Weekly corporate venturing deal net 7 – 11 March 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fund in the News: Pierre Fabre Fund for Innovation
Laurent Audoly, managing partner of the pharmaceutical company’s new open innovation scheme, spoke to Global Corporate Venturing about its collaboration and investment strategy.
Fundraising
PayPal decides helping fintech startups takes a Village
The online payment platform will partner Village Capital on local fintech venture development schemes in the US, India and Latin America.
Cisco says hallo with $500m German investment initiative
Cisco announced the scheme, which will include funding for startups and VC funds, alongside a $150m fund to support an ecosystem for its Cloud Spark platform.
HRTN reaches Dragon Gate for US fund
China-based Hubei Radio & Television Information Network is partnering Dragon Gate Investment Partners for a fund that will focus on US-based startups.
LKF targets up to $500m for fund
Lan Kwai Fong Group’s investment vehicle LKF Capital is in the process of raising $300m to $500m for a fund aimed at China-based lifestyle companies.
People
Lee leaves IDG to seek Cognitive Investment
Matthew Lee, CEO of IDG Ventures Korea for over eight years, has left the unit to launch a new entity dubbed Cognitive Investment.
Intel Capital’s Larson wins lifetime achievement award
The Technology Association of Oregon said: “Members of the technology community selected Larson in acknowledgement of his positive impact in the industry and the greater Oregon community.”
Ben Brabyn, a mentor at Microsoft Ventures, has left the UK government’s UKTI Innovation Gateway to head Canary Wharf Group-owned accelerator Level39.
Dialpad calls up Rich Miner to board
Miner, a general partner at GV, has joined the board of directors of communications platform Dialpad, also one of the unit’s portfolio companies.
Anand to oversee Google Capital’s Indian investments
Alphabet’s growth equity subsidiary is relocating team member Kaushik Anand to India as it seeks to expand its investments in the country.
Exits
Minted has acquired homeware e-commerce company Guildery, providing an exit to investors including the AOL-founded BBG Ventures.
Broadway Video exits as Mic picks up Hyper
Mic.com has acquired video aggregation startup Hyper for an undisclosed amount in a deal that provided an exit to entertainment producer Broadway Video.
Chi-Med aims for $115m in US IPO
Mitsui-backed Chi-Med, listed in the UK since 2006, will put the money towards advancing its seven clinical-stage drug candidates.
Deutsche Telekom gets instant Replay exit
Replay Technologies has been acquired by Intel for roughly $175m, days after it closed a $13.5m series A round led by Deutsche Telekom.
IT
The sales management software provider had previously raised more than $160m across four rounds but has not disclosed the size of its series E round.
Baidu finds Exands for series B
Baidu has backed a series B round of undisclosed size for wifi service provider Exands, which now plans to expand internationally.
Intersec crosses series C junction with $10m
Intersec, previously backed by France Telecom, raised $10m in a round featuring Cisco, a strategic partner since December 2015.
StreetLight highlights Engie for $7.6m round
Engie co-led a series B round for smart cities technology provider StreetLight Data, also backed by Deutsche Telekom, which has raised more than $13m in total.
The big data company, backed by GE’s Pension Trust, has now secured $102m in funding since it was founded in 2007.
Health
Tizona strikes with $43m series B
Existing investors Amgen and Astellas participated in a round that lifted the immuno-oncology treatment developer’s total financing to $70m.
Agilent points $80m at Lasergen
Agilent has acquired a 48% stake in genome sequencing company Lasergen and secured a two-year option to buy the remaining shares for another $105m.
Praktikertjänst-backed oncology therapy developer Aprea will use the funding to advance its lead candidate through phase 2 clinical testing.
Imperial Innovations led the round, while Consort Medical also participated as it enters into a collaboration agreement with the retinal disease treatment developer.
Media
Meitu provided the funding for the digital media company alongside an agreement to jointly explore marketing and product development.
Sinclair and Horizon provide funding to Burst
Sinclair Broadcasting and Horizon Media invested an undisclosed sum in mobile video technology company Burst, which had previously raised $5.5m.
USens makes an impression on Fosun
VR technology developer USens has raised an eight-figure sum from a consortium featuring Fosun-backed fund Kinzon Capital.
Sky views iFlix as sound investment
Streaming service iFlix, previously reported to be raising a $150m round, has attracted $45m from broadcaster Sky as part of a strategic partnership agreement.
Linmon pictures Legend for $76m series B
The TV production studio’s series B round was led by conglomerate Legend Holdings and also featured Tencent and the Hunan TV-backed Mango V Foundation.
Time Warner Investments has invested in millennial women-focused media company Bustle for a fourth time, helping to raise its overall funding to almost $40m.
FuboTV scores with $15m series B
Sky and 21st Century Fox each contributed $6m to a round that lifted the over-the-top sport TV subscription service’s overall funding to more than $20m.
Consumer
Valencell measures out $11m series D
Best Buy-backed biometric sensor developer Valencell has attracted capital for a series D round led by financial services firm Gii’s venture capital vehicle, Gii Tech.
Investors lay on $35m for Soothe
The IDG-backed on-demand massage service has closed its third funding round in just over a year and the second to be led by private equity firm Riverside.
Flipkart goes shopping for investors in China
The e-commerce company is reportedly in talks with Alibaba and Fosun over a round that would be sized at up to $1bn, but which would also be raised at a lower valuation.
Bertelsmann India Investments led the round’s $6m first tranche in January, before BigFoot, the owner of e-commerce services provider KartRocket, closed it at $8m.
Financial
Ant Financial looks to top $3bn in latest round
The Alibaba-affiliated financial services provider is in talks with new and existing investors and is set to raise the money at a valuation of up to $60bn.
Energy and Natural Resources
United Wind powers up with $8m
Statoil’s recently launched $200m renewables and low carbon fund has made its first investment, leading the distributed wind energy company’s series B round.
Industrial
Autodesk boards Xjet in $25m round
Autodesk has co-led a funding round for the 3D printing technology developer, already backed by corporates Spirox, Landa and Applied Materials.
LifeRobotics arms itself with $4.4m
Koden Holdings, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Omron Ventures have joined a series A round for manufacturing robot developer LifeRobotics.
Services
Qualcomm and ZopSmart both took part in a round that will support the produce sourcing platform’s growth and the strengthening of its technology base.
Xurpas sees Micro Benefits from $10m investment
The firm acquired a 23.5% stake in the employee engagement platform, which will help its Storm Flex Systems subsidiary expand into China.
WeWork finds space for Legend in $430m round
Legend Holdings and its private equity subsidiary Hony Capital co-led a round that could rise to $780m, and which is being raised at a $16bn valuation.