Pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly agreed on Tuesday to provide $5m of equity and research funding to Entrega, a US-based affiliate of biopharmaceutical company PureTech Health, as part of a research collaboration agreement. Entrega is developing an oral peptide delivery technology that will replace injections as a method of administering drugs.
Japan-based online advertising optimisation technology developer Kaizen Platform raised $4.6m in series C funding on Wednesday from YJ Capital, Dentsu Innovation Partners, SBI Investment and Mizuho Capital, respective subsidiaries of internet company Yahoo Japan, marketing firm Denstu and financial services firms SBI Group and Mizuho Bank. Kaizen has now raised $22.4m in total, its past investors including mobile network NTT Docomo, payment services firm Credit Saison, internet company CyberAgent and digital media company Gree.
PriceHubble, the Switzerland-based creator of software that utilises machine learning to analyse property values, has received an undisclosed seven-figure franc amount (CHF1 = $1) from investors including insurance firm Swiss Life and Swisscom Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications firm Swisscom. The round was led by Helvetia Venture Fund and included members of venture capital firm BtoV’s investor network. Swisscom Ventures and Swiss Life took part as existing investors, according to PriceHubble.
US-based last-mile logistics startup AxleHire has secured $4.3m in funding from investors including R/GA Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for advertising firm R/GA, and Acorn Pacific Ventures, TechCrunch reported on Monday. AxleHire was one of 10 companies admitted to Connected Commerce Accelerator, the accelerator initiative run by R/GA Ventures and Westfield Labs, a subsidiary of shopping centre manager Westfield, in August 2016.
Online payment services provider Paypal invested an undisclosed sum in Raisin, the Germany-based operator of a cross-border marketplace for deposit savings schemes, on Wednesday. Raisin had previously raised €60m ($70m) in funding from VC firms Thrive Capital, Ribbit Capital and Index Ventures, half of which came in a January 2017 series C round featuring all three.
Faircent, an India-based online lending platform backed by media company Bennett, Coleman and Co (BCC), has received $4m in a series B round co-led by microfinance fund manager Incofin and microfinance firm Muthoot Fincorp that included all its existing investors, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday. The company had previously raised between $4.3m and $4.8m from investors including BCC’s Brand Capital unit, JM Financial, Aarin Capital Partners and M&S Partners.
Messaging platform Line agreed on Wednesday to lead a series A round of undisclosed size for Mobike Japan, a Japanese spinoff from China-based bicycle rental platform Mobike, as part of a strategic alliance. Line will acquire a stake in the company just shy of 20% but the round’s other participants have not been disclosed. Mobike itself has raised more than $1bn in funding from backers including corporates Tencent, Bertelsmann, Foxconn, Ctrip and Huazhu Hotels.
Belgium-based biomanufacturing technology developer Univercells has completed a €3m ($3.5m) funding round that included Takeda Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Takeda, as well as the startup’s founders and “a dozen” private investors. Takeda Ventures had already invested $3.3m in the company in 2015, and the latest funding will support the commercial deployment of its viral platform as well as the completion of its recombinant platform.
Mirror AI, the US-based creator of a platform that allows users to create personalised emojis, has raised $3.5m in a round led by telecoms and internet group SoftBank that valued it at $30m, The Street has reported. The round also featured Greylock Partners, Durant Co, angel investor Peter Thiel and, according to Crunchbase News, SV Angel, Y Combinator, I2BF and Data Collective.
Distributed data technology developer Reniac has secured an undisclosed amount in a round led by Intel Capital, the corporate VC subsidiary of semiconductor technology producer Intel. The round also featured semiconductor technology manufacturer Phison Electronics, Menlo Ventures, Divergent Ventures, Bullpen Capital and First Star Ventures, all of which participated as existing investors, though Reniac did not disclose details of its past funding.
Singapore-based financial data aggregation platform developer Canopy has received $3.4m in funding from financial services firm Credit Suisse and investment firm LionRock Capital, Finews has reported. Credit Suisse now owns a 10% share of Canopy, formerly known as Mestis, which had previously raised $3m from undisclosed investors in June 2015, and a further $2.35m in May 2016.
Nuvve Corporation, a US-based developer of technology that enables charging electric vehicles to jointly function as a virtual power plant, has closed a series A round of undisclosed size featuring EDF Renewable Energy, a subsidiary of energy company EDF, and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, which forms part of automotive manufacturing group Toyota. The company hopes to leverage the assistance of EDF and Toyota to expand in Western Europe and North America and enter Japan.
Splitty, the Israel-based operator of a hotel booking platform that allows users to save money by splitting group reservations, has raised $2.4m in seed funding from investors including AOL, which forms part of online media group Oath, Tech.eu reported yesterday. Proceeds from the round, which also featured BIP Capital, Techstars Ventures and Techstars Accelerator, will be used for product development.
Unilever Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for packaged household goods producer Unilever, has invested an undisclosed amount in Peel-Works, the India-based creator of a supply chain analytics software platform for consumer goods, alongside IDG Ventures India and Inventus Capital Partners, LiveMint reported on Monday. The latter two had previously provided $2m of funding for Peel-Works in 2014.
Classified listings provider Info Edge has provided Rs 125m ($2m) in funding for International Educational Gateway, the India-based operator of educational counselling services provider Univariety, VCCircle reported on Tuesday, citing a stock market disclosure. Info Edge took a 29.6% stake in the startup through the deal.
US-based 3Ten8, the creator a software platform that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect and predict outages in wireless networks, has secured $2m in a seed round that included virtualisation and networking software provider Citrix. The round was led by Social Capital and also featured 500 Startups, Alchemist accelerator and Amr Awadallah, the founder and chief technology officer of data software producer Cloudera.
Amiko Digital Health, a UK-based developer of medication sensor and artificial intelligence-focused digital health technology, raised an undisclosed amount on Monday in a round co-led by Sanner Ventures, the strategic investment subsidiary of plastic packaging and drug delivery equipment maker Sanner, and Breed Reply, the corporate VC arm of internet-of-things technology provider Reply. Breed Reply had previously supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Amiko in January 2016.
Farmcrowdy, the Nigeria-based creator of an online platform that allows users to invest in and sponsor the farming cycles of small farmers, completed a $1m seed round on Monday that included communications and automotive services provider Cox Enterprises. Techstars Ventures, Social Capital, Josephine Group, FC Agro Allied SPV, Hallett Capital, Right-Side Capital and angel investors Tyler Scriven, Michael Cohn and Christof Walter also participated in the round.
Chemicals producer Evonik invested an undisclosed amount yesterday in HPNow, the Denmark-based developer of an automated hydrogen peroxide production system. HPNow got the funding as part of a series A round it is raising, having previously received approximately $430,000 in June 2016 from the Danish state-backed Innovation Fund Denmark’s Innobooster initiative.
Mobile game publisher Animoca Brands agreed on Monday to invest up to A$1m ($770,000) in China-based artificial intelligence and machine learning-focused accelerator Zeroth.AI. Animoca will put up an initial A$250,000 and could add the same amount in each of three future tranches. Zeroth agreed the deal as it secured $430,000 from undisclosed investors in a private placement and $110,000 from co-founder Yat Siu.
Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the corporate venturing vehicle for industrial product and appliance maker Robert Bosch, bought an undisclosed number of tokens for cryptocurrency Iota on Tuesday, its first distributed ledger investment. The unit hopes the investment will help enhance its collaboration with non-profit corporation Iota Foundation, which issued the tokens, and which is helping to boost the Iota technology, which facilitates secure communication and payment between machines.