Corporate venturing deal net: 14-18 May 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
Underscore VC marks second fund with $117m
Boston Children’s Hospital has backed Underscore VC’s second fund, roughly two years after the venture firm raised its inaugural $85m vehicle.
Westpac reinvests in partner firm Reinventure
Financial services firm Westpac has put another $37m into Reinventure, and the venture capital firm now has $111m of assets under management.
Lykke ventures to Blockchain Valley
Blockchain Valley Ventures has launched an incubator and VC investment vehicle with support from Lykke Corporation.
Play2Live applies $2m to strategic fund
The unit will provide up to $150,000 in funding for gaming or eSports projects in Eastern Europe.
SCB scales up CVC fund to $100m
Siam Commercial Bank has committed another $50m to its SCB Digital Ventures unit, which will move away from fund-of-fund deals to more direct investments.
SoftBank eyes second Vision Fund
The corporate has already begun talks with potential limited partners for a second fund, while considering a $3bn investment in Paytm Mall.
Corporates fuel third Renaissance fund
Renaissance Venture Capital Fund has closed its third fund of funds at $81m, securing several Michigan-based corporates as limited partners.
BP and Nio Capital mobilise strategic partnership
BP has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nio Capital that is expected to lead to investments in advanced mobility technologies.
People
Vidra looks to Reimagine for new venture
Ex-GV partner Eze Vidra has joined Kevin E. Baxpehler, formerly of ProSiebenSat.1, to set up a corporate-backed media fund that is raising $40m.
Exits
PayPal picks up iZettle in $2.2bn transaction
Intel Capital, Mastercard, American Express and Santander will all exit in the deal, which more than doubled iZettle’s valuation in five months.
Home24 moves towards $235m IPO
Rocket Internet-backed e-commerce platform Home24 is seeking between $178 and $235m as it prepares to float on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Ericsson will exit big data software producer Cask, which has agreed to an acquisition of undisclosed size by Google.
MeiraGTx makes inroads on $86m IPO
Kadmon remains the largest shareholder of gene therapy developer MeiraGTx, which has filed to raise up to $86.3m on the Nasdaq Global Market.
PPB to gamble on FanDuel acquisition
Daily fantasy sports platform FanDuel is in talks to be acquired by Paddy Power Betfair, allowing Comcast, Time Warner and Alphabet to exit.
Polyphor gets in pole position for IPO
Polyphor, which has collaboration agreements in place with multiple pharmaceutical companies, raised $155m when it floated on the SIX Swiss Exchange.
Provention Bio pursues $50m IPO prize
Johnson & Johnson, Vactech and MacroGenics all own stakes in Provention they got through licensing drug candidates to the company.
China-based electronics producer Xiaomi has reportedly filed for an initial public offering at a $100bn valuation in Hong Kong.
Mercari to bring $1.1bn IPO to market
United, Mitsui, Itochu and GMO are all in line for exits following approval for e-commerce marketplace Mercari’s initial public offering in Tokyo.
Intel Capital will exit cloud migration software provider Velostrata in an acquisition by Google, having backed its $17.5m series B round in 2016.
M17 makes for public markets with $115m IPO
Investors in M17, the owner of properties such as Paktor and 17 Media, include MCN, Yahoo Japan and LeSports.
IT
Vesper vets corporates for $23m series B
American Family Insurance led the advanced microphone developer’s latest round, which included Shure, Synaptics, Baidu, Bose and Amazon Alexa Fund.
Parsable parks $40m in its account
Existing investors Airbus and Saudi Aramco were among the participants in a series C round that lifted Parsable’s overall funding to $68m.
Auth0 identifies investors for $55m series D
The Telstra and NTT Docomo-backed identity verification platform developer took its total funding past the $110m mark with a Sapphire Ventures-led round.
Tanium secures $175m as TPG reinvests
Citi Ventures-backed cybersecurity platform Tanium has received $175m from existing backer TPG Growth at a $5bn valuation.
Ladder extends series B to $40m
Allianz Life Ventures and Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures have invested $10m in the online life insurance provider, taking its total funding to $54m.
GV came onboard as an MemSQL investor in a series D round that took the intelligent database developer’s funding to $115m to date.
Hearst finds TruValue for series A round
Hearst Financial Venture Fund helped TruValue Labs, the developer of an AI-equipped data platform for investors, close the round at $13.6m.
Moloco milks investors for $11m
The mobile advertising technology provider raised the cash in a series B round co-led by Samsung Ventures that will fund product development.
China Electronics Corporation Data led the artificial intelligence chip developer’s latest round, which included Qihoo 360.
First Data helps toss $12m to Salido
Restaurant management device developer Salido increased its funding to $16m with a round featuring strategic partner First Data.
Xnor.ai extracts $12m in series A
Nokia’s NGP Capital helped supply the funding as the artificial intelligence technology developer prepares to launch its first product.
Resson reaps $14m in series C round
Mahindra & Mahindra, McCain and Monsanto have all signed up for agriculture analytics software provider Resson’s latest round, taking its total funding to $28m.
Health
FogPharma advances to $66m series B
6 Dimensions Capital led a round for the miniprotein drug developer that included Nan Fung, GV and WuXi AppTec Corporate Ventures.
Nohla nails series B to raise $45m
Celgene was among the investors helping the cancer cell-therapy developer increase its total funding to approximately $110m.
BIVF tunes into Acousia for series B
Acousia has raised $11.8m from backers including Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund to advance therapies for inner-ear impairments into the clinic.
Surface Pharmaceuticals surges to $20m
Imprimis spun out Surface in 2017 to develop ocular surface treatments but its stake will be cut to 30% following Flying L Partners’ investment.
Celsius Therapeutics, which has launched with series A capital, has become the latest Third Rock-launched company to be backed by GV.
Beam Therapeutics lasers in on $87m
Beam, a genetic medicine developer in which Editas Medicine is a shareholder, has emerged from stealth with an $87m series A round.
Ansun inhales $85m in series A round
Lilly Asia Ventures and Sinopharm Healthcare Fund co-led the round that will fund a phase 3 trial for Ansun Biopharma’s parainfluenza treatment.
Qventus quickes pace to $30m series B
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital was among the backers in a round that took the healthcare planning platform’s total funding to more than $43m.
Oriola makes an appointment to fund Doktor.se
Oriola took a 17% stake in the corporate health services startup through through the round, having already been a strategic partner.
The endoscope developer has raised a major part of a $15m round, the tranche being led by Hoya Corporation.
Media
Big Deal: NewTV to switch on with $800m
Entertainment producers like 21st Century Fox and Warner Bros have reportedly supplied $200m of an $800m round that will support high-budget, short-form video, as content continues to draw in big bucks.
VidMob attacks second series A close
The online video collaboration platform has closed its series A round at $13.9m after securing new funds from investors including You & Mr Jones.
Consumer
Carousell revolves around to $85m series C
Existing backer Rakuten Ventures co-led a series C round for the used goods e-commerce platform, bringing its total funding to $127m.
Financial
Canopy stretches its latest round to $42m
Tenaya Capital and Nyca Partners added $12m to a round already containing Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, taking Canopy’s total funding to $72m.
Bitmain led the cryptofinance technology producer’s latest round at a reported valuation of almost $3bn, six times that of its series D.
Trussle tracks series B funding
BBVA’s Propel Venture Partners fund co-led an $18.5m round for the mortgage comparison platform with Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investments.
Transport
FAW invests $260m to drive Byton series B
Smart car developer Byton has raised $260m from carmaker FAW, as part of what is now expected to be a $500m round.
The online used car marketplace has received $60m in a series B round led by SoftBank Ventures Korea and backed by Singtel Innov8.
Services
JD Logistics has supplied $306m to ESR Cayman through its logistics unit and will collaborate with the business on projects such as property development.
Meiweibuyongdeng books in corporates for series D
Alibaba and Ctrip have provided $63.1m in funding for the restaurant booking management platform at a $630m valuation.