Corporate venturing deal net: 17-21 April 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
Nasdaq confirms strategic investment unit
The exchange operator’s Nasdaq Ventures unit will invest less than $1m up to $10m in strategically relevant companies from seed to late stage.
Illumina increases CVC fund to $189m
The genomics technology producer has boosted the size of the corporate venture capital unit it announced in April last year from $100m to $189m with a $250m ceiling.
SEI to run the rule over startups
SEI’s regulation technology incubator, Codify, has welcomed its first cohort, which comprises startups Coinfirm, Enforcd and Neuroprofiler.
Pharmaceutical firms head to BaseLaunch
Novartis Venture Fund, Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Pfizer are supporting the newly launched Swiss healthcare accelerator.
John Lewis reopens shop for startups
John Lewis and subsidiary Waitrose have teamed up for the fourth year of its retail technology accelerator, JLab, through which startups can apply for up to $125,000.
Business Development Bank of Canada has formed a corporate innovation and venturing initiative and hired Michelle Scarborough to oversee strategic investment initiatives.
People
Saenko bids bon voyage to Airbus
Maryanna Saenko has departed from Airbus Ventures, where she was an investment partner, to take a senior associate position at venture capital firm DFJ.
Amartino aims to boost Microsoft’s CVC investments
Mariano Amartino, global director of Telefónica’s Wayra accelerator for two years, will head up Microsoft’s Latin American startup activities.
Exits
Moat to form part of Oracle’s structure
Oracle has agreed to acquire Moat, which had raised $67m since 2010 from backers including SoftBank Capital, for a reported $850m.
The oncology drug developer has raised $92.5m in VC funding, $11.5m of which came from MedImmune Ventures, the CVC unit that now owns a 16.7% stake.
Cloudera provides data on IPO terms
Cloudera will raise up to $210m in its initial public offering, with existing backer Intel considering buying 10% of the issued shares at half the valuation of its initial investment.
Corporates to score exits in Best Logistics IPO
The logistics service provider is set to float in the US in an initial public offering of up to $1bn that will give exits to Alibaba, Foxconn, Fosun and Cainiao Network.
Walmart to iron out $300m Bonobos acquisition
Nordstrom and Coppel could exit the online men’s fashion company, which is in talks with Walmart over an acquisition that would follow $127m of venture funding.
IT
CyberGRX assesses $20m series B
Aetna Ventures, GV and MassMutual Ventures have committed funds to the latest round for cyberthreat detection platform CyberGRX.
Sailing Capital International led the facial recognition technology provider’s latest funding, which follows a $120m Dalian Wanda-backed round in December.
Clear scans $15m in new funding
Existing investor T. Rowe Price has provided $15m for biometric security technology provider Clear, which received funding from Delta Air Lines last year.
Avegant places new funds on series B round
Augmented reality technology developer Avegant has added $13.7m from backers including Intel Capital and Applied Materials to a round that now total $37.7m.
Zinc shows mettle to raise $11m
GE Ventures led the enterprise communication platform’s second round, which included funding from fellow corporate VC unit Hearst Ventures.
Health
Boston Scientific helps pump $23m into Neurotronik
Boston Scientific has led a $23.1m series B round for Neurotronik, a medical device devloper focusing on patients suffering from heart failure.
Corporates monitor PocTech for $14.5m round
Tonghua Dongbao Pharmaceutical and Legend Holdings are among the investors in a series B round for wearable medical device maker Zhejiang PocTech Medical.
Qiang Sen quickens pace to series B
Qiang Sen has welcomed back series A investor Legend Capital for a $14.5m round that will fund the expansion of its chain of community healthcare clinics.
CanSino raises $65m from high rollers
Existing investor Lilly Asia Ventures returned to take part in a round that will support the late stage development and commercialisation of four vaccine candidates.
The healthcare data platform developer has raised new funding from the six investors in its last round, including Merck Global Health Innovation Fund.
Lyndra gets a $23m dose of capital
Lyndra, which is developing a slow-release oral medication platform, has closed a series A round featuring Partners Healthcare as it prepares to begin human trials.
Zaluvida hits Targedys to extend series A round
Zaluvida has boosted the series A round raised by Targedys, which is working on products to regulate the appetite, to a total of $11.1m over the past year.
Consumer
SoftBank considers billion-dollar One97 investment
The telecom group is reportedly in negotiations to acquire a 20% stake in the Paytm owner at a valuation that will likely be between $7bn and $8bn.
Zhuan Zhuan to spin out with $200m from Tencent
Tencent has agreed to invest $200m in the mobile used goods marketplace, which is being spun out by another of its portfolio companies, classified listings platform 58.com.
Grofers and BigBasket enter merger talks
SoftBank, already an investor in Grofers, would look to invest in a round of up to $100m for the merged company, should the Indian online grocery retailers come to an agreement.
Naspers upsizes stake in Takealot
Naspers, a shareholder of the South African e-commerce platform since 2015, has invested approximately $72m to boost its share to more than 53%.
Financial
Comcast stays on College Ave for series D
Comcast Ventures has returned for the student loan provider’s $30m series D round, having backed its $20m series C last year.
Bima accepts funding from Axiata
Axiata Digital has invested $16.8m in strategic partner Bima, adding to a series C round that already included telecom companies Millicom and Digicel.
Telecoms
Plume signals Comcast-led round
Comcast has reportedly led a funding round for the adaptive wifi technology provider that stands at $32.6m according to a securities filing.
Industrial
Vestagen clothes itself in new funding
Northwell Health has invested in the protective textile developer, which has reached the first close of a $10m round.
Transport
Getaround pulls in to $45m series C
Shanghai Automotive and a Toyota-backed venture fund were among the investors as the car sharing platform raised money at a reported $176m valuation.
Services
Vanke homes in on Lianjia in $436m deal
Online and offline real estate agent Lianjia has now raised near to $1.8bn in the past year, with property developer and strategic partner China Vanke its latest investor.
SIG studies Yunxuetang for $22m series B
The SIG-led round will enable the platform to expand its training content, boost its consultancy services and drive recruitment for its sales team.
Katerra assembles $130m series C round
The Foxconn-backed end-to-end construction services provider has emerged from stealth with $220m, $130m of which was just raised at a $1bn+ valuation.