Fundraising
Intel pledges $250m for autonomous driving investments
Intel Capital, which formed a $100m Connected Car Fund in 2012, plans to provide $250m for autonomous driving technology developers in the next two years.
Echo Health Ventures to sound out healthcare startups
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina’s investment arm has teamed up with Cambia Health Solutions to launch a strategic investment company.
Sberbank targets $250m for second VC fund
The Russia-based bank invested in companies including Uber and eToro from the $100m first fund and is seeking between $200m and $250m for the second.
AGL Energy powers its way into EIP’s Nexus
The Australian utility has joined Energy Impact Partners’ Nexus network, which already includes Southern Company, Ameren, Great Plains Energy, Xcel Energy, Fortis and National Grid.
MDI Ventures to ring up $100m of investments
Telkom Indonesia’s MDI Ventures unit, which was launched in January, expects to provide $25m of funding to startups per year for the next four years.
Naspers Ventures goes express to India
Naspers’ corporate venturing unit has expanded from the US and Singapore to India, where its operations will be led by recent hire Ashutosh Sharma.
Naver and SoftBank combine for $43m fund
Naver is putting up 80% of the capital for SB Next Media Innovation Fund, which will invest in offerings compatible with its Snow and Webtoon subsdiaries.
Exits
Meitu modifies IPO plans to set $800m target
The photo modification app owner had targeted a $5bn valuation for an initial public offering that would grant exits to Sina Weibo, Foxconn and IDG Capital Partners.
Emera powers up Dalhousie University accelerator
The energy company has provided $7m for the university’s IdeaHub engineering accelerator, which is also supported by Clearwater Seafoods and Micco Companies.
IDG enters talks with Chinese consortium over acquisition
The media group could be sold for between $500m and $1bn to a Chinese consortium headed by the founder of its Chinese venture capital affiliate.
General Electric cooks up $153m Bit Stew acquisition
General Electric has purchased Bit Stew for $153m, providing an exit to its own corporate venturing unit GE Ventures as well as Cisco Investments.
GE gets Wise.io in acquisition deal
Citrix-backed Wise.io is one of three companies GE has acquired this week in a bid to strengthen its Predix industrial internet platform.
The Snapchat operator has confidentially filed for an initial public offering that will allow Alibaba, Tencent and Yahoo to exit, and it will be valued at between $20bn and $25bn.
Qufenqi to install itself in public markets
The Chinese instalment buying platform is seeking between $500m and $800m in a US IPO that will provide exits to Kunlun Tech and Ant Financial.
Startup Zen proves mindful of flotation
IDG has exited Startup Zen, following the co-working space provider’s flotation on China’s New Third Board exchange.
GE takes $915m to the ServiceMax
Salesforce, PTC and General Electric’s own GE Ventures unit exited the field service management software provider, which will be purchased by GE Digital after raising $205m.
IT
Xangati becomes part of Virtual Instruments
Citrix has exited performance control software provider Xangati, which had raised almost $22m since 2010, in an acquisition by Virtual Instruments.
Petuum collects Tencent in $15m series A
The artificial intelligence and machine learning development platform expects to send its first products to market early next year.
Salesforce-backed Sauce Labs has attracted $70m to further develop its platform, which lets developers test their web and mobile applications.
The cybersecurity software startup, a graduate of Microsoft Accelerator in Tel Aviv, closed a $10m round just nine months after raising $4m in seed funding.
LeEco gets $600m from old friends
The firm, already backed by Lenovo and Macrolink, has added Heilan Home, Hengxing Group, Yihua Group, Man Wah, Yuyue Group and Luye Pharma to its shareholders.
Yottaa performs $13m funding round
The Intel Capital-backed web content monitoring platform has secured $13m in a round that could close nearer to $18m, according to a securities filing.
XAd finds space for series E funding
Location intelligence software provider XAd, backed by SoftBank at earlier stages, has raised $42.5m from Eminence Capital, Emergence Capital, W Capital and IVP.
Health
Syntimmune sends series A to $26m
The $8m final tranche of the round, which was co-led by Baxalta Ventures, was triggered this week when Syntimmune chose the dose for its lead candidate’sphase 1b/2a trials.
BeyondSpring looks to weather public markets
Nereus Pharmaceuticals is set to record an exit from BeyondSpring, which is targeting $100m in its initial public offering.
GV colours in $48.5m Magenta series A
Biotechnology developer Magenta Therapeutics, which exploits Harvard research, has launched with series A funding provided by investors including Alphabet.
Global Sources and existing backers Swisscom and ZKB were among the investors in the fertility tracking wristband maker’s latest round, which has been closed at $9.7m.
CareCloud completes series C round
PNC and First Data joined existing investor Intel Capital in a $31.5m round that increased the medical software provider’s overall financing to more than $130m.
Intuity Medical undergoes $40m treatment
Sarnoff spinout Intuity Medical has received cash from a range of existing and new venture capital investors to boost its total funding to nearly $200m.
Curevac adds nearly $30m to its coffers
Curevac, a Tübingen University spinout backed by Boehringer Ingelheim, has added pension fund BWVA to its shareholders and lifted its total equity to $360m.
Media
The connected indoor cycling game developer boosted its overall funding to $45m in a series A round backed by bicycle parts provider and existing investor Samchuly.
Greenfly takes the road to Mandalay for $6.2m
Mandalay Sports Media was among the investors in a series A round for sports media networking platform Greenfly that included digital advertising agency R/GA.
Consumer
New strategic partner Fosun led the round, announced this by baby and child social e-commerce platform Babytree but closed in July.
Phononic acclimatises to series D with $71m
Rex Healthcare previously backed the round’s $31m first close in September, and UBS’s wealth management business added the remaining $41m.
The modular shoelace developer received the funding from backers including Sforza, the owner of new strategic partners Topper Brazil and Rainha, and a footwear brand that is most likely Adidas.
Joyvio gets a taste of Huawen for $44m
Huawen Food produces a large range of snacks and has secured the investment from agricultural group Joyvio as part of a strategic partnership agreement.
Financial
eOriginal manages $26.5m investment
Private equity firm LLR Partners led a $26.5m round for the paperless transaction management company, which received funding from Intel and GE in 1999.
Convoy helps spice up Nutmeg with $37m
Convoy has led a $37.2m round for digital wealth manager Nutmeg, doubling its total funding to about $74m in the process.
Quantopian calculates $25m in series C proceeds
Getco-backed investment algorithm platform developer Quantopian will invest the cash in improving its product and education material, and acquiring additional datasets.
Industrial
Joint development partner Panasonic joined investors including Daiwa and SBI for a round that will take the laundry folding robot through to the commercialisation stage.
Royole commands $80m from Warmsun
Rollable display technology developer Royole has received $80m in new funding, adding to a $172m IDG Capital-backed series C round in August 2015.
Transport
Souche sources $100m in series C round
Ant Financial and Ucar will collaborate with the automotive trading platform, after making strategic investments that will add to the $11m in funding it raised in 2013.
Services
The online education provider, a graduate of software provider Microsoft’s Beijing accelerator and a portfolio company of the Fosun-backed Kinzon Capital, raised the funds across series B and B+ rounds.
Vacasa extends series A to $40m
Insurance firm Assurant has provided a $5m extension for the holiday home rental management company’s series A round, which has closed at $40m.