Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 25-29 May 2015
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Fund in the News: Sinclair Digital Ventures
Rob Weisbord, COO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, spoke to Global Corporate Venturing about the company’s new fund, which is sized at $250m.
HT Media co-launches digital media accelerator
HT Media and investment firm North Base Media have set up an accelerator that will invest up to $100,000 in India-based original content and adtech startups.
Airware and DJI form drone investment funds
Airware has launched a fund to support commercial drone startups, while DJI and Accel have set up a fund to invest in drone-related technologies.
Globe Telecom to raise stakes with $50m fund
Globe Telecom’s corporate venturing arm Kickstart Ventures, is set to begin investing out of its recently closed $50m fund and will invest up to $5m in each startup.
FPT targets Vietnamese startups with $3m fund
The Vietnam-based IT company has partnered with 500 Startups on a unit that will fund local e-commerce, advertising, healthcare and education technology startups.
Exits
The Nestlé and Mayo Clinic-backed biotechnology company had raised more than $130m in funding, almost all of which was secured in the past year.
Daum Kakao takes Path for Indonesian expansion
The internet company has acquired social network Path, which has a sizeable Indonesian user base, allowing Digital Garage and Bakrie to exit.
Comcast targets Vox Media acquisition
The cable and internet provider, already an investor in Vox, has re-entered talks to acquire the online media company, which is reportedly seeking a $1bn valuation.
Hewlett-Packard has signed an agreement to acquire the IT infrastructure company, providing an exit to backers including Comcast, Verizon and Norwest Venture Partners.
Virtustream flows into EMC in $1.2bn deal
SAP and Intel have both exited the cloud infrastructure company, which had raised $120m in funding since it was founded in 2008.
Re/Code joins Vox Media as NBCUniversal exits
NBCUniversal and Windsor Media are both set to exit Re/Code, the acquisition of which was announced just after that of another technology media company, GigaOM.
Amino pays $8.6m for Booxmedia
Online TV technology developer Booxmedia has been acquired by Amino Technology in a deal that provided exits to corporates Alma Media and DNA.
Roche and Merck exit biotechnology developer Ambrx
Ambrx, an oncology company that had raised more than $200m, is being acquired by a consortium including Fosun Pharmaceutical and WuXi PharmaTech.
IT
Tegile stores away $70m in series D
SanDisk and Western Digital both returned to back the flash storage company’s latest round, boosting its overall funding to almost $120m.
Corporates boost DocuSign series F to $278m
Dell and Intel have joined DocuSign’s many corporate backers, contributing $45m to the company’s latest round, increasing its total funding to more than $500m.
Mobile marketing platform Ubimo raises $7.5m
Yahoo Japan’s corporate venturing subsidiary made its first Israel-based investment in the round, boosting Ubimo’s total funding to $9.7m.
Fosun International and IDG Capital Partners have contributed to an eight-figure series B round for the push notification service.
Swisscom and Foxconn-affiliated Ginko Ventures both participated in the series A round, closed as France-based PIQ prepares to open two US offices.
Health
Pronutria consumes $39m in series C
Fidelity and corporate-backed Flagship Ventures provided the funding for the biotechnology company, which has now secured more than $60m altogether.
ClearData secures $25m in Merck-backed round
Healthcare IT technology provider ClearData has closed an oversubscribed series C round featuring existing investors Merck and Norwest Venture Partners.
Rani receives series C funding injection
Novartis, Google and Stevanato all contributed to a series C round for the biotherapeutics company, which has also signed a collaboration deal with Novartis.
Novo-backed medical device maker Si-Bone has closed a $21m round that will fund its expansion in multiple geographic markets.
Calimmune lets in investors for $15m series B
Calimmune, which is developing gene therapy treatments for HIV and AIDS, has raised cash in a round led by an unnamed pharmaceutical company.
Media
Viibar records $5.8m in funding
Yahoo Japan, Gree and Globis have all participated in the video production platform’s latest funding round, with Yahoo also forming a strategic partnership.
Consumer
Carvana revs up for $300m round
The used car e-commerce company, which has secured $50m from backers including DriveTime, is set to raise the funding from strategic and institutional investors.
Spring to add Snapchat to investor base
Snapchat is reportedly investing an undisclosed sum in Jello Labs, the parent company of shopping app Spring, which recently raised $25m.
Mode Media fashions $30m round
Hubert Burda invested the money, which boosted the vertical media network’s total equity funding to $186m since it was founded in 2004.
JD.com picks FruitDay in $70m series C
The produce e-commerce company has also signed an agreement to harness JD.com’s resources in order to expand in its home country of China.
Brit Media flies the flag with $23m
Intel Capital looks to have participated in a $23m series B round for the DMGT-backed lifestyle media company, which has now raised more than $30m altogether.
Financial
Kantox exchanges series B stock for $10.9m
Foreign exchange service Kantox has secured new funding in a round co-led by corporate-backed firms IdInvest and Partech.
Tumblbug taps Naver for $15.5m series A
Naver, the parent company of messaging app Line, has contributed to the arts crowdfunding platform’s series A round in conjunction with a partnership agreement.
Industrial
3D metal printing company MatterFab has raised approximately $5.8m in a series A round featuring General Electric’s corporate venturing unit.
Transport
Ringier joins Campanda camp in $5.5m series A
Ringier and LVMH-backed Groupe Arnault both contributed to the camper van booking platform’s series A round, which will be used to increase its market share.
Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache go for $142m ride
Sina Weibo is set to invest $142m in a holding company owned by ride hailing apps Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, which agreed in February to merge.
Services
Gree and KLab provide funding reward to Yoyo
Online reward service Yoyo Holdings has followed a $1.3m round raised in May last year with additional funding from Gree and KLab.
Virgin launches healthy behaviour platform with $92m
Virgin Pulse, a Virgin spin-out enabling employers to try and influence employee behaviour, raised the money in a round led by Insight Venture Partners.
Kunlun Technology bets on Ebaoyang
Online gaming company Beijing Kunlun Technology has led a $20m series B round for the car maintenance service, which raised $5m late last year.
Hyatt books place for Onefinestay
Upmarket short-term home rentals site Onefinestay has attracted $40m for a series C round that took its overall funding to more than $55m.
Fosun maintains Mocar investment
Fosun, which invested in Mocar at seed-stage, has returned for the car maintenance service provider’s $10m series A round.