Weekly corporate venturing deal net 5 October – 9 October 2015
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Novozymes finds voice through Diva
The biotechnology company will look to make impact investments through the Diva non-profit incubator in partnership with corporates.
AARP and JP Morgan launch $40m fund
The AARP Innovation Fund will target startups developing technologies and services for customers aged 50 and above.
Corporates help $20m MIF II take off
KLM and Schiphol have backed a second Mainport Innovation Fund, alongside Delft University of Technology, Port of Amsterdam and NS Dutch Railways.
Fidelity primes restructured venture capital unit
Fidelity Biosciences is set to join forces with a Devonshire Investors fund to become a new FMR-owned healthcare-focused investor called F-Prime Capital.
Reply answers three startups with funding
Reply has selected EnModus, Gymcraft and Inova Design for its incubator and committed a total of $3.6m in funding to the startups.
Apus to give startups a $15m boost
App developer Apus has committed capital to invest in India-based startups, with the aim of building a productive startup ecosystem in the country.
Berliner Volksbank forms strategic investment arm
The $22.5m Berliner Volksbank Ventures unit will target Europe-based startups operating in the financial technology sector on behalf of the bank.
Venturra gets Lippo service for $150m fund
Lippo is the largest investor in the newly launched venture capital firm, which is also taking on the conglomerate’s existing corporate venturing portfolio.
People
Kolada to find meaning in OpenText
Enterprise software provider OpenText has hired David Harris Kolada, formerly at Cognos, Eloqua and AI Systems, to manage its venture capital activities.
WME books Ferreira for venture fund
Fab.com’s former chief operating officer is managing partner for the talent agency’s corporate venturing fund, WME Ventures, which is currently raising capital.
Gopalakrishnan takes advisor role at IDG Ventures India
Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan has joined IDG Ventures India, a corporate venturing affiliate of International Data Group.
Exits
SAP exits as Intalio joins Everteam
Cloud application technology provider Intalio had raised about $60m from investors including Sapphire Ventures, formerly part of enterprise software company SAP, and VMware.
Pure Storage IPO raises $425m in a flash
The Samsung-backed flash storage technology provider will float at the middle of the IPO’s range, and could potentially raise up to $489m.
Ticketfly lands on Pandora in $450m deal
SAP-backed Sapphire Ventures will exit the ticketing technology platform through an acquisition that will expand music recommendation service Pandora’s product offering.
Dianping and Meituan to combine in $15bn merger
The China-based local services and group buying companies had raised a combined $2.6bn from backers including Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi, Fosun and Wanda Group.
CytomX falls short of target in $80m IPO
The Roche-backed oncology treatment developer floated below its range in an IPO in which Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb both acquired shares.
IT
Freshdesk helps itself to Frilp
Frilp, the developer of an app to ask friends for help, and a graduate of Microsoft’s accelerator in June, has been acquired by Freshdesk.
Ericsson has contributed to a seed round for NodePrime, which provides software to manage data centres and which has just emerged from stealth mode.
Google tunes up for Symphony investment
Google is set to invest in the encrypted messaging service, already backed by 14 financial services providers, at a $650m valuation.
PCS signals Dongfang Jingyuan for series A
Dongfang will support an expansion by wifi and 4G technology developer Palma Ceia SemiDesign into China.
Aquantia engineers $37m series H
Cisco, GlobalFoundries and Credit Suisse have participated in Aquantia’s series H, boosting the ethernet technology developer’s total funding to almost $200m.
Data storage technology developer Robin Systems took its total funding to $22m in a round co-led by a USAA subsidiary.
The cybersecurity software company has attracted capital from investors including corporates General Electric and Deutsche Telekom.
Stingray targets AppDirect in $140m series E
Cloud services marketplace AppDirect has now raised more than $245m since 2009, after securing funding at a valuation of more than $1bn.
Deutsche Telekom lifts DocuSign series F to $300m
The telecommunications company joined a series F consortium already containing Intel and new strategic partner Dell, taking DocuSign’s total funding to $525m.
Health
Theraclone forms OncoResponse with $9.5m
Theraclone Sciences and University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have jointly formed the oncology startup, which has raised $9.5m in series A capital.
TVA Medical closes $15m series A
Baxter and Boston Scientific both participated in a series C round for the kidney disease-focused medical device maker, which has now raised $27m altogether.
Binary Fountain heads to $16m series A
The Providence Health and Services-backed company operates a patient feedback management platform to help healthcare providers deliver a better service.
CareSync joins with Merck for $18m
The chronic disease management platform has attracted pharmaceutical firm Merck as an investor and increased its total funding to more than $22m.
Quartet orchestrates $23m series A close
The pharmaceutical company has added $6.3m to the $17m raised from backers including Novartis, Pfizer and Partners Innovation Fund last year.
Opsonix starts blood flowing with $8m
Opsonix, which is developing therapies for a range of blood-borne infectious diseases, has secured $8m in a Baxter-led series A round.
Welcome Cure says hello to $6m
The healthcare consultancy platform has received pre-series A funding from investors reportedly including media conglomerate Bennett Coleman.
Media
The livestreaming platform has now raised $26m altogether after welcoming Comcast to its investor base.
The football media platform took its overall funding to approximately $39m in a round led by ProSiebenSat.1 which will help the startup expand in Germany.
Consumer
Impossible Foods conjures up $108m
The Google-backed food developer secured the cash in a UBS-led round that is expected to support the launch of its first products.
Sumitomo Forestry carves out a chunk of Spacewood
Furniture manufacturer Spacewood has received $14m from the wood materials supplier, also now a strategic partner, in return for a 26% stake.
Financial
Wanxiang to part with $50m for blockchain investments
Auto parts provider Wanxiang plans to launch a fund focused on startups developing the blockchain technology that underpins digital currency bitcoin.
CampusLogic works out $7.5m series A
The company, which operates a self-service platform for financial aid aimed at students, raised the money in a round backed by Great Lakes Higher Education.
Allianz follows QuanTemplate for $8m round
Allianz was joined by investors including insurance group Aegon for a round that will support the insurance analytics company’s global expansion.
Ripple series A surges to $32m
Santander has provided a $4m extension to Ripple’s series A round, already backed by Seagate, CME, IDG Capital Partners and others.
Energy and Natural Resources
Siemens and Statkraft combined to support a series B round that boosted the smart thermostat developer’s overall funding to more than $35m.
Transport
Corporates drive $20m Flightcar series B
The airport-focused car sharing service has now raised $40m in total, after securing $20.7m in a Priceline, Tencent and SoftBank-backed round.
Snapdeal ships $20m to GoJavas
Logistics services provider GoJavas has secured more funding from Snapdeal, following a $19.1m investment in March 2015.
Telecoms
Aquto doubles funding with $8m series B
The advertising technology developer has now secured $16m in total funding, following a series B round featuring corporate-backed Iris Capital and STC Ventures.