Weekly corporate venturing deal net 2 – 6 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.
Fundraising
Care systems add to Heritage for $220m fund
Healthcare-focused venture capital firm Heritage Group has closed $220m for its latest Healthcare Innovation Fund, having received investments from 15 care systems.
Google prepares to set up Area 120
Google is set to establish an internal incubator called Area 120 which will offer successful applicants the opportunity to work on their projects full-time.
Gelt to house startups through corporate venturing unit
The real estate holding company has already invested in Disruptive Media and Trustify through its Gelt Venture Capital subsidiary.
Asos and Telefónica fashion UK accelerator
Asos has teamed up with Telefónica’s Wayra UK accelerator to launch an initiative aimed at fashion technology developers.
Lenovo puts $500m into corporate venturing fund
The computer and smartphone manufacturer plans to invest in up to 20 companies each year through its Lenovo Capital unit, and to spin out up to 10 internally-founded startups.
People
Norman replaces Steel at Syngenta
A managing director at the unit since mid-2009, Norman was selected for the GCV Rising Stars 2016 awards.
7-Ventures enters limbo after founders leave
The future of 7-Eleven’s corporate venturing unit is unclear, with its co-founders both leaving in the past few months.
Wuttke takes on European role for Merck
Francesca Domenech Wuttke will lead European digital healthcare investments for corporate venturing unit Merck Global Health Innovation Fund.
Paul Ark (Polapat Arkkrapridi) has joined SCB Ventures, the fintech investment arm of Siam Commercial Bank, as head of venture capital.
Exits
Vimeo subscribes to VHX acquisition
Comcast, William Morris Endeavor and Bedrocket Media Ventures have exited video distribution platform VHX through an acquisition by video streaming service Vimeo.
Salesforce to exit as Adobe catches Livefyre
Livefyre, the content curation platform that had raised $66m from backers including Salesforce and Adobe, has been acquired by the latter for an undisclosed sum.
Viamet shows mettle in second IPO attempt
Viamet, which has raised about $170m from backers including Novartis, Eli Lilly and Astellas, is set to raise up to $91m, after withdrawing its last IPO filing in 2014.
Formlabs marks out Pinshape for acquisition
Pinshape, which operates a 3D printing designs marketplace, had raised $850,000 in seed funding from investors including internet company DeNA.
Deep linking technology producer URX has been acquired by social media platform Pinterest after raising $15m from investors including GV and CyberAgent.
IT
Levyx processes $5.4m for series A round
Sumavision was among the investors in a series A round that the data processing company will put toward product development, sales and marketing.
EclecticIQ smartens up with $6.4m
The cyberthreat intelligence platform took its overall funding to $7.3m in a round featuring telecom network KPN’s corporate venturing unit.
Maana feeds investor interest in $26m series B
Maana, the creator of a data analytics technology for industrial assets, has welcomed Saudi Aramco to an investor base already containing GE, Shell, Chevron and Intel.
Nasdaq minds Digital Reasoning for $40m series D
Nasdaq has co-led a $40m series D round for Digital Reasoning, boosting the computing technology producer’s total funding to nearly $100m.
Ford makes Pivotal investment in $253m round
EMC and VMWare spun out software development company Pivotal Software in 2012 and have returned for a round featuring GE and Microsoft, in which Ford invested $182m.
Sapphire Ventures has led a series C round for CloudHealth, essentially doubling the cloud services management platform’s total funding to nearly $40m.
EyeSight catches $20m from Kuang-Chi
Touch-free interface designer EyeSight, already backed by Ceva and Mistui, has attracted $20m in capital from Chinese conglomerate Kuang-Chi.
Health
Ideaya executes $46m series A plan
WuXi PharmaTech, Novartis, Celgene and Alexandria Real Estate have contributed to an oversubscribed series A round for immuno-oncology startup Ideaya.
Media
On24 switches to Goldman Sachs for $25m
Webcast marketing company On24 has now raised over $70m altogether, having been backed by investors including Reuters and CNet since 2000.
Roli finds harmony with $27m series B
The high-tech keyboard developer increased its funding to approximately $40m in less than two years, closing a second Universal-backed round.
The marketing relationship management company has now raised more than $42m, after IDG Ventures invested in it for a third time.
Consumer
The fashion e-commerce company has now raised over $300m in total and will use new investors IDG Capital and Temasek to help it expand in Asia.
Lenskart eyeballs $60m in series D round
IDG Ventures India has returned to back an IFC-led series D round for Lenskart, the eyewear retailer that previously operated as Valyoo Technologies.
Adidas and Qualcomm’s corporate venturing units both contributed to a series C round that will fund sales and marketing for 360fly’s immersive 360-degree video cameras.
Financial
Investors set aside $5.6m for Savedo
XAnge and WeltN24 both took part in a series A round for Savedo, which enables users to deposit money in foreign savings accounts.
MobiKwik picks up pace with $50m series C
GMO and MediaTek co-led a round that took the total raised by the mobile payment service, which is also backed by Cisco and American Express, to about $80m.
Zooz secures Access for $24m round
Claltech, the Israeli investment vehicle for Access Industries, contributed to a round that will support expansion and product development for the payment technology provider.
Energy and Natural Resources
The electric vehicle charging network boosted its overall funding to more than $160m in a round backed by strategic partner Constellation Energy.
Transport
Leo stars in Chehejia’s $120m funding round
Leo Group has committed $54m to a funding round for electric vehicle producer Chehejia in return for an 11.75% stake in the company.
Via takes the scenic route for $100m
The on-demand urban transit system has closed $70m in a Hearst-backed series C round, and plans to raise a further $30m before it closes.
Services
GotIt gets $9m answer from investors
The on-demand knowledge app and Intel Education accelerator graduate has revealed $9m of funding across a Fosun-backed seed round and series A round.
World View to expand with $15m
World View has raised $15m in a Tencent-backed series B round that will support the development and commercial adoption of its high-altitude balloons.
O’Reilly Media returned for the ocean freight booking platform’s series A round, after contributing to its $3m seed round.
Assent Compliance reaches new heights with $20m
OpenText participated in Assent Compliance’s latest funding round, which will be used to hire an additional 100 staff members, through its Enterprise Application Fund.