Weekly corporate venturing deal net 24-28 August 2015
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Startups to pitch for LA Dodgers
Advertising firm R/GA and the Los Angeles Dodgers have revealed the first 10 startups to take part in their newly formed Sports and Entertainment Accelerator.
Auto parts supplier Wanxiang has invested $10m in incubator InnoSpring, which helps startups expand from the US into China and vice versa.
Peakview looks out on $1.5bn in investment in 2016
The investment arm of advisory firm Shengjing plans to commit much of the cash in the US to avoid being too dependent on its home country.
Deutsche Telekom holds $114m for Israeli investments
The telecommunications company has earmarked 20% of the funds for corporate venturing unit Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners to Israel-based companies.
Formation 8 soars past $100m for hardware fund
The venture firm is yet to disclose its new target for the oversubscribed fund, in which Flextronics is an LP, but has already begun investing.
Johnson & Johnson and PCH launch wellness accelerator
The programme will focus on hardware startups targeting the consumer health sector, and will invest different amounts dependent on the development stage of each.
People
Umehag takes on CFO role at BP Ventures
Jens Umehag will act as the corporate venturing unit’s chief financial officer in addition to serving as head of finance for BP’s Group Technology division.
Meredith Schwarz has left General Mills, where she launched its corporate venturing fund, to join consumer goods-focused private equity firm Encore Consumer Capital.
Exits
RainDance withdraws IPO to weather stock market storm
General electric-backed genomics tool developer RainDance Technologies has called off its initial public offering after raising more than $100m in equity.
Oncology company Mirna seeks $80.5m from IPO
The cancer treatment developer has raised $94m in equity and grant funding, with Pfizer, Celgene and Baxter among its shareholders.
The Naver-owned messaging service, which initially planned to float last year, has suspended its plans to go public again.
Life360 makes time for Chronos acquisition
The app developer had secured an undisclosed amount in seed funding from investors including Orange and Major League Baseball.
Bosch charges up with Seeo acquisition
Samsung, Presidio and Google had all invested in the advanced battery developer, which most recently raised $17m in December 2014.
IT
Scality weighs up $45m series D
Scality has now raised $80m overall, after strategic partner BroadBand Tower joined the storage software supplier’s existing investors for its latest round.
Corporates answer Nok Nok with $8m in funding
NTT Docomo, DaouKiwoom and Thundersoft have joined backers including Lenovo to enable Nok Nok’s to close its series C round at $16.3m.
BlueData processes $20m series C
Intel has entered into a collaboration agreement with big data technology company BlueData, concurrently leading its $20m series C round.
Velostrata transfers $14m to account
The hybrid cloud software startup has emerged from stealth with series A funding from backers including Norwest Venture Partners.
ServiceMax goes big with $82m series E
General Electric and PTC both took part in a round that boosted the Salesforce-backed field service management software company’s total funding to $202m.
Mirantis ups series C to $100m
Intel, which has inked a strategic partnership agreement with the open source software company, led the round, which has been increased from $75m in the past week.
Avegant deciphers $24m for series B
Intel and Lian Luo participated in a series B round which Avegant will use to commercially launch its personal media headset, Glyph.
Cornerstone recruits startups into Innovation Fund
The talent management software provider launched corporate venturing subsidiary Cornerstone Innovation Fund in 2013 and has now backed four companies.
Health
Malin pays $15m house call to HVP
Hatteras Venture Partners could receive up to $20m from Malin for the $150m fund it is raising, having also secured GlaxoSmithKline and LabCorp as limited partners.
DynoSense measures out $9.4m series A
Jkom Cloud Health Technology has participated in a series A for DynoSense, the creator of a scanner that analyses health metrics such as blood pressure.
Novo, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer have taken part in a series C round for Merus, which was previously reported to be gearing up for an IPO in the US.
Immatics US launches with $40m
Immatics Biotechnologies has teamed up with University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to set up Immatics US and develop treatments for tumours.
Navigating Cancer finds its way to $10m
Merck has led a funding round for Navigating Cancer, which supports cancer patients by keeping them actively informed about their care.
Finc fattens up with extra funding
Corporate-backed weight loss programme provider Finc has received $5.3m in debt and an undisclosed amount in equity funding.
Media
Resolution Games concludes $6m series A
Virtual reality game developer Resolution obtained the cash from investors including Google Ventures, which made its first investment in a Sweden-based company.
Consumer
Hualian Department Store delivers $90m to Ele.me
The shopping centre operator supplied the cash alongside an undisclosed sum from backers including JD.com, which took part in Ele.me’s $350m series E in January.
The online food ordering service, reported yesterday to have raised at least $90m, has confirmed a Hualian and JD.com-backed round that valued it at more than $3bn.
YouChe tours investors for $18m
IDG Capital has returned to back YouChe’s series B round, boosting the online second-hand car retailer’s total funding to $28m.
The student-focused e-commerce company has secured $31m ahead of its series B round from investors including existing backer Legend Holdings.
Financial
Bohai lends Dianrong help for $207m series C
Peer-to-peer lending platform Dianrong has raised what it claims is the Chinese online finance sector’s largest ever round, and Bohai Leasing was among the investors.
The Recruit-backed series C valued the accounting software provider at $250m and increased its total funding to $43m.
Intel pays out for $67m iZettle series D
Intel Capital has returned to co-lead the mobile payments company’s latest round, which will fund the launch of a merchant lending service.
SumUp processes $11.2m investment
BBVA, Groupon and American Express are among a consortium of investors that brought mobile payment technology provider SumUp’s total funding to $56m.
Industrial
Cavendish Kinetics radios for $36m
Cavendish Kinetics has not disclosed the investors in its latest round, but counts Qualcomm among its existing shareholders and has raised almost $70m since 2006.
Modumetal fortifies itself with $33.5m
Chevron and ConocoPhilips both returned to back Modumetal’s latest round, which consisted of equity and debt financing, pushing its overall funding past $48m.
Yuneec stands out for $60m from Intel
Intel has invested in unmanned aerial vehicle and aerospace Yuneec as part of a deal that will see the two companies collaborate on products.
Transport
Huochebang dispatches extension to series A
Internet company Tencent led an extension of undisclosed size for China-based trucking logistics platform Huochebang.
Services
Coursera plots out $60m series C
The open access education company has raised $49m of a $60m round and formed a partnership with new investor Times Internet to help it break the Indian market.