Corporates from the IT sector invested in large multimillion-dollar rounds, raised by enterprises from a variety of sectors – telecoms, consumer, transport, health and IT itself.
Read the rest of the IT sector report
- Tech companies slow investment activities
- Deals in the IT sector
- Exits for IT sector investors
- New corporate IT sector funds
- Deals for university spinouts in the IT sector
- People moves
Waymo, the autonomous driving technology developer spun off by Alphabet, raised $2.5bn in funding from investors including its former parent company. Automotive retailer AutoNation and automotive component manufacturer Magna International also took part in the round, as did investment and financial services group Fidelity Management & Research. Sovereign wealth funds Mubadala and Temasek filled out the round together with Andreessen Horowitz, among other investors. Waymo is developing an autonomous driving system called Waymo Driver for use in driverless vehicles in the taxi, package delivery and freight industries. It has launched an autonomous taxi service in the US city of Phoenix and has a logistics offshoot dubbed Waymo Via.
Indonesia-headquartered logistics provider J&T Express has received $2.5bn in funding from investors including Tencent. Boyu Capital, Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital China also contributed to the round while one of the sources named SIG China, a subsidiary of quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group, as an additional participant. J&T operates an express delivery and warehousing business focused on the e-commerce space, which has boomed in Indonesia with the entry of domestic online platforms such as Tokopedia, Bukalapak and Sociolla in recent years.
US-based fusion energy technology developer Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) raised over $1.8bn in a series B round featuring Alphabet and petroleum suppliers Eni and Equinor. Tiger Global Management led the round, which attracted family office Jimco’s Technology Fund, The Engine, Coatue Management, DFJ Growth, Emerson Collective, Footprint Coalition, JS Capital, Time Ventures, Future Ventures, Senator Investment Group and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Alphabet and Equinor participated in the round through GV and Equinor Ventures, and it was filled out by private investors Bill Gates and John Doerr. Founded in 2018 and spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, CFS is working on nuclear fusion technology that generates electricity by fusing two nuclei – rather than splitting an atom, as in current nuclear power stations.
China-based semiconductor technology developer Horizon Robotics raised $1.5bn in series C7 funding from electronic parts manufacturer BOE Technology and chipmaker Will Semiconductor. The round was reportedly secured at a $5bn valuation, and it came after a $300m series C6 round at an unspecified time that included Legend Capital, the venture capital firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, as well as investment firm Huangpu River Capital and unnamed other entities. Founded in 2015, Horizon is working on artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm-equipped chips for applications in areas including autonomous mobility, security cameras and internet-of-things devices.
US-headquartered cybersecurity software provider Lacework received $1.3bn in funding from investors including data software producer Snowflake and mass media group Liberty Global. The corporates participated in the round, which valued the company at $8.3bn, through subsidiaries Liberty Global Ventures and Snowflake Ventures. Its overall funding now stands at about $1.9bn. Lacework has created a software platform which automates the collection, analysis and correlation of data to seek out crucial security events. The deal follows the company’s acquisition of data-focused cybersecurity platform developer Soluble and the capital will fund product development, hiring and international growth.
Food delivery service provider Delivery Hero paid $235m to lead a series C round for Germany-based on-demand grocery shopping platform Gorillas sized at almost $1bn. Delivery Hero acquired an 8% stake in Gorillas through the round, which included Tencent as well as investors including Coatue Management, DST Global and Dragoneer, valuing it at $3.1bn post-money. Gorillas has built an online platform that allows users to buy groceries in nearly 60 cities across nine markets which include multiple European countries and the United States, with a delivery time of 10 minutes.
Germany-based digital bank N26, which counts Tencent and insurance provider Allianz as backers, raised over $900m in series E funding, at a valuation of more than $9bn post-money. Third Point Ventures, the venture Capital arm of investment adviser Third Point, led the round and was joined by Coatue Management, Dragoneer Investment Group and unnamed existing investors. N26 operates a mobile bank through an app which offers fee-free card payments around the globe and push notifications for transactions. It is currently on track to process $90bn in transaction volume for 2021 and is planning to hire 1,000 new staff.
Byju’s, the India-based education services provider which counts corporates Tencent, Naspers and Bennett Coleman & Co (BCC) among its investors, secured $800m in funding at a valuation of $22bn. The round was reportedly led by Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran to the tune of $400m, while BlackRock, Sumeru Ventures and Vitruvian Partners filled out the participants. Founded in 2011, Byju’s operates an online platform that provides a range of study resources including mock exams for students of all ages.
US-based workplace connected apps platform Airtable raised $735m in series F funding backed by Salesforce’s corporate venturing subsidiary Salesforce Ventures, taking its valuation to $11bn. XN led the round, which also included Franklin Templeton, JP Morgan’s Growth Equity Partners unit, MSD Capital, Silver Lake, funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price Associates, Benchmark, Caffeinated Capital, Iconiq Growth, Coatue Management, Thrive Capital, D1 Capital Partners and Greenoaks.
India-based food ordering service Swiggy has secured $700m in a series K round featuring internet groups Prosus and Smile Group. Investment firm Invesco led the round, participating alongside financial services firms India Infoline and Kotak as well as Baron Capital Group, Sumeru Venture, Axis Growth, Sixteenth Street Capital, Ghisallo, Segantii Capital, Alpha Wave Global, Qatar Investment Authority and Ark Impact. Founded in 2014, Swiggy provides a machine learning-equipped on-demand delivery platform that enables users to order food from hundreds of thousands of local restaurants across some 500 Indian cities. It has more than 5,000 employees and 200,000 on-the-road delivery staff members.
There were other interesting deals in emerging IT-focused businesses that received financial backing from corporate investors from the same and other sectors.
Chipone Technology, a China-headquartered manufacturer of chips for electronic display panels, has raised in excess of RMB6.5bn ($1bn) in series E financing from investors including smartphone producer Vivo at a valuation of over $4.7bn, DealStreetAsia has reported. Oceanpine Capital led the round, which also featured Unic Capital Management, CCB Private Equity Investment Management, GGV Capital, Prosperity Investment, Citic Private Equity, Beijing Singularity Power Investment Management and Silk Road Huachuang Investment Management.
1Password, a Canada-based password management service backed by enterprise messaging software producer Slack, raised $650m in Series C funding in a deal, which featured by Salesforce Ventures and the Slack Fund. The deals was led by Iconiq Capital and put the company’s pre-money valuation at $6.18bn. Founded in 2005, 1Password has built an online platform that helps create and manage passwords across websites and apps, and save business information such as documents and credit card details. The funds will be used to go even deeper around meeting security needs for B2B customers.
UK-based customer engagement software provider Genesys secured $580m from investors including Zoom, forming part of a significantly expanded portfolio for the video conferencing platform developer in 2021. Salesforce led the round through Salesforce Ventures at a $21bn valuation and was also joined by fellow enterprise software producer ServiceNow (through ServiceNow Ventures), BlackRock, D1 Capital Partners and an unnamed US-based mutual fund manager. Genesys has developed a software platform which enables businesses to orchestrate their customer experience activities across multiple channels. The funding will support its international expansion.
US-based asset transfer infrastructure operator Fireblocks raised $550m in series E funding from investors including Alphabet’s CapitalG unit. Investment group D1 Capital Partners and venture capital firm Spark Capital co-led the round, which included General Atlantic, Index Ventures, Mammoth, Altimeter Capital, Iconiq Strategic Partners, Canapi Ventures and Parafi Growth Fund. Founded in 2018, Fireblocks operates a secure multi-party computation-equipped cryptocurrency platform that helps enterprise users make digital transactions quickly and safely. The round lifted its total funding to $1bn and its valuation to $8bn, making it the world’s most valuable digital asset network operator, it said.
UK-headquartered cybersecurity technology developer Snyk secured $530m in a series F round featuring project management technology provider Atlassian, chemical and energy group Koch Industries and Salesforce. Atlassian Ventures, Koch Strategic Platforms and Salesforce Ventures represented the corporates in the round, which valued Snyk at $8.5bn. Founded in 2015, Snyk has built a cloud-based IT security software tool, Developer Security Platform, which helps app developers create safer products. Some 1,200 organisations including Asurion, Google, Intuit, Revolut and Salesforce use the company’s platform and its total funding stands at $775m.
