Tag: Flexport

14 February 2022 – D-Wave Agrees to $1.6bn Reverse Merger

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D-Wave agrees to $1.6bn reverse merger

D-Wave Systems, a Canada-based quantum computing technology developer backed by IT equipment producer NEC, agreed to a $1.6bn reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company DPCM Capital.

Flexport receives $935m funding haul

Logistics services platform developer Flexport raised $935m in a series E round featuring internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s Vision Fund and e-commerce software provider Shopify at a post-money valuation of $8bn.

WNBA makes $75m funding shot

US-based professional women’s basketball league WNBA raised $75m from investors including sports apparel brand Nike, helping expand funding for a sport where coverage and sponsorship are lacking.

Scandit captures $150m in series D round

Data capture technology developer Scandit closed a $150m series D round featuring Alphabet, Sony, Swisscom and Schneider Electric.

Polygon picks up $450m

Polygon, an India-based blockchain scaling technology developer, secured $450m through a private token sale featuring SoftBank, blockchain entertainment product developer Animoca Brands and quantitative trading firm Alameda Research.

Qredo to scale with $80m

Qredo, a UK-based provider of decentralised digital asset management technology, completed an $80m series A round featuring cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and blockchain technology developers Terraform Labs and Ava Labs.

Infinity Ventures Crypto closes $70m fund

Animoca Brands and payments services provider Circle have backed Taiwan-based venture capital firm Infinity Ventures Crypto (IVC)’s maiden fund, which closed with $70m in commitments.

Intel introduces $1bn semiconductor technology fund

Intel Capital, the corporate venturing arm of chipmaker Intel, launched a $1bn investment vehicle with its semiconductor fabrication business, Intel Foundry Services (IFS).

GBA Fund progresses towards $257m close

Greater Bay Area Fund (GBA Fund), an investment vehicle formed by e-commerce firm Alibaba’s Entrepreneurs Fund (AEF), is set to close at about $257m by mid-2022.

NGP Capital nets $400m from Nokia

Smartphone manufacturer Nokia has provided $400m in capital for the latest fund closed by NGP Capital, the US-based venture capital firm that it had spun off.

UTokyo IPC achieves $221m close

University of Tokyo Innovation Platform (UTokyo IPC), the venture capital arm of University of Tokyo, announced the final close of its second fund at $221m with backing from several corporate LPs.

“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

06 December 2021 — Essentium Shines with $974m Reverse Merger

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Essentium shines with $974m reverse merger

Essentium, a US-based additive manufacturing technology developer backed by chemicals producer BASF and 3D printing software provider Materialise, agreed to list through a reverse takeover.

Selina seals reverse merger deal

Selina, a US-based operator of short-term accommodation and co-working spaces, agreed a reverse takeover with a SPAC called BOA Acquisition Corp, which went public on the New York stock exchange in a $200m IPO in February this year.

Jobandtalent recruits SoftBank for $500m series E

Spain-based temporary job portal operator Jobandtalent has raised $500m in series E equity funding from investors including telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems sparks $1.8bn series B

US-based fusion energy technology developer Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised more than $1.8bn in a its series B round featuring internet technology conglomerate Alphabet and petroleum suppliers Eni and Equinor.

Panther Labs roars to $120m series B

Security analytics platform developer Panther Labs received $120m in a series B round featuring Snowflake Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of data management software provider Snowflake, at a $1.4bn valuation.

CyCognito hacks $100m funding round

Cybersecurity software provider CyCognito received $100m in funding from investors including diversified conglomerate The Heritage Group at a valuation of $800m.

WM Motor refuels with $457m

China-based electric vehicle manufacturer WM Motor secured $152m in a series D2 round led by property developer Agile Group.

Via drives to $130m series G round

US-based mobility technology provider Via secured $130m in a series G round featuring conglomerate Koch Industries’ corporate venturing subsidiary, Koch Disruptive Technologies, at a $3.3bn valuation.

CloudTrucks floats to $115m series B

Freight forwarder Flexport took part in a $115m series B round for US-based trucking efficiency software provider CloudTrucks, valuing it at $850m.

Zepeto secures $190m in series B

South Korea-based metaverse platform Zepeto has raised approximately $190m in a series B round led by telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund II.

Drone Fund 3 flies to final close

Japan-based, drone-focused investment firm Drone Fund has received the equivalent of $44.2m from multiple investors to close its third and latest fund at its $95m target.

Allegion Ventures allocates $100m to second fund

Allegion Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Ireland-headquartered security equipment producer Allegion, announced a $100m second fund, which will invest in developers of technology capable of making buildings safer.

Legend Capital lets in $177m for healthcare fund

Legend Capital, the China-headquartered venture capital firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, reached a $177m first close of its third US dollar-denominated healthcare fund.

“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

07 May 2018 – Tencent Leads $820m Series C for UBTech

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Deals

Baidu has spun off the likes of Baidu Video and Zuoyebang in recent years, and video streaming platform iQiyi, in which Baidu owned a majority stake, raised $2.25bn in an IPO in March. The latest deal involves the corporate’s financial services subsidiary, Du Xiaoman, which has raised $1.9bn from investors including Taikang, $1bn of which will go straight to Baidu.

Tencent has led an $820m series C round for consumer robotics developer UBTech that valued it at about $5bn.

Online education has been one of the most notable growth areas in China’s VC space and things appear to be heating up. VIPKid, the operator of a tutoring platform that utilises international teachers, is reportedly looking to secure $500m at a $3bn valuation, double that at which it raised money in a Tencent-backed series C round just eight months ago.

Indian insurance comparison portal PolicyBazaar is close to raising $200m in a round that will be led by a $150m investment by SoftBank Vision Fund.

SF Express, the largest player in China’s logistics sector, has invested $100m in Flexport, the operator of a freight services platform that covers land, air and sea along with adjacent services.

SoundHound raised $75m from a corporate-heavy investor group early last year, and now it’s added $100m from Tencent, Daimler, Orange, Midea Group and Hyundai Motor Company at a reported valuation of more than $1bn.

Masterclass, the online education platform equipped with a host of famous teachers, is reportedly on its way to closing a $70m series D round.

Roivant Sciences raised $1.1bn in a SoftBank Vision Fund-led round last August with a brief to develop and launch a series of offshoot companies.

On GUV, Crescendo Biologics, a UK-based immunotherapy developer spun out from University of Cambridge, closed a $70m series B round that featured commercialisation firm IP Group as well as EMBL Ventures, the investment arm of European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

Funds

Microsoft Ventures has invested in some 50 companies since it relaunched itself as a corporate venturing vehicle two years ago, but has run into identity trouble with people confusing the unit with the similarly-named network of accelerators its parent continues to run around the world. Its solution has been to rebrand to M12, while the corporate’s accelerator initiative will be renamed Microsoft ScaleUp.

The city government of Jerusalem is looking to launch a $130m venture capital fund to support local biotech startups in areas including medical devices and pharmaceutical technology. The government’s contribution to the vehicle would amount to $5.5m at most, with the remainder supplied by private investors.

Exits

Flipkart’s board of directors has approved a deal whereby Walmart will pay approximately $15bn for a 75% stake, according to Bloomberg.

Medtronic spinoff Inspire Medical Systems has gone public in a $108m initial public offering that also represented an exit for Johnson & Johnson.

Consumer electronics and IoT technology provider Xiaomi has officially filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong that sources told the South China Morning Post will be about $10bn in size, at a valuation of about $100bn.

Laser developer nLight has become the latest tech company to launch a successful IPO, floating above its range to raise $96m.

Mita, a US-based orthopaedic device spinout from University of Colorado, has been acquired by medical technology developer Stryker for an undisclosed sum.

“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

16 October 2017 – Ola Raises $1.1bn in Tencent-led Round

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Deals

Ola confirmed today it has raised $1.1bn in a round led by Tencent, which invested $400m according to recent reports.

Tujia, the online accommodation marketplace often referred to as China’s Airbnb, has secured $300m in a round co-led by Ctrip that valued it at more than $1.5bn.

SoftBank Vision Fund has done more than anyone to ramp up venture capital investment to new levels this year, and it’s far from finished. The fund has led a $164m round for Mapbox, a provider of location and mapping technology for app developers, taking the company’s overall funding to nearly $230m.

Freight shipping management platform Flexport, has confirmed it has closed a $110m series C round that valued it at $910m post-money.

App development seems to be a hot area for SoftBank right now. The firm has also led Petuum’s $93m series B round, investing through an undisclosed subsidiary.

Music royalty collection service Kobalt has added $14m of funding from investors including the Bill Maris-headed Section 32 to take its series D round to $89m.

On Global Government Venturing, the biggest deal was a $100m funding round for Bill.com, a US-based payment processing network already backed by payment services firm American Express, which raised the cash in a round co-led by Singaporean state-owned firm Temasek and financial services firm JPMorgan Chase.

Funds

China-based educational services provider New Oriental Education and Technology has launched a $300m+ fund to invest in early-stage edtech startups, along with a $1.5bn fund that will focus on growth equity and M&A deals, according to local media reports.

Japan-headquartered mobile game developer Akatsuki was founded in 2010 and went public last year, and now it’s elected to join the corporate venturing space with the formation of a $50m fund that will target entertainment technology startups.

Cambridge Enterprise, the tech transfer office of University of Cambridge, has partnered business school unit Cambridge Social Ventures to launch a £100,000 ($132,000) seed impact fund.

On GlobalGovernmentVenturing.com, we’ve also had quite a few new funds, so let’s look at a couple of the bigger ones.

French state-owned investment bank Bpifrance has contributed an undisclosed sum to the €45m ($53.1m) first-close for France-based edtech VC fund Educapital. Children’s retailer IdKids has also backed the fund, as have business-to-business services provider Econocom, publishers Bayard and Hachette Livre, family-owned fund Education for the Many and a range of unnamed investors.

VC firm Wavemaker Partners closed its second Southeast Asia-focused fund today at $66m with contributions from Singapore state-owned investment firm Temasek.

Exits

Meal delivery service HelloFresh originally filed to go public in 2015, only to withdraw its IPO plans the a few weeks later. Now, however, HelloFresh has also confirmed recent reports, filing for an IPO that will raise approximately $355m if it floats at the top of its range.

Further along the IPO process is MongoDB, which has set terms for an offering that will net it $160m if it floats at the top of its range.

Singapore-based online services provider Sea has set the terms for a US IPO that will raise $695m if it floats at the top of its range (or $800m if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option).

High-speed integrated circuit producer Aquantia has filed for an $86.3m initial public offering that follows about $195m of venture funding.

Spero Therapeutics, a US-based bacterial infection therapy developer backed by spinout-focused investment firm Osage University Partners has filed for an $86.3m initial public offering.

“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

03 October 2016 – Funding news from Canada, the EU and the UK, Exits for Nokia and Much More

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People

Jack Leeney, US head of investing for Telefonica Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the eponymous Spain-based phone operator, has left after nearly five years at the firm in order to be a partner at SP Global Capital.

Microsoft Ventures has hired Leo de Luna, previously a principal at venture capital firm Split Rock Partners, as managing director to cover California’s Bay area and New York; Rashmi Gopinath, previously an investment director at Intel Capital, as an investing partner covering enterprise software investments in the Bay area; Lisa Nelson, previously chief of staff to the head of business development and the chief financial officer at Microsoft, as a partner; and Priya Saiprasad, previously part of financial services startup Square’s corporate development team, as a principal.

Mérieux Développement has appointed Jean-François Billet, Daniel Fero and Benoit Pierret as it expands its investment capabilities in Europe and the US.

Funds

Canada could start a second funds of venture capital funds (FoF) support programme in its next federal budget allied to support for corporate venturing.

The government-backed European Investment Fund (EIF) has set up a collaboration with national promotional institutions (NPIs) or banks (NPBs) across European Union (EU) member states, with one of its first initiatives expected to be a venture capital coinvestment programme with the Netherlands, according to an attendee.

Baidu, the internet company has added another fund, the $60m Easterly Ventures, to its arsenal. This latest vehicle will focus on Brazil-based technology startups.

Line, the messaging app spun out of Naver, has joined forces with its parent company to put $112m in a fund being raised by Korelya Capital – both companies providing $62m.

ServiceNow has set up an investment division dubbed ServiceNow Ventures and launched a competition to award a total of $500,000 to startups.

Havas, the France-based advertising and PR firm, will provide capital and consulting to Australian startups.

Wayra joins UK government for cybersecurity accelerator
The Telefónica subsidiary will establish the accelerator initiative

Daimler’s Startup Autobahn accelerator reaches Singapore
The scheme, initiated in Stuttgart last year, will be replicated in Singapore in partnership with NUS

Nationwide Children’s Hospital partners Rev1 for $5.5m fund
The healthcare system has joined venture capital firm Rev1 Ventures for a unit that will invest in life sciences

Exits

One of the companies that was expected to list back in January after filing for a $200m IPO at the backend of last year was Nutanix, an enterprise cloud company backed by Sapphire Ventures, the VC firm spun out of SAP. Market conditions turned out to be less than favourable then, but the company has now finally moved ahead valuing the company at $4bn.

Nokia exits Gridsum in $87m IPO

Nokia gets out of Intermedia in MDP acquisition

One97 comes to the rescue as EduKart crashes

SoundCloud, a music streaming service popular with independent artists, is reportedly in acquisition talks again. This time it’s not Twitter, which discussed such plans in 2014 but withdrew that same year before injecting $70m in series E capital a few months ago, but Spotify.

Investments

Another maybe deal but Wal-Mart enters talks to drive $1bn Flipkart investment

FIH Mobile subsidiary has contributed $125m to Tink’s funding round, a company that partners hotels and puts smartphones in rooms that are free to use for guests.

Didi Chuxing enters Ofo’s funding cycle

Online sales technology developer Apttus, backed by Salesforce Ventures, has welcomed back sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority for an $88m series D round that put the company’s total equity at $274m.

Bloomberg helps ship $65m to Flexport

Xiaochuan Chuhai does its series B homework

Merck Ventures takes a ride on iOMX

Line seasons $45m Snow investment

Shape Security fits $40m into series D

Instacart consumes Whole Foods funding

NS1 directs $20m to series B

Eli Lilly breaches Fortis in $18m series A

University Corner

GE and Allied Minds study collaboration

Government Department

Druva drives $51m series E

“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0