Corporate venturing deal net: 26-29 March 2018
Each week the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Cathay Smart Energy Fund gets Total commitment
Total Energy Ventures will invest approximately $48m in the new energy fund as one of its three anchor partners, on the way to a $239m close.
Geodesic hits up Hitachi for $165m fund
Geodesic Capital is raising a supplementary fund that aims to open up the Japanese market for US-based startups, and has secured Hitachi as a limited partner.
People
Prior pulls away from GM Ventures
Managing director Sherwin Prior is leaving GM’s corporate venturing unit after more than seven years to set up his own transport-focused VC fund.
Haymes high tails it from Nielsen
Nielsen Ventures’ managing director, Bruce Haymes, who also headed the corporate’s Nielsen Innovate incubator, has left to pursue an undisclosed opportunity.
Siemens’ Next47 unit has hired Matthew Cowan, a co-founder of Bridgescale Partners, as it moves to an evergreen investment model.
Rakestraw leaves Monsanto for Temasek
Rakestraw said Temasek has had an existing agriculture business area for some time but the venture capital investment was new.
Kilmer rejoins Battisti at C5 Capital
William Kilmer has joined C5 Capital as managing partner, reuniting with Marcos Battisti, a colleague from his Intel Capital days.
Exits
iQiyi to broadcast $2.25bn IPO
The online video streaming platform, which is majority owned by Baidu, has priced its shares in the middle of its range and will have a $14.5bn market cap.
The online entertainment platform, which counts Tencent and Legend Capital among its investors, priced its initial public offering in the middle of its range.
Novartis, Eli Lilly and Amgen-backed cancer immunotherapy developer Surface Oncology has filed for a $75m offering on Nasdaq.
Aslan aligns itself with $86m IPO
Biopharmaceuticals developer Aslan Pharmaceuticals, which counts AMT, Accuron and Tianda as backers, has filed to raise up to $86.3m in an initial public offering.
Tencent, Kunlun, Duomi and Shunya-backed video broadcasting app Inke has filed to go public after raising some $65m in funding.
Snap draws up PlayCanvas acquisition
DC Thomson Ventures led the 3D game development platform’s seed round four years ago, and has exited through an acquisition by Snap.
The Cronus Bike-backed bicycle sharing service is set to declare bankruptcy, leaving both investors and users out of pocket.
Saavn and JioMusic streams merge
Reliance Industries has agreed to merge its digital music platform, JioMusic, with streaming service Saavn, investing up to $100m in the combined business.
U51 charges to Hong Kong for IPO
The personal finance management app developer has filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong, with InTime, JD.com and SIG in line for exits.
Big Deal: Uber falls for Southeast Asian Grab
Uber will acquire a 27.5% stake in Grab as part of a deal where the latter will get its local operations, as a small number of players tighten control of the sector worldwide.
IT
DocuSign to dovetail to public markets
The digital signature technology provider, backed by Dell, Intel, Salesforce, Telstra, Visa, Deutsche Telekom, Samsung, NTT, Mitsui, BBVA, Alphabet and Comcast, has filed for a $100m IPO.
Existing investors Qualcomm and O’Reilly Media returned for a round that will support the development of products based on OpenSignal’s mobile data.
Pivotal Software paves path to public markets
The Dell EMC spinout has filed for a $100m initial public offering that will also enable General Electric, Ford and Microsoft to exit.
Boeing HorizonX Ventures and Singtel Innov8 contributed to the internet-of-things satellite developer’s latest round, which follows an ExactEarth investment in 2015.
Everledger polishes up series A round
Rakuten and Bloomberg Beta have backed a $10.4m round for Everledger, the developer of a tracing system for precious resources.
Edianzu installs $32m in series C round
A fund affiliated with payment processor Lakala has invested in IT and office equipment supplier Edianzu in a round that took its total funding to almost $80m.
Health
Oscar gets $165m funding award
Alphabet subsidiaries Capital G and Verily Life Sciences took part in a round that took Oscar’s total funding to $935m, valuing it at $3.2bn.
Corporates help sink $60m into Singlera
Jointown Pharmaceutical Group and Lilly Asia Ventures were among the investors in the genetic sequencing technology developer’s series A+ round.
Hua Medicine gets $117m funding treatment
Hua Medicine raised the funding in series D and E rounds, with the investors including WuXi AppTec, Ping An, Eight Roads and F-Prime Capital Partners.
Adagene adds $50m in series C round
The WuXi PharmaTech-backed cancer treatment developer has received $50m in a round featuring another corporate investor, New World TMT.
SoYoung performs new fundraising procedure
The Tencent-backed online cosmetic surgery marketplace has added an undisclosed nine-figure renminbi sum to the $60m it raised in January.
NMD Pharma, a neuromuscular disorder-focused spinout from Aarhus University, secured $47m in a round co-led by Roche and backed by Novo and Lundbeck.
Media
SoftBank Ventures co-led the special effects software developer’s series A round, which included another corporate venturing unit, Dentsu Ventures.
Nebenan welcomes new investors for series A
Deutsche Tele Medien, NWZ and PD Ventures all participated in a $19.9m round for the social media platform that was led by Burda Principal Investments.
Consumer
Zskuaixiao restocks with series B funding
Global Logistics Properties and Meituan-Dianping’s Longzhu Capital unit have co-led a $32.6m round for consumer goods distributor Zskuaixiao.
Red Star Mascalline homes in on 3vjia
The furniture retailer led SoftBank-backed home furnishing e-commerce and modelling platform 3vjia’s $47.7m series B round.
Financial
Movile provided $18.3m for Zoop and plans to integrate the company’s payment technology across its mobile commerce business.
Energy and Natural Resources
Free Electrons sparks second cohort
With the support of ten energy utilities, Free Electrons will accelerate energy-related developments in IoT, smart grids and efficiency technology.
Industrial
Flying Whales carries over $246m in funding
AVIC-backed Flying Whales, which is developing an airship that can transport up to 60 tons of cargo, raised its most recent funding this month.
Metalysis mines investors for new funding
Existing shareholders including Ikea’s holding company returned to back a $16.9m round for Metalysis, which produces metal powders for 3D printing.
The robotic leg developer secured the funding in a series A round featuring Sony Innovation Fund that will support product development.
Transport
Qeebike completes series A journey
Existing investor Legend Capital returned for an eight-figure series A round that will fund the electric bicycle sharing service’s expansion.
Blade takes off with $38m series B
The short-range air transport service has completed a round backed by its new strategic partner, Airbus Helicopters.
Services
GV buzzes Intercom in $125m round
KPCB led a GV-backed round that more than doubled enterprise communication platform Intercom’s overall funding to $241m.
Mydream+ reveals $48m in funding
A Giant Interactive fund took part in the Ocean Link-led round, which increased the co-working space provider’s overall funding to about $70m.
Employment Hero swoops for new funding
Recruitment portal Seek co-led a $6.1m round that included existing backer AMP, with the capital to go to hiring and research and development.
SoftBank mulls billion-dollar Manbang investment
Tencent and Baidu-backed trucking services platform Manbang Group is seeking between $500m and $1bn at a valuation of about $5bn.
Bestmile clocks $11m in series A
Groupe ADP and existing investor Airbus Ventures kicked in funds as the transport management platform boosted its total funding to more than $16m.