Corporate venturing deal net: 26 December 2016-7 January 2017
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Fundraising
Samsung commits $150m to Next Fund
The corporate will back innovative technology up to series B stage and has announced the first 10 portfolio companies for the newly launched unit.
Icos gets corporate input for $52m fund
Bühler, AkzoNobel and Wuppermann have made contributions to the $52m Icos Capital Fund III, which will seek chemical, food and materials technology startups.
SoftBank secures more corporates for $100bn Vision Fund
Qualcomm and Foxconn are set to join Apple, which has confirmed it will invest $1bn in the SoftBank fund, which is expected to formally in the upcoming weeks.
Coca-Cola Founders closes up shop
Coca-Cola has wound down its Founders program, which had invested in eight startups since its inception in 2013.
L’Oreal gets some skin in the Partech Ventures game
L’Oreal has committed an undisclosed amount of money to the latest fund to be raised by venture firm Partech Ventures, which closed a $107m fund last month.
People
Zhang zips to Baidu Capital for CFO role
Zhang Jinling, who headed finance an investments for Xiaomi, has moved to Baidu and will be chief financial officer for its corporate venturing subsidiary.
Exits
The game producer’s Shanghai Stock Exchange flotation has provided exits to shareholders including IDG Capital Partners and Ping An Insurance.
Investors to pour $1bn into Grail
Illumina spinout Grail, developer of a blood test for cancer, has received expressions of interest worth about $1bn for its series B round.
Sogou plans IPO search at $5bn valuation
Sogou, operator of China’s third most popular search engine, could go public in the US this year at a $5bn valuation, giving exits to Tencent and Sohu.
Jounce to make public markets leap in $75m IPO
The Celgene and Pharmstandard-backed immuno-oncology company has raised almost $140m in equity financing in under three years.
IT
Slack Fund logs 11 additions to its portfolio
The fund, launched in 2015 with $80m in capital, has disclosed 11 additional investments, adding to the 14 it announced last July.
Intel has acquired a 15% stake in mapping technology provider Here as part of a strategic partnership, buying shares from BMW, Audi and Daimler.
Here maps out new corporate investment
Tencent, NavInfo and the Singaporean state-owned GIC have combined to acquire a 10% stake in mapping technology provider Here.
Health
iCarbonX ecosystem invests $400m in seven companies
Seven members of digital health company iCarbonX’s Digital Life Alliance have attracted almost $400m, with PatientsLikeMe raising $100m.
Intuity Medical detects funding to reach $55m
Intuity, a diabetes testing and management spinout of Sarnoff Corporation, has added $15m to the $40m it closed in November.
Avizia avoids pitfalls to close $18m series A
New strategic partner Northwell Health has added $1m to the telehealth technology startup’s series A round, which includes NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Heparegenix processes $9.4m series A
Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Novo Seeds have co-led the liver disease therapy developer’s latest round, which included HTGF, KfW, Coparion and EIF.
The genome engineering company took its overall funding to approximately $50m in a series B round that included property developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Tasly returns for $100m Ascletis series B
Tasly Pharmaceuticals, a major participant in the liver disease therapy developer’s $55m series A round, has reinvested as part of its series B round.
Sun Pharma delivers $13m to SCPharmaceuticals
Sun Pharmaceuticals has picked up a 14.6% stake in SCPharmaceuticals, which had received $16m in a 2014 round co-led by Lundbeckfond Ventures.
Media
Fosun takes care of Qinbaobao’s series B round
Qinbaobao, operator of a platform for baby videos and photos, has raised an eight-figure amount in a series B round led by conglomerate Fosun.
Consumer
Tattoodo inks $8.5m investment
The tattoo-focused online community, which is backed by clothing retailer Threadless, has secured $8.5m in funding from a range of private individuals.
The retail group has invested $12.3m in the Lippo Group-launched e-commerce platform, reportedly increasing its stake in the company to 12%.
Financial
Lakala helps release $10m for Edianzu
Payment processor Lakala has led a pre-series B round for Edianzu, increasing the office equipment leasing company’s total capital to more than $15m.
Hsuanzhang assesses IDG for $22m round
IDG Capital has contributed to a $22m funding round that will help fintech producer Hsuanzhang establish an accounting firm network and improve its products.
Investors seek Easy Life with $273m round
HNA Group’s tourism financial services spinout has raised series B+ funding from investors including H Capital, CapitaLand and Pacific Securities.
The Xiaomi-backed online brokerage has secured series B funding from a range of investors including new strategic partner Citic.
Fubon takes Nutmeg series D to $52m
Wealth management service Nutmeg has added $14.8m from Fubon Financial Holdings to a $37.2m series D round that reached its first close in November.
Energy and Natural Resources
Adventus proves resourcefulness to raise $6m
Adventus Zinc Corporation has secured a portfolio of zinc exploration projects from Altius Resources, which has contributed to the startup’s seed round.
Kongsberg Digital has paid $11.6m for a 34% stake in power analytics software developer eSmart Systems as part of a strategic partnership agreement.
Industrial
Rethink Robotics puts together $18m series E
GE Ventures came back for the industrial robot producer’s latest round, having led its series D round in early 2015.
Sarcos secures extra series A funding
Schlumberger helped Sarcos Robotics increase a series A round already including Caterpillar, General Electric and Microsoft from $10.5m to $15.6m.
Transport
Mobike pedals to $215m series D
Tencent co-led the bicycle sharing platform’s second nine-figure round in under six months, which included fellow corporates Ctrip and Huazhu Hotels.
99 goes to $100m in Didi Chuxing-led round
Didi Chuxing has led a $100m series D round for Qualcomm-backed Brazilian counterpart 99 as part of a strategic alliance.
The electric bus maker has raised new funding in a round led by an undisclosed backer which also featured Edison, GM Ventures and Constellation Technology Ventures.
Salesforce Ventures has joined the telematics device developer’s series A round, which reached a $6.2m first close in July.
Excelfore mobilises funding from Molex
Molex has invested an undisclosed amount in an Excelfore round sized at $10.6m as of August, taking a 20% stake in the smart mobility software provider in the process.