LifeRobotics, the Japan-based creator of a robot called Coro, has closed a series B round sized at ¥1bn ($8.9m), securing funding from real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan, electronics manufacturer Koden Holdings, Mizuho Capital, a subsidiary of financial services firm Mizuho Bank, investment firm Global Brain and Golden Asia Fund, The Bridge reported on Tuesday. Koden, Global Brain and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital took part in the company’s $4.4m series A round in November 2015.
Nida Rooms, an Indonesia-based budget hotel platform backed by internet company CyberAgent, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from undisclosed investors, Tech in Asia reported yesterday. The company, which had received $5.6m in a first round of funding co-led by CyberAgent and Convergence Ventures, was seeking $10m at a $40m valuation, according to documents seen by Tech in Asia.
China-based enterprise file management software developer FangCloud Technology has secured $8.4m in series A+ funding from UMC Capital, the corporate venturing arm of semiconductor maker UMC, as well as venture capital firms Lightspeed Venture Partners and Matrix Partners, and Chen Weixing, founder of ride sharing service Kuaidi Dache, China Money Network reported on Tuesday. Lightspeed had previously led a $5m series A round for FangCloud in 2014, a year after the company was founded.
DB1 Ventures, the strategic investment vehicle of trading marketplace Deutsche Börse Group, has invested a seven-digit euro amount in Germany-based banking technology developer Figo on Wednesday as part of a €6.8m ($7.2m) series B round. Figo’s earlier investors include High-Tech Gruenderfonds and angel investors Carlo Koelzer and Joerg Heilig.
Findo, the US-based developer of a smart search engine, raised $7m on Monday in a series A round that featured a $600,000 investment by PDF technology provider and new strategic partner Foxit Software. The round also included text scanning software producer Abbyy, which invested $3m in May this year, as well as VC fund Flint Capital and unnamed investors from the scanner and document markets.
PayKey, the Israel-based developer of a peer-to-peer payment tool that can be integrated into existing online platforms, received $6m on Tuesday in a series A round backed by payment services provider Mastercard, and CommerzVentures and Santander InnoVentures, the fintech investment arms of financial services firms Santander and Commerzbank. E.ventures and Wharton Asset Management co-led the round, which included Digital Leaders Ventures and existing investor Magma VC.
Unifly, a Belgium-based developer of drone operations and traffic management software, secured €5m ($5.3m) in funding on Monday from investors including unmanned aerial vehicle operator Terra Drone, which provided €4m. Seed investors Qbic Fund and PMV supplied the rest of the capital, the round lifting Unifly’s total funding to €6.3m.
Internet and telecommunications group SoftBank has provided $5m in bridge funding to India-based real estate portal Housing.com, VCCircle reported on Tuesday. Housing.com had previously raised $169m from SoftBank, which invested almost $15m in January this year, as well as Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mobile semiconductor maker Qualcomm, Falcon Edge, DST Global, Helion Venture Partners and Nexus Venture Partners.
Yup, the US-based operator of an educational tutoring marketplace, has received $4m in funding led by Sesame Ventures, the strategic investment arm of television production company Sesame Workshop. The capital, which represents Sesame Ventures’ first deal, will be added to the $3.5m in seed funding provided for Yup, then called MathCrunch, by investors including Floodgate, Formation 8, Index Ventures, Sherpa Ventures and Slow Ventures in 2015.
Internet group Tencent has invested an undisclosed amount in China-based knowledge-sharing app developer Fenda that took its total funding to $29m, China Money Network reported yesterday. Fenda had raised $25m from Vision Plus Capital, Sequoia Capital and angel investors Wang Sicong and Luoji Siwei in June this year.
Telstra Ventures, the corporate VC arm of telecom firm Telstra, added an undisclosed amount of funding to the series B round being raised by US-based internet management technology developer NS1 on Wednesday. The round already included Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, the corporate venturing subsidiary of telecom company Deutsche Telekom, as well as Two Sigma Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners and Sigma Prime Ventures, and totalled $20m as of September this year.
True Link Financial, a US-based provider of money management, investment and insurance products for retirees, closed a $3.6m funding round on Monday featuring Ziegler Link-Age Longevity Fund, the unit formed by retirement home operator Link-Age and investment bank Ziegler. The round included Kapor Capital, Initialized Capital and Symmetrical Ventures, and came after $3.4m in seed capital from health insurance firm Cambia Health Solutions, Kapor Capital, Collaborative Fund and Generator Ventures in January 2015.
SafeDK, the Israel-based producer of a management platform for mobile software development kits, has completed a $3.5m series A round that included Samsung Next Tel Aviv, a subsidiary of electronics producer Samsung, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. The round also featured StageOne Ventures, Kaedan Capital and angel investors Marius Nacht and Leon Waisbein, the first three having supplied $2.25m in seed funding to SafeDK in November 2015.
Cashboard, a Germany-based wealth management platform and graduate of media company ProSiebenSat.1’s accelerator, raised €3m ($3.2m) on Wednesday in a series A round led by fintech-focused VC fund Digital Space Ventures. The round included Redalpine Capital, Earlybird Venture Capital and 500 Startups, all of which took part in Cashboard’s August 2015 seed round, which also featured ProSiebenSat.1’s SevenVentures unit Heilemann Ventuers and Makers.
US-based personalised news app developer Gong has secured $3m in seed capital from Bloomberg Beta, the data-focused CVC subsidiary of media group Bloomberg, as well as Sequoia Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners, Boldstart Ventures and assorted angel investors, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Gong CEO Itzik Ben-Bassat told TechCrunch the app’s traffic has been growing 30% each week since it was launched in September this year.
Auction house Sotheby’s invested an undisclosed amount in IfOnly, a US-based company that bills itself as a ‘marketplace for experiences’, on Monday. IfOnly had previously raised just over $25m from payment services firm American Express, media group Advance Publications, internet company Digital Garage, XB Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, New Enterprise Associates, Khosla Ventures and assorted angel investors across three rounds.
IT services provider Infosys has invested DKK14.9m ($2.1m) in Denmark-based advanced text analysis technology developer Unsilo through its Innovation Fund. Unsilo raised $1m from startup incubator Oei and venture capital firm Scale Capital in 2013, and Infosys made provided the cash as part of a collaboration deal that will involve the company’s artificial intelligence and machine learning-equipped technology being supplied to its international clients.
CommIT Capital, the corporate venturing arm of telecom firm Rostelecom, has paid about RUB130m ($2m) for a 15% stake in Russia-based network technology provider RDP.ru. RDP’s technology is utilised by telecom companies and corporate clients, and Rostelcom will provide assistance with its technology policy and strategy as it looks to grow.
Electric, the US-based developer of an IT support platform for small and medium-sized businesses, has secured $2m in a seed round backed by law firm Gunderson Dettmer and digital advertising agency Anchor Worldwide. Bowery Capital led the round, which included “significant participation” from Primary Venture Partners as well as capital from fellow VC firm Charge Ventures.
PushFor, the UK-based creator of a secure messaging app for businesses, raised £1.2m ($1.5m) in pre-series A funding from metals trading firm Metdist, NT Asset and C12 Ventures on Wednesday. It will invest the capital in sales and marketing, product development and an expansion into North America, Asia and India.
Annexus Ventures, the VC firm sponsored by insurance provider Annexus, has invested an undisclosed amount in RepPro, the US-based developer of a brokerage, insurance or annuity application platform for financial services professionals. The deal is the second to be closed by Annexus Ventures, following its investment in retirement finances management startup RetireUp earlier this month.
Japan-based studying services provider Arcterus has received $1m in series B funding from distance learning company Z-Kai and media group Asahi Shimbun, Tech in Asia reported on Tuesday. Both investors will also add content for the startup’s note-sharing platform, Clear, and their funding follows $1m from Dentsu Digital Holdings, a subsidiary of marketing company Dentsu, Startia and Bon Angels in June 2015, and almost $570,000 from company founder Goichiro Arai.
Farewill, a UK-based startup that launched a subscription-based online will-writing service this week, has secured £400,000 ($500,000) in seed capital from advertising agency M&C Saatchi, Kindred Capital and the founders of realty platform Zoopla and payday lender Wonga, TechCrunch reported on Monday.
App-based online distribution company YMS Mobitech has invested an undisclosed amount in Edutainment Spearheads, the India-based operator of vocabulary learning platform Volt, VCCircle reported on Tuesday. Volt has reportedly been downloaded more than 300,000 times.