Corporate venturing deal net: 5-9 June 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
Porsche drives Israeli investments
The carmaker has spread an eight-figure sum across Israel-based venture capital funds run by Magma Venture Partners and Grove Ventures.
Yahoo Japan partners Venture Reality Fund
The internet company will leverage the expertise of Venture Reality Fund to make investments in virtual and augmented technology developers.
Venturespring to get startups to Ignite
The venture development network has formed an initiative called Venturespring Ignite in partnership with Tata Communications.
Legend Capital pushes on to $448m
Legend Capital’s seventh Chinese fund reportedly hit its hard cap of $400m in April, but appears to have added another $48m since then.
Marissa Campise, who made VC investments for SoftBank and its SoftBank Capital subsidiary for two years, is reportedly raising $50m for a fund called Rucker Park.
Japan will be the 10th country in which Plug and Play has set up an accelerator scheme, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group will be the first corporate partner of the initiative.
Foxwoods to experiment with Living Lab
The casino resort is partnering VC firm Victory Square Venture Capital on a development hub called Foxwoods and Victory Square Ventures Living Lab.
Fosun to invest $100m in India
The conglomerate is targeting investments totalling $100m in India-based businesses by the end of the year.
The initiative has been launched in partnership with startup network Rainmaking and will provide $22,000 in grant funding to 10 businesses.
People
Editorial: Venturing ramifications as China nears parity
In 2005, private enterprise made up 5% of the MSCI China stock index by weighted market capitalisation. Last year it was 48%.
Tagare to replace Madasamy at Qualcomm
Varsha Tagare to be promoted to head of Qualcomm Ventures India and its $50m fund.
Pratik Bose joins Indian Angel Network
Formerly with Cisco Corporate Development, Bose has been hired as a managing partner for IAN’s maiden fund.
Exits
WeWork spies FieldLens for acquisition
SoftBank has exited field management app developer FieldLens after WeWork paid an undisclosed sum to acquire the company.
The gunfire detection technology provider floated in the middle of its range in a $30.8m IPO that gave an exit to Motorola Solutions Venture Capital.
Delivery Hero gets set for IPO
Delivery Hero plans to issue almost $510m of shares in Germany and Luxembourg, while its largest shareholder, Rocket Internet, could sell the same number.
Aileron to align itself with public markets
Stapled peptide developer Aileron Therapeutics has filed for a $69m IPO that will allow Roche, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly to exit.
Mersana swerves to public markets
The Pfizer and Takeda-backed breast cancer therapy developer has filed to raise $75m in an initial public offering that follows some $130m in equity financing.
Cirina finds Grail for merger deal
Grail, the Illumina spinout backed by Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson, Varian, McKesson, Amazon and Tencent, has agreed to merge with Cirina.
IT
Illumio lights up $125m series D
The Juniper Networks-backed cybersecurity technology producer took its total funding to almost $270m and is reportedly valued at more than $1bn.
BP reaches to Beyond Limits with $20m investment
Beyond Limits, which uses defense and space technology to develop artificial intelligence and cognitive computing products, has received $20m from BP Ventures.
Autopilot finds its way to $12m
The visual marketing software provider took its overall funding to $32m in a round that included returning investor Salesforce Ventures.
Wavecell locks in series B funding
MDI Ventures co-led the cloud communications technology provider’s $8.15m series B round, which follows a $1.6m seed round in late 2015.
PlaySight scores $11m investment
Verizon has injected capital into PlaySight, a sports technology company that will use the money to support a global expansion and to enter new sports verticals.
Health
Neuronetics relaxes with $15m series G
All of Neuronetics’ existing backers, including Pfizer and General Electric, returned for the series G round, which also attracted Ascension as an investor.
Plume plunders corporates for $37.5m
Comcast Cable, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, Presidio Ventures, Liberty Global Ventures and Shaw Ventures contributed to a round that took Plume’s total funding to $63m.
Trice welcomes Smith & Nephew to the family
The medical device producer joined Trice Medical’s existing investors in a $19.3m series C round that took the orthopaedic diagnostics technology provider’s overall funding above $40m.
Earlens earns $73m in series C round
The advanced hearing aid developer has closed a round featuring Medtronic and Cochlear at $73m, and secured a $45m debt facility.
Legend helps inject $17m in PhiSkin
PhiSkin has raised $17.7m in a series B round led by Legend Capital and will use the funding to expand its range of cosmetic treatment centres across China.
Media
Tantan swipes $70m in YY-led round
The Bertelsmann-backed dating app developer, described by some as China’s answer to Tinder, increased its overall funding to $120m in a series D round.
Discord brings harmony in $50m round
Discord, the Tencent and Time Warner-backed developer of a chat platform for gamers, closed the round in January at a $725m valuation pre-money.
Pinterest pins down existing backers for $150m
The Rakuten-backed social media platform has received $150m in equity financing from its existing backers at a $12.3bn valuation.
Audioburst takes Advanced option for series A
Audioburst, which touts itself as “the Spotify for spoken word content,” has raised $6.7m in a round led by speech recognition technology provider Advanced Media.
Consumer
The smartphone developer, which is backed by Tencent and Foxconn, has raised $300m from undisclosed investors at a valuation of between $900m and $1bn.
Coocaa connects with Tencent for $44m investment
Tencent has made a strategic investment in Coocaa in exchange for a 7.7% stake, valuing the smart TV producer at $590m.
Monoqi outlines $16.8m funding round
Condé Nast-backed online contemporary design store Monoqi will use a third of the money to establish a joint venture with investor Decisive Wealth in Dubai and Riyadh.
Great Hill Partners supplied the cash for the Novel Group-backed luxury items consignment marketplace, taking its funding to $173m since 2011.
Max spreads its wings with $22.5m
Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has launched its virtual customer service startup Max with $22.5m in funding.
Financial
Scout RFP finds $15.5m for series B
The GV-backed procurement management platform has now raised more than $27m, after completing a round led by Menlo Ventures.
Kasikorn launches Beacon to attract fintech startups
Thailand-based Kaiskorn Bank has put up about $29m for a corporate venturing unit called Beacon Venture Capital that will target financial technology developers.
Coming Space finds Neoglory to raise $29m
Conglomerate Neoglory Holdings has led a series B round for work and living space provider Coming Space, which intends to expand globally from its Chinese base.
Stem Disintermedia collects $8m
Evolution Media co-led a series A round for the music royalties management service, which already counted AOL and Three Six Zero as investors.
Coinbase to cash in with $100m round
The cryptocurrency management platform, which is backed by NTT Docomo and several financial services firms, is reportedly speaking to investors over funding at a $1bn valuation.
Bank Negara lets four startups play in sandbox
The financial services firm has approved four companies to join its regulatory sandbox, enabling the businesses to launch their financial services.
Transport
Do-Fluoride drives $19m Yibuyongche series A
Yibuyongche has raised $19m in series A funding which will support its expansion within China and the deployment of 100,000 electric vehicles over the next three years.
Corporates help deliver $50m to Shansong
Shansong Express, which closed a $50m series C round in February, has raised a $50m series C+ round co-led by Hualian, while Hearst Communications also participated.
AI-Drive gears up for $14m series A
An unnamed Chinese e-commerce company, reportedly Alibaba or JD.com, has taken part in a series A round for autonomous driving technology developer AI-Drive.
Services
The Comcast-backed home improvement ideas, services and e-commerce platform is set to raise funding in an Iconiq Capital-led round, at a valuation of about $4bn.
Coursera graduates series D with $64m
Times Group-backed online education provider Coursera is reportedly valued at $800m after closing a series D round that will support its new enterprise-focused product.