Every month we publish the latest news and developments relating to Corporate Venture Capital (CVC).
If you would like a PDF version of this news please download here.
Corporate Venture Capital Market Summary
The following chart illustrates the number of deals that took place, how many Corporate Venture Capitalists took part, and the largest deal this past month.
The number of deals that took place by industry is illustrated below.
A breakdown of the number of deals by region shows that the highest number took place in North America (129) followed by Asia (69) and Europe (50). The US and China lead the way with 120 and 40 deals respectively.
The leading Corporate Venture Capitalists and the recipients of the funding are listed below.
Key Corporate Venture Capital News
A summary of the key Corporate Venture Capital news that has occurred over the past month is listed below.
15 MARCH 2021
AI-based drug discovery company, insitro, raised $400 million in Series C funding (CVC involved: Alexandria Venture Investments, GV)
- insitro, a drug discovery start-up that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning, raised $400 million as part of Series C funding primarily led by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments)
- Other leading investors participated in the funding round include GV, Alexandria Venture Investments, Foresite Capital Management, SoftBank Investment Advisers, HOF Capital, Third Rock Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, ARCH Venture Partners, Two Sigma Ventures, T. Rowe Price, BlackRock, Casdin Capital, Temasek Holdings and other undisclosed investors
- The funding will aid expansion of insitro’s platform capabilities and pipeline, enabling access to new datasets and complementary technologies, and potentially in-license assets related to target and biomarker discovery
14 MARCH 2021
Stripe, an ecommerce company closes $600 million funding round, raising the company’s valuation to $94.4 billion (CVC involved: Allianz X)
- Stripe, an online payment processing platform developer, raised $600 million as series H funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to $94.4 billion, almost thrice of its valuation of $36 billion in April 2020
- Primary investors participated in the deal included Allianz X, Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, and Sequoia Capital. Other group of investors which also participated in the funding round were AXA, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Investments, and other undisclosed investors
- The funds will be leveraged for building its Global Payments and Treasury Network, business expansion in Europe and for strengthening its Dublin headquarter. The company operates in 42 countries of which 31 are in Europe
11 MARCH 2021
E-Signature Service Provider, Fadada received $139 million in Series D funding (CVC involved: Tencent Industry Win-Win Fund)
- The China based Fadada, an e-signature and cloud contract service provider, secured funding of $139 million (RMB900 million) from Tencent Industry Win-Win Fund, Centurium Capital and ZWC Ventures
- Fadada offers a complete range of e-signature solutions including one-stop SaaS products, open API solutions for IT and ERP systems, hybrid cloud solutions for local hosting of electronic contracts and process management
- The funds will be used for expansion of its partnership network to increase sales of its cloud contract signing applications and to strengthen its products and services portfolio
10 MARCH 2021
Snyk raises $300 million, boosting the company’s valuation to $4.7 billion (CVC involved: GV, Salesforce Ventures)
- Synk, a cloud native application security developer, secured $300 million as Series E funding, bringing the total capital raised by the company to $470 million to date
- With the additional funding, the company pre-money valuation now stood at $4.7 billion
- The investing round was co-led by Accel and Tiger Global Management with participation from its existing investors GV, Salesforce Ventures, Atlassian, Stripes, Boldstart Ventures, Canaan Partners, Addition, Geodesic Capital, Sands Capital Ventures, Temasek Holdings, Alkeon Capital Management, Franklin Templeton Investments United Kingdom and Coatue Management
- The additional capital will be used to meet the demand for company’s Cloud Native Application Security Platform, the only developer-first solution to provide security visibility and remediation for every critical component of modern applications. The funds will also be invested for building customer base, and for geographic and team expansion
08 MARCH 2021
IonQ announced to receive $350 million funding from multiple strategic investors through a private placement investment (PIPE)(CVC involved: GV)
- IonQ, a Quantum computing company, confirmed that the company will receive a funding of $350 million (fully committed PIPE) from a group of strategic and institutional investors including Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Corporation, Silver Lake, MSD Partners, L.P., and TIME Ventures, the investment fund for Marc Benioff
- The existing investors which agreed to provide additional funding through PIPE include New Enterprise Associates, GV, and Mubadala Capital
- The transaction will be part of the $650 million net proceedings from IonQ’s merger with dMY Technology, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. The funding will be received by the newly formed combined company. The overall deal will led IonQ to go public
05 MARCH 2021
Indonesia based last-mile delivery startup, SiCepat Ekspres, secured funding of $170 million (CVC involved: MDI Ventures)
- SiCepat Ekspres, an end-to-end logistics startup grabbed $170 million venture funding, the largest Series B funding in Southeast Asia
- The investment was primarily received from MDI Ventures, Praus Company and Falcon House Capital Partners. Few new investors also participated in the round including DEG (the German Development Finance Institution), Trihill Capital and Daiwa Securities, along with the existing backers Kejora Capital and Indies Capital
- The additional capital will be leveraged for intensifying SiCepat Ekspres market position in Indonesian logistic market and for further geographical expansion in Southeast Asia
04 MARCH 2021
Hopin secured $400 million funding to offer hybrid-driven business events (CVC involved: Salesforce Ventures)
- Hopin, a UK based virtual event developed received Series C venture funding of $400 million bringing the company’s pre-money valuation at $5.25 billion
- The investment was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst. Company existing investors, including Salesforce Ventures, Tiger Global, Northzone, Coatue Management, IVP and DFJ Growth, also participated in the round
- Hopin will invest the funds for supporting its business growth, scale operations, team expansion, and strengthening and enhancing its product portfolio. Hopin hosts more than 85,000 event creators on its platform
03 MARCH 2021
Volocopter, an electric air taxi start-up raised $240 million in Series D funding round (CVC involved: Intel Capital, NTT Venture Capital)
- Volocopter GmbH, a Germany based urban air mobility (UAM) company secured $240 million Series D funding from Intel Capital, Daimler and Geely Technology Group
- The other set of investors which were part of the investment round included DB Schenker, Continental, Tokyo Century, Klocke Holding, Avala Capital, Team Europe Management, b-to-v Partners, Blackrock Innovation Capital Group, Atlantia and Jericho Capital Asset Management, and NTT venture capital
- The funds will be primarily used for certification and to support the launch of VoloCity, the battery-powered air taxi for cities, which will further strengthen company’s position in the urban air mobility (UAM) market. Volocopter is the first eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) start-up to receive Design Organization Approval (DOA) by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)
For a PDF copy please download: Corporate Venture Capital News – March 2021.
