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Deals
Global Corporate Venturing
By far the biggest deal of the past week comes from China, where Ant Financial, the financial services affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba, is set to raise more than $3.1bn at a valuation of $60bn.
Alibaba meanwhile also injected an undisclosed sum in China-based food delivery service Ele.me. The investment was first reported in December 2015 and pegged at $1.25bn at a $4.5bn valuation, though details haven’t been confirmed yet.
Another company that’s collected a lot of cash is real estate services provider Lianjia, which has hit a $6.2bn valuation following a $927m round backed by Tencent and Baidu.
Meanwhile, genomics research company Human Longevity, which launched two years ago with $70m from a consortium featuring Illumina, has added a $220m series B round that saw Illumina return and Celgene and GE join.
Slack, the work communications platform, received $200m in fresh funding from investors such as GV and Comcast Ventures, boosting its total to $540m. GCV news editor Robert Lavine took a closer look at the deal in a Big Deal feature article, which I do recommend checking out on globalcorporateventuring.com.
Africa Internet Group, the e-commerce holding group formed by Rocket Internet in 2012 to oversee a variety of platforms in Africa and the Middle East, has added Orange to its investors, securing $85m as part of a strategic partnership agreement.
Global University Venturing
The week’s biggest deal was a $46m series D round for diagnostics platform developer Quanterix. I wrote a Big Deal feature article about the round, which you can find on GlobalUniversityVenturing.com
Global Government Venturing
International Finance Corporation joins Kreditech’s series C round with an $11m commitment, boosting the round to $105m.
Exits
Global Corporate Venturing
Onefinestay, which closed a $40m series D backed by Intel and Hyatt Hotels in June 2015, also received a $73m investment from AccorHotels as part of the deal.
Mars Petcare acquired Smart dog collar developer Whistle for a reported $117m.
Aeglea Biotherapeutics raised $50m in an offering on Nasdaq providing investors Novartis and Eli Lilly with exits.
Global Government Venturing
Oneview Healthcare, an Ireland-based healthcare software developer backed by Enterprise Ireland, has listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), raising A$62.4m ($48m). The company priced its shares at A$3.58, resulting in a market cap of A$208.5m.
Wikihow, a US-based online learning community, has acquired Enterprise Ireland-backed Guidecentral, a US-based company that provides how-to guides and tutorials for DIY projects. Financial terms of the transaction have not been revealed. Guidecentral will continue to operate as a stand-alone brand.
Funds
Singapore-based venture capital firm Monk’s Hill Ventures has closed its first fund at $85m, securing networking equipment manufacturer Cisco, telecommunications firm Telstra and internet company Yahoo Japan as limited partners.
Teralys Capital, a Canada-based fund manager, has held the final close of its Teralys Capital Innovation Fund at C$375m ($288m) that was established under Canada’s Venture Capital Action Plan (VCAP) in collaboration with the government of Quebec.
People
Basil Darwish has left Citi Ventures, after five years in senior vice-president roles, for Wells Fargo where he will act as director of strategic investments.
Jack Young, formerly of Qualcomm Ventures and number two in the 2016 Rising Stars List of Global Corporate Venturing, is joining Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners. If you want to know more about Young’s decision to join DTCP, check out our interview with him on globalcorporateventuring.com
“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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