Corporate venturing deal net: 9-13 January 2017
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Butterfly takes flight with $25m fund
Gerako, AI Partners and several insurance providers have backed Butterfly Venture Fund III, which will invest in seed-stage Nordic-based startups.
Naheta joins SoftBank Vision Fund
Akshay Naheta, chief investment officer of Knight Assets, has joined SoftBank to help manage the company’s $100bn strategic investment fund.
Better Ventures closes $21m fund
Prudential’s corporate social responsibility unit has backed the fund, which has already made 11 investments to date.
Mubadala’s SoftBank Vision Fund investment to approach $15bn
The Abu Dhabi-owned fund is considering a $10bn to $15bn contribution to the fund, which is expected to close at $100bn by the end of this month.
Exits
DJI snaps up portfolio company Hasselblad
DJI has taken a majority stake in camera maker Hasselblad, having previously entered a strategic partnership with the company in 2015.
The integration software provider, which has raised about $260m from investors including Salesforce, Cisco and ServiceNow, has reportedly hired banks for an initial public offering.
Duriana boards Carousell in acquisition deal
Beenos and iBuy have recorded exits after mobile commerce platform Duriana, which had raised more than $3m altogether, was acquired by Carousell.
IT
Panzura puts $32m in series E storage
Chevron has returned for Panzura’s series E, the company’s first round since mid-2013, and was joined by new investor Western Digital.
Kaminario stores $75m in series F round
Mitsui-backed flash storage provider Kaminario has raised $75m in its latest round, pushing its total equity funding to $218m.
Intel secures exit as Arxan acquires Apperian
Arxan Technologies has bought mobile application management platform Apperian, which had raised $40m from backers including Intel Capital, for an undisclosed sum.
CloudCraze attracts Salesforce for $20m round
The business-to-business e-commerce software developer has raised $20m in an Insight Venture Partners-led round that featured Salesforce Ventures.
Simon finds its way back to SmarterHQ
SmarterHQ has received $13m in a round featuring existing backer Simon Property Group that brought its financing to more than $33m since it was founded.
Atlassian absorbs Trello in $425m deal
Trello, a cloud collaboration spinout of Fog Creek Software, has been acquired by Atlassian for $360m in cash and $65m in shares and options.
Bitglass clears $45m in series C round
Australia’s Future Fund has led a consortium of existing investors including Singtel Innov8 to take the data protection software company’s total funding to $80m.
Cogito coaxes additional series B cash
The voice analysis software producer has added $4.1m to the $15m it raised in November from backers including Salesforce Ventures.
The marketing analytics company boosted its funding to $80m since 2006 in a round backed by corporate venturing unit American Family Ventures.
Audio Analytic makes noise with $5.5m series A
Martlet was among the participants in a round that increased the intelligent sound recognition software developer’s total funding to $8m.
Health
HealthWatch finds time for $20m Yiling investment
Yiling Pharmaceuticals has paid $15m for a 23% stake in HealthWatch and another $5m for the Chinese distribution rights to its health-monitoring garment.
POC Medical passes Sirius test for $21m
Sirius America Insurance has contributed to a series A round for POC Medical, which intends to launch its portable breast cancer screening device in India.
LabCorp deal spawns $40m series C for Sera
Sera Prognostics, developer of a prenatal test to predict birth risk, has raised $40m in a round led by its new distribution partner, LabCorp.
Ivantis advances to $25m series C
Glaucoma treatment device developer Ivantis has closed a round that featured Mérieux Développement, MemorialCare Health System and Ascension Health.
Exact Imaging reveals details of $16m series C
Bioscikin has contributed to a series C round that will help commercialise Exact Imaging’s micro-ultrasound technology.
Blackthorn flourishes with $54m series A
GV has participated in a $14m extension for neurobehavioural disorder treatment developer Blackthorn’s series A round, which already included Johnson & Johnson.
Corporates help carry $26m to Cavion
Lilly Ventures and Novartis Venture Fund have co-led a $26.1m round for Cavion, which is developing therapies for cancer and neurological diseases.
Satsuma spins out of SNBL with $12m
RA Capital Management and TPG Biotech provided the series A financing, as Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories spun out migraine treatment startup Satsuma Pharmaceuticals.
The Ascenta Therapeutics spinout has completed a series B round that will go to developing its pipeline of small-molecule treatments for cancer, hepatitis B and age-related diseases.
Avidity makes precision funding move to raise $16m
Precision medicine company Avidity Biosciences has received $10m in equity funding and $6m in converted debt from backers including Takeda and EMS.
Access Industries returned to back the cancer therapy developer’s $70m series B round, having previously contributed to a $55m series A round in 2015.
Arcadia records $30m in investment
Merck & Co and General Electric have contributed to a $30m funding round for Arcadia Healthcare Solutions, a healthcare data analytics technology producer.
Ascension helps pump funding into Bardy Diagnostics
Ascension Ventures was among the investors in a round for cardiac monitor developer Bardy, which had raised $27.6m as of October.
Nerre transmits $28m in Novo-backed round
Existing investor Novo has taken part in a $28m round for Nerre Therapeutics, a GlaxoSmithKline spinout focusing on neuronal hypersensitivity treatments.
Media
Kuaikan Manhua draws up $36m series C
Kuaikan Manhua, the operator of an online platform for comic artwork, has secured the cash from investors including mobile-focused news service Toutiao.
Zhihu sources $100m in series D cash
Sogou and existing investor Tencent were among the investors that provided $100m for the online question-and-answer forum, which has now raised almost $190m in total.
NBC is among the investors in short-form media startup Axios, which plans to fully launch its platform next week.
Consumer
Sense tracks iRobot for $15m series A
Home energy monitor developer Sense has closed its Shell-backed series A round at $15m after iRobot’s corporate venturing unit provided $1m.
Financial
Rocket Internet enters Funding Circle in $100m round
The peer-to-peer lending marketplace has now raised more than $370m in equity funding, with Rocket Internet joining its latest round as a new investor.
iZettle increases series D to $130m
The mobile payment technology producer has added $63m to the $67m it raised in an Intel Capital-backed series D round in 2015, at a flat $500m valuation.
Numbrs, the bank account management platform launched by Centralway and backed by ProSiebenSat.1, has raised $55m in an Investment Corporation of Dubai-backed round.
Bertelsmann Asia Investments has led a series B round for Nongfenqi, operator of a platform that offers financing to the Chinese agricultural industry.
Arch backs Premia Holdings in $510m round
Insurance and reinsurance provider Arch Capital is an investor and strategic partner for Premia, a newly formed property & casualty runoff insurance company.
Chedai passes series B check with $52m
The automotive financing provider raised the capital in a round backed by online lending firms CreditEase and 360Jinrong, bringing its total funding to $86m.
House of Fraser to commit $43m to Tandem investment
The retail chain plans to invest up to $43m in app-based bank Tandem as part of an alliance that will involve Tandem’s services being offered in its stores.
Payfone calls on corporates for $23.5m
BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners led a series E round that included existing backers American Express Ventures, Verizon Ventures and Rogers Venture Partners.
Energy and Natural Resources
The crop protection technology developer has added series B funding from backers including Syngenta and Alexandria Real Estate Equities to the $10m it raised in 2014.
Transport
Big Deal: Proterra prospers with $140m
The GM Ventures, Edison Energy and Exelon-backed round will support an expansion in production of Proterra’s electric buses, as it shows EVs are still a viable target for venture funding.
Starship beams up Daimler for $17m seed round
Unmanned vehicle-based delivery service Starship Technologies has raised $17.2m in a seed round led by Daimler, a strategic partner since September.
Jaguar Land Rover gets into CloudCar
The carmaker has paid $15m for a minority stake in CloudCar, and plans to use the company’s automotive cloud services platform in its forthcoming electric model.
Services
Housing.com changes owners with $55m round
Realty portals PropTiger and Housing.com have merged, securing $55m from shareholders News Corp and SoftBank in the process.
Lianjia houses $375m Sunac investment
Property developer Sunac will take a 6.25% stake in the online real estate portal, which raised $927m in a Tencent and Baidu-backed round last year.
Hive Box packs $360m into series A
Package delivery station operator Hive Box was formed by corporates GLP, SF Express, STO Express, ZTO Express and Yunda Express in 2015.
Koubei books a place in Meiweibuyongdeng investor base
The restaurant booking platform has followed a $79m series C backed by Baidu and Dianping with a series C+ round that values it at more than $430m.
Reputation.com finds Ascension to close $20m round
Care provider Ascension’s corporate venturing unit invested in Reputation.com as part of a round that boosted its total funding to about $85m since 2006.
Telecoms
Italian wireless broadband provider Linkem has secured $106m from backers including existing backer Leucadia, which held a 56% stake as of the end of 2015.