Global Corporate Venturing recorded 60 investments during October, worth a total of $1.2bn, compared with 61 investments worth $753.3m in September, and 10 exits worth $1.5bn, compared with six exits worth $2.7bn in September.
US-based companies took the lion’s share of investment flows as always – 37 investments – while the next strongest showings were Israel (5) and China (4). The top sector was IT (25), followed by consumer (9), media (8) and health (6). In cases where investment rounds were disclosed, series B proved the most common (14), followed by series C (12) and series A (8).
In October, while fewer investments were made by corporates into futuristic gadgetry following September’s flurry, Samsung Ventures led an $8m investment into Novasentis, developer of electro mechanical polymer actuator technologies for use in creating flexible, sensory phones and other devices of the future – hitting the news on the eve of Halloween, Novasentis claimed its new name, changed from the more tweedy Strategic Polymer Sciences, fitted a “neo-sensory age in which previously lifeless devices come alive”.
The rest of this data round-up can be read in the PDF of our November magazine.