Loom Systems, the US-based provider of an IT management platform for artificial intelligence systems, raised $10m on Wednesday in a funding round led by venture capital firm Flint Capital and backed by 31Ventures Global Innovation Fund, an investment vehicle for real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan, as well as Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) and Meron Capital. The latter three had provided $6m for Loom in a May 2017 series A round that was led by JVP.
Israel-based network security technology startup Perimeter 81 secured an amount of funding reported by Calcalist to be $10m yesterday, in a series A round led by cybersecurity software provider SonicWall. The round also featured Spring Ventures and unnamed private investors, and it increased Perimeter 81’s overall funding to $17m according to Calcalist. Spring Ventures and undisclosed private and existing investors had supplied $5m of that sum in April this year.
Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, a US-based cardiovascular disease drug developer backed by pharmaceutical firm Takeda, received an undisclosed amount of funding from healthcare investment firm Polaris Venture Partners on Wednesday. The company raised $10m in debt financing from two investors earlier this month having secured $15.7m from a single undisclosed investor in April 2017, according to regulatory filings, and it identified Takeda as an existing backer this week.
Amadeus Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of travel technology provider Amadeus, has led a $9.8m funding round for Israel-based tax-free shopping platform Refundit. The round included venture capital firm Portugal Ventures and undisclosed participants in a $2.5m seed round previously closed by the company at an undisclosed date.
US-based sponsorship management platform developer FanAI has completed an $8m series A round led by diversified conglomerate Marubeni Corporation. The round also featured Allectus Capital and existing investors including Greycroft’s GC Tracker Fund, CRCM Ventures, Courtside Ventures, M Ventures, Sterling VC and GFR Fund. FanAI had raised $1.8m in July 2017 and $2.5m in February 2018, and its early backers include Bitkraft Esports Ventures, BDS Capital, Catalyst Sports, Deep Space Ventures, Everblue Management and Rosecliff Ventures.
UK-based internet-of-things technology startup IOTech Systems secured $7.5m on Tuesday in a series A round led by Dell Technologies Capital, computing technology producer Dell’s corporate venturing unit. The corporate was joined by family holding company SPDG, Northstar Ventures and Scottish Investment bank, the investment arm of the state-owned Scottish Enterprise, and the round followed $2.5m in seed funding from Dell Technologies Capital and Innovate UK in June 2018.
Massmutual Ventures, the strategic investment arm of insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life, led a funding round of undisclosed size for China-based advice platform developer Lynk on Wednesday. The corporate was joined by e-commerce group Alibaba’s Entrepreneurs Fund and VC firm Wavemaker Partners, and the round followed $4m from conglomerate Hong Leong Group construction firm Zhuhai Da Heng Qin, Cyberport Management Company, CRE Venture Capital and Wavemaker in 2017. Wavemaker also led Lynk’s $1m seed round in 2015.
US-based data management platform developer Audigent closed a $6.7m series A round on Wednesday that was led by Raised In Space, a joint venture between media holding company Ithaca Holdings and digital money transfer platform Ripple’s Xpring unit. Record company Warner Music Group, Galaxy Digital, Broadscale Group, SVK Crypto and individual investor Gao Xiaosong also took part in the round, which Audigent said increased its overall funding to $14.5m. It will use the cash for product development, sales and marketing.
TRM Labs, the US-based creator of a compliance and risk management platform for digital currencies, increased its seed round to $5.9m on Tuesday, securing $4.2m from PayPal Ventures, the strategic investment arm of digital payment services firm PayPal, as well as Initialized Capital, Blockchain Capital and Y Combinator. The $1.7m first tranche was led by Blockchain Capital and backed by Tapas Capital, Green D Ventures, MBA Fund and unnamed angel investors and closed in January this year.
Financial services firm Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings has invested $5m in Singapore-based digital securities trading platform iStox through local subsidiary Tokai Tokyo Global Investments, Finextra reported on Monday. The company had received an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Phatra Capital, investment bank Kiatnakin Phatra Financial Group’s capital markets subsidiary, in September this year.
BigGo, the Taiwan-based operator of an online comparison platform for consumer products, has received $5m in a series A round that included convenience store operator Uni-President, Tech in Asia reported today. SOSV and Kyber Capital also participated in the round, which comes after the company’s graduation from accelerator MOX in 2017. It will use the series A cash for product development and an international expansion drive that will take in Thailand, Japan and Europe.
Fitch Ventures, the VC firm backed by credit ratings agency Fitch Group and media company Hearst, has led a $4.5m series A round for US-based risk assessment platform developer GeoQuant. XL Innovate, the corporate venturing unit that is now part of insurance firm Axa, as well as Aleph VC and angel investor David Magerman, and it followed $4m in seed capital from XL Innovate, then overseen by reinsurance firm XL Catlin, and Aleph VC in mid-2017.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals led an oversubscribed C$5.6m ($4.2m) funding round for Canada-based cognitive health-measurement technology developer Winterlight Labs on Monday through strategic investment arm Hikma Ventures. The round was also backed by First Star Ventures, Pacific Health Ventures, Grey Sky Venture Partners and unnamed other investors, and it came in the wake of $500,000 of seed capital from Novatio Ventures in January 2017.
E-commerce marketplace Flipkart has provided $4m in funding for India-based consumer rewards and customer engagement platform developer EasyRewardz, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday. Entrackr had reported on Monday that the deal was set to be done, and that the corporate would acquire a 20% stake through the investment. EasyRewardz had previously closed a $2m series A round led by TransContinental Venture Fund and backed by angel investors Jitendra Gupta and Vinay Chatlani in November 2017.
Denmark-based contract management platform developer Contractbook raised €3.5m ($3.9m) on Monday in a funding round co-led by internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund, Gradient Ventures, with VC fund ByFounders and unnamed individual investors. It had previously received an undisclosed amount of funding from angel investors Henrik Holmark, Stig Hølledig and Lars-Erik Houmann Christensen in December 2017.
Bunch, the US-based developer of a collaborative mobile gaming platform, has received $3.85m in funding from investors including internet group Tencent, gaming platform operator Miniclip and game developers Supercell, Riot Games and Colopl, the latter through its Colopl Next unit, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. The round came 12 months after Bunch secured $3.8m in a seed round led by London Venture Partners and backed by Founders Fund, Betaworks, Northzone, Streamlined Ventures and 500 Startups.
Subaru-SBI Innovation Fund, a joint venture formed by automotive manufacturer Subaru and financial services firm SBI, invested an undisclosed amount in UK-based geolocation technology developer What3words on Monday. The company had raised an undisclosed amount of funding from investors including another car producer, Daimler, in January 2018 following $12.3m from chipmaker Intel’s corporate VC unit, Intel Capital, Force Over Mass Capital, Mustard Seed, Horizons Ventures and Guy Westlake up to 2016.
Statkraft Ventures, power producer Statkraft’s corporate venturing subsidiary, has led a €3m ($3.3m) series A round for Betterspace, a Germany-based developer of energy management technology for use in hotels. InnoEnergy, the investment arm of European Institute of Innovation and Technology, also participated in the round and was billed as an existing backer.
BNP Paribas Securities Services, a division of financial services firm BNP Paribas, has supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for AssetMetrix, a Germany-based provider of asset services for limited and general partners. The investment was made in connection with a strategic partnership that will allow the bank’s private capital business to utilise AssetMetrix’s technology and web services.
Switzerland-based casual gaming app developer AirConsole secured $3m yesterday in a series A round led by Ringier Digital Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of media group Ringier. The round included Swiss Founders Fund, Alpana Ventures, EquityPitcher Ventures, existing backer Wingman Ventures and angel investors including Christian Wenger and individuals from Swiss ICT Investor Club. The funds will support the expansion of the platform’s content library.
Japan-based security token exchange and authentication technology developer Standard Capital has raised ¥329m ($3m) from digital financial services provider Advasa. The corporates were joined by R-Bace, Taro Ventures, Big World and Ibis Capital Partners, and the funding will support the planned launch of the startup’s Allex exchange in January next year.
E-commerce and cloud computing firm Amazon led a funding round of undisclosed size for Voiceflow, the Canada-based creator of a platform for voice application development, on Tuesday through its Alexa Fund, investing with True Ventures and Ripple Ventures. The latter investor supplied $500,000 in pre-seed capital for Voiceflow in October 2018 that preceded a $3m seed round led by True Ventures in April 2019 that included angel investors Ryan Hoover, Julia and Kevin Hartz, Clark Valberg, Vlad Magdalin and Jack Einhorn.
Phybbit, a Japan-based developer of anti-advertising fraud software, secured ¥320m ($2.9m) yesterday in a series A round featuring Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. The round included VC firms Nippon Venture Capital (NVCC), Accord Ventures and Darwin Ventures, and angel investor Satoshi Nakajima.
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, the corporate venturing vehicle for insurance firm Mitsui Sumitomo, supplied ¥300m ($2.8m) in funding for Japan-based edge artificial intelligence technology developer Aising on Wednesday through a vehicle called MSIVC2018V Investment Limited Partnership. The transaction came after a $1.8m investment by VC firm TechAccel Ventures in June 2017.
Japan-based serviced apartment manager Residence Tokyo raised an undisclosed amount from an unnamed corporate venturing subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Sojitz yesterday. Sojitz invested in connection with a strategic partnership agreement that will involve some of its subsidiaries collaborating with Residence Tokyo in areas such as property development and real estate management.
Liv, a Czech Republic-based mixed-reality streaming platform developer backed by virtual reality technology producer Vive and mixed reality content provider Splitverse, received $2.6m on Tuesday in a series A round led by VC fund Hiro Capital. The round included Credo Ventures and Seedcamp, both of which joined Vive, Splitverse, TechStars, Palmer Luckey and Jaroslav Beck in a $1m seed round in July this year. The company’s earlier investors reportedly include Right Side Capital Management.
Base, the US-based developer of a software platform for executive assistants, closed a $2.6m seed round yesterday that included Slack Fund, the corporate venturing arm of enterprise communication software provider Slack. The round was led by VC firm Matchstick Ventures and also featured Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and High Alpha Capital, and the proceeds will fund the expansion of Base’s sales, services, and engineering teams.
UK-based phone charger-rental service ChargedUp has raised £2m ($2.6m) in pre-series A funding from M-Venture, the corporate VC subsidiary of alcoholic beverage producer Mast-Jägermeister, as well as VC fund JamJar Investments, BusinessCloud has reported. JamJar had already contributed to the startup’s $1.5m seed round in February this year, which was led by The Garage.
Sporting apparel brand Nike provided an undisclosed amount of funding on Wednesday for Handsfree Labs, a US-based developer of technology that enables users to step in or out of shoes without using their hands. It made the investment as part of an intellectual property licensing deal with Handsfree Labs, which had not revealed details of any earlier financing.
OpenSea, the US-based operator of a peer-to-peer marketplace for collectible digital items, has secured $2.1m from app developer Animoca Brands, game publisher Gumi’s Gumi Cryptos unit, Stanford StartX, 1Confirmation, Blockchain Capital, YC Combinator and angel investors Dylan Field and David Pazdan. The startup had raised $2m in seed funding from investors including over-the-top media company Chernin Group and Coinbase Ventures, the VC fund operated by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, in May 2018.
IT and digital technology producer UST Global made a strategic investment of undisclosed size in India-based artificial intelligence and cognitive technology developer Cogniphi Technologies on Wednesday. The funding will support research and development, helping Cogniphi enhance its core platform.
Hacksii, a Japan-based provider of cookery classes aimed at children, raised an undisclosed amount on Monday from investors including Mainichi Future Creation Laboratory, a vehicle backed by media company Mainichi Shimbun. The round also featured three unnamed angel investors and the capital will support product development and marketing activities.
India-based logistics platform developer Shipsy has completed a Rs 50m ($690,000) pre-series A round led by classified listings operator Info Edge, YourStory has reported. Udaan Angel Partners and angel investors Dheeraj Jain, Nittin Passi, Ankit Jhunjhunwala and Vishal Chandra had provided an undisclosed amount for the company in 2015 and it raised $1m from logistics firm DTDC Express at a $5m valuation the following year.
Equipment leasing firm Fuyo General Lease invested an undisclosed amount in Merry Biz, a Japan-based provider of accounting and back-office services, today. Merry Biz’s platform offers invoice issuing, expense adjustment and accounts receivable management, and it has been utilised by some 60 companies so far.
English language education service RareJob has supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Multibhashi Solutions, the India-based provider of an English language learning platform for adults. RareJob announced the deal while disclosing it also invested in Thailand-based English language tutoring platform Globish in June this year.
