India-based automotive rickshaw hire service Jugnoo has closed a $5m series A round led by Snow Leopard and backed by mobile payment company Paytm and assorted angel investors from the company’s seed round, IamWire reported today. Jugnoo, which had previously raised $1m in seed funding, launched its service in November 2014 and is reportedly growing 20% week on week.
Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, the corporate venturing subsidiary of electronics producer Samsung, made a follow-on investment in US-based nano crystal display developer Nanosys on Monday. The amount was not disclosed, but a regulatory filing indicates Nanosys received $5m in funding in March this year. Samsung invested $15m in Nanosys, which also counts semiconductor technology provider Intel and medical device maker Medtronic as backers, in 2010, increasing its overall funding at the time to $120m.
HWTrek, the Taiwan-based operator of an open innovation platform for hardware creation, raised $4m on Tuesday in a series A round co-led by venture capital firm WI Harper and ITIC, the investment arm of research institution Industrial Technology Research Institute. The round also featured e-commerce company JD.com, Legend Star Capital, which is a subsidiary of conglomerate Legend Holdings, and VC firm Global Brain.
Classified listings company Info Edge has invested Rs 250m ($3.9m) in Applect Learning System, the India-based operator of online education and assessment platform Meritnation. Info Edge had invested Rs 715m in Applect as of December 2013 and had built up a 55.8% stake, according to a stock market filing at the time.
Baxter Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of pharmaceutical producer Baxter International, along with medical research company Mayo Clinic and drug developer Velocity Pharmaceutical Development, formed a new company on Monday called Vitesse Biologics that will develop antibody and protein-based treatments for immunology, haematology and oncology. Baxter subsidiary Baxter BioScience will have the option to acquire any companies that emerge from the joint venture.
US-based content discovery service Taboola is set to secure $3m from media company Dailymail.com as part of a strategic partnership agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Taboola raised an undisclosed amount from internet company Baidu last month, after securing a total of $274m since its formation in 2007 from backers including media company Advance Publications, internet company Yahoo Japan, consumer goods supplier Groupe Arnault and cable service provider Comcast.
India-based real estate information and analytics provider Propstack has secured Rs 190m ($3m) in a series A round led by DMG Information, the investment arm of UK-based media company Daily Mail & General Trust, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday. The round, which also included data and analytics company Real Capital Analytics, will enable Propstack to enter seven new markets in India and release its next product, a listing and marketing platform for real estate brokers and developers.
LaunchDarkly, a US-based provider of software testing tools, raised $2.6m yesterday from Bloomberg Beta, the early-stage investment unit owned by media company Bloomberg, as well as SoftTech VC, 500 Startups, Cervin Ventures and a host of angel investors. It will spend the cash on hiring new staff, and is seeking to boost its engineering, marketing, and developer evangelism teams.
KMK Online, the digital investment subsidiary of media conglomerate Emtek, has invested an undisclosed amount in Kudo, the Indonesia-based operator of a chain of physical point-of-sale kiosks that enable people to shop online. Kudo raised a seven-figure amount of series A funding last month from Gree Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of digital media company Gree, 500 Startups, IMJ Investment Partners and East Ventures, the VC firm that supplied it with an undisclosed amount of seed funding in November 2014.
Rivet Radio, the US-based developer of a smart audio platform for spoken word, has secured $1.9m in new cash that took its overall funding to $3.6m. The startup, which raised $1.7m in convertible debt financing in August 2014, is backed by news agency The Associated Press, A. H. Belo Management Services, The IrishAngels, Ringleader Ventures and angel investors including Steve Miller.
IDG Ventures India, an affiliate of media and data company International Data Group, invested an undisclosed amount in India-based speech recognition technology startup Uniphore on Wednesday. Uniphore raised an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Kris Gopalakrishnan, founder of IT services company Infosys, last month.
Propel(x), the US-based creator of an online investment platform that connects deep technology startups with angel investors, raised $1.5m in seed funding on Monday from IDG Capital Partners, an affiliate of media company International Data Group, as well as Zhen Fund, TEEC Angels, TBN Network, CLI Group and senior executives at credit marketplace Lending Club. It will use the cash to enhance its technology, grow its community of experts and investor base, and form new partnerships.
Bloomberg Beta invested an undisclosed sum in US-based visual robot technology developer Diffbot yesterday. Diffbot previously raised $2m in a 2012 angel round backed by VC firm Matrix Partners and angel investors Sky Dayton, Andy Bechtolsheim, Joi Ito, Brad Garlinghouse, Maynard Webb, Elad Gil, Jonathan Heiliger, Aaron Lee and Montgomery Kersten.
Internet holding company Digital Garage has invested an undisclosed sum in LCO-Creation Singapore, the Singapore-based developer of travel information and maps app Travel Door, The Bridge reported yesterday. LCO-Creation previously secured an undisclosed amount of funding from TechCube8 and the Singapore government-backed National Research Foundation.
Singapore-based mobile messaging startup Pie has raised $1.2m in a series A round led by Gree Ventures, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round also included participation by Wavemaker Partners and angel investors Koh Boon Hwee, Dennis Goh, and Ivan Yeo, and follows an $800,000 seed round raised in June 2014 from investors including Digital Garage, marketing firm Publicis Groupe and Siemer Ventures.
Advisory firm Ennovent invested an undisclosed sum in India-based rural healthcare provider Karma Primary Healthcare Services on Monday through its Ennovent Impact Investment Holding subsidiary. Karma, which secured funding earlier this year from impact angel fund Ankur Capital, currently runs four healthcare centres in rural India, catering for a total of around 6,000 patients.
TIM Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications company Telecom Italia, is set to provide $90,000 in seed funding for ArmNet, an Italy-based developer of augmented technology that can be used by underground infrastructure workers. The investment is being made through Telecom Italia’s Working Capital accelerator programme.