September saw the industry return from their summer holidays with a bang with a record 90 deals involving corporate venturing struck last month.
Corporate venturing units were part of the investment consortium in rounds worth at least $900m. The deals were primarily in the US, according to detailed research by Global Corporate Venturing, which also benefited from a number of strong exits, including the $350m sale of Blue Mountain Energy by Dutch utility Nuon and oil major BP to peer NRG Energy.
The energy and clean-tech sector, the focus of the feature in this month’s issue of Global Corporate Venturing, saw 10 deals last month with undisclosed investors extending the $26m series D round for corporate venturing-backed BrightSource Energy in the largest investment in the sector.
Information technology dominated the deal activity with 35 transactions, twice the healthcare and media totals of 17 in each sector.