Weekly corporate venturing deal net 18 – 22 July 2016
Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.
Corporate venture changeover in healthcare
Pfizer has leapt to the top of the most active corporate venturing investors in US healthcare deals for the first half of 2016, as Novartis falls out of the top 10.
Fundraising
Santander doubles InnoVentures fund to $200m
Santander has doubled the amount of capital allocated to the UK-based fintech corporate venturing unit it launched two years ago.
Luxembourg seeds digital economy
The government of Luxembourg has launched a seed fund with the support of the private sector to support domestic startups in the digital economy.
Bloomberg Beta doubles capital to $150m with second fund
The Bloomberg-sponsored VC firm has closed its second $75m fund, three years after its first, and will continue to target startups focusing on the future of work.
Brazil sees Algar and Porto Seguro launch funds
A survey found a 16 percentage point rise in the number of Brazilian corporations investing in startups.
People
Gaceta joins Synchrony Financial
Synchrony was US-listed industrial conglomerate GE’s 80-year-old business, which they separated and took public mid-2014.
Exits
Amazon has Cloud9 over the moon
Atlassian-backed cloud collaboration software developer Cloud9 has been purchased by Amazon and will be absorbed into its Amazon Web Services product suite.
Flightcar makes crash landing at Mercedes-Benz
Airport-focused car sharing service Flightcar, which had raised $40m from backers including Priceline, Tencent, Comcast and SoftBank, has shut down and sold its technology to Mercedes-Benz.
ShopClues processes Momoe acquisition
ShopClues has acquired mobile payment startup Momoe for up to $12m, providing an exit to equity holders including IDG Ventures India.
Lookup finds NowFloats for acquisition
The deal provided an exit to Lookup shareholders including DeNA and MKS, and the startup will continue to develop its local retail-focused messaging platform post-acquisition.
Comcast to exit Dollar Shave Club in $1bn acquisition
Dollar Shave Club, which last raised funding in a Comcast Ventures-backed round that valued it at $615m, is to be acquired by Unilever for a reported $1bn in cash.
Postmates greets GV-backed Hey
Postmates has acqui-hired mobile app developer Hey for an undisclosed sum, giving an exit to GV, the unit formerly known as Google Ventures.
Expedia comes over to buy Trover
Concur exited the online travel community three years after it led a $2.5m round through its Perfect Trip Fund.
UCar drives itself to IPO at $5.5bn valuation
Alibaba and Legend Holdings have achieved exits as the chauffeured lift service, spun out of CAR 18 months ago, floated in China.
Intel tracks exit in $67m Impinj IPO
The item tracking technology producer, which has also received funding from UPS and Unilever in the past, floated at the top of its range.
IT
DotC crosses the T’s on $45m series A
Bertelsmann Asia Investments was among the participants in the first external funding round disclosed by DotC United, a mobile app developer spinout of Avazu.
Santander joins Silent Circle in $50m round
Privacy technology provider Silent Circle took its funding to $130m in just over two years with a series C round led by strategic investor Santander.
CyberGRX generates $9m in series A round
The cyber risk management platform has completed its first funding round with the support of Alphabet, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance and TenEleven.
Cisco reaches GuardiCore in $20m series B
Data centre security software provider GuardiCore has now raised a total of $33m since 2013 and secured Cisco Investments as an investor.
Line has funded nine through Collaborative Fund partnership
Collab+Line, the startup funding initiative launched by messaging platform Line and VC firm Collaborative Fund, has backed nine startups including YouNow and Zendrive.
Slack Fund communicates investments in 11 startups
Launched in December with $80m, Slack Fund has now invested a total of nearly $2m in 14 early-stage companies which have raised a total of $30m between them.
Skycure treats itself to $16.5m
Existing backer New York Life came back for the mobile threat defence platform’s series B round, which took its overall funding to $27.5m since 2012.
Hualian provides special effect as FXiaoke raises $70m
The retail group has formed a strategic collaboration agreement with office management technology provider FXiaoke as part of the series E+ round.
Health
Precision Ocular adjusts series A to $20.6m
Hovione Scientia and Consort Medical both contributed capital as Precision Cocular extended a series A round that will fund its pipeline of retinal disease treatments.
CMR receives $20m funding incision
ABB has contributed to a series A round for Cambridge Medical Robotics, a startup working on robot-assisted keyhole surgery.
Nokia helps Lifesum add $10m of funding
Nokia Growth Partners joined existing backer Bauer Media to contribute to a series B round which will help the health tracking app developer expand in the US.
Reflexion shows $52m for series B round
Johnson & Johnson invested $6m to help radiotherapy equipment developer Reflexion Medical close out its Pfizer-backed series B round at $52m.
Celgene chimes in for $57m Oncorus series A
Celgene has supported a funding round for Oncorus, an immuno-oncology treatment developer that is focusing on brain cancer.
Jounce jumps on $36m as part of $2.5bn collaboration deal
Celgene has inked a strategic collaboration agreement with Jounce consisting of $36m in equity, $225m in upfront payment and up to $2.3bn in milestone payments.
Merck and Amgen get Akili Interactive
Akili Interactive Labs has raised $11.9m in an extension from Merck Group and Amgen, raising the round’s total to $42.4m.
Media
US Cellular and existing investor Verizon have participated in a series C round for the mobile marketing company that was led by North Atlantic Capital.
Sprinklr reaches $1.8bn valuation in $105m round
The Intel-backed social media management company took its overall funding to $239m in a round that featured new investors Temasek, EDBI and Wellington Management.
Baobao broadcasts $15m in funding
Tencent took part in the livestreaming platform’s series B+ round, investing together with GGV Capital, Shunwei Capital and Meridian Capital China.
Consumer
Tencent joins Pinduoduo’s investor group in $110m round
Pinduoduo, a startup operating an online group buying platform, has raised series B funding, after growing its service using Tencent’s WeChat app.
Chernin Group has returned to lead the follow-on to a series B round it had already invested in, along with WME, Live Nation and Universal Music, bringing Doppler’s total funding to $50m.
Global Fashion Group cuts its cloth with $363m
The Tengelmann and Access Industries-backed Global Fashion Group has raised the money from Rocket Internet and its RICP fund in a down round at a $1.1bn valuation.
Financial
CommonBond concludes academic year with $30m
Nelnet-backed CommonBond has attracted $30m in series C equity, secured $300m in debt financing and acquired student loan management platform Gradible.
Omise unifies Sinar Mas and Ascend for $17.5m
The payment services provider hopes to expand across Southeast Asia following its series B round, which featured SBI, Sinar Mas and Ascend Group.
Ant Financial pops up as M-Daq investor
Details about Ant Financial’s backing, unveiled today, remain scarce but it was likely part of the $87m series C round M-Daq closed in November 2015.
Transport
Ford seals Civil Maps partnership at seed stage
Civil Maps, a startup working on autonomous car mapping technology, has raised $6.6m in a seed round that will fund product development.
Protean Electric wheels in $70m
The in-wheel electric motor developer has welcomed Tianjin THSG Corporation and new strategic partner VIE Science & Technology as backers, and will now scale up its manufacturing.
Services
Amplero makes noise with $8m series A
Salesforce Ventures contributed to the series A round for the Globys spinout, which also received funding from its parent company.
Telkom Indonesia leads $10m aCommerce round
The e-commerce services provider has added the telecom group to a range of backers including Sinar Mas, Sumitomo, Asia Pacific Digital, NTT Docomo and CyberAgent.
YouDo takes Sistema approach for series C
Sistema has led a $6.2m series C round that will help contractor recruitment platform YouDo expand into the US, Europe and Asia.
Legend Capital settles down at Udesk
Customer service provider Udesk has added a $15m series B round led by Legend Holdings’ corporate venturing unit to $3m from DCM last year.