Schneider Electric Ventures, the venture capital fund backed by energy management equipment maker Schneider Electric, co-led a $10m series A round for US-based battery management system technology developer Titan Advanced Energy Solutions on Monday. The round was co-led by VC firm Energy Innovation Capital and included Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The proceeds will go to product development, sales and the expansion of the company’s engineering team.
SenSat, a UK-based developer of artificial intelligence software for the infrastructure space, completed a $10m series A round led by internet group Tencent on Tuesday. The round also featured Sistema Venture Capital, the corporate venturing arm of diversified trading company Sistema. It followed $4.2m in seed funding from Zag, the corporate VC arm of advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty, as well as Force Over Mass and Round Hill Venture Partners, in August 2018.
Brazil-based transport navigation application developer Quicko has raised $10m from investors including transport infrastructure provider CCR, StartSe has reported. Private equity fund manager J2L Partners also contributed to the round, which was raised as the company prepares to add more features and expand beyond its first market of Sao Paulo.
Oil and gas supplier Shell has paid an undisclosed sum for a 20% stake in India-based solar energy system producer Orb Energy, Bloomberg reported yesterday. Cleantech investment manager Zouk Capital was an existing investor when it provided an undisclosed amount for Orb in 2016, before the company raised $5m in equity funding from investors development institutions FMO and DEG in January 2018 together with $10m in debt financing from Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
UK-based agricultural lighting technology developer Intelligent Growth Solutions has added $1.6m ($2m) to close a series A round featuring media and investment firm AgFunder that now totals approximately $8.7m. AgFunder invested £100,000 and Ospraie Ag Science £1.5m, and the earlier funding was provided by AgFunder, S2G Ventures and Scottish Investment Bank in June this year.
Media conglomerate Grupo Globo has led a R$35m ($8.6m) funding round for Bom Pra Crédito, the Brazil-based operator of an online financial services comparison platform, Contxto has reported. The corporate’s investment was reportedly framed as an ad-for-equity deal and came after R$29.5m in earlier funding from Astella Investments and angel investors including Jorge Paulo Lemann.
US-based smart apartment platform developer Iotas closed an $8.5m series A round on Tuesday led by Telus Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications firm Telus, and backed by mass media group Liberty Global. Iotas said it has now raised more than $17m in total, having received an amount likely to be $1.2m from chipmaker Intel’s corporate VC unit, Intel Capital, in late 2017 and earlier funding from investors including National Science Foundation, Creative Ventures, Oregon Best, Portland Seed Fund, Oregon Angel Fund and Rogue Venture Partners.
A subsidiary of personal finance management platform 9F has invested an undisclosed amount in China-based consumer finance provider Hubei Consumer Finance Company. The investment made the 9F subsidiary the largest shareholder in Hubei Consumer Finance and it will help the company improve its traffic and improve its AI technology.
US-based technology training provider Kenzie Academy secured $7.8m on Monday in a series A round that included Kelly Innovation Fund, a subsidiary of recruitment firm Kelly Services. The round was led by Rethink Education and also featured Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund as well as Education Innovation Fund, LearnStart, Peak State Ventures and Flat World Partners. The company secured $1.6m from 500 Startups, Rethink Education and LearnStart in 2017 and $4.2m from investors including Rethink and Butler University in July 2018.
Ribometrix, a US-based developer of small molecule RNA therapies, has received $7.8m in funding from Illumina Ventures, genomic medicine producer Illumina’s strategic investment arm, and VC fund Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF). The company had raised a total of $37.5m as of a $30m series A round in November 2018 featuring Illumina Ventures and M Ventures, AbbVie Ventures, Amgen Ventures and MP Healthcare Venture Management, subsidiaries of pharmaceutical firms Merck Group, AbbVie, Amgen and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma respectively.
Rental insurance provider Assurant Insurance contributed to a $7.5m seed round for credit check services provider Naborly on Tuesday. VC firm First Round Capital led the round, which included Susa Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Village Global VC and Third Prime. The funding was announced in tandem with the launch of NaborlyShield, which guarantees lease terms and rental income for tenants and landlords.
Waycare Technologies has secured $7.3m in a series A round backed by energy utility Innogy, geographic information system provider Zymestic Solutions and Goldbell Investments, a subsidiary of industrial vehicle producer Goldbell Group, Calcalist reported yesterday. SJF Ventures led the round, which included UpWest Labs Management, Next Gear Ventures, Spider Capital and Janom, and which followed $2.3m from Innogy, Zymestic, Goldbell Investments, Spider Capital, UpWest Labs, Janom and SeedInvest in late 2017.
US-based machine learning development startup Streamlit has launched with a $6m seed round led by Gradient Ventures, internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence-focused investment arm, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. The round included Bloomberg Beta, media company Bloomberg’s big data-focused corporate VC unit, as well as angel investors Elad Gil, Jana Messerschmidt, Daniel Gross, Docker Solomon Hykes and Jake Klamka.
Gradient AI, a US-based developer of artificial intelligence software for the insurance industry, received $6m today in a series A round that included MassMutual Ventures, insurance firm MassMutual’s strategic investment arm. The round was co-led by VC firm Sandbox Industries’ Sandbox Insurtech Ventures vehicle and VC firm Forte Ventures, and it came after almost $5m in January 2019, according to a securities filing, from investors including MassMutual Ventures.
UK-based real estate investment platform Bricklane closed a £4.7m ($5.8m) series A round on Tuesday that was co-led by DMG Ventures, the VC arm of media group Daily Mail and General Trust. A/O Proptech co-led the round, which also featured LocalGlobe, Form Ventures and Clocktower Technology Ventures, and which came after $1.7m in seed funding from online real estate portal Zoopla and LocalGlobe in 2016.
Spain-based anti-piracy technology startup Smart Protection has raised €5.2m ($5.7m) in series A funding from investors including financial services firm Bankinter’s Startups of Bankinter Innovation Foundation and Wayra, the open innovation arm of telecoms firm Telefónica. The round was led by Nauta Capital and included JME Ventures and Big Sur Ventures, the latter two participating as existing investors along with Bankinter and Wayra.
US-based derivatives-trading software developer Vega Protocol has secured $5m in seed capital from investors including Xpring, the open payment platform owned by blockchain payment software provider Ripple, CoinDesk reported on Wednesday. Blockchain-focused hedge fund manager Pantera Capital led the round, which also featured crypto asset fund Hashed and crypto investment firm KR1.
Longliv Ventures, a digital health fund owned by conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings, is providing $5m for a series B round being raised by Israel-based microbiome discovery platform developer DayTwo, the companies announced yesterday. The round will also include Samsung Next, a subsidiary of electronics producer Samsung, and Cathay Innovation, all three of which will add to the $31m DayTwo received from Johnson & Johnson, Ofek Ventures and aMoon in July this year. Longliv managing director Dan Eldar is joining its board of directors.
Aruna, the Indonesia-based operator of a seafood e-commerce platform, has received a ‘sub-$5m’ amount of funding from SMDV, the corporate venturing arm of conglomerate Sinar Mas, as well as VC firms Agaeti Venture Capital and East Ventures, DealStreetAsia reported today, citing sources familiar with the matter. Industrial equipment distributor UMG Indonesia had supplied the company with an undisclosed amount of seed capital in April 2017.
India-based expense management platform developer Fyle disclosed yesterday that it has raised $4.5m in series A funding from customer engagement software producer Freshworks, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global Management and Pravega Ventures. The company said it has now received $10.6m altogether, $4.2m of which was provided in February this year by Tiger Global and existing investors Freshworks, Pravega Ventures and Beenext as part of an earlier series A close.
E-commerce firm Amazon invested an undisclosed amount in US-based home automation technology developer SmartRent on Wednesday through its Alexa Fund. The company had raised a total of $42m as of a $32m series B round in June this year that included real estate investment trusts Essex Property Trust and UDR, real estate investment holding company Starwood Capital, Bain Capital Ventures and Real Estate Technology Ventures.
Property developer Thor Equities co-led a $4m seed round for US-based real estate securities marketplace developer Lex with VC firm Greycroft on Wednesday. The company’s platform enables investors to trade shares in individual properties while the owners can receive money in exchange for equity.
VC fund Dreamers VC provided an undisclosed amount of funding on Monday for TravelBank, a US-based travel and expense management platform developer. TravelBank’s existing investors include Propel Venture Partners, the VC firm backed by financial services firm BBVA, though it has not disclosed when it invested. The company had raised $10m in series A funding from Accel and New Enterprise Associates in 2016, and both returned for a $25m series B led by fellow VC firm DCM Ventures in August 2017.
US-based solar-powered appliance provider Amped Innovation completed a series A round on Tuesday led by Engie Rassembleurs d’Energie, an investment vehicle for energy utility Engie, having raised more than $3.3m. The round included Schneider Electric Ventures and impact investment vehicle Finca Ventures, both of which were described by the company as existing backers.
Consulting services firm Clarkston Consulting led a $2.75m funding round for US-based coding school operator Momentum on Wednesday, Momentum founder and chief executive Jessica Mitsch told WRAL TechWire. The capital boosted Momentum’s overall funding to $3.15m, the previous funding being raised in November 2017 according to a regulatory filing.
Mobile network operator NTT Docomo has invested an undisclosed sum in US-based cloud storage technology provider Wasabi through corporate venturing vehicle NTT Docomo Ventures. Wasabi raised more than $68m in series B funding from investors including Forestay Capital in September 2018, having previously received $10.8m in an August 2017 round backed by CloudScale Capital Partners. It had already secured $8.2m from two rounds in 2016 according to securities filings.
UK-based haemophilia treatment developer ProFactor Pharma has received £2m ($2.5m) in a funding round featuring biotech producer Ingenza, Insider Publications reported on Monday. Investment syndicate Kelvin Capital led the round, which included Scottish Investment Bank, and Insider reported that Kelvin Capital has now led five separate rounds for ProFactor, one of which would have been a 2013 round of undisclosed size that also featured Scottish Investment Bank and unnamed existing backers.
Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of enterprise software provider Salesforce, co-led a $2.5m seed round for Japan-based software testing automation startup Autify on Tuesday with Global Brain and Archetype Ventures. The company had previously secured $510,000 in a July 2017 round featuring Genesia Ventures, East Ventures, KLab Ventures, GW Ventures and various angel investors, according to DealStreetAsia.
US-based enterprise blockchain platform developer BlockApps secured an undisclosed amount of series A funding on Monday from investors including blockchain software provider Consensys. The round was led by Fitz Gate Ventures and also featured Elliptic Curve Ventures, Bloccelerate, Fenbushi Capital, Galaxy Digital Ventures. The company had been incubated by Consensys in 2015.
India-based smart wallet developer InstaDApp has received $2.4m in funding from investors including Coinbase Ventures, digital currency exchange Coinbase’s corporate venturing unit, CoinDesk reported on Tuesday. Pantera Capital led the round, which was also backed by Ideo Colab, Robot Ventures and angel investors Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan and Loi Luu.
Thailand-based carsharing platform developer Drivemate has raised $2.2m in a series A round led by IT services provider Netsol Technologies, Tech in Asia reported today. The round included commercial vehicle producer Isuzu, Colopl Next, which invests on behalf of game developer Colopl, and investment firm UNT Group, and it lifted Drivemate’s overall funding to $2.8m. The cash will go to further development of its platform, which will be integrated with Netsol’s mobility platform, Otoz.
Khwarizmi Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for diversified holding company Kadi Group, has co-led a pre-series A round of undisclosed size for United Arab Emirates-based Melltoo, the operator of an online marketplace for used items, Menabytes reported on Monday. The round was co-led by VC firm Gobi Partners and also featured Shorooq Partners and angel investors including Khalid Al-Tawil. It came after an undisclosed amount from Khwarizmi Ventures, Shorooq, 500 Startups and Kisp Ventures in January 2019 and $1m from investors including Raed Ventures, part of conglomerate Almajdouie Holding, in 2017.
Poland-based quantum computing technology developer Beit has secured $1.4m in funding from investors including Bloomberg Beta, co-founder and CEO Paulina Mazurek revealed in a blog post on Monday. VC firm Kindred Capital led the round, which also featured Manta Ray Ventures, Firebolt Ventures, Data Collective, Spectrum28 and angel investors M. Songhurst and George Armoyan, and the cash will be added to $2.6m in grants from the European Union.
Communications technology producer Motorola Solutions invested an undisclosed amount in US-based speech recognition software developer GreenKey Technologies yesterday. GreenKey had previously raised an undisclosed amount of series B funding from investors including financial networking software producer IPC in March this year.
A subsidiary of classified listings operator Info Edge has supplied Rs 60m ($840,000) in funding for India-based grooming products brand Happily Unmarried, Press Trust of India reported on Tuesday citing a regulatory filing. The company raised a total of $3.9m from Info Edge from 2012 before adding $770,000 from the corporate and $7.7m from Wipro Consumer Care, a subsidiary of IT services group Wipro, in late 2017.
Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi, the corporate venturing arm of telecoms company Telkomsel, has provided an undisclosed amount of series A2 funding for Indonesia-based e-signature technology developer PrivyID, DailySocial has reported. PrivyID received $3m from conglomerate Gunung Sewu Group, financial services firm Mahanusa Capital, MDI Ventures and Mandiri Capital, subsidiaries of telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia and financial services firm Bank Mandiri, in April 2018.
Digital entertainment provider Modern Times Group has invested $250,000 in Mightier Games, the US-based developer of a platform that helps children with behavioural issues through the use of video games. Mightier closed $3.5m in seed funding from Slow Ventures, Bolt, Founder Collective, Project 11 and unnamed angel investors in June 2018 and added $6.6m in a May 2019 series A round led by medical consulting firm Foxkiser and backed by Asset Management Ventures, FundRx, Founder Collective, Slow Ventures and Project 11.
Immunexpress, a molecular diagnostics technology developer backed by biopharmaceutical company Debiopharm, announced yesterday that it has received an undisclosed amount of new funding from unnamed investors. Debiopharm subsidiary Debiopharm Diagnostics provided $6m of funding for the company in 2014, and it had reportedly raised a total of $40m from investors also including the Janssen family as of 2015, when MedCity News reported it was in the process of raising another $40m through a series C round.
