5 New Unicorns with Corporate Venture Investors
The first startup unicorns of 2018 have been unveiled, and several have the backing of corporate venture capital.
In other words, these startups with valuations of at least $1 billion are the current shining stars of CVC.
The seven new unicorns of 2018 were tabulated and released today by Pitchbook, a VC data resource. Here’s the list of the five with corporate venture capital investors, ranked by date they achieved their mythical status:
1.) Meicai
Meicai, a mobile e-vendor of agricultural products for small and medium-sized restaurants in China, became a unicorn on Jan. 11, 2018, when it raised $477 million at a valuation of $2.8 billion. It counts Microsoft Accelerator as a corporate investor. Microsoft’s accelerator in Beijing provides resources and services to Chinese startups and provided an undisclosed amount of funding in Meicai’s venture round in June 2015.
2.) Caocao Zhuanche
Caocao Zhuanche is a vehicle-sharing company based out of Hangzhou, China, and became a unicorn on Jan. 17, 2018, after securing $380 million at a valuation of $1.6 billion. Caocao got funding from two corporates: automotive manufacturer Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd. and People Appliance Group China, a supplier of mechanical and electrical equipment.
Snowflake Computing, a data warehouse for the cloud, counts corporate VC Capital One Growth Ventures as an investor. Snowflake, based in San Mateo, Calif., was valued at $1.8 billion on January 25, 2018, after securing $473 million of funding. Capital One participated in a previous $105 million Series D round completed last September.
4.) HeartFlow
HeartFlow, which is developing solutions for the non-invasive diagnosis of coronary artery disease, became a unicorn on Feb. 14, 2018 — fittingly on Valentine’s Day. The Redwood City, Calif., company raised $467 million on a valuation of $1.5 billion. Corporate venturing arm BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners is a previous investor.
OrCam, an Israeli startup, has created a device to provide visual aid through a discreet wearable. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd., a corporate which provides insurance and financial services, was an investor in a $30.4 million venture round on Feb. 20, 2018. The round cemented OrCam as a unicorn with a $1 billion valuation on $91 million of total funding. Intel Capital also counts as previous corporate investor.
