Automotive marketplace builder Frontier Car Group has provided $5m of series A funding for Cars45, the Nigeria-based operator of an online marketplace for used vehicles, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. Cars45, which includes a thorough vehicle evaluation as part of its service, will use the capital to further develop its platform.
Singapore-based solar power producer Sunseap has raised S$6.7m ($4.8m) in series C funding from investors including property maintenance services provider IsoTeam at a $143m valuation, Business Times reported on Tuesday. Sunseap aims to raise S$75m in the round, which follows S$27m in series B financing in mid-2015 from conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, Trirec and Enspire Apus Investments, with the debt portion being supplied by DBS Bank.
Financial software provider Hundsun Technologies supplied an undisclosed amount of series A funding yesterday for Symbiont, the US-based creator of a smart contracts platform for distributed ledger technology. Symbiont raised about $1.2m in debt financing from Atlantic Merchant Capital Investors and Celeridem Capital Management in 2015 before adding $7m in equity funding from unnamed investors in January 2016 at a reported $70m valuation.
Unilever Ventures, the strategic investment arm of consumer goods provider Unilever, has led a £3.5m ($4.5m) round for UK-based on-demand beauty services provider Blow, which will support further development of its online platform as well as expansion to two new UK cities and an international city by the end of this year. The funding follows a £1m round in June 2016 in which Unilever Ventures invested £500,000, and which included money raised through a crowdfunding campaign on the Seedrs platform.
Cubigo, the Belgium-based developer of an online platform that helps the elderly access vital services, has received €4m ($4.4m) in funding from investor including mobility services provider Transvision, Tech.eu has reported. Enterpreneur Urbain Vandeurzen led the round and the cash will support the international growth of Cubigo, which operates in Belgium, the Netherlands and the US, but which has received interest from Canada, Switzerland and Singapore.
Tata Capital Healthcare Fund, an investment vehicle owned by trading conglomerate Tata and Sons, has invested $4m in India-based dermatology product supplier Brinton Pharmaceuticals, LiveMint reported yesterday. The deal represents the first external funding to be raised by Brinton, which will use the capital to expand into the areas of paediatrics and gynaecology.
Microsoft Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of software provider Microsoft, led a $3.5m seed round for Agolo, the US-based creator of an artificial intelligence-powered media search tool, on Wednesday, with venture capital firm CRV. VC fund Point72 Ventures and investment holding company Franklin Templeton also contributed to the round, which follows an undisclosed amount of funding from Dentsu Ventures, the corporate VC arm of marketing firm Dentsu, in mid-2015 when Agolo was still known as Ninoh.
Marketing and strategic communications firm Affinity Group led a series A round of undisclosed size on Tuesday for CreatorIQ, the US-based influencer marketing management software developer formerly known as SocialEdge. Affinity was formed by TPG Growth, which forms part of private equity group TPG, and Evolution Media, itself backed by talent agency Creative Artists Agency.
Catalia Health, the US-based creator of an artificial intelligence-equipped patient engagement platform, secured $2.5m in seed capital on Monday from investors including internet company DeNA and Macnica Ventures, the investment vehicle for semiconductor distributor Macnica. The other investors included NewGen Capital, Q Venture Partners, InnoLinks Ventures, Abstract by Flight.VC, Lucky Capital and Khosla Ventures, the VC firm that led Catalia’s previous seed round, in which it raised $1.25m in mid-2015.
Consumer tape manufacturer Shurtape Technologies led a series A round of undisclosed size on Monday for InRoad Toys, the US-based creator of a portable road building toy called PlayTape. In addition to being an investor in InRoad, Shurtape is also a key manufacturing partner for PlayTape, which enables children to lay down easily removable tape tracks for toy vehicles on any flat surface.
Graphics processing technology producer Nvidia has led a $1.5m round for US-based data processing startup Fastdata.io, VentureBeat reported yesterday. Fastdata will use the funding for hiring, marketing and product development, and Jeff Herbst, vice-president of business development for Nvidia, told VentureBeat the corporate invested because of the potential of Fastdata’s technology to process huge amounts of data in real time.
Healthians, an India-based medical diagnostics technology startup backed by e-commerce holding company Beenos and internet company Digital Garage, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from VC firm Asuka Holdings, the Economic Times reported yesterday. Beenext led a $3m round for the startup in October 2016 that included Digital Garage and Beenos, and which followed an undisclosed amount of funding from YouWeCan Ventures in mid-2015.
POL, the Japan-based operator of a recruitment platform for science students called LabBase, has raised ¥50m ($450,000) in seed funding from investors including CyberAgent Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of internet company CyberAgent. Beenext led the round, which also featured Draper Nexus Ventures, Beyond Next Ventures and undisclosed angel investors, and which the startup will use to enhance its system development process.