Corporate venturing deal net: 12-16 February 2018
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
The Wells Fargo-backed venture firm has closed its largest ever fund, having secured $1.5bn to invest from seed to late stage.
Calldorado to connect app developers to $12m fund
The mobile advertising platform’s Calldorado App Growth Fund will provide marketing funds for app developers using its software.
Analysis: Ping An Ventures to raise $1.3bn
Ping An Ventures is raising a total of $1.3bn for two life sciences-focused fund: $500m for a dollar-denominated fund and $800m for a renminbi-denominated one.
The Xiaomi-affiliated smart wearable device maker has become the latest Chinese company to go public in the US, floating in the middle of its range.
SSC snatches Armstrong Industrial for $150m investment initiative
The corporate is one of nine co-investment partners rounded up by Spring Seeds Capital for a scheme that will operate over the next eight years.-
People
George Ugras has departed from IBM Ventures, the corporate venturing unit he headed, with Wendy Lung reportedly steeping up as acting head.
Campbell settles into innovation at Gore
Paul Campbell will head up advanced materials maker WL Gore’s innovation activities in addition to his role as CEO at entrepreneurial services provider Startup Genie.
Toney applies himself to Plexo
GV partner Lo Toney is set to leave the unit once he has closed a separate fund, Plexo Capital, which will back female and minority-helmed VC funds.
Exits
Roche to pay $1.9bn for Flatiron Health
GV and LabCorp will exit the oncology research software provider in an acquisition by Roche, which bought a 12.6% stake in 2016 at a $1.2bn valuation.
OpenText catches Hightail for acquisition deal
OpenText has paid an undisclosed sum for file sharing service provider Hightail, which had raised $83m from investors including Western Digital Capital.
The JD.com and Condé Nast-backed luxury fashion e-commerce platform is reportedly lining up bankers for an offering that could value it at up to $5bn.
EBay writes off $61m from Snapdeal venture
The e-commerce firm led rounds for Snapdeal totalling $184m in 2013 and 2014, but has written off $61m of its investment according to a financial report.
Coiney, which is backed by Dentsu, CyberAgent and SBI, is set to merge with Stores.jp and form a payment technology company called Hey.
Video sharing platform AcFun, which had raised at least $110m from backers including Youku Tudou and SoftBank, has shut down its operations.
Cardlytics carts in $70m from IPO
The purchase data analytics platform, which is backed by Aimia and Fidelity Information Services, had raised almost $210m in venture financing.
IT
NGD Systems controls series B funding input
Orange Digital Ventures and existing backer Alcor Micro both contributed to a $12.6m round for the solid-state drive technology developer.
Toss Lab pings investors for $5.2m round
SBI led a Daekyo-backed round for cloud collaboration platform developer Toss Labs, whose earlier investors include Qualcomm and Softbank.
Unacast moulds $17.5m series B
Telia has invested in location data software provider and new strategic partner Unacast, which will use the funding for international expansion.
InfluxData infers interest in $35m series C
The Bloomberg Beta-backed data analysis software provider took its total funding to $60m in a Sapphire Ventures-led round.
Randstad Innovation Fund has backed a series C round for HackerRank, a software skills assessment platform developer that has now raised $58m in total.
GV helps UJet finds higher altitude
Customer interaction platform UJet has raised $25m in a GV-led series B round that included Citi Ventures, lifting its overall funding to more than $45m.
XebiaLabs gets $100m series B delivery
The software delivery technology provider secured the capital from investors including Susquehanna Growth Equity and will use it for hiring.
Subtree to grow with $10m seed round
Big data storage systems provider DDN led the data management technology developer’s seed round.
Honest Buildings adds a series B extension
Real estate companies Oxford Properties, DivcoWest and Durst Organisation have helped Honest Buildings boost its series B round to $21m.
Health
Celularity surfaces with $250m
The placenta-based regenerative therapy developer’s investors include Celgene, United Therapeutics, Sorrento Therapeutics, Human Longevity and Genting.
HealthifyMe tracks corporates for $12m series B
Sistema Asia Fund and Samsung Next both invested in the nutrition and fitness app developer, which will use the funding to expand internationally.
Rani Therapeutics has now raised $142m in total, its latest investors including GV, Ping An Ventures, GeneScience, AstraZeneca, Shire and Novartis.
Media
Kakao Games entertains investors for $130m
The funding comes ahead of an expected initial public offering and featured Tencent, Netmarble Games, Actozsoft and Bluehole Studio.
Consumer
Walmart begins talks for Flipkart stake
Walmart could buy more than 40% of the e-commerce company at a higher valuation than the $12.5bn at which SoftBank Vision Fund invested in August.
Primary graduates to next funding grade
The Grace Beauty-backed online childrenswear brand has secured $19.8m according to a securities filing, to take its overall equity funding to $32.5m.
Frank And Oak reaffirms funding
The Bertelsmann-backed clothing brand has raised $15.9m that will go to enhancing its technology, and has now secured $32m in total.
Instacart carries off $200m in series E
The Amazon, American Express Ventures and Comcast Ventures-backed grocery delivery platform is now valued at $4.2bn.
Financial
Santander Innoventures, JPMorgan Chase and USAA have lined up for mortgage lending platform Roostify’s series B round.
Payworks pins down series B investment
Visa and Commerzbank both featured in a $14.5m round for Payworks that will help meet demand for its cloud-based payment processing software.
HighRadius hits next stage with new funding
PNC and Citi Ventures have co-led a round of undisclosed size that came just five months after the accounts receivables software provider raised $50m from SGE.
SafeCharge electrifies Nayax with new cash
The corporate invested an undisclosed amount to take its total commitment to cashless payment technology provider Nayax to $24.5m.
Dwolla follows investors to $12m
The round takes the CME Group-backed bank transfer platform developer’s overall funding to about $51m and the proceeds will be used for hiring.
Payfone takes $23m funding call
MassMutual Ventures and Synchrony Ventures have come on board as investors as the identity authentication technology provider prepares to expand into new sectors.
The payment processing software provider has completed a Mastercard-backed round that took its overall financing to more than $180m.
Lendingkart carries series C to $87m
Corporate venturing units Sistema Asia Fund and Bertelsmann India Investments took part in the round’s $10.5m first close in September last year.
Energy and Natural Resources
Uponor raised its stake in intelligent leak detection startup Phyn from 37.5% to 50% through the investment, having provided $15m when it launched.
Industrial
TactoTek takes corporate funding in $23m round
Investors including Nanogate, Plastic Omnium and Faurecia provided $14.5m of equity funding for the 3D-moulded part maker alongside $8.5m in debt and grants.
Skydio, the developer of an autonomous flying camera, has disclosed $70m in funding, including a series B round featuring technology partner Nvidia.
Corporates help pump $10m into Clarke
Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV) and Chevron Technology Ventures co-led the industrial valve maker’s series B round
Transport
Outdoorsy books $25m series B trip
Aviva Ventures co-led a round that will fund sales and marketing, hiring and geographical expansion for the RV rental marketplace.
Services
Homesnap houses $14m in series B round
The AH Belo-backed real estate search engine developer has now raised more than $32m altogether, raising capital in an Updata Partners-led round.
Randstad finds Gr8 People for $8m round
Randstad Innovation Fund took part in a series B round for the recruitment software producer that was led by Ascent Venture Partners.
JD.com to package $2.5bn for logistics spinoff
Corporates Tencent and China Life are among a range of investors participating in the round, which will fund the newly independent JD Logistics.
Ucommune welcomes new investment
Ucommune, the corporate-backed co-working space provider formerly known as URWork, has raised $17.3m to take its overall funding to more than $470m.