Corporate venturing deal net: 19-23 November 2018
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
NTT notches up $500m for VC fund
Norwest Venture Partners’ Vab Goel is overseeing a $500m US fund that has been closed by Japanese telecommunications firm NTT.
Corporates move into $108m RET fund
Real Estate Technology Ventures has achieved a final close of $108m for a first fund backed by Aimco, Boardwalk, Essex, MidAmerica and UDR, and made a follow-on investment in SmartRent.
Applied Ventures to invest in New York trip
Applied Materials’ corporate venturing unit is partnering Empire State Development to fund startups in upstate New York while investing in an R&D hub at SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
People
Juneja jumps to SoftBank investment role
Sumer Juneja has left Norwest Venture Partners after 10 years to head up Indian investments for the corporate, already an investor in Ola, Oyo and Grofers.
Anand abdicates CapitalG position
After three years as head of India for Alphabet unit CapitalG, Kaushik Anand has left to join a venture capital firm recently founded by former Sequoia executives.
Almeida makes tracks from Stefanini
Marcos Almeida has departed from IT services provider Stefanini after three years leading strategic investment and acquisition deals.
Sledzik joins Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures
Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures has hired Jim Sledzik, formerly president of Energy Ventures, to helm the US arm of its unit.
Finn finishes Salesforce Ventures stint
Meredith Finn, the Salesforce Ventures senior director that launched its $50m Impact Fund,
Busy Burr has moved on from her position as head of corporate venturing unit Humana Health Ventures as Humana reorganises its VC stakes.
IQT hires Tague for UK and Australia offices
Peter Tague, formerly Citi’s co-head of global mergers and acquisitions, has entered the venture capital space, leading international offices for In-Q-Tel.
Exits
Global Fashion Group changes to IPO mode
The Rocket Internet-founded e-commerce group, whose investors include Tengelmann and Access Industries, could be valued at up to $2.8bn in the offering.
Alibaba-backed Babytree priced its shares at the foot of its range and will raise $217m at a valuation of $1.5bn, down from $2.2bn earlier this year.
Tongcheng-eLong books $180m flotation
The travel booking platform, backed by Ctrip, Dalian Wanda and Tencent, has priced shares at the bottom of its range and raised $180m in its initial public offering.
Jelli gets to iHeartMedia in acquisition deal
The radio ad marketplace operator has agreed to an acquisition by one of its investors, iHeartMedia, with Intel Capital and Universal Music also set to exit.
PlanGrid reveals $875m acquisition blueprint
Autodesk has agreed to acquire the construction management software provider for $875m, providing an exit to investors including Box and Alphabet.
Cibus seeks $100m in initial public offering
The Alexandria Real Estate Equities-backed plant breeder has filed to go public, having raised $189m in equity and debt financing.
Drone provider Autonomous Control Systems Laboratory plans to float on December 21, having raised at least $25m in VC funding from investors including Rakuten.
Vapotherm turns up final IPO size
The Kaiser Permanente-backed medical device producer upscaled its initial public offering to $64.4m after the underwriters took up the over-allotment option.
Weidai wades into public markets with $45m
The Hakim Unique, Shanda Interactive and Dong Yi Ri Sheng-backed lending platform raised $45m, floating in the middle of its range.
Beyond Meat prepares $100m IPO
Tyson Foods and General Mills are in line for exits after meat substitute producer Beyond Meat filed to go public in a $100m initial public offering.
Legrand nets portfolio company Netatmo
Legrand has acquired its portfolio company Netatmo for an undisclosed amount, three years after the corporate led the smart home device maker’s $32m series B round.
IT
Five months after it was revealed to have backed a second close of Agora’s $50m series B round, SIG has returned to contribute to its $70m series C.
Kingdee kicks funding over to Xinrenxinshi
Kingdee supplied a reported $26.5m in funding for HR software provider Xinrenxinshi, taking its funding to $40m so far this year.
AEye maps out $40m series B round
Intel Capital and Airbus Ventures have both reinvested in the computer vision system developer, in a round that featured undisclosed auto component producers.
Inflazome gets series B funding influx
The geolocation software provider received $42.5m in a round that included GM Ventures and Salesforce Ventures, taking its total funding to about $83m.
Habana grabs $75m in series B funding
Intel Capital led a series B round for the artificial intelligence-based processor developer, bringing its overall funding to $120m.
Corporates buy into $50m Mojo Vision round
Liberty Global and Shanda Group were among the investors that have backed Mojo Vision’s invisible computing platform with $50m of capital.
Dragos powers up $37m series B
National Grid, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and Emerson collectively invested $1m in the industrial cybersecurity platform’s series B round.
Health
ClearData clasps $26m in funding
Humana and HCSC came in as new investors while Merck GHI returned, helping take the health data management platform’s total funding past $80m.
Inflazome gets series B funding influx
Novartis Venture Fund returned to reinvest in inflammatory disease drug developer Inflazome as part of its $45.6m series B round.
Novartis and Clal help inject $40m into Cadent
Novartis and Access Industries unit Clal Biotechnology Industries both took part in the neurological disorder drug developer’s series B round.
Media
PlayVS hits home run with $30m
Adidas, Samsung and WndrCo have taken part in PlayVS’s $30.5m series B round, five months after the high school eSports league raised $15.5m.
Consumer
Coupang cops another $2bn from SoftBank
SoftBank’s Vision Fund provided $1bn for the e-commerce marketplace at a $9bn valuation, three years after a $1bn investment by its parent company.
Tokopedia locks up $1bn in SoftBank-led round
SoftBank has reportedly led a round that valued the peer-to-peer e-commerce platform, which also counts Alibaba and CyberAgent as investors, at about $7bn.
Xiaoqule bands together investors to raise $108m
The community-focused e-commerce platform has raised series A funds from investors including Ping An Ventures and SIG Asia.
Financial
Ping An has led a $47.3m investment in Finleap through its Global Voyager Fund, joining a list of shareholders that already included Hannover Re and Signal Iduna.
BillDesk itemises $300m Visa investment
Visa has provided a reported $200m in equity funding for bill payment platform BillDesk and bought up to $100m worth of shares in a secondary transaction.
Acorns to manage $100m investment
PayPal and Rakuten-backed savings platform Acorns Grow is looking to raise more than $100m in a corporate-led round that will value it at $700m.
Transport
Corporates take Leap in $288m series A
Leap Motor has received $288m in a round co-led by Shanghai Electric and CRRC as it prepares to launch its smart electric sports car early next year.
Services
NGP hits eGym in $20m series D
The exercise equipment producer has received $20m in series D funding, two years after it secured $45m, with NGP Capital leading the latest round.
Wonolo works outs $32m series C
Human resources provider AMN Healthcare invested in the on-demand recruitment platform’s series C round, which increased its funding to $60m altogether.
Golden Education shows mettle to raise $115m
The 51Job and New Oriental-backed financial services training provider has raised cash in a series C round co-led by Morgan Stanley and Hillhouse.