Skyroam reaches Delta in $20m series C
Delta Electronics Capital contributed to a Jafco Asia-led series C round that took the wifi hotspot technology provider’s total funding past the $50m mark.
Fundraising
Seventure admits Adisseo to latest fund
Adisseo is the cornerstone investor in a Seventure Partners fund that has reached a first close of almost $30m.
Sinar Mas and Yahoo Japan form $150m fund
The corporates, together with venture firm Yahoo Japan, have committed $100m to a Southeast Asia-focused tech fund that will invest up to $15m at series B stage and later.
Anterra Capital accelerates fund to $200m
The Rabobank-backed food and agriculture venture firm has added $75m to the $125m first fund it initially closed in early 2016, and announced two new investments.
Eight Roads directs $375m to third fund
Fidelity subsidiary Eight Roads Ventures has attracted $375m for a Europe and Israel-focused fund that will target enterprise, consumer, fintech and healthcare IT.
Five Seasons counts out first fund
Five Seasons Ventures has secured almost $74m from investors including Nestlé for the first close of a fund that will target food, nutrition and agriculture-focused technologies.
People
Vincent leaves Engie for Demeter
Earlier this year the city of Paris chose Demeter to manage its €200m ($220m) Paris Green Fund.
Zaveri finds partner position in Gradient
Google-backed AI fund Gradient Ventures has hired Muzzammil Zaveri, a former member of Tencent’s Silicon Valley team, from an investor role at venture firm KPCB.
Sun moves to Robert Bosch Venture Capital
Xiaoguang Sun, a former Intel Capital director, has moved from an MD role at private equity firm Yellow River Capital to head RBVC’s China activities.
Hawkins leaves Universal for LocalGlobe
Julia Hawkins, formerly head of strategy and investments for Universal Music UK, has joined venture firm LocalGlobe as a partner.
Exits
Existing investor Salesforce invested another $100m in a private placement, as the file storage platform floated above its range at an $8bn+ valuation.
Meituan-Dianping gears up for $60bn IPO
The local services platform is exploring an IPO in Hong Kong at a $60bn valuation, setting up Tencent, Priceline, Xiaomi, Fosun and Wanda for exits.
Salesforce musters $6.5bn for Mulesoft acquisition
Salesforce has agreed to buy Mulesoft, a portfolio company that has more than doubled in value since its 2017 IPO, in a deal with an enterprise value of $6.5bn.
Diageo brings Belsazar on board
Vermouth brand Belsazar is the first portfolio company of Diageo-backed accelerator Distill Ventures to be acquired by the corporate.
Alzheon approaches public markets
The Aptus Therapeutics-backed neurodegenerative disorder drug developer has filed for an $80.5m initial public offering on Nasdaq after raising roughly $30m in VC funding.
Arcus accomplishes $138m IPO close
The cancer immunotherapy developer, backed by GV, Celgene, Novartis and Taiho Ventures, has closed the offering after the underwriters bought another $18m of shares.
DocuSign signs for confidential IPO filing
DocuSign, valued at $3bn as of its last funding round, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering that would offer exits to more than a dozen corporate investors.
IT
Naspers to net $10bn in Tencent share sale
Naspers, which invested $32m in the internet group in 2001, three years before its IPO, will reduce its stake from 33.2% to 31.2%.
SoftBank leads Mythic series B round
AI chip developer Mythic has closed a $40m round led by SoftBank Ventures that included another corporate venturing unit, Lockheed Martin Ventures.
Sea has contributed to a $31.6m round for Nox, the China-based developer of a programmatic advertising platform that aims to overcome regional differences.
Corporates help direct $30m to Digital Reasoning
Artificial intelligence software provider Digital Reasoning boosted its overall funding to $127m with a BNP Paribas-led round featuring HCA, Nasdaq, Square and Barclays.
Dell joins Faction in $18m series B
The cloud software provider took its overall financing to at least $67m in a Dell-backed round and will spend the proceeds on growth, product development, sales and marketing.
MassMutual Ventures helped Solebit close a series A round that will support the cybersecurity platform’s commercialisation, sales and marketing.
Blue Vision pinpoints GV for series A
GV has led a $14.5m series A round for Blue Vision, which has emerged from stealth as it prepares to roll out its collaborative augmented reality platform.
Zscaler weighs in with $192m IPO
The Alphabet and Dell-backed cloud security software provider saw its stock more than double on the first day of trading and now has a market cap of almost $3.9bn.
Airspace intercepts SingTel to secure $20m
Proceeds from the Singel Innov8-led series A round will support development and production of Airspace Systems’ drone interception system.
Health
Mitsui treats Columbia Asia in $210m round
Hospital and clinic operator Columbia Asia has secured $210m in a round that contained $140m from Mitsui, which had previously supplied $101m in 2016.
Alexandria Venture Investments and 6 Dimensions Capital have participated in an oversubscribed second round for immunotherapy developer TCR2 Therapeutics.
Unity brings investors together to raise $55m
WuXi PharmaTech and Mayo Clinic-backed anti-ageing disease therapy developer Unity Biotechnology has secured series C funding to take its total equity financing to more than $200m.
Oxford Nanopore comes into $140m
The Illumina-backed DNA and RNA sequencer provider raised the funding from investors including GIC, Hostplus and China Construction Bank.
SoftBank pairs up with TwoXar for $10m round
SoftBank Ventures led the drug discovery platform developer’s series A round, participating together with OS Fund and Andreessen Horowitz’s Bio Fund.
Depression therapy developer Navitor, which counts EMS, Sanofi, Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline as investors, has raised $11.3m of an expected $25m round.
Lundbeck pounces for Prexton in $1.1bn acquisition
Prexton Therapeutics, a Parkinson’s disease-focused spinoff of Merck Group that had raised $41m in funding, has agreed to an acquisition that could reach more than $1.1bn in size.
Celgene and WuXi Healthcare Ventures returned for the immuno-oncology drug developer’s series B round, which included GV and Roche Venture Fund.
Media
The business and politics-focused online broadcaster’s series D round includes Antenna Group, Dentsu, Liberty Global and existing backers including several other corporates.
Microsoft comes back to Kahoot in $17m round
Microsoft Ventures, which took part in the game-based learning platform’s series A round, has returned for a round that valued it at $100m.
GV joins TheSkimm in $12m round
Millennial woman-focused email media brand TheSkimm took its total funding to $28m in a GV-led round that will support the expansion of its product and services.
Consumer
Phlur fills up with Symrise funding
Symrise has led a $2.4m first close of environmentally friendly fragrance developer’s Phlur’s series A round, which is expected to reach a $6m final close.
Alibaba lays down another $2bn for Lazada
Alibaba has doubled its investment in the Southeast Asian online marketplace, having accumulated an 83% stake as of June last year.
Grofers bags more SoftBank funding
SoftBank invested $40m to lead a $61.4m funding round for Grofers that valued it at $300m, increasing its stake in the online grocer to between 35% and 40%.
Financial
Investors prove bullish as eToro raises $100m
The Ping An, Sberbank and Commerzbank-backed social trading platform has attracted $100m in funding at an $800m valuation from investors including SBI.
The mobile banking platform has closed a round co-led by Tencent and Allianz X, boosting its total funding to $215m as it prepares to enter the UK and US.
Industrial
Pairwise reaps $25m in series A round
Monsanto Growth Ventures has co-led the first round disclosed by Pairwise Plants, an agricultural gene-editing startup helmed by an ex-Monsanto vice-president.
Ford drives $65m round for Desktop Metal
The metal 3D printer developer has now raised $277m in total, with Ford joining existing strategic investors like BMW, Saudi Aramco, Lowe’s, GE and Stratasys.
Transport
Blackmore picks up corporates for $18m round
BMW i Ventures led the lidar sensor developer’s series B round, which also featured another corporate venturing unit, Toyota AI Ventures.
Chehejia drives series B to $475m
Corporates Shougang and Intime Retail invested a series B round for EV developer Chehejia Information Technology, which is also backed by Leo Group.
Fortem tracks Boeing for $15m series A
Boeing’s HorizonX unit was among the participants in the drone tracking technology startup’s latest round, which was led by existing investor Data Collective.
GV returned to back a series C round that increased the telematics and fleet management technology supplier’s overall funding to more than $78m.
Ascent Robotics soars with SBI funding
SBI Investment’s blockchain and artficial intelligence fund has led a $10.4m series A round for autonomous driving software developer Ascent that will fund R&D.
Mydadao divulges corporate funding
The on-demand car rental startup has revealed it has secured an eight-figure total across three rounds, two being led by subsidiaries of Baidu and Bertelsmann respectively.
Services
Oyo to make room for up to $800m
Existing backer SoftBank and two new investors are reportedly in discussions to invest between $500m and $800m in the budget accommodation provider.
Randstad Innovation Fund and Gradient Ventures are among the investors in the recruitment automation platform, which has just emerged from stealth.
The wedding services platform developer has received funding from investors including Fosun subsidiary Fosun RZ Capital.
Breed Reply taps Europe for two
Reply’s internet-of-things fund has invested in rounds for energy intelligence technology developer Metron and temperature analysis startup Tag Sensors totalling $5.3m.