Weekly corporate venturing deal net 10-14 August 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
IDG Capital targets $1bn for new fund
International Data Group’s 22-year old Chinese corporate venturing affiliate has backed companies including Tencent, Baidu and Ctrip at early stage.
Coent finds Slogan for seed fund
Human resources company Slogan has joined forces with investment fund Coent to co-invest in seed-stage startups out of a $1.3m fund.
GE helps to switch on Robotics Hub
GE Ventures has become the founding sponsor of a $20m Pittsburgh-based accelerator aimed at startups developing robotics technologies.
People
McKesson Ventures nets Schulte as MD
Dave Schulte will join McKesson’s corporate venturing fund next month, after 13 years at another CVC unit, Kaiser Permanente Ventures.
Google brings investment units under Alphabet umbrella
The new Alphabet conglomerate will oversee Google Ventures and Google Capital, while Google itself will operate as a more slimmed down subsidiary.
Jay Onda has moved from Docomo Capital, where he served as principal, to Yamaha in order to take up a senior position at its corporate venturing division.
Kothari takes over at SRI Ventures
Manish Kothari was previously a director of commercial ventures and licensing at the corporate venturing unit, after initially joining SRI in 2013.
Ji Hoon Rim, previously the principal of SoftBank Ventures Korea before founding K Cube Ventures, will take over as CEO of internet company Daum Kakao next month.
Schmidt leaves Bosch to launch consultancy
Claus Schmidt spent more than seven years as managing director of Robert Bosch’s corporate venturing unit and has been replaced by Ingo Ramesohl.
Exits
Branch Metrics swoops on ClassOwl
Follett and Pearson exited the classroom communication app, which has been acquired by Branch Metrics for an undisclosed amount.
FortuneRock goes for IPO cookie
Biotechnology company FortuneRock is set to float on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations in China, giving Jinhua Pharmaceuticals an exit.
Samsung basks in Raydiance exit
Samsung led a $20m round for the laser producer in 2012, part of the $105m it raised before being bought by Coherent for less than $9m.
Pure Storage looks to rack up $300m in IPO
The Samsung-backed flash storage company was valued at $3bn as of its last funding round, a $225m series F round closed last year.
IT
Kensho Technologies warrants $47.8m series B
Kensho, the Google-backed developer of an artificial intelligence-based financial research aid, has now secured almost $73m in funding altogether.
Informatica goes private with corporate help
Microsoft and Salesforce have invested in Informatica, which has been taken private by Permira and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
Cenx orchestrates $12.5m series D
VMWare joined existing investors Verizon and Ericsson in backing the networking software provider’s series D round, six months after its series C.
Microsoft returns Unify Square series B call
Microsoft has returned to contribute to a $4m extension for Unify Square’s series B round, after providing part of the initial $8.2m tranche.
Tyfone storms into $6.6m series C
RPX led the round, joining existing shareholders in cybersecurity platform Tyfone including HDFC and Polaris Software Lab.
The big data technology developer has emerged from stealth armed with series A capital from investors including Intel and Wipro.
OneAssist takes care of $7.7m series B
OneAssist, a consumer security service covering smartphones and bank cards, has obtained series B funding from investors including insurance company Assurant.
WSO2 takes Pacific Controls for $20m series D
Pacific Controls has led a $20m round for Intel, Cisco and Dell-backed WSO2, increasing the enterprise software company’s overall funding to more than $40m.
Health
Biotech companies sense promise in Sentien
Boehringer Ingelheim and Portage Biotech have provided series A funding to support a Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment Sentien is developing for acute kidney injury.
Editas modifies investor base in $120m round
Google Ventures was among the broad range of backers in the genome editing company’s series B round, bringing its total funding to more than $160m.
JenaValve pipes in $26.5m more
Legend Holdings has returned to back the aortic valve repair system developer’s second series C extension, boosting the round’s total to $99m.
Neurology drug developer Ovid Therapeutics will use the Sanofi-backed series B round to fund the advancement of its lead candidate into Phase 2 trials.
Cancer drug developer Ascentage raises $15.5m
Ascentage Pharma, a spin-out of oncology company Ascenta Therapeutics, received $3m in funding from biotechnology company 3SBio in February.
The healthcare IT technology developer’s series B round follows a $4m round in 2013 backed by telecommunications company Rogers Communications.
Rhythm Metabolic fattens up with $40m
Pfizer and Ipsen, both of which previously backed Rhythm Metabolic’s parent company, contributed to the obesity treatment developer’s series A round.
Media
The payments services firm has announced the three winning startups in its Everywhere Initiative, each of which will receive $50,000.
C1X exchanges series A shares for $5.1m
C1X, which operates a programmatic buying platform, received funding from investors including Mynavi and the NEC and Sumitomo Mitsui-backed Innovative Venture Fund.
Bounce Exchange jumps at $6.5m
Trigger Media has contributed to a series A-1 round for Bounce Exchange, which enables website owners to analyse user behaviour.
NBCUniversal confirms $200m Vox Media investment
The funding established Vox Media as a unicorn, and NBCUniversal will reportedly follow it up by providing another $200m for Buzzfeed.
Whaley Technology, which will manufacture smart televisions and supply the content, raised the cash from Tencent, Alibaba, CMC and China National Radio.
Consumer
Kuaile Shidai installs series E funding
The round is the fifth to be raised by the Kunlun-backed instalment buying platform since its launch early last year.
Qufenqi installs Ant Financial in $200m round
The instalment buying company has now raised $400m in only eight months, adding Ant Financial to an investor base that already includes mobile game publisher Kunlun.
IDG-backed massage booking app Soothe has raised series A funding as it prepares to expand to 16 additional cities across the US.
Corporates join Clique in $8m series B
The fashion and lifestyle media company boosted its overall funding to $13m with a round led by Amazon that included Bertelsmann.
Financial
SouFun set to enjoy $1bn investment
IDG Capital and Carlyle Group have committed to purchasing newly issued shares in publicly-listed real estate online portal SouFun.
Payoneer investors secure $50m in secondary investment
Susquehanna Growth Equity and Wellington Management bought $50m of Payoneer’s shares from from existing backers that may have included insurer Ping An.
Energy and Natural Resources
The intelligent energy storage company has now raised more than $90m in debt and equity, after closing a series C round featuring RWE and Mitsui.
Industrial
Syngenta helps plant $16m in Illumitex
Syngenta has been an investor in Illumitex, which produces lighting equipment to help grow plants and vegetation, since they formed a strategic partnership in 2011.
View’s $150m round reflects Corning interest
Existing investor Corning returned to take part in a round that increased the high-tech glass producer’s total funding to about $510m.
Transport
Legend parks in Tuhu’s $100m series C
Tuhu, a platform that enables users to book car service appointments and purchase replacement parts, raised cash in a Legend-backed round in July last year.