June 2020 – Page 21

Barclays takes a slice of cutover

The bank is now part of a $17m series A round for the financial investigation software developer led by Index Ventures last November.

Ubie suits Suzuken for investment

Medical consultation platform developer Ubie has received $18.4m from medicine distributor Suzuken that will be used to enhance its apps, increase headcount and expand internationally.

Branding Engineer gets IPO plans on track

TSE’s Mothers Market has approved an IPO for the engineer-oriented staffing services provider that would enable Crooz, InterWorks, MyNavi, Sega Sammy and Vector to exit.

Varo arrows to $241m series D

Progressive Insurance has invested in Varo Money as the latter prepares to become the first digital bank to be awarded a national bank charter.

Pliant applies itself to $144m IPO

Novartis bought $10m in shares as the fibrosis treatment developer floated at the top of its range in an expanded initial public offering.

All the best parties have after-parties. And while not quite a 24-hour party people in one way, the GCV Digital Forum has 600 attendees from across the time zones creating a unique network and sharing of insights on 3-4 June.

SoftBank promotes inclusion with $100m fund

The corporate is pumping $100m into the newly formed Opportunity Growth Fund, to invest in founders and entrepreneurs of colour.

Xiaolinggou plugs into series A round

Geely’s new energy vehicle rental service has pulled in $96.7m in series A funding from investors including Ningbo Yincheng Group.

Tropic Biosciences reaps series B funding

Sumitomo Corporation Europe and existing investor Tekfen Ventures helped provide $28.5m for the gene-edited crop developer’s latest round.

NodThera greets corporates for $55m series B

NodThera, a developer of treatments for conditions caused by chronic inflammation, has completed a Novo Ventures-led round that also featured Sanofi Ventures.

Cortex flexes with series B funding

Cortex, a developer of big data-powered marketing tools, raised $22.3m in a round led by SoftBank’s Latin America fund.

Tovala takes in $20m

Comcast Ventures and Rich Products Ventures contributed to a series B round for smart oven provider Tovala, whose earlier backers include Gree and Tyson Ventures.

Thanks and reflections

Thanks as the first GCV Digital Forum goes live today to some of the team (it was a bit early when the final briefing call went ahead for Christina and Janice in the US and Laura, Tomas and Magdalena in Chile) and for the others who have prepared the virtual conference for about 600 attendees and sponsors.

Pfizer to augment VC investments with $500m

Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative is set to allocate as much as $500m to publicly listed clinical-stage life science technology developers.

Month: June 2020