Weekly corporate venturing deal net 7 September – 11 September 2015
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Big Deal: Apttus cashes in with $108m
The ‘quote to cash’ software company is the third Salesforce1-affiliated startup to reach unicorn status, as Salesforce ramps up its corporate venturing activities.
Intel on course to make $600m of investments this year
The chip maker’s investment arm, Intel Capital, has already provided $465m of funding in 2015 and could break its 2011 total of $526m.
Fundraising
Mastercard takes accelerator global
The payment services company launched a European accelerator in May 2014, and is now extending the programme internationally with the help of other corporates.
500 Startups rounds up corporates for $85m fund
The seed-stage investors third fund featured Dentsu and Yahoo Japan as limited partners despite closing at $15m less than its target.
Dr Reddy’s readies corporate venturing unit
The pharmaceutical company is in the process of establishing a corporate venturing arm and is considering investments in 20 startups.
Beenos backs $60m Beenext fund
E-commerce company Beenos has contributed $5m to a new $60m fund, dubbed Beenext, that will invest in startups across Japan, India, Southeast Asia and the US.
Dell Ventures to China through $125bn investment plan
Dell will invest $125bn in China over a five-year period in which its corporate venturing unit will begin investing in the country.
Alibaba teams with Sina for sports group
E-commerce company Alibaba will work with the media company and private equity firm Yunfeng on the joint venture, which will focus on sports technologies.
Janssen-backed JLabs to experiment with Toronto
Janssen has teamed up with Johnson & Johnson, University of Toronto, Government of Ontario and MaRS Discovery District to bring the JLabs incubator to Canada.
Cisco takes $10m trip to Monk’s Hill
Cisco’s involvement in the $80m fund, which is also backed by Yahoo Japan, was originally reported in July.
Gobi Partners adorns $94m fund with Luolai
The venture capital firm has launched a fund aimed at early-stage startups in China, and has attracted home textile producer Luolai as a limited partner.
People
Riney leaves DeNA to crack Japan for 500 Startups
James Riney, formerly principal at mobile internet company DeNA’s corporate venturing unit, will head up a $30m Japanese fund for 500 Startups.
Tata takes IDG Ventures advisor role
Ratan Tata, who served as chairman of conglomerate Tata for more than 20 years, will advise the corporate venturing affiliate on strategy and leadership.
Trident forks Intel’s Cunningham
Sean Cunningham will leave Intel Capital, where he was director of venture investments, later this month to join Trident Capital Cybersecurity as managing director.
Exits
RelayRides picks up SocialStudio baton
SocialStudio, which had attracted funding from Google for its JumpCam app, has been acquired by RelayRides for an undisclosed amount.
Urban FT cracks Wipit acquistion
The deal provided an exit to H&R Block and Euronet Worldwide, which each provided an undisclosed amount of seed funding for Wipit in 2012.
HP secures Adallom exit in $250m deal
Hewlett-Packard has exited the cybersecurity company less than five months after taking part in its series C round, in a deal originally reported to be worth $320m.
AnaptysBio to adapt to public markets
The Novo-backed biotechnology company has filed for an $86.3m initial public offering, after raising $89m in funding since 2005.
IronSource steels itself for Supersonic merger
App services company IronSource, which raised $105m in an Access Industries-backed round in February, is merging with mobile adtech developer Supersonic.
IDG has exited parking locations database ParkMe through an acquisition by traffic data provider Inrix, which paid an undisclosed amount.
IT
Intel helps Qnovo charge up $8.6m series B
Qnovo has developed software to increase battery performance, and will use the cash to support a commercial launch of smartphones using the technology.
Wrap Media closes $12.7m series B
ProSiebenSat.1 Media and Salesforce have backed a series B round for Wrap Media, the developer of a narrative app creation platform.
Chef puts finishing touches on $40m round
Citi and Hewlett-Packard both contributed to a round that took DevOps software provider Chef’s overall funding past the $100m mark.
Baifendian calibrates $63m series D
IDG-backed big data technology company Baifendian has raised series D funding as it gears up for an initial public offering.
Apperian mobilises Intel for $12m series C
Intel, which invested about $4.5m in Apperian in 2013, returned for a round that increased the mobile app management company’s overall funding to $40m.
QPrize throws up Toss Labs as winner
Enterprise collaboration tools developer Toss Labs, the regional winner from Korea, will receive $250,000 in convertible note funding from Qualcomm Ventures as a prize.
The Intel-backed e-commerce marketing company has now raised $39.3m in total, securing its series C funding as it sold off its automotive division.
Health
The company, which is developing a device to treat heat valve diseases, secured the cash in a round backed by Elron Electronic Industries and HTGF.
Ascletis raises $35m to fund hepatitis treatment
The Tasly Pharmaceuticals-backed series B round follows a successful Phase 2 clinical trial for the company’s hepatitis C drug candidate.
Medlinker exercises Tencent connection for $40m
Tencent led the series B round for Medlinker, a social media app for healthcare professionals that plans to use the cash to grow its user base fivefold.
AveXis muscles its way to $65m
Roche. which led AveXis’ series C round, returned to participate in a series D that will support a clinical trial for its spinal muscular atrophy treatment.
Sanifit cleans up with $41m series C
Lundbeck, Baxter and La Caixa have contributed to a series C round that will support clinical trials for Sanifit’s treatments for dialysis patients.
SetPoint leads to $43m series C win
SetPoint Medical has raised a further $15m to close out a series C round featuring Covidien, Boston Scientific and GlaxoSmithKline subsidiary APVC.
Selecta chooses Sanofi for $38m series E
Sanofi’s corporate venturing unit was among the new investors in a round that will support the advancement of Selecta’s gout treatment through Phase 1 trials.
Proteostasis gets moving with $37m
The cash, provided by investors including Elan Science One, Novartis and Sanofi, will support clinical trials for Proteostasis’ cystic fibrosis treatment.
Lundbeck and Sham are among the investors in the $35.3m round, which will support clinical trials for Biom’Up’s absorbable medical implants in Europe and the US.
Media
SevenOne Media and Otto Group-backed venture firm E.Ventures both took part in a series B round for TVSmiles, which rewards users for watching advertisements.
NeoBear embraces Qualcomm for $19m series A
The educational toy maker, which aims to teach children words and languages, will spend the funding on marketing, technology development and content creation.
Unified pools $30m for series B
Marketing and analytics platform Unified has now raised $54m in total equity and debt following a series B round backed by Advance Publications and iHeartMedia.
Consumer
The Legend-backed startup released its smart smoke alarm conversion kit at the same time as it revealed a $5.5m series A round featuring USAA.
Vestiaire changes into $36.8m series D
Condé Nast, which previously led a $20m series C round for the fashion item reseller in 2013, has returned for its series D round.
The Info Edge-backed restaurant listings platform has now accumulated $225m of funding, securing cash that will support the launch of its restaurant marketing platform.
Mia grows up with $150m series D
Baidu led Mia’s latest round, taking the baby and maternity e-commerce company’s funding to $230m in just over a year.
Rocket Internet to launch four startups in Asia per year
Apacig, a joint venture between Rocket Internet and Ooreedo will begin by bringing Vaniday, a marketplace for wellness professionals, to the continent.
Vorwerk helps Lesara fashion $16.8m series B
Lesara operates an e-commerce platform through which consumers can purchase products directly from China-based manufacturers.
Financial
China Post delivers funding package for Ant Financial
The postal service is now the second largest shareholder in Alibaba’s financial services and online payment affiliate.
CommonBond starts academic year with $35m
The student loans company’s series B round follows a commitment in February by shareholder Nelnet to finance up to $150m in loans each year.
The peer-to-peer lending platform has obtained $24m in series B capital from Hakim, which reportedly also provided its series A funding.
AOL to spin out VC database CrunchBase
CrunchBase has drawn up a term sheet for up to $7m of funding and AOL will reportedly remain a significant investor.
Energy and Natural Resources
Grid-scale battery developer Primus has now raised $60m in equity after closing a round featuring existing backer Anglo American Platinum.
Industrial
Enerkem converts interest to $115m
The financing, $37.7m of which is equity funding, will be used by the Waste Management-backed company to expand a biomethanol production facility.
The manufacturing inspection technology provider received the funding as part of a strategic partnership with lighting equipment maker ShinTai.
Transport
Chinese ride sharing sector attracts $4.2bn in new funding
Uber’s Chinese subsidiary, Uber China, confirmed a $1.2bn Baidu-led round earlier today, while rival Didi Kuaidi is reportedly set to close a $3bn round.
Didi Kuaidi confirms passengers for $3bn round
Ping An co-led the round, the largest ever raised by a private company, investing alongside participants including Alibaba and Tencent.
Services
Idinvest Partners helped provide the mobile device repair service’s series A funding, which will support an expansion into four new markets by the end of this year.