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Exits
Intel Capital is reportedly looking to sell up to $1bn worth of its venture assets.
Qualcomm meanwhile looks to have scored a major exit after General Motors agreed to buy driverless vehicle technology developer Cruise Automation in a deal reportedly sized north of $1bn. Cruise, which was founded in 2013, had disclosed only $18m in debt and equity financing.
Just days after announcing it was shutting down, VC-backed SpoonRocket has been acquired by iFood, a delivery service in Latin America that has raised more than $60m from Brazil-based Movile Internet and Warehouse Investimentos, among others.
Corvus Pharmaceuticals, an oncology therapy developer backed by Roche and Novo, filed for a $115m IPO in January but has subsequently set a range between $70m and $80m. It had raised $108m in venture capital over the past two years.
Investments
GenomeDx released a prostate cancer testing product last week and has followed it with $25.4m in series C funding, according to an SEC filing. The funding represents the first to be publicly disclosed – in terms of size anyway – for the company, which is backed by investors including Merck’s Global Health Innovation fund.
Having received £22m from Beijing Kunlun in June last year, LendInvest raised £17m from VC firm Atomico, bringing its total debt and equity financing to more than £200m.
DouyuTV, a streaming service focused on the livestreaming of video games, has raised $100m in a series B round led by Tencent, which reportedly provided more than $60m.
Alibaba’s financial services affiliate Ant Financial is said to be raising money at a $60bn valuation but its logistics spinout Cainiao isn’t doing too badly either, having raised a reported $1.54bn in a round that values it at $7.7bn.
Diversified conglomerate HNA Group has agreed to invest RMB1.2bn ($185m) in online sports streaming platform Le Sports as part of a series B round that could reach $1.08bn, according to a regulatory filing.
Ring, a US-based smart doorbell developer backed by insurance provider American Family Insurance and home builder JF Shea, has raised $61.2m in a series C round featuring Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
Biotechnology startup Aprea, a spinout of Karolinska Institute that is backed by a range of public investors, has raised the biggest round for a Sweden-based life sciences company in a decade.
People
“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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