MyRepublic restates series C intention
The Sinar Mas-backed company has nearly doubled the size of its series C round to almost $112m after securing $60m from CLSA and Kamet Capital Partners.
Caruso channels media’s future
Speaking at the GCV Symposium, Scott Caruso, director of strategic ventures at UpRamp, said that latency, infrastructure and content will be key VC drivers for the media sector.
Corporate venturing deal net: 4 – 8 June 2018
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds
Fundraising
Lockheed Martin lifts CVC fund to $200m
Lockheed Martin Ventures will now have double the amount of capital under management to invest in sectors such as autonomy and advanced manufacturing.
Pfizer injects $600m into CVC operation
Pfizer Ventures is set to invest $600m in biotechnology, with neuroscience a key focus, bringing the size of its corporate venturing activities to more than $1bn.
Ze Box and PSA Unboxed ship innovation
The corporate venturing arms of CMA CGM and PSA International have joined forces to drive digitisation and innovation in the logistics sector.
JLL Spark has been established with a $100m commitment to tap into the proptech space.
Koch has confidence in Trust fund
Trust Ventures has secured $35m for its inaugural fund from investors including Koch Disruptive Technologies to invest in sectors where public policy is proving a hurdle to startups.
Gumi sets up $30m blockchain fund
Hironao Kunimitsu, founder and CEO of Gumi, and Miko Matsumura, founder of virtual currency exchange Evercoin, are leading Gumi Cryptos.
Huobi and Kiwoom launch $93m fund
Huobi and Kiwoom Securities have joined forces with NewMargin Capital to launch a blockchain-focused investment fund.
Kuaishou enjoys AcFun acquisition
Kuaishou has acquired AcFun, which was reported earlier this year to have wound down but had in fact experienced a major server crash.
Unilever Brazil starts accelerator
Lever Up will be led by Liga Ventures’ Corporate Accelerator Alternate Ventures, targeting the IT, supply chain, e-commerce, home care and food industries.
Snap clicks for media startups
Snap’s accelerator, Yellow, will invest $150,000 into 10 different creators or startups in return for an equity stake of undisclosed sized.
The cryptocurrency exchange has revealed a $1bn fund that will invest in blockchain technology developers and cryptocurrency startups.
White Star rises with $180m fund
Veolia, La Capitale, Groupe ADP, Ubisoft and Unisys are among the limited partners in White Star’s second fund, which has achieved a $180m close.
People
Arora resurfaces at Palo Alto Networks
Nikesh Arora has joined Palo Alto Networks, as his former employer SoftBank begins making its own moves on succession to its founder, Masayoshi Son.
Exits
AMC Entertainment lets Abry onto Screenvision
Abry has acquired cinema marketing distributor Screenvision for $380m in a deal which bagged AMC Entertainment a $45m return.
Susquehanna unloads GlobalTranz
Freight brokerage GlobalTranz will be acquired by private equity firm Jordan Company after raising $50m from two rounds in 2014 and 2011.
M17 ditches IPO at the last minute
M17 Entertainment, backed by MCN, Yahoo Japan and LeSports, was expected to float on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday but still has not begun trading.
Yinxiang Biji has been spun out from Evernote with an undisclosed amount of series A funding provided by Sequoia Capital’s CBC Cross-border Digital Industry Fund.
Marley Spoon to plate up $53m IPO
The Rocket Internet-backed meal ingredients delivery service is planning to raise $53m in an initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Nordisk Film sweeps up Avalanche
Nordisk Film has wholly acquired Avalanche Studios for a total of $138m, having initially purchased a minority stake last year.
LogRhythm records Thoma Bravo acquisition
Siemens has celebrated an exit as Thoma Bravo acquired its portfolio company LogRhythm, which had raised more than $121m from investors.
The smartphone manufacturer, which filed for a $10bn initial public offering in May, is planning to raise up to 30% of the amount in mainland China and the remainder in Hong Kong.
The company will sell up to approximately 7.7 million shares priced at $22.8 to $28.7, valuing the Rocket Internet-backed business at $618m to $758m.
Neuronetics eases into IPO filing
Neuronetics has filed for an $86.3m initial public offering on Nasdaq that will offer exits to corporates Pfizer, General Electric and Ascension.
Salesforce and WPP-backed Domo, which emerged from stealth in 2015 with a $2bn valuation, has filed to go public in an attempt to secure capital and avoid having to reduce its business.
Pharmstandard and Access Industries-backed Neon Therapeutics has filed for a $115m initial public offering that will support a range of ongoing clinical trials.
IT
Kneron processes $18m A1 round
To date, Kneron has raised more than $33m in funding from investors including Alibaba, Qualcomm, Homax and Thundersoft.
Claridge Israel has purchased a minority stake in Cyberbit, a hitherto wholly-owned subsidiary of defence contractor Elbit Systems.
Qumulo stores $93m in series D
Western Digital has joined a consortium of investors led by BlackRock for a $93m series D round in Qumulo.
Avi Networks has received $60m in an oversubscribed series B round that featured long-time partner Cisco’s corporate venturing arm as a new investor.
Virtru pens $37.5m series B email
Samsung Next has put its weight behind a series B round for Virtru, the developer of end-to-end data protection technology.
SQream shouts about corporate backing
The $26.4m series B round included Alibaba, Sistema.vc and Silvertech Ventures.
Artificial intelligence developer SenseTime raised $620m in a C+ funding in addition to the $600m series C round it had previously received.
Health
SutroVax diagnoses $85m series C
Pivotal BioVenture Partners and Roche have both returned to back a series C round for SutroVax, which has also added TPG, Medicxi and Foresite Capital to its shareholders.
Zebra shines a light on $30m series C
Johnson & Johnson, Intermountain Healthcare and Nvidia have backed a $30m series C round for Zebra Medical Vision.
Cytrellis rests easy with series B funding
Cytrellis has raised $28.5m from investors including pharmaceutical developer Merz as it continues clinical trials on its handheld dermatological device for aging skin.
Camp4 discovers Kraft in its $30m A round
Camp4 has attracted capital from investors such as Kraft Group to continue development of its drug discovery platform based on work at MIT and Harvard Medical School.
Cytecare adds Goldman Sachs as strategic investor
The $31m series A round will help set up an oncology franchise across four to five cities throughout India.
HJB imparts series B+ knowledge
Taikang Life and Lilly Asia Ventures, which backed the initial $59.7m series B round last year, have also contributed to a $35m series B+ round of Hangzhou Just Biotherapeutics.
All existing shareholders, including Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly and Schrödinger, have participated in the funding round.
Cortexyme processes $76m series B
Pfizer and Takeda, which previously backed a $15m series A, have returned to back a $76m series B round for Cortexyme.
AbSci closes on $12m round from AGC
The funding will go towards expanded research and development activities at AbSci, which has created a a synthetic biology platform.
The round takes Propeller Health’s total to more than $60m and will support a pipeline of digital therapeutics and connected devices for the treatment of chronic respiratory disease.
In 2016, Ava closed an oversubscribed $9.7m series A round backed by telecommunications company Swisscom and financial services provider Zurich Cantonal Bank.
Clinical Genomics analyses $26m
Quest Diagnostics returned to back a $26m funding round for Clinical Genomics, which is working on a colorectal cancer test.
CMR Surgical strings together $100m series B
CMR Surgical, backed by ABB Technology Ventures, has added $100m in series B funding to its coffers.
Media
Podium celebrates $60m series B
The customer engagement software developer has raised $60m from investors including GV, the early-stage investment arm of Alphabet that previously supported a $32m series A.
Yinxiang Biji has been spun out from Evernote with an undisclosed amount of series A funding provided by Sequoia Capital’s CBC Cross-border Digital Industry Fund.
PlayVS publicly launched out of the startup studio Science this past April.
Metacrine breaks down $65m series C
Lilly Asia Ventures and existing investor Alexandria Venture Investments have taken part in a $65m series C round for metabolic disease treatment developer Metacrine.
Verity reaches series A heights
Airbus Ventures and Sony Innovation Fund have taken part in an $18m series A round for Verity Studios, which produces indoor drone technology.
YY has led a series D round for Bigo, which operates an ecosystem of streaming apps and has now raised more than $450m.
Dataminr extracts $221m in funding
Dataminr has secured fresh investment three years after Fidelity and Credit Suisse backed a $130m series D round.
3P Learning sells Learnosity stake
3P Learning held a 40% stake in Learnosity after having most recently invested $13.9m in 2016, but has now sold it to Battery Ventures.
Bungie jumps on $100m investment
NetEase has acquired a minority stake in Bungie, the creator of game franchises Halo and Destiny, which was purchased by Microsoft in 2000 but was spun out seven years later.
Consumer
Honest Company finds $200m truth
L Catterton has supplied $200m to Honest Company, following the latter’s distribution partnership with beauty retailer Douglas.
Investors remain loyal to Stocard
Stocard, the developer of a mobile loyalty app backed by Cewe, has secured $20m from investors including Engelhorn.
Ecobee brings series C to $97m
The round, already backed by Amazon Alexa Fund, has been increased by $36m through an extension that featured AGL Energy.
Alibaba plants Babytree funding
Alibaba has purchased a 10% stake in Babytree that valued the e-commerce platform at $2.2bn.
Youdian adds Foxconn in series A
Youdian has raised $21.8m at a post-money valuation of $110m.
Financial
Ant Financial pushes series C to $14bn
The round was already the largest ever at the previously reported $10bn mark but has been revealed to stand even taller with an additional $4bn.
Legend and Susquehanna International Group have supplied $12m to Goopal.
BlueVine grows with $60m series E
BlueVine, backed by Rakuten and Citi, will use the money to expand its product offering and accelerate recruitment of its research and development team.
Visa, CreditEase and Commerzbank-backed Marqeta has added $45m to its coffers following a series E round that featured Goldman Sachs.
Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures backed a $70m series C round for Chime, having previously supported an $18m series B nine months ago.
Hyperchain connects to $234m series B
Xinhu Zhongbao has contributed to a series B round for Hyperchain Technologies, which is developing blockchain technology aimed at sectors such as healthcare and energy.
Sina has co-led a $103m funding round for Pintec, which focuses on retail financial services.
Lendix lends itself to $37m deal
Allianz has co-led a funding round for Lendix, which will help the company to expand to additional countries across Europe by the end of the year.
FinCompare contrasts $11.7m series A
ING Ventures has made a lead investment in FinCompare as part of a series A round that also attracted existing investor Uniqa Ventures.
Amazon leads Acko’s $12m round
Acko was founded in late 2016 by Varun Dua, one of the co-founders of insurance comparison site Coverfox.
Visa banks on YellowPepper deal
YellowPepper has attracted $12.5m in series D funding from Visa and existing shareholders.
CGTZ calculates $359m series D
Geo-Jade Petroleum has led a series D round for Caogen Touzi, which also featured a range of unnamed, existing investors.
Industrial
Honest Buildings extends B round again
The additional $5m was led by urban properties developer First Capital Realty and brought the round’s total to $30m.
Existing shareholder UMC Capital has returned to back a $13m series B round for NextInput.
BASF Venture Capital and Capagro have co-led a 10.7m funding round for the agricultural robot developer.
Transport
Volkswagen and Access Industries have supported Gett’s latest funding round that valued the ride hailing business at $1.4bn.
Caroobi roars through $20m series B
NGP Capital and BMW are among the investors in car mechanic marketplace operator Caroobi’s latest round, which takes its overall tally to approximately $30m.
Cox Automotive, Denso, Penske, Deutsche Bahn and Mitsui have all backed a $28.6m series B round for RideCell, whose existing shareholders include BMW.
GV is reportedly leading a funding round for Lime, a bike-sharing platform also backed by NGP Capital and the Stanford-StartX fund.
Protean Electric energises $40m series E
The amount serves as a first close of the series E round and has been provided by investors including Weifu High-Technology Group.
The ride hailing firm has launched Grab Ventures, which is set to make eight to 10 investments over the next two years, and established an accelerator called Velocity.
Services
Tiantianpaiche gears up for $100m
Autohome has made a strategic investment in used car auction platfom Tiantianpaiche, whose backers already include SoftBank, SIG, Tencent and Bitauto.
Nashwork finds space for $78m series B+
Kunlun-backed Nashwork has attracted $78m in a series B+ round backed by Sino-Ocean Group.
VIPCode takes in Softbank China
VIPCode, which provides online programming education service for teenagers and children aged 6 to 16 years, has raised $13.3m.
Danke thanks investors for another $70m
Bertelsmann Asia Investments was among the returning investors in a $70m series B+ round, which followed an initial $100m series B in February this year.
Hello Alfred serves up $40m series B
The in-home assistant service has secured $40m in series B funding from backers such as Divco West and Invesco.
SoftBank Ventures Korea has led a series A round for the co-working spaces provider, while Line, Naver and Sinar Mas Land also contributed cash.
Axa ensures interest in Phenom People
Sierra Ventures, Sigma Prime Ventures, and Omidyar Ventures reinvested in a series B round for Phenom, which was led by Axa Venture Partners.