US-based advanced hearing aid developer iHear Medical expanded a series C round backed by office equipment maker Brother Industries and insurance firm Ameritas Holding Company to $5m on Monday. The first tranche of the round was led by venture capital firm Lighthouse Capital, and it follows a $1.8m round in 2012. The company’s earlier backers include Highlight Capital and Aphelion Capital.
Recruit Strategic Partners, the corporate venturing subsidiary of human resources services provider Recruit, has made a strategic investment in US-based, fitness-themed online marketplace Fitmob, according to TechCrunch. Fitmob, which raised $9.75m in series A debt and equity from investors including Silicon Valley Bank and Mayfield Fund in January this year, will use the funds to expand its marketplace and expand into new geographic areas.
Iris Capital, the VC fund that manages investments for telecommunications company Orange and public relations firm Groupe Publicis, participated in a €2m ($2.5m) series A round for Agorize, the France-based developer of a platform through which companies can set innovation challenges, on Tuesday. The round, which also featured VC firm Capnamic Ventures, followed a €300,000 seed investment from phone and internet service provider Bouygues Telecom in 2012.
BMW i Ventures, automotive company BMW’s mobility services-focused corporate venturing subsidiary, invested an undisclosed sum in US-based driving data analytics provider Zendrive on Tuesday as part of a round that also featured Fontinalis Partners, Expansion Capital and First Round Capital. First Round previously contributed to a $1.5m seed round raised by Zendrive in August 2013.
Leta Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of IT holding company Leta Group, has invested $1.5m of series A funding in Bright Box, the Russia-based developer of a connected car platform. Cloud4Auto Ventures had provided $270,000 in seed funding for Bright Box in 2012.
Italy-based grocery price comparison site Risparmio has raised almost €1.38m ($1.7m) from voucher and payment company Qui!Group, which provided €350,000, and VC firm LVenture. Risparmio has now raised approximately €2.9m in total from backers also including Filas and Zernike Meta Ventures.
QLL, a Taiwan-based developer of language learning apps for small children, has closed a $450,000 seed round led by B Dash Ventures, the joint investment venture formed by several Japan-based corporates, Tech in Asia reported on Wednesday. The round, which also featured Pinehurst Advisors, Coent Venture Partners, Viling and Incubate Fund, originally closed in September.