Corporate venturing deal net: 12-16 June 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
Palo Alto Networks puts together $20m fund
The cybersecurity software producer is seeking companies developing cloud-based apps that could be built on its platform, and will collaborate with Greylock and Sequoia Capital.
Medicxi nabs corporates to close $300m fund
Novartis and Alphabet subsidiary Verily were among the limited partners for a the late-stage fund, which will complement the GSK and Johnson & Johnson-backed fund Medicxi closed in 2016.
Motorola Solutions and Reliance join OurCrowd for incubator
The corporates have teamed with OurCrowd and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Yissum Research Development Company for an incubator which will open later this year.
Nihon Unisys notches up $45m investment fund
The information and communications equipment maker is investing more than $45m in a corporate venturing fund that will target robotics, fintech and the internet of things.
InMotion reaches for Techstars
Techstars has secured Jaguar Land Rover unit InMotion Ventures as a corporate partner for its Techstars Mobility initiative, and the firm is interested in funding graduates.
IDG Ventures India harnesses corporates for Innovation Program
The firm’s 2017 Innovation Program will feature Unilever Ventures and Amazon Internet Services as partners, both of which could invest in graduates from the scheme.
Exits
Amazon approaches Slack for $9bn acquisition
Amazon has reportedly made overtures to the messaging platform over an acquisition that would give hefty exits to GV and Comcast Ventures.
Wanderful finds path to acquisition
OwnLocal has acquired Wanderful Media, an advertising technology developer that had raised a total of more than $50m from 12 media companies.
IT
Slack puts $500m round on the slate
The Alphabet and Comcast-backed messaging platform is reportedly raising funding at a $5bn post-money valuation, though several corporates are interested in an acquisition.
Element AI elevates itself to $102m series A
The artificial intelligence startup has raised cash in a round that included Tencent, Hanwha Investment, Intel Capital, Microsoft Ventures and Nvidia GPU Ventures.
USAA and existing backers Intel Capital and Microsoft Ventures have helped to take the augmented intelligence technology developer’s overall funding to $50m.
Corporates fall for Stratumn’s series A round
CNP Assurances subsidiary Open CNP led a $7.8m round for blockchain-powered process compliance startup Stratumn that also featured Nasdaq.
Actility admits Cisco to $75m series D
Cisco Investments and BNP Paribas are now among the participants in a round already featuring Swisscom, KPN, Orange, Foxconn, Inmarsat and Robert Bosch.
CrowdFlower blossoms with $20m
The machine learning technology developer has added Salesforce Ventures to its investors in a round that increased its total funding to approximately $66m.
Microsoft identifies Trusona as investment target
Microsoft Ventures has led a $10m series B round for the online identity verification startup that will support a push into new markets.
Fosun Group led a $14.7m round that came just two months after Alibaba invested $50m in the data centre and cloud computing services provider.
Health
Omada goes on the attack with $50m
The healthy behaviour management platform’s latest round was led by Cigna and included Humana, Sanofi, GE, Kaiser Permanente and Providence Health & Services.
Twist finds the material to raise $60m
Synethetic DNA producer Twist Bioscience has raised $27m to close its latest round, which includes Kangmei Group, at $60m, taking its total funding to $191m.
The telemedicine services provider, which is backed by Cambia Health Solutions, Catholic Health Initiatives and McKesson Ventures, raised the cash from unnamed backers.
Media
Ridibooks writes $20m series C story
The Doosan-backed e-book distributor has raised $20m from ShinHan Finance Investment, Praxis Capital Partners and Company K Partners.
Drone Racing League takes off with $20m
The now annual sporting event has closed a series B round featuring Sky, Liberty Media, Allianz, World Wrestling Entertainment and Hearst Ventures.
Automat concludes series A talks with $8.3m
Comcast, USAA and You & Mr Jones have backed a series A round for Automat, the developer of marketing software that relies on artificial intelligence to interact with customers.
Consumer
The marketing transaction platform has closed a round featuring media group Time, having previously secured $15m in a first tranche in February 2017.
Ferris Wheel turns to Nanshan in $15m round
Nanshan Capital has participated in a series B round for online ticket marketplace Ferris Wheel Ticketing that will support hiring, marketing and product development.
GV and Forerunner Ventures have co-led a round for video-focused mobile platform Packagd, which was announced as it launched out of stealth.
Financial
Tola Capital led a round that followed the virtual auto insurance claims platform’s $20m series C, which included Liberty Mutual, Intact, USAA and Fidelity.
Transamerica catches Coverfox in series C round
The insurance firm has co-led a $15m round for online insurance comparison platform Coverfox that valued it at between $70m and $100m.
Futu Securities brokers series C
Tencent has led a series C round for Futu Securities sized at approximately $146m that valued it at over $1bn, having also contributed to the company’s series A and B rounds.
AvidXchange processes $300m in funding
The automated payment processing technology provider raised the funding from investors including new strategic partner Mastercard.
Ping An outlines fintech investment plans
The insurer’s $1bn Global Voyager Fund will look to invest between $10m and $30m in international financial technology developers as its parent aims to grow into a data business.
MoneySmart cashes $10m in series B funding
Kakaku has led a series B round for financial comparison platform MoneySmart that included Singapore Press Holdings’ SPH Media Fund.
Industrial
GV-backed Momentum prepares new funding
Momentum Machines, the GV-backed developer of a fast food preparation robot, has raised $18.4m of a $22m round, according to a securities filing.
Transport
Corporates to make Grab in $1.5bn round
Didi Chuxing has joined the investors in Grab’s forthcoming $1.5bn round, which will be led by SoftBank, and could be joined by Alibaba or Ant Financial.
Europcar and existing investor AutoBinck have contributed to an $11.2m round for European peer-to-peer car sharing platform Snappcar.
Mobike raises $600m in newest funding cycle
Existing investor Tencent led the round, which took the rapidly expanding bike sharing service’s total funding to more than $1bn in 18 months.
Careem closes series E at $500m
Daimler was among the investors that took part in a $150m second tranche, adding to the $350m Careem raised from backers including Rakuten and Saudi Telecom in January.
Shougang steels itself to back Guazi’s $400m series B
A fund set up by steelmaker Shougang Group has participated in a Sequoia Capital China-led round that followed a $250m series A closed just nine months ago.
AEye navigates its way to $16m
Intel Capital and Airbus Ventures were among the investors in a series A round that will support the commercialisation of AEye’s autonomous car vision technology.
Proterra picks up BMW to raise $55m
BMW i Ventures and Generation Investment Management have added $55m in series 6 funding to the $140m that the electric bus maker closed in January.
Tekne Capital Management has invested a sub-$50m amount in the SoftBank-backed ride hailing service’s latest round, which also includes RNT Capital and Falcon Edge.
Xiaopeng raises $324m as UCar begins investing
Chauffeured lift service UCar has formed a $1.47bn investment subsidiary and its first move has been to lead a series B round for electric car developer Xiaopeng Motors.
Electric vehicle rental startup Ponycar has followed a $7m Zhongzhiyuan Group-backed round in January with a $22m round co-led by smartphone maker Oppo.
Jaguar Land Rover picks up Lyft stake
The automotive producer has combined with its InMotion Ventures subsidiary to make a $25m strategic investment in ride hailing company Lyft.
Services
The Recruit-backed e-commerce fulfilment company has raised $17.5m in a Bain Capital Ventures-led round that took its overall funding to more than $22m.
Clutter clears series C round with $64m
The on-demand storage service has now raised more than $96m and aims to expand overseas, after completing a GV-backed series C that was led by Atomico.
Salesforce engages with Viridis Learning
Student employment platform developer Viridis increased its overall funding to $7.5m having added Salesforce Ventures to its shareholders.