Corporate venturing deal net: 3-7 April 2017
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
BorgWarner buys into Autotech Ventures with $10m
Venture firm Autotech Ventures has received $10m in capital from clean automotive technology provider BorgWarner, which aims to begin making its own VC investments.
Legend Capital hits $400m for seventh fund
Legend Holdings’ venture capital arm has closed its latest fund after reaching its $400m hard cap.
InnoHub is a fintech accelerator collaboration between the Thai financial services firm and accelerator Nest.
Exits
Spotify scutinises public listing options
The corporate-backed music platform is reportedly mulling a public market listing that would not raise money but which would allow investors to divest their shares.
Square enters talks for Yik Yak acquisition
The Renren-backed social media platform, once valued at up to $400m, is in talks with Square for an acqui-hire deal.
Petco has purchased petcare services platform PetCoach for an undisclosed sum, providing an exit to corporate investors Comcast and Pet360.
Zymeworks looks to construct $75m IPO
Eli Lilly is the oncology antibody developer’s largest shareholder, while other investors include Celgene and EMS subsidiary Brace Pharma Capital.
Vtesse accelerates to $200m acquisition
Sucampo has acquired the Lundbeck and Pfizer-backed rare diseases treatment developer for $200m in stock and cash, less than a year after it closed a $42m series A round.
GV has led a series C round that valued the secondary storage technology provider at more than $500m with backing from Cisco, Qualcomm and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Grab pays up to $100m for Kudo
Grab has completed the acquisition of Emtek, Gree and Singapore Press Holdings-backed mobile payment portal Kudo for between $80m and $100m.
Data management platform Cloudera has filed for an initial public offering that will give exits to Intel – its largest shareholder – and Alphabet.
SoftBank withdraws Snapdeal financing amid merger rumours
SoftBank, which holds 33% of Snapdeal, has reportedly rescinded an agreement to provide up to $200m in debt and is said to be negotiating a merger with its rival, Flipkart.
Telus gets in position for Rx Networks exit
Telus will retain a stake in spinout Fathom Systems as its parent company, mobile positioning systems provider Rx Networks, agrees to be bought by BDStar for $23m.
OrCam, a smart camera developer backed by Intel, is considering an initial public offering a month after raising a previously unannounced $41m funding round.
Silvercar shines in Audi acquisition
Audi, an existing investor in Silvercar, is set to fully acquire the airport car rental app developer.
IDG Capital completes IDG acquisition
IDG Capital and China Oceanwide have closed their acquisition of International Data Group’s businesses, with IDG Capital taking over IDG Ventures.
DogVacay books permanent stay with Rover
The two dogsitting services providers have joined forces in a bid to accelerate international expansion efforts.
IT
Portworx harbours $20m in series B round
GE Ventures contributed to an oversubscribed series B round led by Sapphire Ventures that the container data management company will use to add new features.
Filament connects to corporates for $15m
The internet-of-things technology developer has raised cash in a round co-led by Verizon that included Intel, JetBlue, CME Group, Flextronics and Samsung.
Looker charms Alphabet for $81.5m series D
Alphabet, through CapitalG, has led a $81.5m series D round for Looker, a data analytics technology producer that is also backed by Sapphire Ventures.
Health
Existing investor Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund co-led the cell therapy developer’s series A round, which also featured MBL Venture Capital.
Amino structures $25m series C
Northwestern Mutual has invested in Amino, a healthcare company focused on helping patients estimate bills and book appointments with local physicians.
Medwell Ventures homes in on $21m
The home healthcare specialist has taken its overall funding to $35m with a Mahindra and Mahindra-led series B round that will support expansion.
NantKwest reaches Viracta for series B
Viracta Therapeutics will license its lead drug candidate to NantKwest, which is leading a series B round Viracta has said could reach $18.4m.
HealthEngine motors to series C
The online healthcare marketplace, which is backed by Telstra and Seven West Media, has attracted more than $20m to support expansion plans.
Breathe Technologies inhales new funding
The Johnson & Johnson-backed portable respirator developer has secured $12.7m according to a regulatory filing, taking its overall funding to $62m.
Solid Biosciences aims to fortify with $50m
The Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy developer has achieved the first close of a series C round backed by existing investor Biogen.
Xiaolu Yiguan attends to $14.5m series B
IDG Capital-backed Xiaolu Yiguan, which offers traditional Chinese medicine and health consultancy, has raised 14.5m in a round co-led by Redpoint Ventures and Sinovation Ventures.
Media
GV entertains Craig Kornblau as advisor
Craig Kornblau, president of Universal Pictures for 15 years, will advise the CVC unit on media and entertainment deals and provide help for its portfolio companies.
Consumer
Sunwoda helps charge Ankebox’s series A round
Ankebox, which operates a network of charging points for mobile devices, has collected $14.4m in series A funding from Sunwoda Electronic and IDG Capital.
Flipkart to take latest round to $1.5bn
Microsoft, Tencent and eBay are now set to invest $1.5bn in Flipkart, which is in talks to acquire rival Snapdeal and possibly also eBay’s Indian business.
BigBasket aims to collect $150m
Indian e-grocer BigBasket has entered talks with Tencent, Fosun and Amazon for a round sized between $110m and $150m that could value it at $1bn.
Financial
Wecash scores $80m in SIG-led round
Existing investor Susquehanna International Group has co-led a series C round for the credit scoring technology producer, which plans to now launch a lending facility.
Iyzico signs off on $15m series C
Amadeus Capital Partners has added $2m to the $13m raised by the Beenos-backed online payment technology provider in January, taking its total funding to $24m.
Naga Group nabs series A funding from Fosun
Fosun has invested $13.3m in Naga Group, the developer of a social trading platform, and will help the company expand into Asia.
Robinhood bags funding at $1.3bn valuation
The Alphabet-backed stock trading app service has raised an undisclosed amount in a round led by new investor DST Global.
Industrial
Shield AI spies Bloomberg for series A
Shield AI, developer of an artificially intelligent military drone, has raised $10.5m in a round backed by Bloomberg Beta.
Transport
Souche sucks in CreditEase for $180m series D
CreditEase’s New Financial Industrial Fund was among the investors in a round that came less than six months after a $100m Ant Financial and UCar-backed series C.
The funding, provided by as-yet unnamed investors, boosted the GM, Alibaba, Rakuten and Didi Chuxing-backed company’s valuation to $7.5bn.
Services
The funeral services marketplace raised the funding in a round that included existing backer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital.
Voxy boxes clever to raise $12m
The Pearson-backed company, a developer of an English language learning platform, has boosted its total funding to $16.5m.
Decisely assures $60m investment
Epic Insurance has committed capital to a $60m funding round for Decisely, a human resources platform created for small businesses.
Flashhold clinches $29m series B
SoftBank and Cainiao Network have co-led the round, which follows a $5m series A secured two years ago from ZTE and a $1m angel round in 2014.