AAA Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 27-31 October 2014

Weekly corporate venturing deal net: 27-31 October 2014

GM Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of automotive manufacturer General Motors, invested an undisclosed sum in US-based location intelligence platform Telogis on Monday. Founded in 2001, Telogis’ last disclosed funding involved a $93m investment by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in October 2013, and follows an agreement earlier this year to incorporate Telogis technology into GM’s OnStar connected vehicle infrastructure.

Bertelsmann India Investments, a corporate venturing subsidiary of media company Bloomberg, has invested $5m in India-based online higher education services provider iNurture Education Solutions, TechCircle reported on Thursday. The round was the third raised by iNurture, which counts VC firms GVFL and Ascent Capital among its past investors.

LedgerX, a US-based start-up aiming to establish the first Bitcoin futures exchange, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Google Ventures, internet company Google’s corporate venturing subsidiary, and venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners, Dow Jones reported on Monday. The company’s founders include alumni of Goldman Sachs and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Axel Springer Digital Ventures, the investment arm of publisher Axel Springer, and media company The New York Times Company invested €3m ($3.8m) on Monday in Blendle, a Netherlands-based company that sells individual media articles to customers online. The precise of the stake they got for their investment has not been disclosed, but company founders Alexander Klöpping and Marten Blankesteijn will retain a 75% share.

Electronics producer Samsung invested an undisclosed amount through its Samsung Ventures Investment Corporation subsidiary in UK-based ‘web of things’ software developer Evrythng on Thursday as part of a strategic partnership. Evrythng previously raised $7m from networking equipment company Cisco, Atomico, BHLP and Dawn Capital in May this year.

Icos Capital, the venture capital firm partnered with corporates including construction firm Royal BAM, bio-based product maker Corbion, electrical services provider Royal Imtech, has invested an undisclosed amount in Netherlands-based ceramic membranes technology developer Metalmembranes. The Dutch company will use the cash to scale its technology and develop its business in partnership with industrial players in the chemical, sensor, and oil and gas sectors.

Abacus Labs, the US-based developer of a mobile app for claiming business expenses, has raised $3.5m in seed funding from Google Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners, CrunchFund, FundersClub, Homebrew, Sherpalo Ventures and assorted private investors, Dow Jones reported on Wednesday.

Mainport Innovation Fund, the fund formed by airport operator Schipol Group, airline KLM, financial services firm Rabobank and Delft University of Technology, invested an undisclosed sum in Snocom, the Netherlands-based creator of a system to remove snow from airports, on Tuesday. Snocom, a spin-out from the Eindhoven University of Technology, is working with Schipol airport to fine-tune its technology.

US-based software keyboard developer Fleksy raised $2m in series B funding on Tuesday from backers including internet company Digital Garage, Eniac Ventures, Middleland Capital, Highland Capital Partners and Militello Capital. Fleksy secured $3m in August 2013 from backers including Highland, Militello, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Middleland Capital.

Email marketing company MailChimp invested $2m through its investment subsidiary, Karman Line Ventures, in venture capital fund Mosley Ventures on Monday. The funding represented the first VC fund investment by MailChimp, which has also injected more than $3m into its own integration fund, founded to support developers that build on its platform.

Galaxy Agency, the Japan-based operator of peer-to-peer parking lot sharing platform Akippa, secured an undisclosed sum from internet company DeNA on Monday, according to The Bridge. Galaxy has now raised $3m in total, having secured funding from investors including DeNA and Jafco in the past.

Mobily Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Middle Eastern mobile service provider Mobily, has invested an undisclosed sum in Hellofood Middle East, a regional subsidiary of food delivery portal Foodpanda. Mobily Ventures, launched in August, has also invested in online music streaming service Anghami and taxi dispatch app creator Easy Taxi.

EventRegist, the Japan-based provider of an online ticket issuing system for event organisers, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from advertising technology producer FreakOut, The Bridge reported on Tuesday. Media organisation Nikkei invested about $1.6m in EventRegist in June, and other existing backers include residential construction firm Daiwa House, East Ventures and Skyland Ventures.

US-based home automation start-up Keen Home has raised $1.25m in seed funding from American Family Ventures, the strategic investment arm of American Family Insurance, as well as phone and cable service provider Comporium, R/GA Ventures, Bullet Time Ventures, NYU Innovation Venture Fund, Rugged Ventures, Galvanize Ventures, and Brand Foundry Ventures, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. Its first product is a smart air vent that enables users to control air flows across their homes.

VideoSelfie, the US-based developer of a real-time mobile video editing app, has secured $1.2m in seed funding from CyberAgent Ventures, internet company CyberAgent’s early-stage fund, East Ventures, Klab Ventures, 500 Startups, and angel investors Takeo Matsuda and Masi Oka, TechCrunch reported today. 500 Startups previously contributed seed funding last year when the company graduated from its accelerator.

US-based social content creation app Photofy closed $1m in funding today from media company Capitol Broadcasting Company, James Dondero from Highland Capital and Michael Olander, Jr. from MDO Holdings. Photofy, which raised $750,000 in seed funding in June this year, will invest the money in growing its sales and marketing team.

Germany-based, corporate backed VC fund High-Tech Gruenderfonds and Bavarian state-backed fund Bayern Kapital invested an undisclosed sum in cloud-based regulatory software start-up CuneSoft on Tuesday. Germany-based Cunesoft will spend the cash on expanding its sales activities and enhancing its software’s capabilities.

High-Tech Gruenderfonds has also funded a seed round for Germany-based business-to-business connectivity technology developer Eddyson, providing an undisclosed amount of funding. Eddyson’s provides a standard version of its technology for free, making electronic data interchange software accessible for smaller businesses.

Industrial conglomerate Siemens has committed an undisclosed amount to enterprise start-up accelerator Alchemist, Dow Jones reported on Tuesday. Alchemist’s other investors include networking technology provider Cisco, cloud software company Salesforce.com, software producer SAP and VC firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson , Foundation Capital, Khosla Ventures and US Venture Partners.

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