Weekly corporate venturing deal net 26 October – 30 October 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
BCG warms up DV Hatch incubator
Boston Consulting Group’s Digital Ventures unit will use DV Hatch to support internally developed startups as they aim to reach the market.
Hubert Burda performs LP role for Acton
Growth equity firm Acton Capital Partners has closed a $200m fund that counts publishing group Hubert Burda, from which it spun out, as an anchor investor.
General Mills cooks up corporate venturing unit
The consumer foods manufacturer has expanded its 301 incubator into an investment vehicle that will back early-stage food companies.
Facebook awards $1.2m to Indian startups
Facebook has followed its unsuccessful Internet.org programme in India with $1.2m of investments across 12 startups.
Orange and Publicis pledge $166m for new fund
The Franco-German focused IrisNext fund will be backed by $83m from each of Orange and Publicis, and aims to attract more corporates for its first close, in 2016.
Nisaba to support African agribusiness with $50m fund
Louis Dreyfus Holding has committed $10m to Nisaba, also backed by private equity firm Bamboo Finance, which will fund agribusinesses in sub-Saharan Africa.
Deutsche Telekom transfers CVC activities to new unit
The $395m Deutsche Telekom Strategic Investments unit will take over the activity of the company’s T-Venture and Telekom Innovation Pool subsidiaries.
Corporates join Digital Currency Group
Mastercard and New York Life are among the investors on board DCG, which aims to build the largest portfolio of digital currency companies in the world.
Unilever connects to US startups
The conglomerate will launch its Unilever Foundry in the US next month, giving participating startups access to its various brands.
People
BDMI alumni go to Join Capital
Jan Borgstädt and Tobias Schirmer, formerly of Bertelsmann’s early-stage corporate venturing unit, have founded a Germany-based firm called Join Capital.
Lacamp decamps to Cathay Pacific
Philippe Lacamp, responsible for establishing Swire’s biotech and cleantech corporate venturing activity, is moving to Swire subsidiary Cathay Pacific.
Verrilli exits Google Ventures to return to Twitter
Jessica Verrilli has left Google Ventures after less than six months as a partner to rejoin Twitter, where she will be senior director of corporate development and strategy.
Exits
Acacia puts off $230m IPO amid market flux
Novo and Lundbeck-backed Acacia Pharma has postponed a $230m initial public offering in London as the healthcare IPO market continues to slow.
Everything.me ends up with nothing
The Android app developer has shut down three years after it raised $25m from a consortium featuring Telefónica, Mozilla and Singapore Telecommunications.
Naspers reaps $200m from Czech exits
The e-commerce group has sold its stakes in e-commerce company Netretail and price comparison service Heureka to investment firm Rockaway Capital.
Times Group parks itself in Girnar
Times Group has taken a stake in web services company Girnar as part of Girnar’s acquisition of Times-owned automotive marketplace Zigwheels.
HelloFresh looks to deliver $332m IPO
The meal delivery service, in which Rocket Internet holds a majority stake, has filed to go public in Germany, a month after raising money at a $3bn valuation.
Backed by Novo, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and Pfizer, the immuno-oncology drug developer was previously reported in April 2015 to be seeking a $105m offering.
MyoKardia secures $54m in downpriced IPO
The cardiovascular drug developer, which had raised $94m from investors including Sanofi, priced its initial public offering considerably below the range set last week.
The France-based streaming platform, backed by Access Industries and Orange, has cancelled an IPO that was expected to generate more than $330m in proceeds.
Adesto fails to crest with $25m IPO
The memory product manufacturer had raised more than $85m of debt and equity from backers including Applied Materials and Altera.
IT
SimilarWeb’s series E round equates to $25m
Naspers has led another round for SimilarWeb, now valued at $400m, a year after it co-led the web ranking provider’s $15m series D.
Merck identifies Exostar for $10m investment
Merck Global Health Innovation Fund has invested $10m in the digital identification service, adding to the $5m it provided in October 2014.
Alteryx figures out $85m series C
SAP-backed data analytics provider Alteryx has boosted its total funding to $163m in a round co-led by Iconiq Capital and Insight Venture Partners.
NGData gets personal with $10.2m series B
Corporate-backed firm Idinvest Partners has led the latest round closed by NGData, which uses big data analytics to create personalised customer experiences.
Salesforce helps deliver $11m to Pendo
Pendo’s analytics technology helps software companies gain a better insight into how clients use applications, and it will spend the series A cash on sales and marketing.
Health
Cardionomic shows fluidity in $20m series A
Cleveland Clinic and Greatbatch were among the investors in a round that will support development of Cardionomic’s heart failure treatment device.
Capitol Health scans Enlitic for $10m series B
Enlitic, which uses machine learning to improve healthcare diagnostics, will work with new investor Capitol Health to expand into Asia and Australia.
MabSpace locates Eli Lilly for $15m series A
MabSpace is developing antibody-based treatments to fight off tumours that are resistant to immune system-based therapies.
Media
Viacom books DigiTour stake in $10m round
Live media event organiser DigiTour has reportedly raised approximately $10m in a round backed by Viacom, which has also secured a board seat.
Alibaba to make billion-dollar Magic Leap
Magic Leap, which has already raised almost $600m from investors including Google and Qualcomm, could secure $200m from Alibaba as part of a $1bn round.
Brandwatch series C clocks in at $33m
Gorkana-backed Brandwatch, which enables companies to track discussions about their products online, raised the money in a Partech Ventures-led round.
Two Bit Circus puts on $6.5m show
Intel Capital was among the investors in a round that will be used by the interactive entertainment provider to expand its largest event into a national brand.
The women’s advertising network secured the cash in a round backed by strategic partners iStyle, Excite Japan and Tokyo Broadcasting System.
Consumer
Bolo.me finds Baidu for $30m series B
Search engine provider Baidu invested in the round, which valued Bolo.me at $200m, as part of an agreement to integrate the startup’s e-commerce technology into its platform.
9Now greets Dianping and Baidu for $79m booking
9Now, the developer of a mobile app that organises restaurant bookings, secured series C funding following a $20m round last year.
Financial
AmEx helps transfer cash to Abra
American Express and Ruben Tata have added an undisclosed amount to an oversubscribed series A round that initially closed at $12m in September.
GetSafe opens up for Commerzbank
Commerzbank has co-led a round for the insurance management app that also featured Rocket Internet and several corporate-backed venture firms.
The payment processing service has boosted its funding only a week after raising a $2.5m seed round backed by GMO Venture Partners.
Renren credits SoFi with another $150m
SoFi secured the money from existing investor Renren less than a month after closing a $1bn round that valued it at $4bn.
Marqeta banks on Commerzbank to raise $25m
Payments processing technology producer Marqeta has received $25m in series C funding from Commerzbank and others to support international expansion.
Energy and Natural Resources
Off Grid Electric powers up $25m series C
The off-grid solar power supplier has now raised almost $48m altogether, with SolarCity investing in the company for a third time.
Transport
The ride sharing service, backed by Alphabet, Baidu, Timees Group and Microsoft, will reportedly look to raise cash at a valuation of up to $70bn.
Google Ventures has returned to back fleet management technology producer KeepTruckin’s $8m series A round.
Services
Fieldwire constructs $6.6m early-stage round
The construction task management app developer raised the cash in a Bloomberg Beta-backed round that was led by venture capital firm Formation 8.
Coursera does series C homework for $61m
Open access education platform Coursera has reached the second close of its Times Internet-backed series C round after securing a commitment by EDBI.
FineEx stocks coffers with $31.7m
The Transcosmos-backed e-commerce logistics service raised the cash in a round featuring Transfar.
Hujiang. which claims to be China’s largest e-learning platform, has followed a $100m Baidu investment with a series D round featuring Wanxin Media.