Funding
Electronics manufacturer Hitachi led a $73m funding round for Weka, the US-based provider of a data software platform for artificial intelligence, through subsidiary Hitachi Ventures yesterday. Chipmakers Nvidia and Micron, networking technology provider Cisco and enterprise technology producer Hewlett Packard Enterprise also took part, as did MoreTech Ventures, Ibex Investors and Key 1 Capital.
China-based industrial robotics provider YouiBot has closed two series B rounds having raised a total of over RMB300m ($47.1m) from investors including telecommunications and internet group SoftBank and quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group, it disclosed last month. They were joined by FG Venture, Xicheng Jinrui, IDG Capital, Pine Venture, BlueRun Ventures and Hax.
Prevedere, a US-headquartered provider of economic forecasting software, secured $25m yesterday in a financing round that included Workday Ventures and M12, which invested on behalf of enterprise software provider Workday and diversified software producer Microsoft respectively. Venture capital firm Norwest Venture Partners led the round, which also featured JobsOhio, Gaingels and Latitude Ventures.
Automotive manufacturer Porsche provided an undisclosed amount of series B funding for UK-headquartered surface protection technology producer Actnano yesterday through corporate venturing unit Porsche Ventures. It will be added to the $21.8m the company secured from investors including corporate VC units BMW i Ventures, Hella Ventures, TDK Ventures, Ireon Ventures, GC Ventures America and Henkel Tech Ventures in November 2021.
US-based materials science developer Ambercycle completed a $21.6m series A round yesterday featuring fashion e-commerce company Zalando and fashion retailers H&M and Bestseller, through H&M Co:Lab and Invest FWD respectively. They were joined by Kirkbi and Temasek, and Ambercycle said its overall funding now stands at $27m.
State-owned financial services firm State Bank of India provided $20m in funding yesterday for Pine Labs, the India-based developer of a digital commerce platform. Pine Labs received $100m from Invesco’s Developing Markets Fund in September this year, two months after a $600m round that increased its overall funding to over $1.2bn.
Vietnam-based digital bank operator Timo raised $20m from investors including online payment platform developer FinAccel today. VC firm Square Peg led the round, which was also backed by Jungle Ventures, Granite Oak, existing investor Phoenix Holdings and unnamed individuals.
Media group Bennett Coleman and Company has invested approximately Rs 1bn ($13.4m) in India-based mobile wallet developer MobiKwik and now owns a 2.6% stake, Inc42 reported last month. MobiKwik filed for a $255m initial public offering in July 2021 having raised a total of about $190m from investors including corporates Cisco, GMO, American Express, Bajaj Finance, MediaTek, Net1 and New Delhi Television.
Digital media company Candle Media supplied an undisclosed amount of equity funding yesterday for Westbrook, the US-based entertainment production company co-founded by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. Candle, which is backed by alternative asset manager Blackstone, took a minority stake through the deal.
MDI Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia, provided up to $12m in series C-plus funding for US-headquartered edge cloud services provider Zenlayer yesterday. Zenlayer said its total series C funding now stands at $62m, the latest deal following a $50m series C round in May 2021 co-led by Anatole Investment and Prospect Avenue Capital that pushed its overall funding past $88m.
Taiwan-headquartered deep liquidity and online crypto trading platform Woo Network raised $12m yesterday from Binance Labs, the corporate venturing subsidiary of digital currency exchange Binance. It came two months after a $30m series A round backed by corporate investors AntAlpha, TokenInsight Research, MEXC, LBank, BitMart, AscendEX, Gate Ventures and Crypto.com Capital.
MassMutual Ventures, the strategic investment arm of insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life, co-led a series B round of undisclosed size for Tier1 Financial Solutions, a Canada-based provider of client relationship management software, yesterday. The round was co-led with growth equity firm Wavecrest Growth Partners, which had joined MassMutual Ventures and fellow corporate VC unit Salesforce Ventures in a $34m round for Tier1 in 2017.
TheUp.co, a UK-based provider of digital hospitality services, has raised €8.3m ($9.4m) from investors including alcoholic beverage brand Jägermeister, EU-Startups reported yesterday. JamJar Investments and private investors including Tom Blomfield also contributed to the round.
Real estate developer Country Garden has led a pre-series A round for China-based cleaning robot developer Tangen Technology through its Country Garden Venture Capital subsidiary, China Money Network reported today. The round included WaveFront Ventures and, combined with an earlier angel round, totalled an eight-digit amount of yuan (RMB10m = $1.57m).
US-based robotic assistant developer Labrador Systems received $3.1m yesterday in a seed round co-led by e-commerce firm Amazon’s Alexa Fund and iRobot Ventures, the investment arm of domestic robotics producer iRobot. They were joined by SOSV and Grep VC, the former having joined the corporates in Labrador’s $2m pre-seed round in 2019.
Electric vehicle services provider Ideanomics supplied an undisclosed amount for Slovakia-based advanced battery technology developer InoBat Auto yesterday in connection with a collaboration agreement. InoBat had raised $11.2m from investors including energy utility Čez Group, IPM Group and Wildcat Discovery Technologies in mid-2020.
Internet and telecoms group SoftBank’s Latin America Fund has led a $2.3m funding round for Abstra, the Brazil-headquartered creator of a no-code app development tool, TechCrunch reported on Monday. Its existing backers include Y Combinator, Iporanga Ventures, Alexia Ventures and undisclosed angel investors.
Wall.app, the India-based operator of a Web3-focused online community, has raised over $1m from investors including brain training software provider Lumos Labs, the Economic Times has reported. Woodstock Fund, Arcanum Capital and Lancer Capital filled out the round together with angel investors Tushar Agarwal, Aniket Jindal and Prabhakar Reddy.
Quantum Operation, a Japan-based developer of internet-of-things sensors for the healthcare industry, secured an undisclosed amount from investors including diversified trading group Itochu’s Techno‑Solutions subsidiary yesterday. The round also featured unnamed other companies and it came in the wake of funding from investors including corporates Taisho Pharmaceutical and Alfresa in early 2020.
Chain Debrief, the Singapore-based owner of a digital media platform covering cryptocurrency and blockchain investing, received $900,000 in seed capital from investors including cryptocurrency exchange Coinhako and digital asset trader QCP Capital yesterday. Private investor Sim Jian Hong led the round, which also featured Gecko Ventures, Double Peak Group and unnamed individuals.
EdVentures, the investment arm of publishing group Nahdet Misr, has combined with The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology to provide undisclosed amounts for three Egypt-based startups. The recipients are OBM Education, which runs an online navigator for higher education, as well as skills booster Super Fny and online education provider Crafty Workshop.
M&A
Blackbaud, a provider of software for non-profit organisations, has bought EverFi, a US-based developer of digital social impact technology, for about $750m in cash and stock. EverFi had raised a total of $252m as of a $190m series D round in 2017 led by Rise Fund and backed by media group Advance Publications, TPG Growth, Main Street Advisors, Allen and Company and various private investors at a sub-$1bn valuation.
Decentralised finance app developer WonderFi Technologies agreed yesterday to purchase portfolio company First Ledger Corp, the Canada-based owner of cryptocurrency exchange Bitbuy, for C$206m ($162m) in cash and shares. The deal came just one month after WonderFi invested an undisclosed amount in the company.
Cybersecurity intelligence provider Recorded Future bought a portfolio company, US-based internet inventory creator SecurityTrails, yesterday, for a price reported by TechCrunch to be $65m. The corporate had disclosed an investment in SecurityTrails in April 2021 without revealing its size.
Funds
Sweden-headquartered VC firm Sound Bioventures has reached a €110m ($124m) first close for its Fund I, which features pharmaceutical firm Novo as its cornerstone investor. The vehicle is focusing on developers of clinical or preclinical treatments for rare diseases and its founding partners include Casper Breum and Johan Kördel, both formerly of Lundbeckfonden Ventures, which invests on behalf of pharmaceutical producer Lundbeck.
Blockchain gaming platform developer Gala Games announced a $100m blockchain gaming fund with crypto investment firm C² Ventures last month. Areas of interest for the vehicle include decentralised gaming models like play-to-earn guilds, gaming metaverses and decentralised game financing.
US-based VC firm Refinery Ventures has closed its second fund at $36m with backing from limited partners including insurers Great American Insurance and Western and Southern Insurance, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Cintrifuse and The Cleveland Foundation are also among the fund’s LPs.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
