General Electric on Thursday will announce an agreement to sell investments in eleven startups to 40 North Ventures, an affiliate of Standard Industries.
Why it matters: GE was once among the most active corporate investors in startups, but now is in exit mode.
- The companies are Aras, Carbon, Catalant, Desktop Metal, Enbala, Menlo Micro, Nexar, Proterra, Tamr, Upskill and Volta.
- 40 North is an early-to-growth stage firm, rather than a secondaries investor, but felt this particular portfolio was in its industrial tech-focused wheelhouse.
The bottom line: GE began prepping in early 2019 what it had hoped would be a sale of its entire GE Ventures portfolio , then with a net asset value of around $500 million. That effort failed, thus leading to mini-auctions like this one — and an earlier deal for 16 health care investments.
