The past 12 months have been a particularly big year for ride-hailing services such as Uber, Ola, Didi Kuaidi and GrabTaxi, which secured a combined total of more than $10bn in funding. However, corporates from the transport and logistics sector were entirely absent from the biggest deals, including China-based Didi Kuaidi’s $3bn round, which instead featured e-commerce company Alibaba, insurance firm Ping An and internet company Tencent, among others.
Alibaba and Tencent had originally backed Kuaidi Dache and Didi Dache, respectively, before the two services decided to merge in February 2015 to form Didi Kuaidi and take on Uber’s local subsidiary.
Not to be outdone, Uber China also announced it was extending its $1bn round, reportedly backed by internet company Baidu, insurance providers Ping An and China Life Insurance, hedge fund Hillhouse Capital and financial services firm China Citic Bank, to $2.5bn. Notably, corporate backers from the transport sector were absent from this round as well.
People
Premla Krishnan, former office manager of car manufacturer Volvo’s corporate venturing subsidiary Volvo Group Venture Capital, has joined CPAC Systems, a systems integration company within the Volvo Group. She had held her previous position since 2011. Krishnan will work in CPAC’s Strategy, Communications and Research division.
Renee DiResta has joined shipping service startup Haven, stepping down from her job as a principal at O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, the investment arm of media company O’Reilly Media.
Tim Dombrowski, previously a partner at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, has joined aerospace company Airbus’ new corporate venturing unit Airbus Group Ventures as its chief executive.
Concurrently, Paul Eremenko has joined Airbus to be chief executive of its Silicon Valley innovation centre. He previously served as a director of engineering at conglomerate Alphabet’s Advanced Technology and Projects division.
Funds
France-based automotive parts supplier Valeo invested an undisclosed amount in the Sino French Innovation Fund. The fund has a target of $281m and is managed by private equity firm Cathay Capital, which obtained a $112m cornerstone investment from government-owned financial services firm China Development Bank and France’s sovereign wealth fund BPIfrance in July 2014.
Airbus, the France-based aerospace company, has joined the corporate venturing world with a $150m commitment to its new unit Airbus Group Ventures. The investment vehicle was established alongside a technology and business innovation centre in Silicon Valley, California, and will aim to help Airbus increase its global reach by investing in startups working in the aircraft and communications technology sectors.
A host of corporates, including airport operator Schiphol Group, airline company KLM and rail network manager NS Dutch Railways have backed the $20m Mainport Innovation Fund II. The fund is also supported by Delft University of Technology, Port of Amsterdam and the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Seed Capital initiative. Financial services firm Rabobank, which had backed the fund’s predecessor, decided not to return.
The Sino-French Innovation Fund will seek to invest in startups in the smart transportation, connected car, internet, mobile, big data, internet of things, advertising and marketing, software, cloud, security, gaming, media, social network and business-to-business applications sectors.
Automotive manufacturer Ford Motor Company, auto parts supplier Magna International and Verizon Telematics, a connected car subsidiary of telecoms firm Verizon, joined forces with accelerator Techstars to invest in mobility and transportation companies. Dubbed Techstars Mobility, the program will choose a total of 10 startups.
The startups will each receive $120,000 in seed funding, provided by Fontinalis Partners, Detroit Venture Partners and Renaissance Venture Capital, and access to the three corporates.
Deals
Ride hailing service Didi Kuaidi took part in a $680m series E round for its US-based counterpart Lyft, alongside e-commerce company Alibaba, internet company Tencent, diversified holding firm Icahn Enterprises and internet company Rakuten, which led the initial tranche of $530m. Lyft has picked up approximately $1bn so far.
OneWeb, which is creating a network of satellites with the aim of providing internet access across the world, raised $500m from Airbus, satellite communication provider Intelsat, wireless communications technology developer Qualcomm, conglomerates Virgin and Bharti Enterprise and beverages producer Coca-Cola Company. Hughes Network Systems, a satellite communications subsidiary of satellite service provider EchoStar, and Totalplay, a broadband and pay TV subsidiary of conglomerate Grupo Salinas, also took part.
OneWeb expects to commercially launch in 2019 and has inked agreements with several of the shareholders. Virgin will help OneWeb through its satellite launch program LauncherOne, while Intelsat will work with the company to make the satellites interoperable. Finally, Airbus and OneWeb will collaborate on the creation of 900 microsatellites.
Meanwhile, Didi Kuaidi also took part in a $500m series F round for India-based counterpart Ola. Telecoms firm SoftBank also participated alongside Baillie Gifford, which led the round, Falcon Edge Capital, Tiger Global Management and DST Global. The company has secured approximately $1.18bn to date.
Staying busy, Didi Kuaidi invested in Singapore-based counterpart GrabTaxi’s $350m series E round, helping to provide a $150m extension with sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation and hedge fund Coatue Management, which had led the initial $200m tranche. SoftBank and Tiger Global had also backed the first part. GrabTaxi has collected some $690m to date, from investors also including online travel agency Qunar.
Logistics firm UPS joined a $135m series E round for online lending marketplace Kabbage. Human resources provider Recruit, financial services firms Santander, ING and Scotiabank, as well as Yuan Capital, BlueRun Ventures and Thomvest Ventures contributed funds. The round was led by Reverence Capital Partners.
Automotive company Audi contributed capital to a €50m ($55m) funding round for Austria-based TTTech, which has created networked safety control technology. Semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies and industrial conglomerate General Electric, through its corporate venturing unit GE Ventures, supported the round. Audi has been a strategic partner of TTTech since 2001 and first committed capital in 2006.
Moovit, a developer of a transit app currently covering more than 700 cities, has received $50m in a series C round including BMW iVentures, the corporate venturing division of automotive company BMW and Keolis, a transport provider majority-owned by railway operator SNCF. Technology company Nokia’s investment unit Nokia Growth Partners, luxury goods producer LVMH-backed Bernard Arnault Group, BRM Group, Gemini Partners and Sequoia Capital also injected cash in the round.