Index Ventures, known for funding Skype, Dropbox and Candy Crush Saga online game is starting a new biotech venture capital firm named Medicxi Ventures. GlaxoSmithKline Plc. and Johnson & Johnson have funded $230 million to Medicxi Ventrue and would reportedly contribute 25 percent of the investment.
Deals
AXA SA purchases 8% stock in Africa Internet Group
AXA SA has partnered with Africa Internet Group to become the sole supplier of insurance products in Africa. The transaction will promote AXA's business strategy and help the French insurer to serve the African society.
iRobot to Sell its Military Division, Focus Soley on Consumer Goods
iRobot is selling its military division of its company for up to $45 million. The sale was because of pressure from shareholders.
The bid battle heats up between Qube and Brookfield over Asciano
Qube Holdings have come up with a more tempting offer than its competition, Brookfield, in acquiring Asciano. A greater cash component thrown into the deal has tipped the scales in their favor, which Brookfield has only five days to match.
Wiper, alternative messaging app for costly movies
Messaging app Wiper has raised a total of $4.5 million seed funding from its investor Michael Choupak adding $2 million dollars. The service launced $4.99 monthly subscription fee to preview and watch thousands of original short and long, inexpensive indie films that can be compared to expensive Hollywood movies.
Latest News
Reorient Group Ltd. has reportedly formed a $3 billion yuan ($457 million) joint venture with partners. The Shanghai based proposed Joint Venture (JV) firm, Yunfeng Securities Co., will have a registered capital of 1 billion yuan. The JV entity will go operative subject to receipt of approval from China Securities Regulatory Commission.
VTech Holdings said that it has entered into an agreement to acquire electronic toymaker LeapFrog in an all cash offer. The electronic learning toy maker will fund the acquisition with the internal resources.
Just Eat said that it has agreed to purchase Rocket Internet's businesses in Italy and Spain as well as Mexican and Brazilian arms from Foodpanda. The company believe that the acquired assets will help it to broaden its vision.
Nestle has decided to acquire the remaining stake of 36.3% in Osem and take the Israeli food company fully private. An offer of $840 million has been made to buy out the shares, and a shareholder meeting has been scheduled in March which should reveal the final decision arrived at by the company.
The Gulf establishment, Adeptio LLC has approached Kuwait's fast-food chain, Americana, for buying out the 66.8% controlling stake held by the Al Kharafi family valued at $1.7 billion. Currently, the investor is conducting the due diligence but the final outcome will be based on the approval of the Americana franchisers.
The deal was a huge move forward for both Veolia and Kurion. Veoila is determined to expand its business to nuclear waste management and believes that Kurion is the perfect partner to achieve that goal. Kurion itself is a successful startup focusing in nuclear waste involved in the Fukushima nuclear incident clean-up in 2011.
Sharp Corp board has gathered today to weigh the bidding offers. The competition is between the Taiwanese electronics giant, Foxconn and the Japanese government-backed establishment, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan. While ICNJ has always been the favoured choice, Foxconn is giving it a stiff competition by way of doubling the offered price along with debt pay-offs and retention of management and employees.
Cisco announced its intention to purchase Jasper Technologies, a provider of cloud service for internet-powered devices, for $1.4 billion. The merger will enable Cisco to provide a full IoT solution which is inter-operable through devices and coordinates with application developers and IoT service providers.
Ningbo Joyson has signed a definitive deal to acquire US-based airbag maker Key Safety Systems. KSS hope that the merger with Joyson will further accelerate its business and fasten its future growth.
