Funding
Resolve, the US-based provider of a net terms and credit billing software platform for use in business-to-business transactions, received $60m yesterday from investors including Affirm, the consumer credit provider that had spun off the company. It also named Initialized Capital, KSD Capital, Haystack VC, Commerce Ventures and Clocktower Ventures as investors.
Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of enterprise software producer Salesforce, led a $51m series B round yesterday for Qualified, the US-based creator of a conversational sales and marketing software platform designed for use with Salesforce. Venture capital firms Norwest Venture Partners and Redpoint Ventures also took part in the round having joined Salesforce Ventures in the company’s $12m series A in August 2020. It had raised $5m in seed funding from investors including Salesforce Ventures and Redpoint Ventures in mid-2019.
US-based antiviral therapy developer RenBio has closed a $24m series A round led by industrial conglomerate Ruentex Group. RenBio’s technology is being licensed from Columbia University, which has taken an equity stake in the company, and it had previously raised $4m in seed capital from undisclosed investors.
Financial services firm Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has invested A$30m ($23.2m) in Little Birdie, the Australia-based creator of an e-commerce aggregation platform set to launch next month, TechCrunch reported on Monday. The funding was provided at a valuation of about $100m and CBA intends to integrate the startup’s product into its consumer banking app.
Solidus Labs, a US-headquartered developer of crypto market monitoring market tools, raised $20m on Monday in a series A round that included cryptocurrency exchange operator FTX. The round was led by Evolution Equity Partners and also featured Avon Ventures, a VC affiliate of investment and financial services group Fidelity, as well as 645 Ventures, Hanaco Ventures and assorted angel investors. Hanaco Ventures had led the company’s $3m seed round in February 2019.
Payment services firm Mastercard co-led a A$25m ($19.3m) series A round for Australia-based enterprise payment technology provider MX51 on Monday. The round was co-led by Acorn Capital, Artesian and Commencer Capital, and it came after MX51 was spun off by online payment platform developer Assembly Payments in May 2020.
US-based machine vision technology provider Silc Technologies secured $17m on Monday in a series A round co-led by computing technology producer Dell’s investment arm, Dell Technologies Capital, and VC firm Alter Venture Partners. The round included UMC Capital, Osram Ventures (through Fluxunit) and Sony Innovation Fund by IGV – on behalf of semiconductor maker, lighting product maker Osram and electronics producer Sony – as well as electronics manufacturer Epson, delivery service Yamato Holdings and Global Brain. It had raised $12m in seed capital from investors including Dell Technologies Capital, Decent Capital and Itic Ventures in March 2020.
Overture Life, a US-headquartered developer of process automation technology for in-vitro fertilisation, received $15m in series B funding today from investors including GV, a subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet. The round was led by Octopus Ventures and also featured Khosla Ventures, Felicis Ventures and private investor Marc Benioff. The company said it has now raised $37m in total, $20m having come from e-commerce firm Rakuten, Khosla Ventures, Felicis Ventures and Allen & Company in July 2019.
Agribusiness Syngenta has invested $9.5m in India-based fresh produce supplier Ninjacart through corporate venturing vehicle Syngenta Ventures at a $502m post-money valuation, Entrackr has reported, citing a regulatory filing. The company last raised money in October 2020 when it received $30m from big-box retail group Walmart and its online marketplace subsidiary, Flipkart. It had previously secured at least $149m, from investors including Syngenta Ventures, conglomerate Doosan and mobile semiconductor technology manufacturer Qualcomm.
Rehab for Japan, the Japan-based developer of physical rehabilitation software platform Rehaplan, increased its total funding to approximately $10.1m on Monday with ¥700m ($6.4m) from a corporate-backed round. Brewery Kirin’s Health Innovation Fund joined pharmaceutical firm Ono Pharmaceutical, robotics technology producer Cyberdyne and its CEJ Capital unit, textile trader Toyoshima’s investment arm (likely Toyoshima CVC), brand developer MTG (through MTG Ventures), care provider Capital Medica (through Capital Medica Ventures), banking firms Mitsubishi UFJ Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (through Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and SMBC Venture Capital) and VC firm Global Brain. It had raised a total of $2.6m as of a $1.5m round in February 2020.
Pintu, the Indonesia-based operator of a mobile crypto investment platform, has secured $6m in series A funding from investors including digital currency exchange operator Coinbase and Gesit Perkasa, part of diversified group Gesit, Daily Social reported yesterday. Pantera Capital led the round, which was also backed by Alameda Ventures (possibly a subsidiary of quantitative crypto trading firm Alameda Research), Blockchain Ventures, Intudo Ventures, AHP Investment, Spartan Group and unnamed angel investors.
Beacons, the US-headquartered creator of a business software platform for social media-focused creative brands, raised $6m in seed funding from investors including esports team owner Loud and music management agency Crush Music on Monday. VC firm Andreessen Horowitz led the round, which was also backed by Atelier Ventures, Mantis Fund and Night Ventures. The company had been part of the Summer 2019 cohort of accelerator Y Combinator.
STV, the VC firm backed by telecommunications firm Saudi Telecom, has led a $6m series A round for Saudi Arabia-based short term accommodation marketplace Gathern that included Vision Ventures, 500 Startups, ARG and angel investor Naef Sultan Al Athel, Menabytes has reported. Diversified trading group Deyarat Trading Company had joined Inspire Ventures, Vision Ventures, 500 Startups, Aquilaria Capital Management Fund, Nayef Al-Athel and fellow angel investors Abdulla Al Rumaih and Abdulrahman Al-Janini to supply an undisclosed amount of seed funding for Gathern in 2018.
Japan Cloud Capital, the Japan-based operator of equity crowdfunding platform Fundinno, secured an undisclosed amount on Monday from financial services firms Chiba Bank and Iyo Bank, which invested through Chibagin Capital and Iyogin Capital respectively. It had raised undisclosed sums from packaging technology producer Kikuchi Seisakusho in February this year and electronics producer Kaga earlier this month. The company had raised a total of $11.7m as of an $8m round in September 2020 featuring corporates IR Robotics, NLinks and Sanoh Industrial.
PointGrab, an Israel-headquartered intelligent sensor developer backed by power and automation equipment maker ABB, has closed a £3.4m ($4.8m) funding round led by VC firm EMV Capital. The company had secured $5m from investors ABB’s corporate VC unit – ABB Technology Ventures – EcoMachines Ventures and Flex Lab IX in 2015 and added $7m ABB Technology Ventures, lighting product manufacturer Philips Lighting and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, a subsidiary of financial services group Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the following year.
Electronics producer TDK supplied ¥200m ($1.8m) in series A funding yesterday for Yamagata Design, the Japan-based creator of an automated robotics system for the control of weeds in rice paddies. The company had received $7.4m from undisclosed investors in June 2020 and Cool Japan Fund agreed the following month to invest up to $14m in a hotel and tourism project being instituted by Yamagata Design.
Pyrenee, the Japan-based creator of an artificial intelligence-equipped traffic assistance system, also raised ¥200m ($1.8m) yesterday, from packaging system provider Kikuchi Seisakusho, VC firm Future Venture Capital and private investor Nobuyuki Idei. The company is a graduate of accelerator AbbaLab.
We Ventures, the female-focused fund formed by software producer Microsoft, the state-backed Sebrae Nacional and VC fund M8 Partners, invested R$4.7m ($860,000) in Brazil-based pulmonary ventilator producer Magnamed last month. KPTL and Vox Capital are among the earlier investors in the company, which was founded in 2005.
Japan-based data analytics software provider Datagusto received ¥85m ($780,000) from investors including telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Deepcore fund and educational services provider Globis’s G-Startup vehicle on Monday. The corporates were joined in the round by VC firm East Ventures and startup accelerator 01Booster.
M&A
Mobile analytics provider Sensor Tower bought US-headquartered market intelligence provider Pathmatics on Monday for an undisclosed amount, enabling consumer intelligence provider Mintel Group, law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and media companies Singapore Press Holdings and Bertelsmann to exit. Pathmatics had raised $7.7m as of 2018 from investors also including Upfront Ventures, Karlin Ventures, Baroda Ventures, Double M Partners, Daher Capital and Wavemaker Partners.
Relationship Science, a US-based relationship data provider backed by media group Hearst, insurance firm CV Starr and enterprise software producer Salesforce, was acquired by price intelligence provider Euromoney Institutional Investor for $7.4m on Monday. The company had raised about $120m as of its last round, a $31m series D in 2015, from corporate VC units Starr Principal Holdings and Hearst Ventures, Salesforce, Table Holdings, RIT Capital Partners and MacAndrews & Forbes.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu and Thierry Heles.