Japan-based financial services company Mitsui’s corporate venturing unit has joined the consortium investing $45m in clean-tech firm BioAmber and floated Boingo Wireless.
BioAmber raised $45m in its series B round, which was led by venture capital firms Naxos Capital Partners and Sofinnova Partners. Canada-based Cliffton Group also participated alongside Mitsui. Previous investors from the October 2009 A round included South Korea-based corporate venturing unit Samsung Venture Investment Corporation and Agro-Industrie Recherches et Développements (ARD), the research and development centre of a large agro-industrial consortium based in France with Siclaé as the principal shareholder.
ARD had been in a joint venture with DNP Green Technology but in November sold its shares in the collaboration and took equity in DNP which was renamed BioAmber.
At the time, Dominique Dutartre, managing director of Siclaé, said: "We view an equity stake in DNP Green as an opportunity to participate in the deployment and ownership of plants around the world, which will improve our return.
"DNP’s business model, which involves licensing alongside direct equity stakes in plans will generate better profitability than the straight licensing model we had envisaged for the joint venture (BioAmber]."
Separately, Boingo, a US-based provider of wireless internet services, has raised $77.9m in its Nasdaq flotation after pricing 5.77 million shares at $13.50 each.
Mitsui owned 23.4% pre-flotation with venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates (22.46%), Steelpoint Capital (11.01%) and Sternhill Partners (6.41%).