Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 1-5 August 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Hearst and Fitch team up for fintech fund
Financial data provider Fitch Group is collaborating with Hearst Media’s business division on Financial Venture Fund, which will invest in financial information, services and technology startups.
Agrium helps Finistere grow $150m Fund II
Finistere Ventures has welcomed the agribusiness to an LP syndicate already containing Bayer as part of the agriculture technology fund it is raising.
UniCredit pays entrance fee to $100m Anthemis fund
Financial services firm UniCredit is an anchor investor in the digital fintech venture capital and advisory firm’s first dedicated fund, which has reached a $60m first close.
Sun Life joins Plug and Play backers
The insurance group will provide mentorship and business development support to startups in Plug and Play Tech Center’s insurance vertical.
People
Chang leaves SoftBank for Eight Roads
Joe Chang, a partner at SoftBank China Venture Capital, has left for a similar role in the China office of Fidelity subsidiary Eight Roads Ventures.
Treskow follows path to Eight Roads
Michael Treskow has left Accel Partners for a position at the London office of Eight Roads Ventures, the proprietary investment arm of Fidelity.
Patwardhan takes venture partner role at CreditEase
Anju Patwardhan, formerly chief innovation officer at Standard Chartered Bank, will make strategic fintech and VC fund investments on behalf of lending platform CreditEase.
Exits
Jet enters talks to land at Wal-Mart
Alibaba and Alphabet-baked e-commerce platform Jet, which raised money at a $1bn valuation in November, could be acquired by Wal-Mart for up to $3bn.
Cheetah Mobile curates News Republic acquisition
Intel Capital-backed News Republic has been acquired by Cheetah Mobile for $57m, after raising about $9m from backers also including Xange Private Equity and Creathor Venture.
Salesforce fires off $750m Quip acquisition
Interactive word processing software provider Quip had raised $45m in funding since 2012 from backers including Salesforce Ventures.
Konga looks to exit the dancefloor
Konga, a Nigeria-based e-commerce company in which Naspers reportedly holds a 50% stake, has approached prospective buyers for an acquisition in the $35m range.
IT
Go-Jek zooms to $550m fundraise
Rakuten-backed Go-Jek operates a range of on-demand services apps that have been downloaded more than 20 million times in total by its Indonesian customers.
HNA enters RocketSpace with $336m investment
HNA Group’s funding will enable the San Francisco-headquartered accelerator expand its tech campuses into China and beyond.
Autodesk supplied part of the cash, taking Formlabs’ total funding to $55m, and plans to partner the 3D printing company on software integration and marketing.
The online printing services provider has raised funds from backers including Opt and GMO Internet, having previously raised $48m since the start of 2014.
Yieldbot goes forward for $35m
KBS-backed advertising analytics platform developer Yieldbot has raised more than $63m altogether, and will now consider strategic acquisitions.
Intel Capital funds three more in Israel
The corporate venturing unit invested $25m to lead early-stage rounds for Velostrata, Sedona Systems and Panoply.io totalling $38.5m.
Intel Capital tips CognitiveScale toward $21.8m round
The corporate venturing unit co-led artificial intelligence software provider CognitiveScale’s first public round with VC firm Norwest Venture Partners.
Apptimize passes series B test with $12.4m
The app testing platform developer has now raised $18.5m altogether, having been backed at seed stage by Alphabet subsidiary GV.
Existing investor New Enterprise Associates has provided $9m in series A funding for GV-backed procurement software developer Scout RFP.
Altares subscribes to Powerlinx’s series A
Powerlinx, developer of a platform that helps businesses establish collaborations, has formed a strategic partnership of its own with business data provider Altares D&B.
Health
Big Deal: GSK seeks truth with Alphabet
Galvani has just been funded with $715m over seven years by GSK and Verily Life Sciences – known as Google’s Life Sciences unit until last year’s creation of the US-listed search engine’s Alphabet holding company.
Bio-conjugate developer Ambrx raises $45m
Ambrx, which agreed an acquisition last year by a Fosun Pharma and WuXi PharmaTech-backed consortium, has secured funding from investors including Fosun, Sinopharm and Humanwell.
GE monitors Ornim for $20m in series C funding
General Electric has made its third investment in the blood flow monitoring technology developer, which has reportedly raised $75m since 2012.
Roche books room with Viewics in $10.5m round
Roche’s corporate venturing unit co-led the latest round to be closed by the healthcare analytics provider, which will be used for product development.
Takeda co-leads $13m Bioniz series A
Bioniz has secured $13m in a round co-led by Takeda Ventures and David Pyott, who has been named chairman of the immuno-inflammatory disease drug developer.
Healthkart works out $12m series E
Healthkart, owned by Intel-backed Bright Lifecare, has added $12m to its coffers thanks to Sequoia Capital and Kae Capital.
Renmatix generates $31m in new funding
The biochemicals technology provider, which counts Total, BASF and Waste Management as past investors, has secured $31m, according to a securities filing.
Media
Time Warner does the Hulu with $583m investment
The media conglomerate now owns 10% of television streaming service Hulu, the rest being jointly held by Walt Disney, Comcast and 21st Century Fox.
Intuit reaches Townsquared for $11m series B
Enterprise software firm Intuit co-led the small business networking platform’s latest round, sized at $11.05m, making $16.4m it has raised in the past year.
Ceros contents itself with $8m
The interactive content creation platform has now raised about $16.5m in total, securing $8m in a CNF Investments-backed series B round.
HTC selects startups with the Vive X factor
HTC has chosen 33 startups for the first batch for its Vive X Accelerator from some 1,200 applicants, and has revealed SoftBank and Nvidia as backers of its VR alliance.
LeadGenius contacts investors for $10m series B
The sales and marketing platform, which counts Recruit as an investor, has closed a $10m series B round that featured accelerator Y Combinator.
Consumer
Accenture takes DynamicAction stake in $15m round
Accenture, which invested through its Accenture Ventures unit, will also sell the company’s retail analytics software as part of a strategic agreement.
Birchbox closes $15m in convertible note round
The Comcast-backed beauty product e-commerce company has received the convertible note financing to hold it over until it becomes cash flow positive.
Rakuten gets back on Carousell in $35m round
Existing backer Rakuten has returned to lead a $35m series B round for Carousell, putting the mobile marketplace app provider’s total funding at $41.8m.
YepMe targets $20m to spin out software technology
The online fashion retailer intends to raise between $15m and $20m from external backers to fund the spin out of its inventory management platform.
Africa Internet Group sells CDC on $55m investment
Corporate-backed AIG took its 2016 equity funding to more than $465m with an investment from UK state-backed development finance institution CDC Group.
Financial
Clark notes down series A round
ProSiebenSat.1 and Axel Springer both took stakes in the insurance management platform, making media-for-equity investments as part of a $14.8m round.
Energy and Natural Resources
Skeleton scares up series C funding
Harju Elekter, which previously led ultracapacitor producer Skeleton Technologies’ series B round, returned to take part in a $14.6m round led by FirstFloor Capital.
Transport
Big Deal: Didi Chuxing to acquire Uber China
Uber has lost its battle in China, but as the largest shareholder in a $35bn company that is the overwhelming market leader it may yet win the war.
Corporates to flag down Grab for $600m round
Southeast Asian ride hailing service Grab is set to close the round, co-led by SoftBank and Didi Chuxing, next week and could raise more than $600m.
Daimler gets into driver’s seat for Blacklane’s series C
Daimler’s Mobility Services division led the round for lift service Blacklane, the backers of which also include Recruit and Car4you.
Services
Peek reveals $10m series A round
The CAA Ventures-backed excursion booking platform has received $10m from individual investors to take its overall funding to $18m.