Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 14-18 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.
Fundraising
State Farm plants $100m in investment fund
State Farm has become the latest insurance firm to get involved in corporate venturing, launching a vehicle called State Farm Ventures.
Cigna signs off on $250m investment fund
The healthcare provider, which has become an increasingly active investor, has formed a corporate venturing unit called Cigna Ventures.
Main Sequence rearranges fund to reach $167m
Lockheed Martin was among the limited partners that helped Main Sequence Ventures add almost $95m to its Csiro Innovation Fund 1.
Imec attracts corporates to close fund at $135m
Samsung, Philips, Applied Materials, SK Hynix, KBC, Belfius, BNP Paribas Fortis and KPN Ventures have all backed the Imec.xpand fund.
Alabama Futures Fund aligns with corporates for $25m
The fund has closed with backing from Protective Life Insurance and Hoar Construction and will target seed-stage deals for local startups.
Exits
WeWork gets a new Teem in $100m deal
GE Ventures and NGP Capital have exited workplace software provider Teem in a $100m acquisition by WeWork.
Rocket Internet-backed furniture e-commerce company Westwing is aiming to raise $139m in an initial public offering in Frankfurt.
Meituan Dianping makes out with $4.2bn in IPO
The Tencent-backed local services portal has priced the offering near the top of its range at a valuation of about $52bn.
Nio parks in public markets with $1bn
The Tencent,Baidu, Lenovo and JD.com-backed electric carmaker floated near the foot of its range at a reported $6.4bn valuation.
Intel catches NetSpeed in acquisition deal
Network-on-chip technology developer NetSpeed has been acquired by Intel, an investor in the company since 2014, for an undisclosed amount.
NetGear draws up Meural acquisition
Electronic art frame producer Meural has been acquired by NetGear less than a year after the corporate took part in its series A round.
Chain goes Interstellar with Lightyear merger
Chain, a blockchain technology provider backed by Visa, Orange, Fiserv, Nasdaq, Citi and Capital One, has merged with Lightyear to form a new company dubbed Interstellar.
Augmenix gels with Boston Scientific for $600m
Boston Scientific will pay $500m upfront and up to $100m in milestone payments to acquire Augmenix, providing exits to Varian Medical Systems and Ascension Health.
Eventbrite sets price range of IPO admission
Square-backed event ticketing management platform Eventbrite will price its shares between $19 and $21 and could raise up to a total of more than $241m when it goes public.
Guardant Health to chaperon shares to Nasdaq
Guardant Health is targeting $100m in proceeds for its initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, which would offer an exit to SoftBank.
IT
Packet opens up to let in $25m
Samsung Next, JA Mitsui Leasing and existing investors SoftBank and Dell Technologies Capital all chipped in to Packet’s series B round.
Cosmo Tech shoots for $21m series B
Inven Capital led a round for Cosmo that included Credit Agricole Creation, Total Energy Ventures, BNP Paribas Developpement and Aster.
Pendo tends to fundraising with $50m
The Salesforce-backed product assessment platform has now raised $106m altogether, after Sapphire Ventures led its latest round.
Locix locates series B funding
Murata Manufacturing led a round of undisclosed size for the spatial data technology developer, whose backers include Sumitomo, iRobot, Acer, Yaskawa and NTT Docomo.
PingCap indexes $50m in series C funding
Cloud-based database developer PingCap will use the proceeds from the round, co-led by Fosun, to drive global growth and technology development.
Raytheon led a $5.3m second tranche of a $14.9m series A-3 round for the RF signal analytics system developer.
Bertelsmann Asia Investments and IDG Capital provided the funding for AI-based data management platform developer Ringle.
Sentera goes Continental in series A round
Continental Grain Company was among the investors as agricultural data technology developer raised $14m.
Uberall finds investors for $25m extension
United Inernet reinvested in the location data management platform, which doubled its series B round to $50m in the transaction.
Branch to spread into $129m series D
Samsung-backed Branch is raising $129m at a valuation of at least $1bn, though investors have not yet been revealed.
Health
Epic applies itself to $52m series E
Oncology diagnostics technology developer Epic Sciences, whose investors include Genomic Health, Pfizer and Roche, has now raised at least $135m in total.
Boehringer Ingelheim greets ViraTherapeutics in $245m purchase
Cancer drug developer ViraTherapeutics has been acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim, three years after the corporate led its series A round.
InfoBionic gets pulse racing to raise $50m
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas both backed a round that boosted the heart monitor developer’s total financing to $77m.
Atreca carries on funding streak with $125m
The GlaxoSmithKline-backed immunotherapy developer closed an oversubscribed round that took its total funding to approximately $226m.
Alexandria Venture Investments led a series C round that included existing investors Pfizer Ventures and Roche Venture Fund.
OncoResponse answers questions with $40m series B
Cigna makes Cricket match in $24m series ACricket Health, developer of an integrated kidney care service that helps patients stay out of hospital, has completed an Oak HC/FT-led series A round.
Twentyeight-Seven counts down to $65m series A
Novartis Venture Fund, a founding investor, co-led a $65m series A round to launch cancer treatment developer Twentyeight-Seven Therapeutics.
Media
Shamrock Capital led a round that boosted the overall amount raised by the Baidu-backed sports media production platform developer to $40m.
Dream11 wakes up to $100m series D
Tencent has led a $100m series D round for fantasy sports company Dream11, a deal that was first rumoured in April this year.
Consumer
Fave faces SIG in $20m series B
Fave, the loyalty and rewards platform formerly known as Groupon Singapore, has secured series B funding from investors include SIG Asia.
Ctrip sets $100m course for Zomato
The online travel booking platform is in talks to invest $100m as part of a $400m round that will value the restaurant listings platform at up to $2bn.
Shea Ventures cheers on Drinks in $15m round
JF Shea’s corporate venturing unit has invested in online wine retailer Drinks as part of a series B round led by Beverly Pacific.
Financial
Sistema Asia Fund and Vertex Ventures co-led a $30m series C round for buy now, pay later service Kissht that included existing investor Fosun.
CrossLend accesses SolarisBank and ABN Amro
The banks, both now strategic partners of debt marketplace CrossLend, have also invested in a $16.2m round for the company.
Acorn OakNorth reaches for $100m
NIBC Bank has contributed to a $100m funding round for lender Acorn OakNorth, which is now valued at $2.3bn.
Energy and Natural Resources
Solid Power shows strength to raise $20m
The solid-state battery developer has closed a series A round that included Hyundai, Samsung, Solvay, Sanoh Industrial and A123 Systems.
Corporates get on AutoGrid in $32m series
Distributed energy management platform AutoGrid will use the capital from the Eon, CLP, Innogy, Total, Ørsted and Tenaska-backed round to boost hiring.
Industrial
Benson Hill reaps $60m in series C
GV led Benson Hill Biosystems’ latest round, which increased the total raised by the crop specification technology provider to more than $94m.
Transport
Lithia makes Shift in $140m series D
Automotive sales services provider Shift Technologies raised debt and equity financing in a round led by Lithia Motors and backed by BMW i Ventures.
Alibaba and SAIC Motor’s smart car joint venture has closed its first funding round with the support of SAIC’s investment management arm, Shangqi Capital.
Services
ShipBob handles $40m series C delivery
Recruit-backed e-commerce fulfilment services provider ShipBob increased its total funding to more than $62m in a round led by Menlo Ventures.
MasterClass addresses $80m series D
Evolution Media has put its weight behind MasterClass, an online education provider already backed by Bloomberg and Novel Group.