the investments we have made and most of all in the strategic partnerships that have been formed across American Express.”
New entrants include Transamerica Ventures (see profile), set up by Netherlands-based insurer Aegon, which made clear its intent in corporate venturing by recruiting Georg Schwegler, formerly head of T-Venture, the highly-regarded corporate venturing unit of Germany-based telecoms company Deutsche Telekom. Schwegler said: “We have had strong support from top management, which is extremely helpful. We are not only bringing innovative technology into the organisation by partnering with start-ups, but we are also part of a cultural shift to help the company become more dynamic and more flexible. The classical vendor-driven approach might sometimes burn too much cash or be too slow, so it is a wise strategy to hedge and support innovation activities with corporate venturing.”
Corporates in Asia are also forming plans to become players in venture capital globally. Lance Liu, of China-based insurer Ping An Insurance, said: “We started our overseas investments in Israel and now have gradually moved to the US. We do not have regional limitations nor size limitation, and we can back anything interesting for our group, business units and our customers.” (see profile)
Groups are also experimenting with open innovation to try to tap corporate resources more effectively, while using the insights they have learned by being active investors in Silicon Valley. Debbie Brackeen, managing director and global head of Innovation Network at Citi Ventures, said: “In the past year our Global Lab Network initiative has achieved great traction. Combined with our internal acceleration fund, we have significantly increased the pipeline of smart experiments and compelling new growth concepts being developed through the labs, including prototypes with new technologies such as wearables.”
Deals
Activity by finance corporate venturing units was robust over the past year.
US-based online payment company Square closed a $150m series F round at a $6bn valuation. Government of Singapore Investment Corporation led the round, which featured existing investors including investment bank Goldman Sachs and investment firm Rizvi Traverse Management. Square had raised about $340m in equity funding before the latest round from backers including Citi Ventures, coffee retailer Starbucks and payment services provider Visa.
SK Planet, the mobile online service subsidiary of telecoms network SK Telecom, acquired Shopkick, a US-based developer of a shopping rewards app, for $200m. Citi Ventures was an early investor in Shopkick, which raised $20m in 2009 and 2010.
Citi Ventures also secured an exit when US-based gift card marketplace Plastic Jungle was acquired by discount giftcard website CardCash.com for an undisclosed fee.
Citi Ventures’ investments included backing US-based stealth security company VArmour, Platfora, a data analytics software company alongside technology company Cisco, Chef, a US-based IT automation company which “transforms IT infrastructure into code”, and M-Daq, a Singapore-based financial technology company.
Taulia, a US-based developer of cloud-based payment software backed by Canada-based telecoms company Telus, extended its series D round by $13m to $40m with funding from BBVA Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Spain-based bank BBVA, and EDBI, the investment group of Singapore’s Economic Development Board. US-based digital marketing company Radius secured $54.7m in a series C round backed by BBVA Ventures and cable and telecoms provider Comcast’s corporate venturing unit. SumUp, a UK-based mobile point-of-sale technology developer, secured an undisclosed amount of series C funding from investors including BBVA Ventures, online discount company Groupon, and American Express Ventures.
BBVA also bought digital banking business Simple in a $117m deal with involvement from BBVA Ventures. BBVA Ventures also helped BBVA Compass in its early talks for a partnership with payments business Dwolla.
US-based smart hub company Revolv was acquired by connected device firm Nest for an undisclosed amount, providing an exit for insurer American Family Insurance.
US-based Fancy, an American Express-backed e-commerce company that allows its users to curate its content, was reported to be raising investment at a valuation of up to $1.2bn.
Singapore-based Capillary Technologies, a developer of a cloud-based marketing platform backed by American Express Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing division of the US telecoms equipment manufacture, raised $14m in series B funding from return backers venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and investment firm Northwest Venture Partners. American Express Ventures invested $4.5m in Capillary in February.
Sweden-based mobile payment company Izettle raised a further €5m ($6.8m) in series C funding from venture capital firm Hasso Plattner Ventures. Izettle was previously backed by payment companies Mastercard, American Express, and bank Santander, as well as Intel Capital, the corporate venturing unit of the US-based semiconductor company.
US-based e-commerce analytics company RetailNext closed a $30m series D round led by the corporate venturing arm of Nokia, Nokia Growth Partners. The round also featured Qualcomm Ventures, conglomerate Tyco and American Express Ventures.
Kyriba, a US-based provider of software to assist treasury departments, received an undisclosed amount of funding from corporate venturing units Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Mizuho Capital. Investors, including payment services provider American Express, Upfront Ventures and Mangrove Capital Partners, previously committed $10m to Kyriba in 2001, according to financial data source PrivCo.
Venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners has closed its latest fund, Norwest Venture Partners XII, at $1.2bn, with US-based financial services firm Wells Fargo acting as the fund’s sole limited partner (investor).
American Family Insurance Group plans to invest $50m over the next four to five years through a corporate venturing unit known as American Family Ventures.
Transamerica Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Dutch-based insurance company Aegon, was set up with a €100m fund.
Pete Donat became head of new ventures at payment processing business First Data.
Norwest Venture Partners hired Sean Jacobsohn as a principal to open its San Francisco office. Jacobsohn was previously a venture partner at venture capital firm Emergence Capital Partners for two years, investing in early and late-stage enterprise companies. Norwest also promoted Robert Mittendorff and Sumer Juneja to principal, and Lisa Wu to vice-president.
Ricardo Forcano took up a position at Spain-based bank BBVA as the head of strategy, planning and finance for its new digital banking division.
American Express Ventures expanded in Palo Alto’s downtown by taking up the empty space left by Zibibbo, a restaurant that closed its doors after 17 years in April 2014.