Summarising last month’s deal activity with a corporate venturing involvement. For full coverage on each deal as well as all other news, visit www.globalcorporateventuring.com. To report a deal or add your data, email Toby Lewis at tlewis@globalcorporateventuring.com
There was a surge of deals in May as investment activity picked up from corporate venturing groups across many sectors.
Global Corporate Venturing tracked 177 corporate venturing investments in corporate venturing-backed companies worth $4.2bn during May. Since Global Corporate Venturing started tracking data, there have been 1,000 to 1,200 corporate venturing deals a year, indicating last month’s activity was significantly higher by volume.
To see the month’s deal chart, click here.
The US hosted 108 (61%) of investments, a little lower than the typical two-thirds of dealflow there.
The next most active location was China, with 11 deals, followed by India and the UK, with nine deals each, and Japan, with seven.
The largest investment in the month was Germany-based utility Eon’s €200m ($275m) reported investment in Brazil-based energy company Eneva, increasing its 38% share in the company to a larger minority stake.
The next biggest deal was China-based online retailer Alibaba’s S$312.5m ($249m) investment in postal service Singapore Post. The third-largest deal was the $200m round raised by Pinterest, a social media website backed by Japan-based e-commerce company Rakuten.
The fourth-biggest deal was internet company Tencent buying an 11.3% stake in China-based digital map pro-vider NavInfo for $187m.
The fifth-largest deal was Automattic, the US-based company that owns blogging platform WordPress, raising a $160m series C round at a $1.16bn valuation.
Another big deal was the merger of South Korea-based messaging service Kakao, backed by Tencent and CyberAgent, which agreed to acquire South Korea-based publicly-listed internet portal Daum Communications in a reverse takeover that will allow Kakao to secure a public listing. The deal values Kakao at roughly $3bn, according to a regulatory filing by Daum.
The biggest exit was JD.com, the China-based e-commerce company backed by internet company Tencent and DST Global among others – an IPO valued JD.com at $1.78bn.
The second-largest exit was US-based live-video streaming service Twitch, backed by Take-Two Interactive Software, which was reportedly bought by online video streaming company YouTube for more than $1bn.
The third-biggest exit was Israel-based high-speed wifi chipmaker Wilocity, which was sold to US-based semi-conductor company Qualcomm for $300m, having been backed by Qualcomm Atheros, a Qualcomm subsidiary.
IT
This, as usual, was the most active sector, featuring 65 investments. Notably, many of the largest deals were Chinese. The biggest was China-based internet company Tencent’s 11.3% stake purchase in China-based digital map provider NavInfo for $187m.
China-based software producer Qihoo 360 Technology reportedly paid $100m for a majority stake in China-based digital marketing company MediaV, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Anaplan, a US-based developer of a software platform to assist business planning, closed a $100m series D round featuring software producer Workday, that was also backed by cloud software company Salesforce.com.
Optimizely, a US-based creator of a website optimisation platform backed by Google Ventures, secured $57m in a series B round led by venture capital (VC) firm Andrees–sen Horowitz and featuring Benchmark Capital and Bain Capital Ventures.
US-based financial technology platform Addepar raised $50m in series C funding in a round featuring corporate-backed VC firm Formation 8. Formation 8’s backers include Korea Telecom and LS Group, the family business of Formation 8 co-founder Brian Bonwoong Koo.
US-based identity management company Centrify closed a $42m series E round from investors including Samsung, Docomo and Fortinet. Samsung Ventures, the investment arm of the electronics group, and Docomo Capital, the corporate venturing unit of Japan-based phone operator NTT, were joined in the round by network security appliance developer Fortinet.
Healthcare
This was second most active sector with 34 deals. The largest was made by Google Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the internet company, leading a $130m series B round raised by Flatiron Health, a US-based developer of a software platform for clinical cancer data.
US-based digital healthcare company Proteus Digital Health secured $120m in its a funding round from undisclosed new institutional investors based in the US, Europe and Asia. The company has previously raised $62.5m in a series F round that closed in May last year, when backers included computing hardware provider
Oracle, pharmaceutical companies Otsuka and Novartis, and institutional investor Sino Portfolio.
Volcano Corporation, a manufacturer of medical tools to treat heart disease, agreed to acquire AtheroMed, the developer of a system to treat peripheral artery disease, for $115m, granting an exit to Kaiser Permanente Ventures.
Consumer
The consumer sector featured 17 deals. Naspers-backed Flipkart, an India-based online retailer, closed the acquisition of another India-based e-commerce company, Myntra, and has followed that by raising a further $210m in a round led by DST Global, the investment firm partly financed by Russian internet company Mail.ru.
Russia-based e-commerce company Ozon Holdings closed a $150m funding round from diversified holding company Sistema and mobile network operator Mobile Telesystems (MTS). The two investors each took a 10.8% stake in Ozon for $75m. A representative from each company will join Ozon’s board, and MTS plans to collaborate with Ozon through a sales partnership.
India-based e-commerce site Snapdeal closed a $100m funding round featuring mobile software producer Myriad.
Dianping, a China-based food listing service, invested $80m in Ele.me, a China-based online food ordering company that targets students, according to Tech in Asia. Ele.me’s service currently lists about 50,000 restaurants in 30 Chinese cities, and focuses on eateries around universities. It takes a small cut from each order made through its site.
UK-based online fashion marketplace Farfetch closed a series D funding round at $66m from backers including magazine publisher Condé Nast.
Services
The services sector had 17 deals. The biggest deal was China-based online retailer Alibaba’s S$312.5m investment in postal service Singapore Post.
US-based translation services provider Smartling raised $25m in a series D round led by Iconiq Capital, with participation from IDG Ventures, a private equity fund backed by media and publishing company International Data Group.
O’Reilly Alphatech, the corporate venturing subsidiary of O’Reilly Media, participated in an $8m series A round of funding for US-based physical storage solutions company MakeSpace.
Media
The media sector had 14 deals. Deals included the $200m round raised by Pinterest, a social media website which is backed by Japan-based e-commerce company Rakuten.
Financial services
The financial sector had nine deals. The biggest was Sweden-based mobile payments company Izettle closing a €40m series C round led by private equity fund manager Zouk Capital and featuring Intel Capital.
Industrial
The biggest deal involved Crocus Nano Electronics, a joint venture founded in 2011 by Russian state-owned nanotechnology giant Rusnano and France-based Crocus Technology, raising $60m in additional capital from its existing investors.
Energy and natural resources
The biggest deal was US-based grid-scale battery developer Ambri closing a $35m series C round that featured a contribution from Total Energy Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the France-based petroleum company.
Transport
This sector featured the IPO of US-based online automotive pricing guide Truecar, backed by financial services company United Services Automobile Association.
Utilities
The largest investment was Germany-based utility Eon’s €200m reported investment in Brazil-based energy company Eneva, increasing its 38% share in the company to a larger minority stake.