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Investments
Chinese personal finance management platform U51 raised $310m in its series C round less than a month ago but has already added $84m from retail group InTime Commercial and asset manager Harvest Global Investments.
NBCUniversal invested $200m in Buzzfeed last year in a deal that valued it at $1.5bn post money, and it’s returned to add another $200m at a flat valuation.
Meanwhile, Unity Biotechnology, which is working on therapeutics for diseases relating to aging, such as osteoarthritis, glaucoma and kidney disease, has closed a $116m series B round.
And at the Intel Capital Global Summit, the CVC unit announced $38m of investment in 12 startups across the US, Canada, China and France.
One of those 12 deals was a $33.5m series D round closed by self-service business information platform developer Paxata, which Intel Capital led, taking the company’s total funding to $62m.
Rokid, the developer of an AI-equipped smart home device that can be operated by a user’s voice or physical gestures, has raised $65m in a series B round co-led by IDG Capital Partners, which was also among the investors in a $20m round last year.
Genomics Medicine Ireland, which is developing a genomics research platform based on work by Amgen subsidiary Decode Genetics, has raised $40m in a GV-backed series A round.
Emulate, a Harvard spinout developing organs-on-chips technology, has added $17m to a series B round now totalling $45m.
Precision Biopsy, a biotechnology spinout of Colorado University, yesterday expanded its series A round to $38.6m following a $5m extension supplied by investment firm Woodford Investment Management.
Deep learning technology startup Clarifai, a spinout of New York University, has received $30m in a series B round co-led by Qualcomm Ventures.
Funds
US-headquartered property consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle has established a corporate venturing vehicle in India that will invest in real estate technology startups.
Russia-based textbook publisher Prosveshcheniye has agreed to launch an education technology accelerator with the Russian government’s Internet Initiatives Development Fund (FRII).
Nova Scotia has recapitalised the Nova Scotia First Fund with a total of $40m, with $29m being fresh funding and $11m coming from a cleantech fund that expired earlier this year.
L. Rafael Reif, president of MIT, announced the creation of the Engine, a new incubator that will provide funding initially through a vehicle with a target size of $150m.
Exits
Less than five months after it was spun out of Roivant Sciences, women’s health specialist Myovant Sciences has achieved the year’s biggest biotech IPO so far, raising $218m.
Ra Pharmaceuticals, developer of a blood disorder treatment, has raised almost $92m in a Nasdaq IPO that saw it float in the middle of its range.
Internet group Tencent and healthcare system Intermountain Healthcare have exited US-based genomics software developer Tute Genomics in an acquisition by genomic analysis company PierianDx, which paid an undisclosed amount.
Cybersecrity company Proofpoint has agreed to acquire US-based cloud security platform FireLayers for $55m, offering an exit to content delivery network operator Akamai Technologies.
Eyefluence, a US-based eye-movement tracking technology developer backed by corporates including chipmaker Intel, was acquired by internet technology provider Google yesterday.
Stanford University spinout iRhythm Technologies, a developer of arrhythmia diagnostics technology, went public on Nasdaq on Thursday in an initial public offering that valued the company at $107m.
People
Scott Coleman, formerly general manager of technology company Microsoft’s accelerator network Startup Growth Partners, has joined venture capital firm Ignition Partners.
Baochi Nguyen has joined IDG Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of US-headquartered IT media firm International Data Group, as vice-president of marketing.
“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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