Weekly corporate venturing deal net 15 – 19 August 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
ONGC to drill into startups with $15m fund
Indian state-owned petroleum producer Oil and Natural Gas Corporation will invest in innovative seed-stage startups and also provide mentoring and resources.
Keio Innovation Initiative sets $150m target
Corporates including Yahoo Japan and Tokyo Broadcasting System have contributed to the $50m first close of the VC partnership between securities brokerage Nomura and Keio University.
Pear, the venture firm formerly known as Pejman Mar Ventures, has secured New York Life Insurance as a limited partner for its $75m second fund.
Uber and Digi to experiment with Malaysian ideation lab
The corporates are collaborating with the Malaysian government’s MaGIC initiative to help local startups learn about product, customers and marketing.
People
Ayeni leaves Orange to get into Africa
Wale Ayeni has departed from a position leading Orange’s North American corporate venturing investments to fund African startups on behalf of IFC.
Exits
GM gets Lyft offer turned down
GM reportedly approached Lyft, in which it holds a 9% stake, over an acquisition in recent weeks only to be rejected by the ride ordering platform, valued at $5.5bn in January.
Game livestreaming platform Twitch has bought gamer community, video and information company Curse, which received $30m in funding from Riot Games last year.
Pigeon Express swoops for GoJavas
The courier firm has acquired a majority stake in Snapdeal-backed courier service GoJavas for an undisclosed sum.
IT
Pindrop dials up series C to $80m
The phone fraud prevention company has increased the size of the round, already featuring Google Capital, GV and Citi Ventures, to $80.8m.
Snapchat to buy a Vurb for $110m
Vurb, a contextualised search app that had raised $10m from backers including Tencent, is set to be acquired by Snapchat in a 75-25 stock-cash deal.
Xperiel gets on first base to raise $7m
Major League Baseball and the LA Dodgers have both contributed to the first round disclosed by internet-of-things app development platform Xperiel.
Foxconn and Tencent joined existing investors SoftBank, Bharti Enterprises and Tiger Global for a series D round that valued the messaging service at $1.4bn.
Nokia meets EventBoard for $13.5m series B
Meeting analytics platform EventBoard has now raised more than $20m, having closed a Nokia Growth Partners-led round that included GE Ventures.
Tekpea connects to EPM for funding
Colombia-based utility service provider Empresas Públicas de Medellín has invested an undisclosed amount in the IoT company through its FCP Innovacion unit.
Heap to get bigger with $11m series A
Analytics platform developer Heap, backed by Salesforce and WME at seed stage, will use the capital to improve its product and grow its team.
Corporate venturing fund BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners returned to reinvest in the identity protection software provider, seven months after taking part in a $5m round.
Health
Essex Woodlands stretches to $15m Metabolon investment
Precision medicine developer Metabolon has now raised $80m since 2000, and its earlier investors include Sumitomo and Syngenta.
Tioma passes series A checkpoint with $86m
Tioma Therapeutics, an oncology treatment developer, previously known as Vasculox, has secured funding from backers including Novo, GlaxoSmithKline and Roche.
Nutrinia swallows $30m in series D round
The Maabarot-backed oral insulin developer has closed a $30m round featuring WuXi PharmaTech that will fund trials for two disorders.
Phamstandard helps deliver $20m to Avelas
Cancer care technology developer Avelas has now raised about $35m altogether, after Pharmstandard led a series C round also featuring Alexandria and WuXi PharmaTech.
Media
GuangZhou WinHi-backed mobile game publisher Firefly Games has closed a second funding round, which was led by China Construction Bank.
Corporates release funding to STX Entertainment
Film and TV studio STX has signed content distribution agreements with new investors Tencent and PCCW in conjunction with the round, which reportedly values it at $1.5bn.
FloSports calls time on $21m series B
Bertelsmann co-led the round, which also featured WWE and Discovery Communications, and which took the sports livestreaming platform’s total funding to $32.2m.
TRX exchanges equity for $6.7m in corporate backing
Sky and Channel 4 have both invested in broadcasting rights licensing platform The Rights Exchange, operated by holding company Dial Square 86.
Meet You networks its way to $151m
Xiamen Information Technology, the SIG-backed creator of women’s social media platform Meet You, raised the money as it prepares for an initial public offering.
Douyu TV levels up with $227m series C
The game livestreaming platform raised the cash in a round co-led by strategic partner Tencent, the investor that co-led its $100m series B just five months ago.
Consumer
The consumer electronics group has invested $10m in the wine tracking and e-commerce platform, which raised funds from Balintimes Media in September 2015.
Yanzhuang Oils adds flavour to Funye round
Food e-commerce company Funye has raised $12.5m at a $54m valuation from investors including sesame oil manufacturer Yanzhuang.
The smart thermostat maker, backed by Just Energy and Carrier in the past, has raised new funding from investors including the $100m Amazon Alexa Fund.
Financial
Touzhijia banks $12m in series A capital
Yingcan-affiliated online lending platform Touzhijia.com has taken its overall funding to $17m with a series A round led by CDF Capital.
Lancai banks on LeEco for $27m
LeEco has invested $27m in a series B round for online finance platform Lancai, which had previously raised cash from investors including Legend Holdings.
Renren helps pump $15m into 51Autogo
The petrol station services provider has now raised $25m in the last 18 months, closing a series A+ round including Renren.
Transport
Velodyne charts $150m from Ford and Baidu
The corporates have made strategic investments in the 3D sensor and mapping technology producer, as they continue development of their individual driverless cars.
Macrolink connects LeEco’s car unit to $50m
Conglomerate Macrolink has invested $50m in the smart car development branch of technology group LeEco, which is already working with partners Aston Martin and Faraday Future.
Services
Tencent enters Keep in series C+ round
The China-based fitness app has followed a $32m Bertelsmann-backed round in May with more funding led by Tencent.
White Mountains catches Buzzmove for $7.8m seed round
The insurance firm has led the Telefónica-backed removal services platform’s seed round, which will fund product development.
OpenAgent captures Reinventure for $9m round
Westpac’s Reinventure firm led estate agent marketplace OpenAgent’s latest round, which will help it add new features to its platform.
SoftBank pays $62m for a longer stay at Oyo
Existing backer SoftBank reportedly invested the money at a $460m valuation, taking the budget hotel room aggregator’s overall funding to almost $190m.
GMK helps produce $18m for Youpeiliangpin
Youpeiliangpin, which helps farmers supply small and medium-sized restaurants, has raised series A funding from backers including chicken processor GMK Holdings.
Pymetrics recruits corporates for series A
The advanced recruitment platform developer has raised $6.1m in a round that included Randstad, Mercer and the AOL-funded BBG Ventures.
The media group’s ad-for-equity unit, Brand Capital, has invested $19.4m as part of a deal that will reportedly include advertising on its media properties.