Corporate venturing deal net: 28 May-1 June 2018
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Corporates hike HGTF’s third fund to $370m
The public-private partnership’s third fund has achieved a second close, securing backing from Bayer, Wilh, Werhahn and Boehringer Ingelheim.
Severstal sets up corporate venturing arm
The mining and steel company has formed a subsidiary called Severstal Ventures that will invest in startups and funds.
Exits
Xeris formulates $75m IPO filing
The Institut Mérieux-backed company, which is developing a glucagon formulation to treat hypoglycaemia, has raised about $100m in equity funding.
Myriad to keep Counsyl in $375m acquisition
Myriad Genetics will pay $375m in cash and stock for genetic screening provider Counsyl, allowing Illumina Ventures to exit.
Eidos Therapeutics elbows its way to $115m IPO
BridgeBio Pharma retains a majority stake in spinoff Eidos, which has raised $91m in funding in just over a year.
The EMS-backed gene therapy developer has filed for an $86.3m offering having raised about the same amount in venture funding.
Scholar Rock skates to $75m IPO close
Scholar Rock, a spinal muscular atrophy therapy developer backed by Kraft Group, floated in the middle of its range.
Uxin to find space for $500m IPO
Baidu, Legend Holdings and Tencent are all in line to exit the used vehicle marketplace, which plans to go public in the US.
Proterra carries itself to $100m
The electric bus producer, which is backed by BMW, GM, Mitsui, Edison Energy and Exelon, is raising money at a valuation of up to $840m.
IT
GV helps send Ctrl-Labs a $28m signal
The neural interface-tracking technology developer has secured $28m in a round co-led by GV and backed by Amazon’s Alexa Fund.
Qualcomm helps send $620m to SenseTime
AI technology producer SenseTime has added series C+ funding to a $600m series C round it closed just last month, and is valued at $4.5bn.
Okera accepts Capital One investment
Capital One Growth Ventures is among the investors to have provided $14.6m in seed and series A funding for the data management platform.
Ojo Labs engages with corporates in series B
ServiceMaster, Realogy, Royal Bank of Canada and Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures all invested in a $20.5m round that will fund hiring.
SNCF boards Platform.sh in $34m series C
Platform.sh boosted its overall funding to $47m, raising cash in an SNCF Digital Ventures-backed round that will support US growth.
Tencent invested $198m in Beijing DHC Chengxin Computer Technology, taking a 24.7% stake and signing a partnership agreement.
Dialpad takes TalkIQ as corporates exit
Speech recognition technology developer TalkIQ has been acquired by Dialpad, enabling Line and Salesforce Ventures to exit.
Health
InnovAllianz, an investment subsidiary of Allianz, has contributed to a $15m funding round for 3D organ printing company Biomodex.
Lava heats up with MRL funding
Cancer therapy developer Lava Therapeutics has raised $18.6m in a round featuring Merck Research Laboratories unit MRL Ventures.
Pact Pharma has raised a total of $126m, $95m of which just came in a GV-backed round that will fund the entry of its cancer treatments into the clinic.
Strata Oncology straps down $26m
Pfizer Ventures and Merck GHI both contributed to the cancer care technology provider’s series B round, taking its overall funding to at least $38m.
Media
Minute Media calls time on $17m round
The ProSiebenSat.1-backed sport content publishing platform has raised series F capital, boosting its total funding to $77m.
Consumer
Alibaba buys into Xiaohongshu’s $300m series D
Cross-border e-commerce platform Xiaohongshu has raised funding in an Alibaba-led round that included Tencent, valuing it at more than $3bn.
Qtrove sells BCC on $52m round
Curated e-commerce marketplace Qtrove has raised funding and ad credit from Bennett, Coleman & Co units Springboard Ventures and Brand Capital.
The Flex-backed baby monitor developer has now raised a total of almost $30m after securing funding in a JVP-led series B round.
Jollychic fashions series C round
Returning investor Legend Capital has participated in a round that valued the cross-border fashion e-commerce platform at $1bn.
The Sinar Mas and Yahoo Japan-backed EV Growth led the beauty e-commerce platform’s latest round, which included existing backer iStyle.
Financial
Signifyd identifies Amex for $100m series D
The fraud protection software provider is valued at about $400m, following an American Express Ventures-backed round led by Premji Invest.
Pine Labs makes $125m cash discovery
PayPal and Temasek have invested $125m in POS technology provider Pine Labs, less than three months after it raised money at a valuation of up to $900m.
Moneyfarm brings in series B crop
Two years after investing a reported $7m in the robo-advisor developer, Allianz Asset Management has returned to lead a $53.1m round.
Hometap houses $12m in series A funding
American Family Ventures took part in the home equity investment platform’s G20 Ventures-led series A round, which will fund product development.
Tradeshift procures $250m in series E round
Goldman Sachs has co-led a $250m round for Tradeshift that also featured HSBC, valuing the business payment platform at $1.1bn.
The cryptocurrency wallet and trading platform, backed by Credit Saison and OKWave in its last round, secured the cash through VC funding and a crowdsale.
Jirnexu gets next to SBI in $11m round
Existing investor SBI led the financial comparison platform’s series B round, with SIG Asia Investments also investing.
Industrial
Flex spinoff Auto revs $200m funding engine
Stealth-stage manufacturing technology startup Auto has reportedly secured $200m in funding in the 10 months since it was spun off from Flex.
Arevo arrives at Asahi-led series B
Asahi Glass has led a $12.5m round for digital additive printing technology developer Arevo that also featured Sumitomo Corporation of Americas.
Transport
SoftBank Vision Fund drives $2.25bn Cruise investment
The SoftBank-run fund will invest an initial $900m in the GM subsidiary, with an extra $1.35bn to come when its autonomous driving technology is commercialised.
Hellobike rides funding wave to raise $321m
Less than two months after taking part in Hellobike’s $700m series E1 round, Ant Financial has invested another $321m at a $1.47bn valuation.
Taxify gains ground with $175m
Daimler invested $100m to lead the ride hailing service’s latest round, which included Didi Chuxing, valuing it at more than $1bn.
Getaround meets SoftBank on way to $100m
SoftBank has already committed funding to car sharing platform Getaround’s latest round, which is expected to close at approximately $100m.
BMW drives L Marks’ route to America
BMW Financial Services US Collaboration Lab is the third partnership between L Marks and BMW, and marks the former’s first US initiative.
Services
Total gets OnTruck in series B round
Total Energy Ventures has contributed to a $29.2m round for the trucking services marketplace, taking its overall funding to more than $41m inside two years.
Jiatui contacts JD.com for series A
JD.com and JD Finance were among the investors as Jiatui Technology, a digital business card platform, secured $26.2m.