Weekly corporate venturing deal net 31 October – 4 November 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
Portag3 secures trio of limited partners
Power Financial Corporation, IGM Financial and Great West-Lifeco have provided the capital for Canada-based fintech fund Portag3.
Kuang-Chi adds $250m to CVC investment capacity
The technology development group has established a $250m second corporate venturing fund, less than six months after its $50m first fund.
Alibaba to cultivate $1.5bn fund
Alibaba is set to launch a fund aimed at China’s media industry as it also explores the creation of a new subsidiary that would support the digitisation of the cultural sector.
AgTech Accelerator speeds to $20m
Elanco joined existing backers including Bayer and Syngenta to add $8.5m to the accelerator’s capital reserves, boosting them to $20m.
Hain Celestial to cultivate startups
The organic foods producer will invest in startups and incubate new brands through a division dubbed Cultivate Ventures.
Relay reaches next leg with $150m third fund
US Cellular and Royal Bank of Canada are among the limited partners in venture capital firm Relay Ventures’ third fund, which has already made 10 investments.
Keen raises peachy $100m for first fund
Dutch corporates KPN and ING have contributed to the first fund to be raised by newly launched European venture firm Keen Venture Partners.
Annexus seeks exits from corporate venturing vehicle
Insurance firm Annexus will fund insurtech, fintech and software startups through a venture capital firm called Annexus Ventures.
SoftBank to make space in its Vision for Mubadala
Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company is in talks with SoftBank for a multi-billion dollar investment in its Vision Fund, which has set a $100bn target.
People
Solibieda proves the right material for BASF
Markus Solibieda has left private equity firm Mandarin Capital Partners to become managing director at BASF Venture Capital.
Exits
Enea reaches Qosmos in $58m deal
GFK has exited network intelligence software producer Qosmos in a $58m acquisition, eight years after it invested.
Quantenna picks up $107m signal from public markets
Vivint and telecom companies Telefónica, Swisscom and NTT exited the wifi technology producer, which floated at the top of its range.
Lazada goes shopping for Redmart
Online grocery Redmart has raised about $55m from backers including SoftBank and Garena but could reportedly be acquired by Lazada for as little as $30m.
Nitrous to take last breath next month
Tibco Software-backed cloud coding environment developer Nitrous had raised almost $8m but will shutter its service in mid-November.
Lazada collects Redmart in $50m deal
SoftBank and Garena will exit the Singaporean online grocer, which had aimed to raise $100m in funding earlier this year, in a purchase reportedly sized at $50m.
IT
Bosch and Samsung find their way to Graphcore
Artificial intelligence technology developer Graphcore has raised $30m in an RBVC-led series A round that also included Samsung Catalyst Fund.
Emissary announces $10m in series A capital
Emissary has launched its business intelligence platform and added $10m to a $2m seed round backed by Alphabet subsidiary GV and The New York Times.
Freshdesk works its way to $55m
Google Capital-backed Freshdesk has secured funding in a Sequoia Capital India and Accel Partners-backed series F round, taking its overall funding to $150m.
Atlas Recall maps out Microsoft-backed round
Microsoft has contributed to a $20.7m round for Atlas Recall, the developer of a personal search engine that surfaces data from across a user’s devices.
Siemens, ManTech, Mitsui and Alcatel-Lucen have contributed to a round that took the enterprise cybersecurity company’s overall funding to nearly $65m.
Health
Promethera relights series C round
Cell therapy developer Promethera Biosciences has raised $11m that will be inserted into an existing series C round featuring Mitsui, Boehringer Ingelheim and LifeLiver.
Avizia screens NewYork-Presbyterian in $17m series A
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and HealthQuest Capital provided $6m to help the telehealth technology developer complete its series A round.
CVC units Brace Pharma Capital and MRL Ventures were among the investors as MiRagen took its total funding to $115m and agreed to acquire Signal Genetics.
NantOmics provided the funding for Genos as it gets ready to commercially launch its exome sequencing service.
Media
Wochit reports $13m funding round
ProSiebenSat.1 and Singapore Press Holdings have joined Wochit’s list of shareholders following their contribution to a $13m funding round.
GV helps invest $72m in a Giphy
Searchable GIF platform Giphy, which is also backed by CAA, increased its venture funding to $150m inside three years and is now valued at $600m.
Consumer
The round was led by Shenzhen Topband and followed a $12.6m series A+ round last year that included Legend Holdings and Mediatek.
Base jumps at chance of $14.3m
The CyberAgent and Mercari-backed e-commerce platform raised the money from backers including the strategic investment units of SBI Holdings and SMBC.
Social dating app provider Paktor has attracted capital from mass media company Media Nusantara Citra, which previously contributed to a $10m round this past July.
Investors share $65m with Xiaozhu
The amount was spread across two rounds, with corporate venture capital unit Bertelsmann Asia Investments co-leading the series D round.
AI-equipped smart home device developer Rokid has taken its total funding to more than $70m with a series B round that included IDG Capital Partners.
Unilever goes for the Gousto in $12.5m round
Recipe delivery service Gousto has increased its total funding to more than $37m after existing backer Unilever Ventures invested for a third time.
Temasek is set to lead a $500m funding round for the Legend Holdings-backed mobile commerce company that is expected to close within weeks.
Financial
Goldman Sachs looks to NanoPay in $10m series A
Digital payment platform developer NanoPay secured the funding in a round featuring Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division.
Conketa channels Femsa for series A round
Online payment technology company Conketa has secured beverage producer Femsa for a $6.6m round.
Munich Re picks up Relayr investment baton
Relayr has secured $23m in a round led by reinsurer Munich Re as part of a strategic partnership, taking the internet-of-things technology developer’s total funding to more than $36m.
Salesforce Ventures returned for the fundraising platform’s series C round, having contributed to its $18m series B last year.
Phunware ramps up series F financing to $40m
PLDT Capital joined WWE and other investors for the $22m second tranche of a round expected to close at $50m by the end of 2016.
Droit gets compliance from financial sector for $16m round
Droit has received money from investors such as DRW, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs to expand internationally and will start by opening an office in Singapore.
Energy and Natural Resources
Evans Properties, Agro-Iron and Shrieve were among the investors in a round that will help the fertiliser producer prepare to build a second manufacturing plant.
Transport
Cuna Mutual Group’s CMFG Ventures unit has led a round that will help the car repair insurance marketplace extend its offering.
Toyota-backed fund Mirai Creation Investment supplied the funding as part of a strategic partnership agreed by the carmaker and car sharing platform Getaround.
Ola aims for $600m in new funding
Existing investor SoftBank will reportedly participate and could lead the round, which would lift the ride hailing company’s overall funding to more than $1.8bn.
Services
Legend Star, which also took part in the education mobile app producer’s angel and series A rounds, has returned to contribute to its $15m series B.
IDG Capital enters Kr Space in $30m round
Kr Space, a co-working spinout of 36Kr, has received $30m in series B funding from IDG Capital Partners and Prometheus Capital.