Weekly corporate venturing deal net 25 – 29 April 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Top corporations target software in venture deals
Of the top 10 companies in BCG’s sample, 57% make CVC investments; 66% use incubators and accelerators (accelerator partnerships account for 27 percentage points); and 41% operate innovation labs.
Fundraising
Tax services firm EY forms internal accelerator
Americas Tax Innovation Foundry will develop technology in-house as well as hooking up with external startups.
Hikma generates $30m corporate venturing arm
The generic pharmaceuticals manufacturer has launched a corporate venturing subsidiary with an initial commitment of $30m.
Focus Media and FountainVest form $400m sports fund
Outdoor advertising firm Focus will put up half the cash for the fund, which will invest in domestic and foreign sports-focused companies that can serve the Chinese market.
Zhubaijia boards Chinese public markets
HNA Tourism and Legend-backed holiday home rental portal Zhubaijia has listed on China’s Neeq exchange.
Target disclosed fourth Indian accelerator batch
Wellness, retail technology and the internet of things are all on the menu for the fourth batch of the US-based retail chain’s Indian accelerator.
Yahoo Japan to co-rule Code Republic
The web portal’s YJ Capital unit has joined forces with East Ventures to launch a Tokyo-based accelerator that will supply $63,000 for each participant.
HTC has launched a $100m accelerator program and corporate venturing fund dubbed Vive X that will seek out opportunities in the virtual reality sector.
Intesa Sanpaolo joins the corporate venturing world
The banking group has launched a venture capital arm dubbed Neva Finventures with $34m in funding that is expected to be eventually boosted to $113m.
People
Dairanieh leaves BP Ventures for new exploration
Issam Dairanieh, head of BP Ventures, has departed from its parent company after 18 years and more than a decade in corporate venturing.
Exits
Idinvest to make healthy return from Withings acquisition
Nokia is set to buy digital health product maker Withings, which had raised almost $34m from backers including Idinvest Partners, for $193m.
Spin Master wins Bonnier startups
Toca Boca and Sago Mini, two game developers established by media company Bonnier, are set to be acquired by digital toy producer Spin Master.
Payleven and SumUp mobilise to form new company
The Europe-based mobile payment technology providers, collectively backed by Groupon, Amex, Tengelmann, BBVA and MePay, have agreed a merger deal.
AbbVie breathes in Stemcentrx in $9.8bn deal
Fidelity-backed Stemcentrx, which emerged from stealth in September at a $5bn valuation, will be acquired for $5.8bn in cash and stock, and up to $4bn in milestone payments.
The gene editing company expects to raise up to $90m, while Novartis and Regeneron are set to invest $55m through private placements.
IT
Trove Predictive Data Science, which is targeting its business analytics software at energy utilities, has pulled in equity financing from backers including Avista, Itron and Ecova.
Salesforce Ventures has come aboard as an investor for crowdsourced cybersecurity company BugCrowd’s series B round, bumping its overall funding to $24m.
PrecisionHawk swoops in for $18m
Verizon, NTT Docomo, Yamaha Motor and USAA joined existing investor Intel for a series C round that boosted the drone software developer’s total funding to $30m.
GV detects Anomali for $30m series C
Anomali, the cybersecurity company formerly known as ThreatStream, took its total funding to $56m in a round which included its third investment from GV.
IDT chips in as Peraso raises $20m
Semiconductor manufacturer IDT has joined existing backers iNovia and Roadmap to invest $20m in wireless chipset maker Peraso.
Telstra helps serve up $8m to Nginx
Nginx, which produces software to operate web servers, has raised a further $8m from investors including Telstra to boost its series B round to $38m.
Helium goes higher with $20m series B
The smart sensor developer added GV and Munich Re to its investors in a round that took its overall funding to $36m in the past 18 months.
Series E round passes Nexthink’s final analysis
Mannai Corporation-backed Nexthink, which uses artificial intelligence to monitor and analyse network traffic, has raised $40m to drive international expansion.
Vidsys collects $11m to sort through
Data collection and analysis platform Vidsys, backed by IDG and Motorola Solutions in the past, has picked up $11m in new funding, taking its overall financing to almost $43m.
CME and Verizon light up SparkCognition’s series B
SparkCognition has raised $6m in a round backed by CME Ventures and Verizon Ventures, a few months after winning at 2015’s Nokia Open Innovation Challenge.
Health
Bayer plants $10m seed in Israeli agribusiness
The Germany-based firm has teamed with Israel-based Trendlines to form an investment partnership that will back local agricultural technologies startups.
Hua raises $50m to advance diabetes treatment
Wuxi PharmaTech has returned to help fund Hua Medicine’s series C round, after previously taking part in its $50m series A and $25m series B rounds.
Augmedix charts $17m in new funding
The Google Glass-equipped medical chart technology developer increased its total funding to $40m in a round featuring five healthcare systems.
Celgene carries on FLX support in $50m series B
The immuno-oncology startup, formed after its Celgene-backed predecessor Flexus was bought for $1.25bn last year, has revealed $79m of financing across two rounds.
RayVio broadcasts news of $26m round
Tolero Pharmaceuticals and Applied Materials returned to back RayVio’s series C round, following their participation in a $9.3m series B in March 2015.
Media
Kamcord to expand activity stream with $10m
Time Warner led Kamcord’s series C round, which also featured Tencent, as the live streaming platform prepares to expand from games into other media.
Consumer
The secure smartphone manufacturer has received $72m in capital from investors including Renren ahead of a planned product launch next month.
Dalian Zeus books place in $693m Weiying round
Weiying, the owner of entertainment ticketing service Wepiao, has now raised more than $1bn in the past year, with Dailian Zeus joining Tencent and iDreakSky in a series C+ round.
Tado turns up heat with $23m series C
The smart thermostat developer, already backed by Siemens and Statkraft, has added Čez Group to its shareholders as part of a $23m series C round.
MissFresh packages $36m of series B+ funding
The fresh produce e-commerce company has added $36m to the $31m in series B funding it raised from investors including Tencent in November 2015.
Zero Zero Robotics captures $25m
The flying smart robotics manufacturer has revealed $25m of funding, including a $23m series A round, supplied by backers including IDG.
Global Fashion Group re-enters funding mode with $339m
Rocket Internet will invest up to $113m in Tengelmann and Access Industries-backed GFG at a valuation which has dropped two-thirds in less than a year.
Financial
Ant Financial closes $4.5bn series B
Alibaba’s financial services affiliate has raised funding from backers including China Post and China Life as the country’s tech companies continue to close 10-figure rounds.
TranServ processes $15m in series C round
MicroMax co-led the digital payment technology provider’s series C round, which will go to hiring, product development and the introduction of microcredit.
BitFlyer glides to $27m series C
SBI Group’s investment subsidiary has backed BitFlyer’s latest round, pushing the bitcoin exchange operator’s total funding to approximately $35m.
Corporates help provide Trov with series C funds
Suncorp and Guidewire have backed a $25.5m round for Trov, which operates a mobile app that enables users to easily insure their belongings.
Energy and Natural Resources
The saltwater electrolyte battery producer, which counts Shell, Total and Exelon as backers, has now raised about $190m in debt and equity since it was founded.
Transport
Drivy moves up a gear with $35m
Nokia co-led the car rental marketplace’s series C round, which also included Mobivia Group’s corporate venturing unit, Via-ID.
Services
Rinse cleans up with $6m series A
On-demand laundry services provider Rinse has welcomed CAA to its investor base, closing a round that increased its total funding to $9.5m.
Tuliu lands $23m in series B capital
The Shanda-backed land management and trading platform, which launched its service in 2009, has closed its second round of funding.
TaskEasy maintains momentum with $12m series B
Delta Electronics led the outdoor maintenance marketplace’s latest round, which also included lawn equipment maker MTD Products.