Weekly corporate venturing deal net 13 – 17 June 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Global Venturing Review of the week’s highlights
Cisco is the main news of the past week but there’s been plenty of fund launches and deals struck.
Aliad reveals four CVC investments
Air Liquide’s corporate venturing unit has invested in Carmat, Poly-Shape and Solidia Technologies so far in 2016, as well as Inpria.
Fundraising
Philips rejoins Gilde for $280m Fund IV
Investment firm Gilde Healthcare has closed its latest fund, which features Royal Philips as cornerstone investor and Johnson & Johnson as a limited partner.
Cathay helps free Vivo’s $100m Panda Fund
Vivo Capital’s Panda Fund has attracted commitments from Cathay Life Insurance and Taiwan Silicon Valley Technology Fund, as well as financial institutions and family offices.
Razer to head up $5m virtual reality fund
The fund, deployed through the OSVR initiative, will provide funding support to VR content developers.
CapitaLand builds $74m corporate venturing unit
C31 Ventures will make strategic investments in areas of interest to the Singapore-based property developer, and has already committed $11m to a state-run fund.
4Di receives Exponential support for VC fund
MMI Holdings’ Exponential Ventures unit is the largest limited partner in a $16.5m fund closed by South Africa-based venture capital firm 4Di Capital.
Phoenix rises with $60m partnership
Phoenix Group has partnered Arkin Holdings to establish a strategic collaboration that will focus on pharmaceutical and biotechnology investments.
High-Tech Gründerfonds launches $338m fund
Germany’s public-private VC fund HTGF sets out to fundraise its third investment vehicle since 2005, with a target size slightly below that of the preceding fund.
People
Citi’s Hopkins to retire this year
In 2008, Deborah Hopkins was given the new role of chief innovation officer – one of the first with the title globally and for which she won the GCV award in January – and Hopkins has served as Citi Ventures’ CEO since it was launched in Palo Alto, California, at the start of the decade.
Hassid rejoins Kashyap at Microsoft
Israel is Microsoft Ventures’ first international office outside of the US.
Exits
DraftKings and FanDuel mull billion-dollar merger
The daily fantasy sports businesses have raised a total of almost $750m from investors including Alphabet, Fox Sports, Time Warner, Comcast and NBC.
Move Loot delivers acquisition news
The second-hand furniture marketplace, backed by Alphabet and IDG, is in talks to be acquired by an as-yet unnamed “symbiotic company”.
OneLogin moors itself in Portadi
OneLogin has bought cloud app management software developer Portadi for an undisclosed amount, a year after it graduated from Microsoft Ventures Accelerator.
One Kings Lane goes to Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond has acquired Scripps-backed home furnishings flash sales platform One Kings Lane for a sum likely to be far less than its $912m series E valuation.
Bloomberg-backed ThinkUp to shut down
The social media data provider will close its service next month due to features introduced by the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter making its service unnecessary.
Samsung to take pride in Joyent acquisition
Intel, Liberty Global and Telefónica are set to exit cloud infrastructure company Joyent, which had raised $125m, through an acquisition by Samsung.
AMS hits the gas on CMOS Sensors acquisition
Marshall Group is set to exit gas sensor technology producer CMOS after the agreement of an acquisition by AMS.
China Online Education writes final IPO script
The Duowan Entertainment-backed English language learning platform has raised $45.6m in a US initial public offering and will secure another $20m through a private placement.
IT
The log management technology provider has now received more than $47m in total venture funding, raising capital from investors including returning backer Cisco.
Jivox welcomes You & Mr Jones in $6m round
Branding services holding company You & Mr Jones has led a $6m round for digital marketing company Jivox, which will put the money towards sales, marketing and platform development.
Barefoot Networks kicks up $130m
The network switch technology company has come out of stealth with $130m of funding, $57m of which came from a recent round co-led by Google.
The micro app development platform has completed an early-stage round featuring existing investor Bloomberg Beta.
Lumus augments funding with $15m
The AR display developer, backed by Motorola in 2005, has raised new funding from investors including Crystal-Optech and will use it to scale manufacturing.
Corporates go Meta in $50m series B
Meta, an AR technology company already backed by BOE Optoelectronics, has added Comcast, Tencent, Lenovo and GQY to its list of shareholders.
Health
League joins series A club with $25m
Manulife Financial, Power Financial Corporation and Royal Bank of Canada have contributed funding to digital health insurance platform League’s series A round.
Talkspace puts itself on series B regime
SoftBank has returned for Talkspace’s $15m series B round after co-leading a $9.5m series A for the on-demand therapy service last year.
HCA subsidiary Health Insight Capital co-led healthcare efficiency software developer Procured Health’s latest round, raising its total funding to about $15m.
Suneva fills in cash reserves with $25m
Suneva has now raised more than $140m in debt and equity in total, and will use the capital to keep commercialising its skincare products.
Blade helps itself to $45m slice
Johns Hopkins University spinout Blade Therapeutics has attracted $45m in commitments from investors including Pfizer, Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Rgenix generates $33m in series B round
Novo and Sofinnova Partners have co-led a series B round for Rgenix, which is preparing to enter two immunotherapies into clinical trials this autumn.
Media
Twitter floats $70m over to SoundCloud
Music streaming service SoundCloud secured the funding as part of a $100m series E round it is raising at a $700m valuation.
Yotpo regains Access in $22m series C
The content-based marketing platform took its total funding above $50m in an Access Industries-backed round that will fund hiring and product development.
Collective Media assembles $34m in investment
The adtech company, backed by Cox Media and Samsung, has increased its total funding by $34m to support further development of its enterprise advertising hub.
Hengxin makes $23m in funding a reality for VRC
Hengxin Mobile Business has provided capital for Virtual Reality Company as part of an agreement that will give it exclusive distribution rights for its content in China.
Consumer
Fenqile consumes $235m in series C round
An undisclosed Chinese insurance provider has co-led a series C round for Fenqile, whose shareholders also include JD.com and Bertelsmann.
Anatwine ties up $12m in funding
Existing shareholder Zalando increased its stake in the fashion e-commerce network, contributing an undisclosed amount to its latest funding round.
The IDG Capital-backed baby and infant product marketplace has closed its second $100m round in under 18 months, again at a $1bn valuation.
Corporates help cart $5.3m to Carro
Singtel Innov8 and GMO Venture Partners have helped supply funds for Carro’s series A round, which will help its expansion across Southeast Asia.
Financial
Investors credit Payoff with new funding
Tencent-backed Payoff has secured $46.7m out of a round expected to reach $67.4m, adding to the $38.4m in capital it had previously raised.
FinLeap reaches new heights with Hannover Re backing
The reinsurance firm has taken part in a $23.6m round for fintech company builder FinLeap that was closed at a $136m post-money valuation.
Transport
UPS hits Roadie for $15m series B
App-based courier service Roadie has raised $15m in a UPS-backed round that will be used to grow its capacity and distribution network.
China Life transfers $600m to Didi Chuxing
The insurance firm, also an investor in Uber, has supplied $300 in equity and $305m in debt financing for the ride hailing company, which has now raised $3.5bn in its latest round.
Didi Chuxing closes mammoth $7.3bn financing round
The round consisted of $4.5bn in equity funding from Apple, China Life Insurance, Tencent, SoftBank, Alibaba and Ant Financial, and an additional $2.8bn in debt.