Weekly corporate venturing deal net 19 – 23 September 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Energy Impact Partners has secured energy utility Fortis as a strategic investor and partner in its Nexus network.
Andela to fund graduates’ startups
Andela, which hires out software developers to other businesses, is hoping to invest in startups launched by those developers following their four-year fellowship.
Trumpf launches corporate venturing campaign
The manufacturing equipment maker intends to build a $45m corporate venture capital portfolio by 2021, and plans to invest in around five startups a year.
Eneco hired Yme Bosma as its head of corporate venturing and Joeri Kamp as managing director of ventures and innovation in June.
Baidu reportedly lines up $150m fund
The internet company is said to be planning an investment unit that will back content producers, though it is not clear whether it will be separate from a reported $200m fund.
Huayi Brothers to entertain $45m CVC arm
Entertainment company Huayi Brothers will begin investing in content-focused startups through a new investment arm from the end of this month.
Kasikorn Bank to deposit new fund
The financial services firm is planning to set up a corporate venturing fund to back fintech products and services later this year.
SME Fund attracts $112m from South African corporates
More than 50 firms, including Naspers, MTN, Sasol and Nandos, have contributed to the newly formed SME Fund.
KPMG attracts partners for Digital Village
Infocomm Investments and logistics service provider YCH have agreed to collaborate with KPMG’s Singapore incubator, Digital Village.
Corporates accelerate $4m Viisa fund
Hanwha Group, FPT Corporation, BIDV and Dragon Capital will launch an accelerator next March armed with a $4m fund aimed at Vietnam-based startups.
GE Healthcare launches $50m accelerator
Five.eight has been launched by GE’s medical technology division to help develop affordable care technology, and will invest up to $5m in each participant.
People
Lussier hits Ridge after leaving Dell
Jim Lussier left Dell Ventures last month after almost five years running the computer producer’s $300m Strategic Innovation Venture Fund.
Von Richter cleans up with Aster move
Andreas von Richter has left Ecomobility Ventures, the VC firm set up by Total, Orange, Peugeot and SNCF, to join another firm backed by a range of corporates, Aster Capital.
Hearst Ventures completes team after Kliavkoff exit
Kenneth Bronfin and Scott English will lead Hearst’s corporate venturing unit, with Gil Canaani coming in to head its Israeli investment team.
Exits
Urban Engines finds its way to Google
GV and Samsung Ventures are each celebrating an exit after GV’s parent company Alphabet acquired Urban Engines for an undisclosed amount.
Uzabase to touch down on public markets
The company database and news app operator, backed by GMO, Yahoo Japan, Itochu and Kodansha, will float in its home country of Japan next month.
Google programs API.ai acquisition
API.ai, backed by corporates Motorola Solutions, Intel, SAIC Motors and Alpine Electronics, has been acquired by Google for an undisclosed amount.
The Malin-backed dermatology treatment developer floated at the bottom of its range, but is currently 65% up after its first day of trading.
IT
Thalmic Labs records $120m funding result
The gesture control technology company has closed a $120m round co-led by Intel Capital, Amazon Alexa Fund and Fidelity Investments Canada.
Rakuten recognises ViSenze in series B round
Rakuten Ventures has co-led a $10.5m round for visual technology producer ViSenze, having also led its $3.5m series A two and a half years ago.
Telstra hears Whispir in series A round
Four years after it provided the cloud-based communication technology developer’s seed funding, Telstra has returned for a $8.9m series A round.
Vlocity to accelerate with $50m round
Returning backers Salesforce and Accenture were joined by investors including New York Life for a series B round that will fund the expansion of Vlocity’s industry-specific cloud app service.
Centec connects to $47m in series E round
China Electronics Corporation, the telecom equipment maker that led Centec’s series D round, has returned for a round that took its total funding to $77m.
The agriculture data technology developer had raised funding in a January round co-led by Mitsui.
InfluxData sources $16m in series B funding
The open-source data management platform has raised funding in a Battery Ventures-led round that included returning investor Bloomberg Beta.
Health
Tennor resonates with investors for $25m series B
Existing backer WuXi Pharmatech Healthcare Fund returned for a series B round that will enable Tennor to move its antibiotics into late-stage development.
Artios finds pathway to $33m series A
The cancer therapy startup has closed $33.2m in series A funding from investors including AbbVie, Merck Group and Arix Bioscience.
Genetron engineers series B round
Vcanbio Cell & Gene Engineering has led a funding round of undisclosed size for the China-based oncology genomics technology developer.
Media
FanDuel wins $55m in financing battle
The daily fantasy sports operator, backed by Alphabet, Time Warner and Comcast, has secured convertible debt financing from existing backers.
Drone Racing League gets off the ground
CAA and Hearst were among the investors in a $12m round for DRL, which has struck deals for its 2016 season with ESPN, Sky and ProSiebenSat.1.
Consumer
Comcast and 7-Eleven have both returned to back a series C round for KeyMe, which has created technology to quickly duplicate digital automotive keys.
Home24 takes home another $22m
Existing investors Rocket Internet and Bailie Gifford contributed to the home living e-commerce platform’s latest round, closed at a $470m valuation.
Fosun furnishes Goujia’s series A
The money will help home decoration e-commerce startup Goujia increase its headcount and further develop its hardware and products.
Smart hardware and robotics technology startup Roobo has closed a $100m series A round led by language and speech software company iFlytek.
Bertelsmann spices up Pepperfry’s $32m series E
Bertelsmann India Investments and other existing investors have backed a $32m funding round for the home décor marketplace, which is seeking up to $30m more.
BrightFarms crops up again with $30m
Tengelmann-backed BrightFarms has nearly doubled its total funding to approximately $56m following a $30.1m series C round led by Catalyst Investors.
The Latin American e-commerce marketplace, which counts Access Industries and Tengelmann as investors, raised the cash from Liv Capital, Northgate Capital and Kinnevik.
Google Capital reserves space in $850m Airbnb round
The corporate venturing unit reportedly co-led the round with Technology Crossover Ventures at a $30bn valuation, bringing Airbnb’s overall funding to $3.25bn.
Financial
Bloomberg gets on Point in $8.4m series A
Point, developer of a home equity investment platform, has taken its total financing to more than $15m with a Bloomberg Beta-backed round.
FirstP2P receives $70m series C investment
The NCF peer-to-peer lending spinout has added $70m from backers including CCB International and San Shan Capital Partners to a $41m round closed last year.
U51 sinks $310m in series C funding
The JD.com-backed credit card management platform raised the funding in a round co-led by Xinhu Zhongbao and Tiantu Capital at a $1bn valuation.
Metromile flags up $191m in funding
The pay-per-mile auto insurance provider raised the series C and D funding from investors including Mitsui, China Pacific Insurance Group and Intact Financial.
Nav scores $25m in Experian-led round
Experian led the series B round as part of a strategic partnership agreement, taking the credit report service’s overall funding to more than $32m.
Salesforce has returned to back a $28m series A round for the insurance technology producer, having led a $5.5m seed round in January this year.
Energy and Natural Resources
Renmatix processes $14m in Total-backed round
The biomass-to-biofuel technology developer has secured $14m from Total and Bill Gates, weeks after a securities filing indicated it would raise $31m.
The capital included a $46m equity round backed by RWE, Engie, BASF and BNP Paribas, and took the solar film manufacturer’s total financing to $160m.
Industrial
Ikea sprays funding to Terramera
The corporate’s GreenTech subsidiary has added to the sustainable pest control product maker’s $10m round, which already features Sumitomo and The Andersons.
Transport
SoftBank makes Grab in $750m round
Ride hailing service Grab has closed a $750m series F round led by SoftBank that likely includes existing backer Didi Chuxing.
Le Supercar revs up with $1.08bn
The LeEco driverless car spinout has closed what it claims is the largest first round ever from an automotive startup, with Lenovo and Macrolink both contributing.