Corporate venturing deal net: 25-29 June 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
Naver to widen venture capital commitments
The internet group plans to take a limited partner position in funds being raised by SoftBank and Sequoia Capital.
JLL and Lendlease home in on accelerator
The property developers are collaborating on a proptech accelerator called Propell Asia that will issue grants to participating startups.
Dementia Discovery Fund delivers $350m close
Dementia Discovery Fund, backed by more than half a dozen corporates, reached its final close after AARP supplied $60m.
Henkel hands funding to China Materialia
Open innovation advisory China Materialia has received $5.9m from Henkel Ventures for its second venture capital fund.
Seraphim sets out stall for accelerator
The corporate-backed Space Camp Accelerator has welcomed its first six startups.
People
Chao bids goodbye to Applied Ventures
Tony Chao, senior investment director and general manager of Applied Ventures has accepted a partner position at Tyche Partners.
Exits
Access Industries and Pharmstandard-backed immuno-oncology therapy developer Neon Therapeutics floated in the middle of its range.
Babytree branches out to public markets
Babytree has filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, three weeks after Alibaba acquired a reported 10% stake in the e-commerce platform.
Translate Bio switches to public listing
The messenger RNA drug developer, backed by Monsanto, Merck & Co, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Merck Group, has raised more than $121m in its initial public offering.
Inke marks details for $167m IPO
The live video streaming platform, which is backed by Kunlun Tech, Duomi and Tencent, has set the terms for its initial public offering.
The Axel Johnson-backes apparel fitting technology developer has been bought by a group of Japanese investors for $12.7m.
Allakos aligns itself with $75m IPO
Roche and Novo-backed biopharmaceutical developer Allakos has filed for a $75m initial public offering after raising more than $160m in equity funding.
Constellation points way to public markets
SR One-backed gene expression technology developer Constellation Pharmaceuticals has filed for an $86.3m initial public offering.
Kezar kicks into public markets
Onyx Therapeutics-backed autoimmune drug developer Kezar Life Sciences has closed its initial public offering at $86.3m.
ElectroCore enters public markets with $78m offering
The Merck GHI-backed medical device developer had raised $120m in funding prior to its initial public offering.
Xeris reformulates path to IPO
Xeris, the Institut Mérieux-backed developer of an injection to treat low blood sugar, priced its shares at $15 in an initial public offering that raised $85.5m.
PayPal sinks $120m into Simility acquisition
Simility, a developer of fraud detection software, is set to be acquired by corporate investor PayPal for $120m.
Meituan Dianping makes for public markets
The local services platform, which counts Tencent as its largest investor, has filed for an offering that could net more than $4bn at a $60bn valuation.
Magenta generates $100m in initial public offering
The transplant-based medicine developer, backed by Alphabet, Partners Healthcare and Access Industries, floated in the middle of its range.
The artificial intelligence technology developer is set to be acquired by investor Microsoft in a deal that will also allow Samsung, Siemens and ABB to exit.
AppNexus takes acquisition call from AT&T
WPP, News Corp, Microsoft and Deutsche Telekom will exit adtech provider AppNexus in a purchase that is reportedly worth about $1.6bn.
Cango to park itself in public markets
The online automotive retail platform is targeting $300m in an offering that will score exits for Tencent, Didi Chuxing and Taikang Life.
IT
Verizon helps CloudBees close $37m
Software automation specialist CloudBees secured the funding in a Verizon Ventures-backed round alongside $25m of debt.
The marketing software provider received the series F funding from investors including Intel Capital and existing backer Verizon Ventures.
Comcast Ventures and SAP.iO returned to back a series B round closed only five months after the cybsersecurity software provider’s series A.
Silverfort signals Singtel to close series A
Seed backer Singtel Innov8 reinvested as part of an $11.5m round that will fund further work on Silverport’s authentication technology.
Integrate inserts Liberty Global into $23m round
The round boosted the total raised by the marketing demand orchestration platform, which is also backed by Comcast, to $57m.
XL Innovate led a $17m round for property data provider Cape Analytics that included Hartford, Nephila, CSAA, Cincinnati Insurance and State Auto Labs.
Tact.ai takes $27m in series C round
Amazon Alexa Fund, Comcast Ventures, Salesforce Ventures and Microsoft’s M12 unit helped the AI sales platform take its total funding to $57m.
IntSights reveals $17m series C
Cybersecurity technology developer IntSights Cyber Intelligence boosted its overall funding to $40m in a Wipro-backed round.
Foxconn and MediaTek contributed to a $75.7m round that speech recognition technology provider AISpeech will use for hiring and product development.
Agari accrues $40m in series E
Email security software provider Agari, whose investors include Dell, increased its funding to $88m altogether with a Goldman Sachs-led round.
LG joins Bossa Nova in $29m round
The electronics maker took part in a round that increased the total raised by Intel-backed retail data provider Bossa Nova to $88m.
DroneDeploy tracks Invenergy to raise $25m
Invenergy Future Fund led a series C round that increased the drone data provider’s overall equity funding to $56m.
Health
The small-molecule drug developer raised equity funding in an Alexandria Venture Investments-backed round.
Helix seals $200m series B round
The personal genomics product supplier has closed a round featuring corporates Illumina and Mayo Clinic after receiving funding from Temasek.
Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC has led a $35m investment in Dreem, the neurotechnology developer formerly known as Rythm.
Precision proves effective to close $110m series B
Amgen Ventures, Brace Pharma Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments all invested in the genome editing technology provider.
The drug developer, which is targeting chronic inflammation-related diseases, has raised series A cash two years after it spun out of Selvita.
Carisma charms investors in $53m series A
AbbVie Ventures co-led the round having done the same for the immunotherapy developer’s last round, in 2017.
Mercator gets $11m series D infusion
Micro-infusion system developer Mercator MedSystems has received $11m in a round led by Salubris, which has licensed its technology in China.
Media
Match Group has acquired a majority stake in CAA-backed dating app Hinge, having made several investments since September last year.
The sports media platform has now raised $93m, after raising series D funds from investors including Liberty Media and Emil Capital.
Consumer
General Mills subsidiary 301 has led a funding round for probiotics product maker NextFoods that will support product innovation and hiring.
Existing backer Simon Ventures returned to back a series A round for curated fashion marketplace Grailed, taking its total funding to $20m.
Financial
Banks get in Unison in $40m series B
Citi and Royal Bank of Canada participated in an F-Prime-led round that will fund growth, hiring and product development.
The Susquehanna International Group-backed liquidation auction platform got the funding from Spectrum Equity, which is taking two board seats.
Bibox and XSQ were among about 30 investors in the cryptocurrency trading startup, which is developing a platform capable of 300,000 transactions per second.
PolicyBazaar signs up SoftBank for $238m round
SoftBank invested $150m to lead PolicyBazaar and PaisaBazaar owner ETechAces’ series F round, which included InfoEdge.
TradeIX gets $16m series A transfer
ING Ventures led a round for the blockchain trading technology developer that included fellow corporates BNP Paribas and Tech Mahindra.
TouchBistro completes $54m series D order
Existing investor Recruit Holdings took part in a round that will fund the next iteration of TouchBistro’s restaurant POS system.
Energy and Natural Resources
Argo Infrastructure Partners has provided $40m for Ice Energy, which last raised $24m in a series C round featuring TIAA in 2010.
QuantumScape gets $100m recharge from Volkswagen
Existing investor Volkswagen is providing $100m for the solid-state battery developer, with which it is forming a joint venture.
Industrial
Cibus harvests $70m in series C funding
The agriculture-focused gene editing technology developer has secured capital from investors including Alexandria Venture Investments.
Safety control equipment maker TTTech has received an undisclosed amount from B&C in return for a 9% equity stake.
Transport
Openbay taps Shell for $8m series A
Shell Ventures led the vehicular servicing marketplace’s series A round, five years after the company raised cash from GV.
Lyft picks up $600m at $15bn valuation
Fidelity led the round, bringing the total raised by Lyft, which counts corporates such as GM, Alibaba and Alphabet as backers, to $4.4bn.
AIpark finds space for Nio in series B
Corporate venturing unit Nio Capital led a nine-figure RMB round for AI-equipped urban parking platform AIpark.
Go-Jek gets ready for another $1.5bn
The ride services provider, which closed $1.5bn in funding earlier this year, is in talks with Tencent, Google and JD.com for more capital.
Evergrande fetches $860m Faraday Future stake
Evergrande Health Industry has paid $860m for the 45% stake in Faraday Future owned by Season Smart, as US regulators approve a $2bn total investment.
Services
Home Depot meets Homee in $11m round
On-demand home maintenance platform Homee has closed a series A round featuring Home Depot and corporate-backed VC firm Engage.
Boeing HorizonX Ventures led the series A round, which also attracted Swiss Post and Sony Innovation Fund.
Edenred and Microsoft unit M12 took part in an EQT Ventures-led series B round that took the recruitment software provider’s total funding to $35m.
Aaptiv activates $22m series C
NWS Holdings, Disney, Warner Music and Amazon Alexa Fund all contributed to a round that increased the exercise app’s overall funding to $52m.