MassMutual Ventures and Nationwide Ventures, the respective corporate venturing subsidiaries of insurance firms Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance and Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, took part in a $4.6m round for virtual car insurance startup Insurify yesterday that included undisclosed existing investors. Insurify had previously received $2m in seed funding from Rationalwave Capital Partners in January 2016.
Ookami, the Japan-based developer of sport streaming app Player, has received an undisclosed seven-figure dollar sum in a series A round featuring media company Asahi Shimbun, Gree Ventures, the strategic investment subsidiary of mobile game publisher Gree, and IMJ Investment Partners, The Bridge reported on Tuesday. The round follows about $260,000 raised in angel rounds in 2014 and 2015, and an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Gree Ventures, which disclosed the investment, in May 2016.
Crypt TV, a US-based creator of horror-themed online films, has raised $3.5m in a seed round led by venture capital firm Lerer Hippeau Ventures that included NBCUniversal, the media subsidiary of cable service provider Comcast, the Wall Street Journal has reported. The round, which also featured Advancit Capital, will be used to double the size of Crypt TV’s team to 14 as it seeks to produce longer, serialised content, some of which will be built around its existing characters.
SoftBank Ventures Korea, a subsidiary of Japan-headquartered telecom and internet group SoftBank, invested an undisclosed amount in US-based consumer virtual reality technology developer Oben on Tuesday. The funding, provided by SoftBank’s SB Next Media Innovation Fund, comes after Oben raised $7.7m in a November 2016 series A round that included CrestValue Capital, a subsidiary of conglomerate Dunan Group, and Dream Maker Entertainment, part of entertainment provider SM Entertainment.
HarvestPort, the US-based operator of an online marketplace for agriculture equipment and services, has secured $2.5m in a series A round led by VC firm Cultivian Sandbox Ventures and backed by packaged vegetarian food supplier Taylor Farms, AgFunder News has reported. Taylor Farms participated in the round as an existing investor, providing its share through an unnamed corporate venturing unit, according to the report.
Amadeus Ventures, the corporate VC unit formed by travel and tourism IT services provider Amadeus IT Group, has led a seed round of undisclosed size for Canada-based bus and coach ticketing management platform Betterex. The round, which included angel investor Donald J. Carty, will be used to strengthen Betterex’s sales, distribution, operations and back office.
Singapore-based email marketing platform developer Ematic has closed a $2.4m pre-series A round featuring MDI Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of telecom company Telkom Indonesia, E27 reported on Wednesday. Walden International led the round, which included Wavemaker Partners and Convergence Ventures, both of which took part in Ematic’s $1.1m seed round in November 2016 alongside 500 Startups.
SBI Investment, a venture capital subsidiary of financial services firm SBI Group, has invested an undisclosed amount in Episode Six, a China-based developer of payment card creation technology. The capital was provided by the dedicated fintech fund SBI Investment formed in late 2015.
ShopChat, the US-based creator of a message-focused mobile commerce platform, came out of stealth on Wednesday with $1.25m secured in a round led by e-commerce firm Rakuten and backed by undisclosed angel investors from Silicon Valley and Europe. As part of the deal Shopchat will also power the message commerce service for Viber, the social messaging network Rakuten acquired for $900m in 2014.
Pepo, a US-based social messaging app developer backed by internet group Tencent, has raised $400,000 in new funding from its existing investors, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. Tencent led Pepo’s $2.35m seed round in December 2016, investing alongside Greycroft Partners, Vectr, Correlation Ventures, Oriente, company founder Jason Goldberg and angel investors Allen Morgan, David Bohnett, Howard Morgan and Nishith Shah.
Television production company FremantleMedia has invested an undisclosed sum in Germany-based multi-channel network Divimove, maintaining a 75% share of the company. FremantleMedia first invested in Divimove in 2013 and increased its stake to 51% in early 2015.
Sodexo Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of facilities management group Sodexo, has disclosed last month that it has provided an undisclosed amount of funding to France-based workspace provider Neo-Nomade. Sodexo made the investment as part of a strategic alliance through which it will supply office services to workspaces run by Neo-Nomade.