Weekly corporate venturing deal net 23 – 27 May 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
GCV Symposium 2016: day 1 review
After several decades of peaks and troughs, corporate venturers feel they are climbing up the slope of enlightenment.
Intel Capital completes portfolio review
Portfolio review ended while organisation structured being changed.
Fundraising
Health startups to flourish with GE Ventures
Startup Health Academy and GE Ventures have selected the first three startups for the second cohort of their digital health incubator.
Twitter puts $10m into Betaworks venture
Twitter is investing ‘at least $10m’ in the latest fund to be raised by Betaworks, an early investor in two companies it has acquired in the past.
Founders Factory manufactures Aviva partnership
Founders Factory will build and develop more than 200 startups over five years, with Aviva supporting seven companies each year through 2021.
Corporates take $23m to Newark
Audible, Dun & Bradstreet, Prudential and Fidelco Realty all contributed to the $23m first close of Newark Venture Partners, founded by Audible CEO Tom Katz.
Cathay Life breathes $10m into $100m Vivo fund
Cathay Life Insurance has committed $10m to Vivo Capital’s latest vehicle, the $100m Panda Fund I, which will focus on early-stage life sciences startups.
People
Two Intel Capital vice-presidents depart
“I have accepted a new job as a managing partner with a Sand Hill Road based private venture capital firm. May 20th is my last day at Intel Capital.”
Lambert finds new home at Westly Group
Lisa Lambert, a vice-president at Intel Capital until last week and #1 on GCV’s January Rising Stars list, has taken a managing partner position at venture firm Westly Group.
Exits
Merus goes public with $55m IPO
The immuno-oncology drug developer, backed by several pharmaceutical firms, has raised $55m in an IPO that saw it float substantially below its $14 to $16 range.
Priceline has acqui-hired app prototyping tool developer Woomoo for an undisclosed amount, giving an exit to internet company Avos.
Selecta chooses IPO option and targets $75m
The Sanofi-backed immunotherapy company has raised $117m since it was founded in 2007, and plans to use he proceeds to advance its lead drug into phase 2 trials.
ProSiebenSat.1 puts spotlight on Stylight
The media company, which already held a 22% stake in fashion platform Stylight, has agreed to buy the remaining 78%, giving an exit to Tengelmann Ventures and Holtzbrinck Ventures.
Twilio communicates desire to go public
The Salesforce and Amazon-backed cloud communications company has filed for a $100m initial public offering, having been valued at $1.1bn as of July last year.
IT
Data Republic elects corporates to fund series A round
Australia-based data exchange platform Data Republic has raised $7.6m in a round featuring domestic corporates Qantas, Westpac and National Australia Bank.
Ingrasys helps supply $15m to DriveScale
Foxconn subsidiary Ingrasys has invested in data centre technology provider DriveScale’s series A round as part of a supplier agreement.
Motorola Solutions signs up for SeamlessDocs series B
SeamlessDocs, developer of a document digitisation system for local government, has raised $7m, less than six months after securing $5m in its series A round.
VArmour calls on Telstra for $41m series D
Telstra Ventures has invested as part of a round that boosted the data and cloud security company’s overall funding to $83m.
Victorious wins over investors for $25m round
Victorious, which develops apps to help content creators build a fanbase, has added Dentsu to its list of investors that already features WME and Bertelsmann.
Affectiva gets emotional for $14m
CAC, Bandai Namco and Sega all took part in the round as new investors, helping the WPP-backed emotion recognition software company boost its total funding to $34m.
TransUnion enters Dashlane in $22.5m series C
The digital wallet developer has added its first corporate shareholder in the form of TransUnion, with which it has also entered a strategic partnership.
Health
Jazz Pharmaceuticals led the initial funding round for the startup, which aims to develop up to six drug candidates using the money.
OSF clears way for BrightWater’s $5.2m series A
BrightWater Medical, developer of a non-invasive device to treat severe ureteral obstructions, has completed a series A round led by OSF HealthCare.
Intermountain hunts down Zebra for $12m round
Advanced radiology startup Zebra Medical Vision will work with the US-based care system to further develop its intelligent imaging analytics technology.
Corporates prescribe cash for 360 Haoyao
Cybersecurity company Qihoo 360’s online pharmacy subsidiary has raised $15.2m in an Eli Lilly and Softbank-backed series A round.
Media
Snapchat looks to access another $200m
The messaging platform, backed by Alibaba, Tencent and Yahoo in the past, is raising new funding at a valuation of up to $22.7bn.
Snapchat increases series F round to $1.8bn
The Alibaba-backed social messaging platform has raised $1.8bn since February 2015, with more than $1.1bn coming this year.
Consumer
General Mills to help scale Kite Hill
Kite Hill, the producer of a range of vegan dairy substitutes, has closed an $18m round co-led by General Mills’ 301 unit and plans to expand distribution and marketing.
Joyoung helps feed $117m to Benlai Life
Online fresh produce seller Benlai Life has closed $117m in funding, $30m of which came from kitchen appliance producer Joyoung in December 2015.
Financial
SEB and ABN Amro made strategic investments as part of the personal finances app developer’s series B round, which will fund the next iteration of its product.
Weidai parks $153m in series C funding
Weidai, a Hakim-backed peer-to-peer lending service that uses vehicles as collateral, has secured funding from investors including Dong Yi Ri Sheng Home Decoration.
SigFig secures $40m of investment
UBS, Santander and New York Life contributed to a round that took the total raised by SigFig, the developer of a robo-advisor platform for banks, to $70m.
Energy and Natural Resources
Autogrid sources $20m of new funding
Existing investor E.ON came back for a round that increased the energy management software developer’s overall funding to more than $40m.
Mithril gives Stem $15m of help
Mithril Capital Management invested $15m to take the energy storage company’s Mitsui and RWE-backed series C round up to $68m.
Transport
NuTonomy accelerates with $16m
Samsung made its second investment in the autonomous car software developer, taking part in a series A round that also included the Singaporean government.
Volkswagen mobilises $300m for Gett
Volkswagen has become the latest carmaker to invest in on-demand mobility, providing $300m for ride hailing technology provider Gett.
Toyota hails Uber for partnership
Toyota has made its bet on the ride hailing market with a stake purchase in Uber and the announcement of a partnership that will let drivers lease cars.
Alibaba and Ant Financial ready $400m Didi Chuxing investment
Existing investor Alibaba is reportedly set to join financial services affiliate Ant Financial to reinvest in Didi Chuxing, likely as part of a $3bn round.
Scoop Technologies pools investors for $5.1m
BMW i Ventures and Workday Ventures were among the backers for the first funding round disclosed by the carpooling app developer.