Corporate venturing deal net: 16-20 October 2017
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Capagro Innovation harvests $146m for agrifund
The farming-focused venture fund has attracted Groupama, Agromousquetai, Isagri, InVivo and LSDH for the second close of its fund.
RWE refines High-Tech Gründerfonds investment
The energy utility’s power generation arm has provided a seven-figure amount for HTGF’s third fund, which has a $355m target.
SoftBank and Mubadala reunite for $400m fund
SoftBank and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment have formed a $400m venture fund, as the former lays out plans for more massive vehicles.
Guardian Media Group gets into corporate venturing
The media company has announced a $55m fund called GMG Ventures that will invest in startups developing media technologies.
Scotiabank looks to Latin America with partnership
The financial services company has formed a partnership with accelerator NXTP Labs as it looks to gain access to fintech startups in Latin America.
Foxconn and IDG Capital form $1.5bn transport fund
Contract manufacturer Foxconn and IDG Capital will provide 10% of the capital for the fund, which will invest in transport technology developers.
Corporates side with Cydan for $34m fundraise
Pfizer Venture Investments and Lundbeckfond Ventures have contributed to a fundraise that will support the orphan-drug accelerator’s activities through 2021.
Illumina Ventures inflates first fund to $230m
The firm, launched with a $100m investment by Illumina in April 2016, has added $130m from unnamed external investors.
SoftBank begins talks for second huge fund
The firm has reportedly entered early talks concerning a successor to its $93bn Vision Fund that could be even larger.
Educapital edges to first close of fund
IdKids, Econocom, Bayard and Hachette Livre were among the limited partners to contribute to the $53.1m first close of edtech-focused Educapital’s venture capital fund.
People
Genecast Ventures’ Gil Beyda has joined Comcast Ventures as managing director, as the unit promotes Daniel Gulati to partner.
Exits
MongoDB files away $192m in IPO
Intel, Dell, Red Hat and Salesforce-backed database software provider MongoDB will float above its range at a market valuation of almost $1.2bn.
Splunk has acquired the IP and technology of data analysis software developer Rocana, which had raised more than $19.4m from backers including GV.
Search engine provider Sogou, 80% owned by Sohu and Tencent, has filed for a $600m offering on the New York Stock Exchange
Qudian gets quids in with $900m IPO
The Ant Financial-backed online lender floated above its range, while fellow corporate investor Kunlun Tech sold $14m of shares.
The video streaming service, majority-owned by Baidu, has hired three banks to manage its initial public offering expected to take place in the first half of 2018.
Apttus develops initial public offering plans
Salesforce-backed Apttus is seeking the services of Goldman Sachs ahead of an initial public offering that would also provide an exit to Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund.
PPdai to lend itself to $350m IPO
Legend and Susquehanna International Group stand to score an exit as peer-to-peer lending platform PPdai gears up for a flotation on the New York Stock Exchange.
Nominum concurs with Akamai acquisition
Akamai has agreed to acquire the network infrastructure and security provider, which counts Juniper Networks and Network Solutions as investors.
IT
Perfect Corp touches up $25m series A
CyberLink and Yuanta Securities backed the beauty app developer as part of a round that will be used to continue development of its suite of apps.
Veo Robotics programs $12m series A
The robotics systems developer will use the proceeds from the Alphabet and Siemens-backed round to fund product development.
Intel Capital reaches Horizon in $60m data spree
The unit is set to lead a $100m round for Horizon Robotics as part of $60m investment in data-focused companies, taking its total 2017 spending to almost $570m.
Duo Security verifies $70m series D
The user verification platform took its total funding to $119m with a Workday-backed round that valued it at $1.17bn post money.
Feedzai consumes $50m in series C cash
Citi-backed Feedzai closed the round with investments from Sapphire Ventures and an unnamed backer, bringing its total funding to $82m.
Atheer Labs discovers new funding
The Flex-backed augmented reality technology developer has secured $12.3m according to a regulatory filing.
Health
Eli Lilly injects $53m into CureVac
The equity investment is part of a cancer vaccine development deal between the companies that could eventually reach more than $1.7bn in size.
Prenetics passes series B test with $40m
The genetic testing service took its total funding to about $53m with a round co-led by Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund and VC fund Beyond Ventures.
Blade cuts to final tranche of $45m round
The fibrosis drug developer has passed a clinical milestone to trigger the final part of a series B round backed by Pfizer, Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Forty Seven counts up another $75m
Returning investor GV took part in a Wellington Management-led series B round that will support assessment of its lead oncology drug candidate.
InflaRx inhales $55m in series D round
Bain Capital Life Sciences, Cormorant Asset Management and RA Capital co-led the Staidson-backed inflammatory disease drug developer’s latest round.
Media
Certain Affinity attracts $10m Leyou investment
Leyou Technologies paid $10m for a 20% stake in game studio Certain Affinity and has an option to acquire it for up to $150m in 2021.
Samsung switches on Pluto TV funding
Online television platform Pluto TV has raised $8.3m, $5m of which was provided by Samsung Venture Investment Corporation.
Magic Leap mounts $502m series D
Magic Leap has confirmed a series D round featuring Grupo Globo, Alibaba and Google that took its overall funding to about $1.9bn.
CastBox locks up series A funding
The podcasting platform, which uses natural language processing to power in-audio search, has raised $12.8m in series A funding from investors including SIG China.
Consumer
Participant Media and CAA-backed Evolution Media China contributed to a series B round that will fund video e-commerce platform Huajuan’s expansion.
Omnyway completes path to series A round
Commerzbank and CreditEase co-led a $12.8m round for digital commerce platform developer Omnyway that will fund new products and international growth.
Flipkart lines up big BookMyShow investment
The e-commerce company has entered discussions to acquire a “large” minority stake in online ticketing portal BookMyShow at a valuation of up to $700m.
KrazyBee crams $8m into series A
Xiaomi and E-City Ventures were among the participants in the instalment-based e-commerce platform’s latest round, taking its total funding to $13m.
Financial
Sberbank enters LendingHome in $57m round
The financial services firm will get a board seat at the online mortgage lender through its participation in the company’s $57m series C-2 round.
JPMorgan Chase wages WePay acquisition
The financial services firm has agreed to purchase payment processor WePay, which had raised $75m from investors including Rakuten, for almost $300m.
Santander puts money into ePesos
Mexico-based ePesos, a credit and payment platform for unbanked companies, has received $6m from a consortium including Santander InnoVentures.
Digital Asset gains $40m advantage
Digital Asset, backed by a host of corporates including IBM and CME, has raised more than $40m in series B funding, taking its total capital to $110m.
BankBazaar markets $30m series D
Experian has put $30m into BankBazaar, a financial services marketplace that previously obtained $60m in a series C round led by Amazon.
Compeon measures out $14m for series B
Tengelmann Ventures has led small business lender Compeon’s series B round, having previously backed its $2.8m series A two years ago.
Energy and Natural Resources
Heliatek re-energises with new funding
BASF, Engie and Innogy were among the investors that provided $17.6m in funding for the solar film developer, a year after doing the same for its series D round.
Avista reaches LevelTen for series A round
The utility’s Avista Development subsidiary has taken part in a $6.8m round for renewable energy marketplace LevelTen Energy.
Telecoms
The Whitepages spin out that provides smart caller ID services will use the investment to fund growth and international expansion.
Transport
CapitalG, Alphabet’s growth-stage investment arm, has led a $1bn funding round for Lyft that valued the ride hailing platform at $11bn.
Momenta rides series B momentum to raise $57m
The autonomous driving software developer has increased a round featuring Nio Capital and Daimler to $57m, following a $46m first close in July.
Hubject charges towards more funding
The electronic vehicle charging platform’s seven corporate shareholders, including BMW, Volkswagen and Innogy, have contributed to a round that will drive international expansion.
Hyperloop One gets Virgin investment
Virgin has provided an undisclosed amount for the ultra-fast transport developer, valued at $700m as of September, which will rebrand to Virgin Hyperloop One.
Services
Rocket Internet houses funding in Movinga
Removal services provider Movinga took its overall funding close to $80m with a $26.4m round that included Rocket Internet.
Meituan-Dianping makes hay with $4bn round
The online services provider has raised $4bn in a Tencent-led round that included Priceline, and which valued the company at $30bn.
Singapore Press has returned to back the online reservation platform, investing alongside CapitaLand and Susquehanna International Group.
Property developer Sansiri has paid $12m for a 6% stake in the Singapore-based co-working space provider, which plans to now expand internationally.