Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 6-10 April 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
SAP co-launches $7.4m accelerator in Singapore
The software company is working with Infocomm and August Capital to support smart cities startups in Singapore.
Corporates commit $140m to New York fund
Celgene and Eli Lilly are putting up $140m of the $150m available for Early-Stage Life Sciences Funding Initiative, which will fund New York biotech startups.
Globe Telecom has invested $50m in its corporate venturing unit, which will use the cash to invest in Philippine and international startups at later stages.
People
FBS serves up education role for Rosenzweig
William Rosenzweig of Unilever-backed VC firm Physic Ventures is set to oversee a business school at The Culinary Institute of America.
Exits
Sprinklr looks to Get Satisfaction in acquisition
Sprinklr, which reached unicorn status last week, has bought the online community platform in a deal that will give an exit to long-term investor O’Reilly Media.
Pure Storage begins IPO preparations
The Samsung-backed flash storage company, which closed a round valuing it at $3bn in April 2014, has begun talks with banks and plans to float later this year.
Comcast-backed Nebula shuts down
The cloud computing technology company had raised $38.5m but has closed citing delays in the maturation of the market.
Adaptimmune hopes to prove receptive to markets
The Novo and Immunocore-backed cancer treatment developer has targeted $150m from a Nasdaq IPO, filing seven months after a $104m series A round.
The game streaming service, backed by HTC, AT&T, Belgacom, BT and Autodesk, will shut down by the end of the month, and sell its patents to Sony.
Bitcoin exchange platform Buttercoin, which raised a Google-backed seed round in 2013, will turn off its services by the end of the week.
Embrane to be absorbed into Cisco’s network
Cisco, which led the data centre management company’s series C round last year, is set to buy the company, allowing Sumitomo to exit.
IDG cuts Flipkart stake in $15m sale
IDG Ventures has reduced its stake in the e-commerce company while venture firm Helion Venture Partners has exited completely.
SingTel exits Moment.me in $10m acquisition
Wix has acquired the mobile website builder and lead generation service, which had raised $3.15m from investors.
IT
Aviso sells $15m series B to investors
The sales insights software company has raised a second Bloomberg-backed funding round in the space of a year.
Akamai experiments with Rubicon Labs
Cloud security startup Rubicon raised $11.7m in a series A round featuring Akamai that took its overall funding close to $13m.
Cliqr makes noise with $20m series C
Cloud computing technology provider Cliqr has now raised $38m since its formation, after closing a round once again featuring Google.
Domo emerges from stealth with another $200m
Domo has now raised a total of $450m from investors including Salesforce and plans to accelerate growth now its business information platform is public.
Cloud security platform developer Palerra raises $17m
Palerra has now raised $25m altogether after Wells Fargo-backed venture firm Norwest Venture Partners invested in the company for a second time.
SoftBank catches RebelMouse to close series A
The content managing company raised an additional $6m from investors including SoftBank Capital to close its series A round at $16.3m.
RedSeal performs for $17m series C
The cybersecurity analytics company relaunched this week with a $17m Tyco-backed series C round.
Google burrows its way to CoreOS
Enterprise software company CoreOS took its overall funding to $20m with a $12m series B round led by Google Ventures.
Playground attracts corporates for $48m series A
Google, Hewlett-Packard, Tencent, Seagate and Hon Hai Precision Industry have combined to help invest in newly formed accelerator Playground.
Nelnet embraces Hudl for $72.5m series A
The educational finance provider co-led the round for Hudl, which plans to explore acquisitions to enhance its video analysis software offering.
Health
GlaxoSmithKline prescribes series A for ZappRx
Prescription platform ZappRx has raised $5.6m in a series A round that has taken its overall funding to almost $9m.
Corporate-backed cardiovascular imaging technology developer Infraredx has withdrawn a $55m initial public offering it filed for in December 2014.
Nabriva closes $120m Novartis-backed series B
Nabriva, which is developing antibiotics for drug-resistant infections, has now raised more than $190m in total and will advance its lead candidate into Phase 3 studies.
Novartis hunts Caribou for $11m series A
The cell engineering technology company has also inked a joint research agreement with a Novartis subsidiary.
Media
Clypd programmes $19.4m series B
RTL Group and Tivo both backed the latest round raised by Clypd, which aims to bring programmatic advertising to television.
Corporates make first contact with Vulcun
Fantasy e-sports website Vulcun has attracted a series A round from investors including Universal Music Group and CAA and will now seek to build its community.
Quad helps square $18m funding for Pixability
Video ad buying platform Pixability will use the Quad Graphics-backed round to support technology and business development, and international sales.
Lomark markets itself to Guangdong Advertising for $18m
The marketing firm is set to take a 15% stake in the mobile advertising company as part of a strategic partnership.
DraftKings commands $250m from Disney
Entertainment company Walt Disney invested the money at a $900m valuation, and the fantasy sports company has agreed an advertising deal with Disney-controlled ESPN.
Consumer
Origami folds $13.3m into series B
In addition to contributing to its series B round, SoftBank and Credit Saison will help the mobile shopping app provider increase its online-to-offline sales.
Tengelmann finds GFG fashionable in $34.6m fundraising
Global Fashion Group has completed the merger of five regional fashion e-commerce companies as it raises €32m from investors including Tengelmann.
FirstCry crawls to $36m for series D
The babycare e-commerce company has raised $10m to add to a $26m first tranche raised from investors including IDG in February.
Kuaile Shidai receives $100m funding instalment
Game publisher Kunlun provided $62m of the cash raised by the startup, which enables users to pay for electronics and luxury goods through instalment plans.
Meican feeds on Dianping-led series C
The online food ordering platform has raised almost $23m in a round led by Dianping, which participated alongside investors including existing backer Nokia.
Dianping secures $850m in series E round
Xiaomi, Tencent, Wanda and Fosun all contributed to a round reportedly raised at a valuation of more than $4bn.
Financial
BBVA looks to Prosper in $165m round
The online credit marketplace raised the series D cash in a round backed by BBVA and several other large banks, boosting its total funding to more than $350m.
Kyriba treasures $21m series C
HSBC joined backers including Iris Capital to invest in the treasury software developer, which will spend the money on product innovation and geographical expansion.
MobiKwik fattens its wallet with $25m
Digital wallet services provider MobiKwik has received series B funding from investors including Cisco and American Express as it aims to expand.
Netease parks on AssetAvenue for $11m series A
The real estate loans marketplace, founded at the end of 2013, has now raised $15m in the past year.
Legend helps transfer almost $100m to Ppdai
Peer-to-peer lending company Ppdai has secured nearly $100m in the series C round, which also featured Susquehanna International Group.
ZenPayroll employs Google for $60m series B
Google took part in the round through both its Google Capital and Google Ventures units, taking the payroll processor’s total funding to $86m.
Energy and Natural Resources
E.ON powers $23m series C for FirstFuel
Energy data software provider FirstFuel has closed a $23m series C round featuring E.ON and EDF-backed fund Electranova Capital, bringing its total funding to almost $44m.
Solar wafer maker 1366 closes $22.5m round
The Tokuyama-backed series C round will be used by 1366 Technologies to support construction of a 250 MW production facility.
Industrial
Carbon3D draws on Autodesk for series A
Autodesk provided the $10m for the round from its $100m Spark Investment Fund, and Carbon3D plans to deploy its 3D printing technology in the next year.
Transport
Taxi hailing service Ola collects $315m
The SoftBank-backed company has now raised more than $590m in total after closing a late-stage round that included a $207m investment by DST Global.
Services
Neopost sends $50m funding package to Temando
Neopost took a majority stake in the e-commerce logistics company through its series B investment, which Temando will use to expand internationally.
Quikr classifies itself as unicorn with $150m
The Nokia and Ebay-backed online listings platform has raised a late-stage round at a $1bn valuation, taking its overall funding to about $350m.