Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 23-27 February 2015
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Venture capital fund Bolt recently raised $25m for its second fund from backers including Cisco, Autodesk and Logitech.
Fundraising
Viking makes $40m venture to Illumina fund
Illumina Accelerator Boost Capital will invest up to $5m in graduates from biotech analysis company Illumina’s accelerator programme.
AXA allocates $226m to strategic venture fund
The insurance provider will seek to invest in insurance, asset management, fintech and healthcare technology.
Kaspersky Lab to experiment with accelerator
The cybersecurity company will provide $80,000 in prize money to the top three startups, with a total of 40 places being made available.
Nielsen rates $25m Pereg venture fund
Pereg Ventures, a newly launched venture firm targeting market intelligence and analytics startups, has raised $25m for its first fund from investors including Nielsen.
Sumitomo Electric and KDDI plug into $42m fund
Sumitomo Electric Industries and KDDI are among the backers of a newly launched Japan-based fund that will invest in robotics startups.
People
Nick Wheeler has left Flectronics, where he worked with seed funding subsidiary Lab IX, to take up a director role at Robert Bosch’s corporate venturing unit.
Exits
Ant Financial to raise $4bn from private placement
The cash injection, which is set to be secured at a valuation of up to $40bn, will precede an initial public offering likely to take place in 2017.
Check-Cap examines $24m IPO and placement
Fosun Pharma-backed Check-Cap has received $12m in an initial public offering and an additional $12m in a private placement.
Celgene to exit Flexus in $1.25bn acquisition
Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to buy the cancer specialist just two months after its series B round, in a deal that will involve $800m in cash upfront.
Cellectis heads to US for $115m IPO
The Pfizer-backed cancer treatment developer, which initially floated in France in 2007, received $35m from Pfizer last year in return for a 10% stake.
Twilio identifies Authy for acquisition
The cloud-based authentification service has been bought by Twilio after raising almost $3.8m from backers including Salesforce and Digital Garage.
Easic looks to customise $75m IPO
Seagate-backed customised silicon device maker Easic aims to float on Nasdaq after raising $120m in venture funding.
Sokei buys Heptares in $400m deal
Alzheimer’s drug developer Heptares has been acquired by pharmaceutical company Sosei, providing exits to corporate backers Novartis and Takeda.
IT
Corporate venturing unit Dell Ventures joined the data storage company’s investors, as it boosted its overall funding to $38.5m.
Citymaps finds Nokia for $6m series A
Nokia boosted the personalised mapping app developer’s funding to $11m since it was founded in 2010.
Mobile cybersecurity company Zimperium raises $12m
Telstra, Toyo and Samsung all committed funds to a $12m series B round for mobile cybersecurity company Zimperium that took its total funding to $20m.
SecureKey unlocks $19m series C round
Rogers Communications has co-led a $19m round for the mobile authentication company, which also counts Intel, Telus, Mastercard, Visa and Discover as backers.
Australian government-backed cybersecurity technology developer Dtex Systems will spend the cash on relocating to California.
Unify Square calls on Microsoft for series B
Unify Square, a developer of software built on top of conference call service Skype for Business, has obtained $8.2m from a Microsoft-backed series B round.
Webdata gets a buzz from Senovo investment
Webdata, the developer of analytics service Blackbee, has closed a $4.5m series A round and plans to expand into the UK and the US.
Insight Robotics fires its way to SmartCamp victory
The forest fire detection company overcame competition from hundreds of 2014 participants at IBM’s SmartCamp to win Entrepreneur of the Year.
Pivot3 builds infrastructure for $45m round
The IT infrastructure company, which counts Samsung among its investors, has closed $45m in debt and equity and has now raised $155m in total.
IDG returned to back the human resources communications company’s $22.2m series C round, which boosted its overall funding to more than $42m.
Investors go to Metamarkets for series C
AOL-backed event-based data company Metamarkets has received $15m in a round led by venture capital fund Data Collective, bringing its total funding to almost $44m.
NEC and E.ON seek Space-Time Insight
E.ON and NEC co-led the data analytics provider’s $8m series D round, just months after it formed a strategic partnership with NEC.
Access helps IronSource forge $105m series A
Access Industries has led a $20m second tranche for app delivery platform IronSource’s series A round, closing its series A round at $105m.
Adobe and Salesforce catch Livefyre for series D
Online marketing technology company Livefyre raised $32m in the round, which was announced concurrently with a $15m series C2 round.
Synack secures $25m in series B round
Cybersecurity company Synack has raised $25m from a range of investors including existing backer Google, increasing its total funding to $34m in the process.
Verizon gets back on board Urban Airship
Mobile notification company Urban Airship has closed its second series D tranche at $21m, increasing its overall funding to $67.6m.
Health
Merck helps treat Prexton to $10m
Prexton, which develops treatments for diseases including Parkinson’s, has secured series A funding from investors including Merck subsidiary MS Ventures.
Cleveland Clinic monitors Vectorious series A
Vectorious, which is developing an implant-based cardiac monitoring system, has raised $5m and will look to begin the first trials for the device soon.
Media
Lionsgate opens for Telltale Games
IDG-backed Telltale Games has attracted a reported $40m in series D funding from film studio Lionsgate as part of an agreement to co-develop their respective properties.
LocoMotive picks up steam for series A
SoftBank and Tal Education both contributed capital to the educational game producer’s $4m series A round, which will support expansion in Asia.
Machinima switches on for $24m series E
YouTube video network Machinima has increased its total funding to $91m, with a $24m round led by returning investor Warner Bros.
Consumer
Qualcomm lands on 3D Robotics for $50m series C
The drone technology company has now raised $85m across three rounds, after Qualcomm joined O’Reilly Media as an investor.
Pepperfry seeks flavour for series D
Bertelsmann-backed lifestyle e-commerce company Pepperfry has entered talks to raise up to $80m from existing and new investors.
Tengelmann shops for grocery startups
Two Rocket Internet-incubated grocery startups, ShopWings and Bonativo, have received series A funding from Tengelmann Ventures.
Industrial
Chemoxy looks for right mix with BGF investment
Chemicals manufacturer Chemoxy plans to double its revenue within the next five years using $30.8m in Business Growth Fund-backed debt and equity funding.
Transport
The Google-backed on-demand valet service raised the series A funding less than four months after a $5.5m seed round.
Services
Entrepreneur vists AlleyNYC for $16m round
Co-working space AlleyNYC raised the money in a round featuring publisher Entrepreneur Media, and will now look to open a second New York premises.