Weekly corporate venturing deal net 17 – 21 October 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Editorial: Pitchbook purchase shows the value of data
Morningstar’s acquisition of portfolio company Pitchbook has shown the worth of the capital markets data segment to players such as Thomson Reuters and Dow Jones.
Comment: There’s more to venture capital than just capital
Value-added services aren’t a new idea, but not everyone can deliver them at scale, by Lee Sessions, Intel Capital.
Fundraising
ZF Friedrichshafen starts up corporate venturing vehicle
The automotive components producer will invest in technologically relevant companies at early and late-stage through the newly formed Zukunft Ventures unit.
Accenture connects with Enterprise Ireland for accelerator
Accenture and the Irish government agency have extended an invitation for startups to join the third batch of its Fintech Innovation Lab.
Startups to land at IAG’s Hangar 51
International Airlines Group and L Marks are partnering for a startup accelerator that will support and invest in aviation technology startups.
Shanghai finds corporates with the right material for $48m fund
The government of Shanghai’s Baoshan district has secured General Electric, Samsung and Sabic as partners for a new materials-focused venture capital fund.
Grosvenor plants $26m in GreenSoil fund
Grosvenor Group has injected $26m into GreenSoil Building Innovation Fund, increasing the fund’s total to $55m, over halfway to its target size of $100m.
Daphni launches $165m fund with corporate backing
The France-based venture firm has secured Nokia, MAIF and Fnac-Darty as limited partners and will have the option to co-invest with the fund themselves.
iRhythm overshoots expectations with $107m IPO
The Novo, St. Jude and Kaiser Permanente-backed cardiac diagnostics technology developer floated above its range and closed its first day of trading 53% up on its IPO price.
Wipro successfully applies for $500m Appirio acquisition
Salesforce is set to record a significant exit from cloud services provider Appirio, which had raised about $112m, in a $500m purchase by Wipro.
People
Comcast cables Moorjani for MD role
Dinesh Moorjani has been appointed as managing director based in Santa Monica for Comcast Ventures, having previously run IAC’s Hatch Labs incubator.
Exits
MakeMyTrip and Ibibo join forces in $1.8bn deal
Ibibo owners Naspers and Tencent will acquire a 40% stake in the combined company as part of the all-share deal, while Ctrip will pick up 10%.
Crispr’s IPO hopes cool as it raises $56m
Bayer invested $35m in the Switzerland-based gene editing company but it floated below its range and lowered the number of shares in the offering.
Morningstar to close Pitchbook acquisition for $180m
The investment research firm, which had invested $11.2m to build a 20% stake in deal data provider Pitchbook, will pay $180m to fully acquire the company.
The pharmaceutical developer, which has raised more than $85m from investors including Novo, Novartis and Amgen, has set the range for its initial public offering.
Quantenna looks to channel $107m in IPO
The wifi technology provider, which had raised more than $200m from investors including NTT, Vivint, Swisscom and Telefónica, has set the terms for its initial public offering.
Bertelsmann and Time Warner have exited Epoxy following the video distribution service’s acquisition by Vemba for an undisclosed amount.
IT
Oblong stretches out with $65m
The General Electric-backed visual collaboration technology producer took its overall funding to more than $100m in a round that will support product development.
SecureKey turns to banks for new funding
Several Canada-based banks have provided $20.5m in funding for SecureKey to support the development of a digital identity network it plans to release next year.
Comcast Ventures was among the investors in the wifi service provider’s series A round, and the company plans to begin work on a $15m series B next month.
Health
Science 37 counts on Sanofi for $31m series B
Sanofi’s corporate venturing vehicle, Sanofi Genzyme BioVentures, joined investors including the Novartis and Qualcomm-founded DRx Capital for the round.
The Baxalta and GlaxoSmithKline-backed rare disease drug developer has now raised more than $140m since it was spun out of iPierian in 2013.
Veritas finds truth in $30m series B
Lilly Asia Ventures has returned for genetic testing startup Veritas Genetics’ series B round, where it was joined by Jiangsu Simcere Pharmaceutical.
Ovia raises $10m in new funding
Ovia Health, the parenting and pregnancy app developer, has rebranded from Ovuline and secured $10m from investors including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
Naver’s NHN Investment is backing Celleron Therapeutics, an Oxford University spinout that is preparing to launch phase 2 trials for a personalised cancer treatment.
ADC Therapeutics completes $105m private placement
Existing investor AstraZeneca was among the investors that took part in the placement, which lifted the cancer drug developer’s overall financing to $255m.
Mavalon comes out of Domain with $9.8m
Venture capital firm Medicxi provided the funding as Domain Therapeutics created a Parkinson’s disease-focused spinout called Mavalon Therapeutics
Media
Bytedance has led a funding round for content aggregator Dailyhunt that included existing backers Sequoia Capital, Matrix Partners and Omidyar Network.
MTG joins InnoGames in $100m deal
The digital entertainment group has agreed to acquire a 35% stake in the online game developer and publisher, part of which will come from existing investor Fidelity.
Baobab Studios screens corporates for $25m series B
The animated virtual reality content producer’s investors include Comcast, Samsung, HTC, Youku Tudou, Twentieth Century Fox and Shanghai Media Group.
Consumer
Makerist crafts $5.5m series B round
Gruner + Jahr and Ringier have taken part in the DIY crafting platform’s series B round alongside existing shareholders OZ Verlag and High-Tech Gründerfonds.
MatahariMall stores $100m investment
E-commerce platform MatahariMall has received cash from a consortium led by Mitsui & Co, following a $500m capital injection by parent company Lippo Group last year.
Meituan-Dianping raises a glass to Yijiupi in $100m round
Wholesale alcohol e-commerce platform Yijiupi has secured $100m in a series C round featuring Meituan-Dianping, having previously secured Bertelsmann as an investor.
FirstCry stands tall with $34m
FirstCry has raised funding from investors including Mahindra Group and IDG as it acquires BabyOye, itself a subsidiary of Mahindra, for $54m.
Walmart extends Chinese spree with $50m New Dada investment
Walmart supplied the funding as part of a strategic partnership that will involve New Dada providing delivery services from the firm’s Chinese stores.
Financial
Snapsheet documents $20m series C
Liberty Mutual, Intact, USAA and Fidelity have contributed to a $20m series C round for Snapsheet, the developer of a virtual claims platform for drivers.
WealthNavi accumulates $15m in series B round
Subsidiaries of SBI Holdings, Mizuho Bank, Development Bank of Japan and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group took part in the robo advisor developer’s latest round.
Energy and Natural Resources
The energy storage and management technology producer received the funding in a round backed by GE Ventures and Envision Energy.
Eos Energy Storage powers up with $23m
The grid-scale battery producer, which has received funding from NRG and OCI Solar in the past, has raised $23m through a private placement.
Industrial
Avery Dennison takes Pragmatic approach
Avery Dennison has led a $22m funding round for the flexible electronics producer, while existing shareholders ARM and Cambridge Innovation Capital returned.
Transport
Mobike gets on its bike for nine-figure round
Tencent has joined a series C round for the bicycle sharing startup sized at more than $100m which, reportedly, included Bertelsmann Asia Investments.
Services
Investors deliver $7.7m to Boxtal
Ecomobility Ventures, Idinvest Partners and CapHorn Invest have provided $7.7m in funding to Boxtal, which rebranded from EnvoiMoinsCher last month.
Coorpacademy studies $11m in funding
Debiopharm has returned to back an $11m funding round for Coorpacademy, which the education technology provider will use to expand across Europe.
Just Eat-backed TouchBistro has added $13m to its coffers in a series B round led by the Canadian government-owned BDC IT Venture Fund.
Doumi recruits corporates for $40m round
Tencent and New Hope Group have invested in Doumi, a recruitment platform that is also backed by 58.com-Ganji.
Rental platform Zumper has added Marcus & Millichap to its shareholders following a $17.6m series B round that raised the company’s total funding to more than $39m.
Telecoms
Zipwhip cracks series B with $9m
Microsoft, GCI and Inteliquent all made strategic investments in the business texting platform developer, which raised $5m in early 2015.