Funding
Energy trader Vitol has invested $50m in Sun Mobility, an India-based battery swapping service for electric vehicles, Business Standard reported yesterday. Sun Mobility was formed in 2017 as a joint venture between industrial equipment manufacturer Maini Group and new energy, electronics and asset management conglomerate Sun Group, and will spend the funding on increasing capacity.
Sinotau, a China-based developer of treatments for tumours, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, has closed a RMB320m ($50m) series D-plus round co-led by China Life Healthcare Fund and Centurium Capital and backed by existing investors Panya Investment and Deyi Capital. The company has now raised about $155m in the past 18 months according to DealStreetAsia, which named Sinopharm Capital, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm, as an existing backer along with Qiming Venture Partners, 3E Bioventures and Wining Ventures.
Pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly led China-based precision medicine developer SH Pinnacles’ RMB300m ($47m) series A round today through its Lilly Asia Ventures vehicle, DealStreetAsia reported. Tsing Song Capital, Vertex Ventures China, ZhenFund, Oriental Fortune Capital, CD Capital and WisdoMont also contributed to the round, which followed an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Lilly Asia Ventures, ZhenFund, Oriental Fortune, CD Capital and Sequoia Capital China Seed Fund in February this year according to DealStreetAsia.
Embrace, a US-headquartered developer of mobile data management technology, completed a $45m series B round yesterday featuring AV8 Ventures, the venture capital firm backed by insurance group Allianz. VC firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA) led the round, which included Greycroft Partners, Eniac Ventures and unnamed individuals. Eniac led Embrace’s $2.5m seed round in 2017, investing with Chernin Group, Techstars Ventures, BoxGroup and various angel investors. It added $7.5m in a December 2019 series A round led by AV8 and backed by Y Combinator, Greycroft, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and assorted private backers.
US-based workforce planning software developer SkyHive secured $40m yesterday in a series B round featuring Accenture Ventures and Workday Ventures, respective vehicles for consulting firm Accenture and enterprise software producer Workday. Investment firm Eldridge led the round, which included Allegis Cyber and Partnership Fund For New York City and which followed $8m in series A funding from Accenture, Workday Ventures, Allegis Cyber and Partnership Fund For New York City in November 2020.
Modern Age, the US-based operator of an online platform intended to help users age more slowly, received $27m in series A funding yesterday from investors including internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet’s GV subsidiary. The round was led by growth equity fund Oak HC/FT and also featured Juxtapose, the investment firm which helped launch the startup in July this year.
Telecommunications firm Orange participated in a €20m ($23.3m) funding round for France-based customer engagement software provider Batch today through its Orange Ventures unit. Growth equity firm Expedition Growth Capital led the round and all the company’s existing investors – which include VC firm Iris Capial – exited through the deal, it said.
Aprende Institute, the US-based operator of a Spanish language-focused online professional training platform, has completed a $22m series A2 round led by Valor Capital Group that included broadcaster Univision, Reach Capital, ECMC Group, Angel Ventures, Capria Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Artisan Venture Capital, Matterscale Ventures, Salkantay Ventures, 500 Startups, The Yard Ventures, Claure Group and unnamed individuals. The company raised $1.6m in an April 2020 seed round featuring Angel Ventures, 500 Startups, Artisan Venture Capital, Claure Group and undisclosed angel investors, adding $3.5m in series A funding from Reach Capital, Claure and 500 Startups in December.
Deci, an Israel-based developer of deep learning development software, secured $21m in series A funding yesterday from investors including Samsung Next, a corporate VC vehicle for consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung. Growth equity firm Insight Partners led the round, which also featured Square Peg Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, Fort Ross Ventures, Emerge and Jibe Ventures. It came 12 months after Emerge and Square Peg co-led the company’s $9.1m seed round.
Superplastic, the US-headquartered creator of a non-fungible token collectibles offering based on its own stable of animated characters, has received $20m from investors including GV and Line Friends – on behalf of internet technology group Alphabet and messaging platform developer Line respectively – as well as internet group Kakao, VentureBeat reported yesterday. Index Ventures, Founders Fund, Craft Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Mantis VC, Electric Feel Entertainment, Day One Ventures, Betaworks and Sean Qiao Ventures also took part in the round, as did various individuals. The company had raised $16m as of a $6m round in October 2020 featuring GV, Craft Ventures, Founders Fund, Betaworks, Mantis VC and assorted private investors.
SIG Asia Investment, an affiliate of quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group, led a $16m series A round for US-based revenue operations (RevOps) software developer Openprise yesterday. Banyan Pacific Capital, Citta Capital and existing investors Alumni Ventures and AI List also contributed to the round, which came in the wake of a $3.2m seed round in 2017 and a $9.7m seed-2 round in December 2019 according to securities filings. Openprise is also listed as a portfolio company for Foothill Ventures and Array Ventures.
Mangrove Management Partners, the US-based vascular disease care provider also known as Vascular Management and Innovations Group, completed a series B round of undisclosed size yesterday led by financial services firm Wells Fargo’s Strategic Capital subsidiary. It was joined by private equity firm NewSpring Capital and the cash will support the company’s expansion in the Northeastern United States.
Lokal, the India-based operator of a hyperlocal social media platform, has received $12m in a series A round led by internet and gaming group Tencent, TechCrunch reported today, citing a source familiar with the matter. Y Combinator, 3one4 Capital and India Quotient also contributed to the round, having joined media group XRM Media, RB Investments, Soma Capital, Starling Ventures, I2BF Global Ventures and various individuals in Lokal’s $3m seed round in late 2019.
Multiverse Computing, the Spain-based developer of a quantum computing system focused on finance, secured €10m ($11.6m) in seed funding yesterday from investors including LKS, a professional services subsidiary of worker cooperative Mondragon Corporation. The round was led by VC firm JME Ventures and also featured another Mondragon subsidiary, Clave Capital, as well as Quantonation, EASO Ventures, Inveready, Ikerlan, Penja Strategy, Seed Gipuzkoa and Ezten Venture Capital Fund.
GoCheck, a US-based developer of digital vision screening technology, raised $10m on Tuesday from investors including health system WakeMed Hospitals’ Innovation Venture Fund. The round was co-led by Hatteras Venture Partners and Pisgah Fund and also featured CU Healthcare Innovation Fund, Interwest Partners, FCA Venture Partners, Sovereign’s Capital, Mucker Capital and private investor Marc Benioff. The company had secured $750,000 from Interwest in 2013, an undisclosed sum from Interwest and Benioff two years later, $6m from Interwest in a 2016 deal described at the time as a first close of a series B round, and $6m in an April 2019 series B round led by FCA Venture Partners and backed by Mucker Capital, Sovereign’s Capital, Interwest and Benioff.
Financial services firm Wells Fargo’s Strategic Capital unit provided $10m in funding for US-based payment and financial messaging software developer Volante Technologies yesterday. Volante had received $35m in an August 2020 round led by growth equity firm Wavecrest Growth Partners that included PostePay, the payment services subsidiary of postal service Poste Italiane, as well as payment services provider Visa and financial services firms BNY Mellon and Citi, the latter through corporate venturing unit Citi Ventures.
FarMart, the India-based operator of an online business-to-business fresh produce marketplace, has received $10m in funding from investors including supply chain finance provider OfBusiness, which took part through its Founder’s Fund, YourStory reported today. VC firm Matrix Partners India led the round, which also featured Innoven Capital, Omidyar Network India, Avaana Capital, 500 Startups and a range of angel investors. Indian Angel Network had invested an undisclosed amount in FarMart in 2017, and joined Omidyar Network India, Avaana Capital and LetsVenture to add $2.4m in May this year.
Ayenda, a Colombia-headquartered digital hotel chain backed by hotel chain City Express and internet and telecoms group SoftBank, has completed a $10m funding round led by 500 Global that included Dalus Capital and Inter-American Development Bank Group’s IDB Lab, Skift has reported. SoftBank’s Innovation Fund, Kairos and 500 Startups combined to supply $1.2m in seed funding for Ayenda in early 2019 before it added $8.7m in a February 2020 round led by Kaszek that also featured City Express subsidiary Altabix, Kairos and BWG Ventures.
US-based direct-to-consumer wine brand Boxt received $9.35m in equity and debt financing yesterday from investors including alcoholic beverage producer WX Brands. The round was led by VC firm Next Coast Ventures and also backed by Silicon Valley Bank, which provided venture debt, in addition to undisclosed private investors. The company had pulled in an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Next Coast Ventures in February 2020.
Crowde, the Indonesia-based operator of an online agricultural lending platform, has secured nearly $9m in a series B round that included conglomerate Gunung Sewu’s pineapple farming subsidiary, Great Giant Pineapple, as well as Mandiri Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm Bank Mandiri, Tech in Asia reported today. VC firm Monk’s Hill Ventures led the round, which was preceded by a $1m pre-series A round led by Mandiri Capital in 2019.
US-based PulsESG publicly launched its enterprise environmental, social and governance (ESG) software platform yesterday with $8.5m in seed financing from investors including insurance firm Sompo Holdings. The other participants included Fintop Capital, Aligned Climate Capital, Builders VC, eLab Ventures and angel investors Alberto Cribiore and André Borschberg.
India-headquartered education app developer Questt has received $6.75m in series A funding from investors including mobile game publisher Akatsuki’s AET Fund, YourStory reported today. Celesta Capital and Premji Invest co-led the round, which also featured MarsShot Ventures, Titan Capital, First Cheque and Chiratae Ventures. The last two had joined AET Fund and private investors including Kunal Bahl, Rohit Bansal, Pranay Gupta and Ramakant Sharma to supply $1.3m in seed capital for the company in March this year.
Gas utility Energie 360° has led a €4.5m ($5.2m) seed round for Germany-based energy storage technology developer Stabl Energy through its Smart Energy Innovation Fund. The round also featured UVC Partners, an affiliate of TU Munich’s commercialisation arm, UnternehmerTUM, in addition to existing investors including Initiative for Industrial Innovators. Stabl has not revealed details of its earlier funding.
Diversified conglomerate Reliance Industries has co-led a $2.8m seed round for MagniLearn, an Israel-headquartered creator of intelligent language learning software, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. The round was co-led by equity crowdfunding platform OurCrowd’s Labs/02 incubator and was also backed by Israeli Innovation Authority and undisclosed angel investors.
Video communication software provider Zoom invested an undisclosed amount in US-based video and hybrid conferencing software developer Dten on Tuesday through a deal which will also involve the corporate supplying engineering support. The funding will be allocated to product development activities.
Italy-based smart meter developer Midori closed a €1.7m ($2m) funding round on Tuesday backed by connected insurance services provider FairConnect, angel syndicate Club degli Investitori and Club Acceleratori, which connects private investors to a network of accelerators across Italy. The company will collaborate with FairConnect on the creation of property risk and cost-reduction products.
Financial services firm Ahli Bank has led a $2m seed round for Fintech Galaxy, the United Arab Emirates-headquartered creator of an open innovation platform for financial technology, Zawya reported on Tuesday. The bank participated in the round through subsidiary Ahli Fintech, investing alongside EFG EV Fintech – a joint venture for investment bank EFG Hermes and Egypt Ventures – as well as Raz Holding Group, OMQ Investments and Insead Saudi Angel Investors.
Germany-based personalised meal planner provider Kitchenful secured $1.9m in funding yesterday from investors including internet company Jabbar Internet Group, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round also featured VentureFriends and Goodwater Capital, and TechCrunch identified Y Combinator and angel investors including Valentin Stalf, Samih Toukan, David Fischer, Maik Ludewig and Victor Henning as earlier backers.
Digital transformation services provider Nortal agreed on Tuesday to invest an undisclosed amount in Talgen, an Estonia-headquartered company aiming to improve organisations’ cybersecurity resilience. Nortal is providing the capital through a strategic partnership which will involve the companies teaming up to form a joint team of cybersecurity experts.
M&A
Capital market infrastructure provider Cboe Global Markets agreed yesterday to buy ErisX, a US-headquartered digital asset spot market operator backed by bitcoin miner Bitmain, blockchain software producer Consensys, stock exchange operator Nasdaq, online broker TradeStation, conglomerate CVC Group and a raft of trading firms, for an undisclosed sum. They all took part in a $27.5m series B round in 2018 that lifted ErisX’s total funding to $29.5m, and it was followed by $20m from investors including Cboe the following year.
Hotel operator Marriott International exited US-based online holiday and tour booking platform developer PlacePass on Tuesday in an acquisition of undisclosed size by travel booking software provider Hopper. The deal means Hopper will be able to offer the PlacePass service through its Hopper Cloud business-to-business booking platform, which will also power the tours and activities section of Marriott’s loyalty scheme, Marriott Bonvoy.
Digital transformation technology producer Vonage paid an undisclosed amount on Tuesday to purchase Singapore-based conversational commerce software developer Jumper.ai, a participant in accelerators for consumer goods producer Unilever and financial services firm Bangkok Bank. Jumper entered Startupbootcamp FinTech Program in April 2017, Unilever Foundry six months later and Bangkok Bank InnoHub in early 2019. VC firm Wavemaker Partners also lists it as a portfolio company.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu and Thierry Heles.
