US-based autonomous car technology startup Nauto has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Allianz Ventures, BMW i Ventures and Toyota Research Institute, respective subsidiaries of insurance group Allianz and carmakers BMW and Toyota, with all three investing as part of newly formed strategic agreements. The capital influx follows $2.8m in debt financing in October 2015, according to a securities filing, and a $12m series A round in April this year led by Playground Global that included Draper Nexus Ventures.
Online food ordering platform Just Eat has invested £3.5m ($4.3m) in Flypay, the UK-based creator of a platform that enables restaurants and bars to integrate all their services and technology in a single place, TechCrunch reported on Monday. The capital will be added on to the $10.7m in series A funding invested in Flypay by media company TimeOut and others in July 2015, which followed £1.15m from earlier investors including Entrée Capital.
E-commerce group Alibaba has provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based consumer analytics software provider PlaceIQ, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. PlaceIQ had raised a total of $52m from KBS+ Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of KBS+, as well as US Venture Partners, Valhalla Partners, Harmony Partners, Iris Capital, IA Ventures and Social Leverage as of January this year.
US-based application security startup Virgil Security completed a $4m series A round on Wednesday that included media group Bloomberg’s early-stage investment unit, Bloomberg Beta. Venture capital firm KEC Ventures led the round, which also featured Blu Venture Investors, Charge Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Sparkland Capital, Working Lab Capital and individual investors including members of Baltimore Angels, Dingman Center Angels and Panther Angels, and which followed $525,000 in seed funding in November 2015.
Carmaker General Motors invested an undisclosed amount in Yi Wei Xing, the China-based operator of car sharing platform Feezu, on Tuesday as part of a strategic alliance agreement. GM said it made the equity investment partly in order to gain insight into new car sharing business models as well as the Chinese car sharing market and the personal mobility requirements of Chinese consumers.
MEL Science, the UK-based operator of a subscription-based, virtual and augmented reality-equipped chemistry education service, has received $2.5m in equity funding from Sistema Venture Capital, a subsidiary of conglomerate Sistema, VentureBeat reported on Wednesday. Vassili Philippov, MEL’s founder, said the startup plans to leverage Sistema’s technological expertise as well as assistance in business development.
Automotive systems and equipment supplier Denso has agreed to invest an undisclosed sum in US-based machine learning technology developer Thinci, with an aim to integrate the startuo’s technology into its driver enabler and autonomous driving systems. Denso invested alongside another automotive components producer, Magna International, and undisclosed additional investors, according to Tech Portal.
Portugal-based personal charging device startup Egg Electronics has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from EDP Ventures, the strategic investment arm of EDP, as well as Portugal Ventures, Ganexa Seed Capital and Creative Wings. The system can charge multiple devices simultaneously and is currently available for pre-order.
BillerudKorsnäs Venture, an investment subsidiary of packaging materials provider BillerudKorsnäs, invested an undisclosed sum in Norway-based serialisation services provider Kezzler on Wednesday. The capital will be used to expand Kezzler’s operations across Europe, the US and Asia, and Anders Persson, managing director of BillerudKorsnäs Venture, will join Kezzler’s board of directors in conjunction with the deal.
Sistema Venture Capital has paid RUB65m ($1m) for a 25% stake in Russia-based augmented and virtual reality game developer Luden.io, East-West Digital News has reported. Luden, a spin out of game developer Nival, will use the funding to create games for platforms including Google Daydream.
Deyor Adventures, the India-based operator of campsite aggregation platform Deyor Camps, has received $500,000 from Arkas Industries, Udaan Angels and angel investors Rajesh Arora, Nitin Passi and Manickam Mahalingam, LiveMint reported on Wednesday. The round follows an undisclosed amount of funding provided by online travel agency Travel Boutique Online in July this year.
InVent, the corporate venturing vehicle formed by telecom company Intouch Holdings, has supplied an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding for Social Nation, the US-based creator of a 360-degree virtual reality marketing platform, DealStreetAsia reported on Tuesday. Index Ventures, Greycroft Partners and Virtual Reality Investment Fund invested alongside InVent.