Funding
Justos, the Brazil-based developer of a digital insurance platform which uses big data to determine charges, has secured $35.8m in a series A round that included telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Latin American Fund, TechCrunch reported today. Venture capital firm Ribbit Capital led the round, which also featured Kaszek, BigBets and private investors David Velez and Carlos Garcia Ottati, all four of which had previously taken part in the startup’s $2.8m seed round in May this year.
US-headquartered social game developer GreenPark Sports completed a $31m series B round on Friday featuring quantitative trading firm Alameda Research. The round was led by Terraform Capital and included Galaxy Interactive, Sapphire Sport, SignalFire, ADvantage, Gaingels, DH.VC and NNS Group, which invested on behalf of entrepreneur Nassef Sawiris. The company had received $5.8m in seed funding from SignalFire, Sapphire Sport and Founders Fund in October 2019 and added $14m from Galaxy Interactive, mass media company Sinclair Broadcasting, ADvantage, SignalFire, Sapphire Sport and various individuals in a December 2020 series A round.
US-based mobile wallet marketplace Citcon raised $30m in series C financing on Friday from investors including Sonae IM, the corporate venturing arm of diversified conglomerate Sonae. VC firms Norwest Venture Partners and Cota Capital co-led the round, which included Sierra Ventures and which boosted Citcon’s overall funding to $45m. It had secured $5m from financial services firm East West Bank in 2019 and its earlier investors include ZhenFund, Heda Capital, Cyber Wisdom, Lightbridge Ventures and Teec Angel Fund.
US-headquartered cryptocurrency developer Worldcoin has emerged from stealth having secured $25m in series A funding from investors including Coinbase Ventures, on behalf of digital currency exchange Coinbase, and Hashed, an affiliate of automotive component producer Wanxiang, VentureBeat has reported. The round was led by Andreesen Horowitz at a $1bn valuation and also featured 1confirmation, Blockchange Ventures, CoinFund, Day One Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Fifty Years, Hypersphere, Kenetic Capital, Multicoin, Three Arrows Capital and several angel investors.
Biobot Analytics, a US-based developer of technology that detects levels of the covid-19 coronavirus in wastewater, has received $20m in funding from investors including insurance provider American Family Insurance’s Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, Bloomberg has reported. Plum Alley Investments, The Engine and private investors Anne Wojcicki and Tom Knight also took part in the round, which came after Biobot closed a $6.7m seed round in April 2019 featuring AmFam Institute Impact Fund, The Engine, Y Combinator and DCVC.
IT services firm Nihon Unisys has co-led an $11m series A round for Humanising Autonomy, a UK-based developer of software that helps users understand human behaviour, through its Emellience Partners fund. The round was co-led by Beacon Capital and included Anthemis Group, Global Brain, Synapse Partners, Amplifier, Aken Capital and private investor Guy Hands. The company said it has now raised $6m in total, $5.3m coming from Anthemis, Global Brain, Amplifier and Synapse Partners in a June 2019 seed round.
Consumer credit ratings agency TransUnion has co-led a Rs 860m ($11.5m) series D round for India-based identity verification technology developer IDfy, Business Standard has reported. The round was co-led by Blume Ventures, the VC firm that had joined e-commerce company Beenos, Faktory Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) to invest $3m in IDfy in 2015. The company added an undisclosed amount from NEA, NB Ventures and Dream Incubator three years later.
Blockchain game publisher Animoca Brands invested an undisclosed amount in Kikitrade, the China-based operator of an online social investment platform, on Friday to become its second largest shareholder. Kikitrade had closed a $12m pre-series A round in June this year that included Animoca Brands, Dragonfly Capital, Cherubic Ventures, Vulpes, Super Chain Capital, Artesian, Head & Shoulders X, SNZ Holding, Alan Howard and Joseph Lubin.
Reinventure, the VC firm funded by financial services firm WestPac, has led a A$3m ($2.2m) series A round for Safewill, the Australia-based provider of an end-of-life management service, Australian Financial Review has reported. The cash will support product development and the range of services available on Safewill’s online platform.
Digital currency exchange operator Binance provided an undisclosed amount for Melos Studio, a company without a disclosed location that has developed a software platform which allows musicians to create their own non-fungible tokens, through its Binance Labs subsidiary on Friday. Melos has not revealed details of past funding but its investors include blockchain entertainment developer Dapper Labs, Innovion, NGC Ventures and Multichain Capital.
M&A
Consumer finance provider Klarna paid an undisclosed amount to buy US-based travel planning software developer Inspirock on Friday, allowing online travel agency MakeMyTrip to exit. The corporate’s Innovation Fund had paid an undisclosed amount for a 3% stake in Inspirock in 2018, and Klarna will use the technology to help customers plan shopping trips.
Additional reporting by Thierry Heles.
