Corporate venturing deal net: 7-11 January 2019
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Circularity rounds up corporates for growth fund
The private equity firm’s debut growth fund has closed at its $76.6m hard cap following commitments from Henkel, Axa and Philips.
Motley Fool Ventures magnifies fund to $145m
The Motley Fool’s corporate venturing vehicle has collected $145m for its oversubscribed debut fund, surpassing its initial $100m target.
Providence Ventures produces $150m second fund
The Providence St Joseph Health-managed corporate venturing unit has doubled its capital reserves to $300m by launching a second fund.
Fund in the News: National Grid Partners
NGP’s Lisa Lambert has spoken to Global Corporate Venturing about the unit’s investment parameters, the need for disruptive investments in the energy sector and the priorities when hiring for a new corporate venturing fund.
Sheba Medical seeks $45m for Triventures fund
The healthcare provider’s Arc Innovation Center will invest in care-focused technologies through the fund, which is managed by venture firm Triventures.
Oculis eyes Nan Fung to boost series B
Investors including Nan Fung and Tekla Capital have increased the ophthalmic treatment developer’s series B round to $35.9m, following a Novartis-led tranche a year ago.
Jinda Nano produces series B round
Xiamen C&D has taken part in a $29.1m round for Jinda Nano Tech that will fuel the antibacterial product maker’s research into nanotechnology.
Midea initiates fund with $293m target
Appliance manufacturer Midea is targeting between $147m to $293m for the fund and has contributed $44m through its own investment arm.
People
Zeaske seeks out Echo Health position
GE Ventures’ director of healthcare investments, Jessica Zeaske, has left for a partner role at corporate-backed investment vehicle Echo Health Ventures.
Robinson returns to Greenwich BioMedical
Perry Robinson, a managing director at corporate venturing unit GIS Strategic Venture Capital, has rejoined venture firm Greenwich BioMedical Digital Health Ventures.
Merck GHI managing director Francesca Wuttke has joined Almirall to lead the drug producer’s digital transformation efforts.
Exits
Janrain logs into Akamai acquisition
Akamai has agreed a deal of undisclosed size to acquire the identity authentication software provider, which had raised almost $79m from investors including Salesforce.
Alector selects Nasdaq for $150m IPO
MRL Ventures, GV, AbbVie Ventures, Lilly Asia Ventures and Amgen Ventures are all in line to exit the immuno-neurology drug developer.
Super League seeks $25m in IPO
Cali Group owns a 17.6% in the online gaming platform and eSports tournament operator, whose other investors include Viacom, Axiomatic, DMG and Cinemark.
Quovo plugs into Plaid in $200m acquisition
Salesforce and Power Financial are set to exit Quovo, a fintech developer that had secured $20m in capital, in a purchase by Plaid for up to $200m.
CloudEndure undergoes $200m acquisition by Amazon
Amazon has purchased CloudEndure, a data recovery technology producer that had raised more than $18m from investors including Infosys, Dell EMC and Mitsui, for $200m.
Alibaba recruits Data Artisans in $103m acquisition
Intel Capital and Tengelmann Ventures are set to exit data processing technology developer Data Artisans, having backed its $6.3m series A round.
IT
Corporates make Nreal series A investment
The augmented reality glasses provider has now raised $15m to date, following a series A round that included investments from Siasun and iQiyi.
Humatics locates $28m in series A1 round
Johnson Controls, Airbus, Lockheed Martin and Sumitomo combined for a round that will fund an expansion of the location technology developer’s production.
Grabango shops for $12m in series A
The shopping technology developer has increased its overall funding to $18m in series A round led by the BBVA-backed Propel Venture Partners.
Mitsui Fudosan pinpoints GeoSpock for more funding
Big data technology developer GeoSpock more than doubled its overall funding to $24.5m in a $12.8m round co-led by Mitsui Fudosan.
Corporates help Schrödinger score $85m
Schrödinger raised $85m from investors including WuXi AppTec and GV and will use the money to expand the capabilities of its drug discovery software.
Baicells connects to Qualcomm in series B-plus round
The Century Internet-backed broadband network technology provider has raised $14.6m in a round led by Qualcomm Ventures.
NetEase tops up Second Dinner with $30m
NetEase has invested $30m in the game studio that will be used to hire staff and develop a debut game that will be released in partnership with Marvel.
Health
Keros constructs $23m series B round
Keros Therapeutics will use the proceeds from the Partners Healthcare and Medison Pharma-backed round to push its rare muscle disease drugs into clinical trials.
1mg seeks $35m dose of funding
The Intel Capital-backed pharmaceutical e-commerce platform has begun raising a new funding round that would reportedly value the company at $200m.
Genomics tool developer 10x Genomics has raised $35m that will be combined with the $50m SoftBank-backed first close it achieved in April.
Hill-Rom sees EarlySense in $39m round
Hill-Rom and Wells Fargo have co-led the medical monitoring device maker’s latest round, taking its total funding to almost $140m.
GreenLight cultivates $50m in new funding
Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Continental Grain Company have backed the first close of the Syngenta-backed agricultural bioprocessing platform’s latest round.
Proceeds from the Alexandria Real Estate Equities-backed series B round will advance the company’s development of progenitor cell-related medicines for hearing loss.
Celgene injects $30m into NantCell
NantCell received the funding at a $4bn valuation, giving existing investor Celgene a 2.8% stake in the cancer immunotherapy developer.
Pear prevails in $64m series C
Novartis returned to reinvest in digital medicine developer Pear Therapeutics as part of a Temasek-led round that took its overall funding to more than $134m.
Celgene and Evotec both invested in Exscientia, as the automated drug discovery services provider added Roche to its roster of development partners.
Kang Sheng completes $100m series C round
Ping An, Samsung, CLP, Tasly and Health 100 have all taken part in a series C round for the diabetes management technology provider.
Biontech has received $91.5m in equity funding as part of the extension of a deal to develop a cancer immunotherapy candidate with Sanofi.
Miaoshou Doctor fulfils $73m funding prescription
The online pharmaceutical distributor has secured $73m in a series C-plus round that follows a Tencent-led round last April.
Sophia Genetics generates $77m
Generation Investment Management has led the Swisscom-backed genomic testing platform developer’s latest round, boosting its overall funding to $140m.
Novartis Venture Fund has led a round announced as Ribon Therapeutics came out of stealth, with Celgene, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and Takeda Ventures also investing.
Ablative meets mystery corporate for $77m round
Medical device developer Ablative Solutions has closed the first tranche of its series D round having secured an undisclosed corporate backer.
Lundbeckfonden Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments both backed a series A round for tumour and endocrine disease drug developer Tiburio.
Immusoft hardens up $20m series B
Alexandria Venture Investments has taken part in the final close of the series B round, which will fund development of the company’s cell therapy platform.
Media
Goldman Sachs spends $30m on InnoVid investment
The Cisco and Deutsche Telekom-backed video advertising software provider has received capital from Goldman Sachs that it described as pre-IPO funding.
Consumer
Akulaku to accrue $100m in series D funding
Ant Financial is considering a commitment to a forthcoming round for instalment buying and lending platform Akulaku as a strategic investor.
Horizn Studios carries away series B funding
Vorwerk Ventures returned to reinvest in the smart luggage developer as part of an $11.4m round that also featured Project A and Milano Investment Partners.
Gousto orders in Unilever for new funding
Unilever was among the existing investors that supplied $22.9m for meal kit provider Gousto, increasing its funding to about $100m to date.
Financial
N26 nets $300m in series D round
Tencent and Allianz-backed mobile bank N26 will use the proceeds from the Insight Venture Partners-led round, which valued it at $2.7bn, to expand into the US.
Industrial
Paul Wurth catches Sunfire in series C round
Sunfire, a provider of gas and fuel production equipment, has received $28.8m in a round led by new strategic partner Paul Wurth that included corporates CEZ and Total.
Transport
Ola organises $74m from Steadview Capital
Existing backer Steadview Capital has provided another $74m for ride hailing platform Ola, whose shareholders also include Tencent, SoftBank and Didi Chuxing.
The Simon-backed scooter rental service is set to double the size of its series C round with a $300m investment led by Fidelity that will value it at $2bn.
Haoqipei hops to $60m series C
Access Industries and SIG participated in a series C round that came three months after the auto parts marketplace raised $20m in series B funding.
WeRide drives away with series A extension
SenseTime has helped the autonomous driving software developer expand a series A round already featuring Alliance Ventures and Johnson Electric.
Months after raising $500m in an FAW and Contemporary Amperex-backed series B round, the electric car developer is seeking another $500m before it floats.
Tokyo Century takes Grab investment to $175m
Tokyo Century has now invested a total of $175m in Grab, helping to boost the ride hailing service’s ongoing series H round to more than $3bn.
Boom Supersonic smashes series B with $100m
Ctrip and Japan Airlines-backed supersonic aircraft developer Boom has completed a $100m series B round that brought its total funding to more than $140m.
Guzel goes to principal role at BMW
Baris Guzel has been promoted to principal at BMW i Ventures, almost two years after joining the unit as a senior associate.
ClearMotion rides investor interest to raise $115m
Microsoft and existing investors Bridgestone and Qualcomm all contributed to a series D round that follows a $100m series C two years ago.
Services
Bowery Valuation builds $12m series A round
Existing investor Camber Creek returned for a round that increased the total raised by the property appraisal software provider to $19m.
SoftBank sends another to $2bn WeWork
SoftBank has dropped plans to buy a majority stake in WeWork, instead supplying $2bn of equity funding at a $47bn valuation.
Ant Financial picks Perfect Digital for investment
An affiliate of Ant Financial has taken a 30% stake in the campus information platform operator, a spinout of Newcapec Electronics, following a $36.5m investment.