Corporate venturing deal net: 25-29 March 2019
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Volta charges up $180m fund with corporate help
Equinox, Exelon, Albemarle and Hanon Systems have helped establish a battery technology fund called Volta Energy Technologies which is supported by a research agreement with Argonne National Laboratory.
Williams serves up Bumble Fund investment
Serena Williams has made a limited partner commitment to the dating app’s impact investment fund, which targets female-led startups.
Flipkart enters venturing space with dedicated fund
Flipkart has established a corporate venture capital fund with a reported $80m to $100m in capital that will be overseen by CFO Emily McNeal.
Severstal steels itself with new accelerator
Severstal has launched an accelerator to develop metallurgical technology startups as part of a $25m open innovation investment drive.
Infosys makes itself at home in House Fund
The UC Berkeley-affiliated House Fund has received a $10m commitment from Infosys on its way to a targeted close of $50m.
People
Jett reaches new heights at Vision Fund
SoftBank Vision Fund investor Lydia Jett has been appointed to a partner position, having worked with portfolio companies such as Flipkart, Coupang and Tokopedia.
Elaine Jones, vice-president at pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s corporate venture capital unit, has shared highlights of her career with GCV ahead of her departure in April.
TCM hires ex-JLabs lead Tom Luby
The former head of Johnson & Johnson’s JLabs@TMC incubator has been appointed director of Texas Medical Center’s TMC Innovation Institute.
Tepper takes off from GE Ventures
Alex Tepper has departed from a managing director position at General Electric’s corporate VC unit to take a senior managing director role at startup studio Human Ventures.
Humana’s Burr to hang with Mr Cooper
Busy Burr, a founding partner of Humana Health Ventures who featured on GCV’s 2017 and 2018 Powerlists, was named a director at Mr Cooper at the end of February.
Exits
Kyriba to score $160m in acquisition deal
Bridgepoint could take a majority stake in Kyriba in a deal that woukd allow HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Bred Banque Populaire, Mizuho Bank and American Express to exit.
Online mattress retailer Casper Sleep is looking to hire underwriters for an initial public offering that would allow Target to exit two years after leading its $170m series C round.
Hookipa looks to public markets
Hookipa Pharma, a Boehringer Ingelheim, Takeda and Gilead-backed infectious disease and cancer drug developer, has filed for an $86.3m IPO.
Zoom comes face to face with $100m IPO
Profitable video conferencing technology provider Zoom has filed to go public, with Qualcomm Ventures set to record an exit.
Careem rises to $3.1bn acquisition by Uber
Careem has agreed to an acquisition by Uber in a cash-and-convertible note deal, allowing Rakuten, Al Tayyar, Daimler, STC and Didi Chuxing to exit.
Turning Point to face IPO moment of truth
Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline-backed cancer treatment developer Turning Point Therapeutics has filed to raise up to $100m having secured $145m in VC funding.
Pinterest puts down IPO filing
The Rakuten-backed social media company, which was valued at more than $12bn in 2017, has filed to list on the New York Stock Exchange.
Brainlab concludes Medineering acquisition
Brainlab has purchased the surgical robotics technology provider for an undisclosed amount, two years after investing in the company.
McDonald’s to consume Dynamic Yield for more than $300m
Baidu, Deutsche Telekom, Naver, New York Times and ProSiebenSat.1 are all set to exit the machine learning software provider in an acquisition by McDonald’s.
IT
Mobvoi looks to mobilise $100m in funding
Voice interface technology developer Mobvoi, backed by Alphabet and Volkswagen, is looking to raise $100m at a $1bn valuation before seeking an initial public offering in Shanghai.
MiningLamp lights way to $297m series D
Tencent has returned to lead a $297m series D round for big data technology producer MiningLamp, having co-led its $159m series C a year ago.
Riverwood has invested $50m in the Salesforce-backed cloud software testing platform, which has now raised approximately $144m in funding altogether.
Vlocity keeps pace with $60m series C
The business digitisation software producer is reportedly valued at $1bn, having secured $60m in a round co-led by Salesforce Ventures and backed by Accenture and New York Life.
Avidbots mops up series B funding
Siemens’ Next47 fund and KCPL both participated in the $23.6m round, which the commercial cleaning robot provider will use to increase headcount.
SkyMind gets corporate backing in series A round
The Y Combinator graduate collected $11.5m in a round that included contributions from Tencent, ServiceNow, Presidio Ventures and GMO Ventures.
Harel Insurance and Phoenix Insurance both backed a series C round that took the lidar technology developer’s overall funding to $124m.
IfChange recruits Sunshine for $80m series C
Sunshine Insurance co-led the recruitment software producer’s series C round, which will fund the development of IfChange’s candidate matching technology.
SoftBank to re-enter CloudMinds in $300m round
Robotics technology provider CloudMinds has recruited Vision Fund, managed by existing investor SoftBank, for a $300m round that will fund the ramping up of its production capabilities.
Ouster detects corporates to raise $60m
The lidar technology developer has followed a $27m series A round by adding $60m from investors including existing backers Cox Enterprises and Exelon.
NS8 secures $26m in fresh funding
The Bloomberg-backed cybersecurity technology developer reeled in $26m in a round co-led by Sorenson Ventures, Lytical Ventures and Edison Partners.
Tidesquare books in corporates for funding
The online travel booking platform has collected $44.3m in a round featuring Dunamu as well as a reported $30.7m investment from Kakao.
Skedulo closes book on $28m series B
The employee management platform developer has completed an M12-led round that took its overall funding past the $40m mark and will use the cash for hiring.
Portworx imports $27m of series C funding
NetApp, GE Ventures, Cisco Investments and HPE all chipped in as data storage technology provider Portworx boosted its overall funding to more than $55m.
WorkBoard chalks up $23m in series B
Workday joined existing investor Microsoft in a round that will support the development of WorkBoard’s enterprise planning software, taking its total funding to $35m.
The communication software developer boosted its total funding to $91m in a round that included Anschutz Investment Company.
The data centre technology developer will put the proceeds from the CUI-led round into its marketing and research and development activities.
Health
Dingdang discloses $89m in series B funding
Dingdang Medicine Express has secured further funding from repeat backer SoftBank China Venture Capital, while a healthcare fund backed by Sinopharm also took part in the round.
Inivata invites Johnson & Johnson to series B round
Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, IP Group and CIC have returned for a $52.2m series B round for Inivata, a spinout of Cancer Research UK and University of Cambridge.
SoftBank feels out PharmEasy for $100m roun
The corporate-backed online pharmacy is in discussions with SoftBank over a $100m round that would potentially value it at $400m.
Arch Oncology marches to $50m series B
Roche Venture Fund was among the existing investors that helped supply $50m for Arch Oncology, the cancer drug developer formerly known as Tioma.
The Mitsui-backed glucose monitoring technology provider will use the series E proceeds to fund the commercialisation of its device in the US.
Abbisko sticks series B landing to raise $42m
The CNPG-backed oncology therapy developer boosted its overall funding to $70m in a round backed by Eli Lilly and CICC Capital.
Imago marks series B round with $40m
Amgen Ventures, MRL Ventures Fund and Pharmaron contributed to a round that almost doubled the total raised by the bone marrow disease drug developer since 2012.
Pharmaceutical firm Pfizer has acquired a 15% stake in the gene therapy developer along with an exclusive option to fully buy the Novartis-backed company.
GenoImmune generates series A financing
The immunotherapy developer, which is majority owned by BGI Group, has secured $17.8m in a GF Securities-led round that will fund clinical work on its lead product candidate.
Media
Facebook eyes content startups
Facebook is in talks to back several India-based content startups, including women-focused online community provider PopXo.
Consumer
Casper cashes in with $100m of funding
The mattress provider, which is reportedly preparing to go public, has secured $100m in funding from investors including existing backer Target.
Financial
Baiwang invoices corporates for series A funding
Alibaba and Tencent have reportedly supplied $77m in funding for Baiwang, though the electronic billing software producer has disputed the size of the round.
Paytm makes passage towards $2bn
Paytm owner One97 Communications is reportedly seeking between $1bn and $2bn in a SoftBank Vision Fund and Ant Financial-backed round, at a valuation of up to $18bn.
Shuidi shakes out series B funding
The healthcare-focused crowdfunding service collected $74.5m in the Tencent-led round, which will be used to add AI technology to its insurance platform.
Airwallex puts $100m on the books
Existing investor Tencent has returned for a $100m series C round that valued the cross-border financial remittance service at more than $1bn.
MX Federation adds Bertelsmann to series C1 mix
GLP-backed BitRock Capital has led an eight-figure dollar round for the digital wealth management platform that also featured existing backer BAI.
Energy and Natural Resources
Carbon Engineering unearths $68m
Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, BHP and Bethel Lands all invested in a round that will fund further testing of Carbon Enginnering’s carbon capture technology.
Industrial
Hesus ascends with corporate funding
Bouygues Construction and Suez Group have both contributed to an $11.3m round that will fund the construction waste removal service’s European expansion.
Transport
Leap to reach for $372m in new round
The electric car developer plans to follow a $288m Shanghai Electric and CRRC-backed round in November with more than $370m in new funding.
Services
Hearst Ventures was among the participants in a round that will fund the roll-out of Plum Guide’s high-end holiday accommodation rental platform to 12 more cities.
The Citi Ventures-led round increased the total raised by the freelance business and financial planning service to $60m in the past five years.
Delhivery picks up another $413m
Three weeks after reports suggested SoftBank Vision Fund had led a $395m series F round for e-commerce delivery service Delhivery, the size has been confirmed as $413m.
Ke collects Tencent on its way to $800m
The Lianjia spinoff is currently raising $800m in a series D round that will be led by Tencent, and which looks likely to be its first external funding.