The media sector is undergoing a transformation and as a result venturing activity in the industry exploded last month with 15 deals. This was the most of any economic segment last month, according to research by Global Corporate Venturing, which tracked 54 deals where a corporate venturing unit either invested in a round or exited their holding through a sale or flotation.
New media companies, such as LinkedIn and Zynga, used large venturing rounds closed in the past year to buy smaller peers while strategics across the technology, media and telecoms spectrum invested in businesses.
With August being the traditional holiday season in the northern hemisphere, deal activity fell slightly but there were some large rounds in clean-tech with Solazyme raising $51.6m and in healthcare Pacific Biosciences planning a $200m flotation to provide cash for its business.
T-Venture, the corporate venturing division of Germany-based Deutsche Telekom and the most influential in the utilities sector according to last month’s Global Corporate Venturing, was an active investor, along with Intel Capital, while BlueRun Ventures, the former venture arm of phone maker Nokia, which retains the Finland-based group as a limited partner, was the most active seller.
The US retained its dominance of disclosed venturing activity, although Asia, especially India, saw an increase.