JD.com invested an undisclosed amount in Xiamen Jianfu Chain Management, the China-based operator of convenience store chain Fook, on Tuesday. The deal gave it a 20% stake in the company according to EqualOcean, and its earlier investors include venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China.
US-based business communications software producer Simpplr secured $10m on Tuesday in a series B round led by VC firm Norwest Venture Partners that included Salesforce Ventures, the corporate VC vehicle for enterprise software provider Salesforce, VentureBeat reported. The same two investors had supplied $6m in series A funding for the company in 2016 and it has now raised almost $30m altogether, according to VentureBeat.
Go-Ventures, the investment vehicle for on-demand ride provider Gojek, has co-led a series B round of undisclosed size for Indonesia-based aquaculture product supplier eFishery with private equity fund Northstar Group, DealStreetAsia reported on Wednesday. The same publication had reported in January 2020 that eFishery was targeting $15m in the round, which included Aqua-spark and Wavemaker Partners. Both had joined 500 Startups, Maloekoe Ventures, Social Capital and Unreasonable Capital to invest $4m in the company in November 2018, three years after an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding from Aqua-spark and Ideosource.
Denmark-based online pharmaceutical services provider Practio has received €8.6m ($9.7m) in equity and debt financing as well as the conversion of outstanding loans, Tech.eu reported on Tuesday. VC firm Spintop Ventures led the round, which included healthcare provider Phoenix Group and investment firm Carl Westin. The capital will support Practio’s expansion in the UK, where it entered in 2019, and a planned entry into Germany.
Talent and literary agency ICM Partners has paid an undisclosed amount for a “significant minority stake” in Albatros, the Sweden-based operator of a boutique talent agency focused on film directors and screenwriters, Deadline reported on Wednesday. Pete Stone, a partner at ICM, is moving to Sweden in order to heighten collaboration between the companies.
Labster, a Denmark-based virtual learning software developer backed by telecommunications company Swisscom, has raised $9m in a funding round led by VC firm GGV Capital that also featured Owl Ventures, Balderton and Northzone. All three had joined Swisscom subsidiary Swisscom Ventures, Nordic Makers, EduCapital, Entangled Group and David Helgason in Labster’s $21m series B round in April 2019 and its overall funding now stands at $44m.
VC firm Jump Capital led an $8m extension to a series B round for Ironscales, an Israel-based email cybersecurity software provider backed by weapons producer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, on Monday. Private equity firm K1 Investment Management had invested $8m in Ironscales in June 2019, following $8m from Rafael ‘s RDSeed unit and K1 across two rounds in 2016 and 2017.
Italy-based educational software provider WeSchool has secured €6.4m ($7.6m) from investors including TIM Ventures, the investment arm of telecoms firm Telecom Italia, Nordic 9 has reported. VC firm P101 led the round, which included Gruppo Azimut, CDP Venture Capital, Club Digitale and Club Italia Investimenti 2. The company had received about $2.3m from TIM Ventures in February 2015 as part of a round that closed at $3.4m in October the same year.
US-based agricultural robotics developer Root AI has completed a $7.2m seed round that included agricultural media, data and investment firm AgFunder, AgFunder News revealed yesterday. PJC, First Round Capital, Outsiders Fund, Accomplice and angel investor Jason Calacanis filled out the round, which came in the wake of $2.3m in earlier funding from investors including First Round. Accomplice, Schematic Ventures, Liquid2 Ventures and Half Court Ventures in August 2018.
US-based supplemental health benefits provider Clara Insurance rebranded to Brella on Tuesday while increasing a seed round featuring reinsurance firm Reinsurance Group of America (RGA) from $5.5m to $7m. RGA subsidiary RGAx joined investors including fintech investment holding company SymphonyAI, Two Sigma Ventures and Founder Collective in the May 2020 first tranche, and the new funding came from Digitalis, Operator Partners and angel investor Ron Bouganim.
Internet group Tencent has provided an eight-figure renminbi (RMB10m = $1.4m) amount of series B-plus funding for China-based battery recharging services provider Xiaolvren, 36Kr reported on Monday. The company raised another eight-digit sum in a 2016 series A round featuring Grand River Capital Management, $12m in a series A-plus round led by Zhejiang Zheda Youchuang Investment the following year and $14.9m in series B funding from conglomerate Fosun in April 2019.
Syn, the Japan-based owner of online food delivery service Chompy, has received ¥650m ($6.2m) from Go Fund, an investment vehicle co-founded by public relations firm Breakthrough Company Go, as well as Delight Ventures, Anri, Coral Capital and DCM Ventures. The round increased Syn’s overall funding to $8.5m according to The Bridge, including a $1.9m seed round in June 2019 also backed by Delight Ventures and Coral Capital. Its other existing investors include Greenoaks Capital.
BeGas, a Spain-based provider of liquified gas-powered engines, raised €5.2m ($6m) last month from investors including Repsol Energy Ventures, a corporate VC subsidiary of oil and gas supplier Repsol, Capital Reiasga reported. The round also featured Ekarpen, Fundación BBK, CDTI, Easo Ventures and Seed Bizkaia, and Repsol’s investment gave it a 19% stake according to Cinco Dias. BeGas had received an undisclosed amount from Repsol, Easo Ventures, EIN, Seed Bizkaia and Itzarri EPSV in May 2019.
Aruna, the Indonesia-based owner of an online seafood trading platform, has confirmed a $5.5m funding round featuring SMDV, the corporate venturing subsidiary of conglomerate Sinar Mas, DealStreetAsia reported on Wednesday. News of the round was initially reported in October 2019 and it included East Ventures and AC Ventures, the latter formed through the merger of VC firms Convergence Ventures and Agaeti Ventures. The company had raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from industrial conglomerate UMG’s Idealab subsidiary in 2017.
Valence, the US-based operator of an online networking service for black professionals, has received $5.25m in funding from telecoms and internet group SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. The round, billed as a series A by Dot.LA, was led by GGV Capital and included Upfront Ventures, Maveron and Silicon Valley Bank. It followed $2.5m in a November 2019 round led by Upfront Ventures and backed by Sinai Ventures, Human Ventures, High Alpha and individuals Paul Judge, and Peggy and Willie Alford.
Compaas, the US-based developer of a software tool designed to calculate salary raises fairly, has raised $4.25m from investors including Bloomberg Beta, the VC firm sponsored by media group Bloomberg, Crunchbase News reported on Tuesday. The round, which includes two earlier, smaller rounds, was led by Core Ventures Group and also featured Kapor Capital, Tuesday Ventures, HashtagAngels and Alpine Meridian.
US-based engineering analytics software startup Merico completed a $4.1m seed round on Wednesday featuring Legend Star, the early-stage investment arm of conglomerate Legend Holdings. The round was led by VC firm GGV Capital and included crypto hedge fund and existing investor Polychain Capital, and Merico identified open-source software investor OSS Capital as its first backer.
MobileODT, an Israel-based developer of cervical cancer screening technology, closed a $4m series C round on Wednesday led by OrbiMed Israel Partners that included hospital hygiene equipment manufacturer Tristel, medical product maker Laerdal and philanthropic organisation Tara Health. The company said it has now raised $26m altogether, $6.9m of which came in a 2017 round led by OrbiMed, which subsequently led a round of undisclosed size featuring Laredal, Tara Health and Sanford Biosciences in November 2019.
TitletownTech, the joint venture formed by software provider Microsoft and American football franchise the Green Bay Packers, led a $3.3m seed round on Wednesday for Allergy Amulet, the US-based creator of a portable food allergen sensor for consumer use. The round included Great North Labs, Colle Capital, Great Oaks VC, DeepWork Capital, Dipalo Ventures and Bulldog Innovation Group.
Micronoma, the US-based creator of a microbiome-focused cancer detection system, completed a $3m seed round led by clinical health partner SymBiosis on Wednesday. The cash will support the startup’s microbiome research and further development of its technology, which it has licensed from University of California San Diego.
Oil and gas producer Chevron provided an undisclosed amount of series A funding for US-based nuclear fusion reactor developer Zap Energy on Monday through corporate venturing unit Chevron Technology Ventures. The company secured $1.1m in equity financing last month according to a regulatory filing, and will put the Chevron funding into expanding its development team and enhancing its technology.
Japan-based workplace collaboration software provider BeaTrust secured ¥300m ($2.8m) on Tuesday in a seed round featuring CyberAgent Capital, Strive, Itochu Technology Ventures and Mizuho Capital, on behalf of internet company CyberAgent, digital media company Gree, trading group Itochu and financial services firm Mizuho Bank. They were joined by Pksha Sparx Algorithm Fund, which was co-founded by software developer Pksha, and Delight Ventures, which is backed by internet company DeNA, as well as DNX Ventures and One Capital.
Diversified conglomerate Sumitomo has invested an undisclosed amount in Israel-based hydrogen production technology developer H2Pro through corporate venturing unit IN Venture. The startup was founded in June 2019 and received $3.5m in seed funding from automotive manufacturer Hyundai Motor Company and Contrarian Ventures in October the same year.
Eyewa, a United Arab Emirates-based eyewear retailer backed by e-commerce platform GS Shop and media company Choueiri Group, raised $2.5m in bridge funding from Wamda Capital, EQ2 Ventures and Nuwa Capital on Tuesday in advance of a planned series B round. Choueiri Group’s investment arm, Equitrust, led the company’s $1.1m seed round in January 2018 before joining GS Shop, Wamda Capital, 500 Startups and Faith Capital in a $7.5m series A in April 2019.
Spenmo, the Singapore-based developer of a system that tracks business expenses, has secured $2m in a seed round that included e-commerce holding company Rocket Internet, DealStreetAsia reported today. The corporate was joined by Y Combinator, Iterative Capital and unnamed angel investors from XA Network, and the cash will fund product development as the startup prepares to expand into Indonesia.
CoCooking, the Japan-based owner of food sharing service Tabete, has added an undisclosed amount from rail operator JR East’s Japan Start Up fund, investment firm PE&HR’s Social Entrepreneur Fund III, Higashimatsuyama Entrepreneur Support Investment Limited Partnership and angel investor Yōichi Asō to the pre-series A funding it raised from investors including trading group Itochu’s food and liquor retail subsidiary, Itochu-Shokuhin, in July 2019. Itochu subsidiary Itochu Techno-Solutions, consulting firm 222Partnership, Keiō University Shōnan-Fujisawa Campus’s SFC Forum Fund, Now, Optima Ventures, PE&HR Social Entrepreneur Fund II and unnamed angel investors had previously invested an undisclosed sum in August 2018.
India-based digital cafeteria technology provider HungerBox has received Rs 117m ($1.6m) from One97 Communications, the owner of digital payment platform Paytm, as well as Sabre Partners Trust, Pratithi Investment Trust and private investor Srihari Kumar, Inc42 reported on Wednesday, citing a regulatory filing. It had raised a total of at least $20.8m from investors including Paytm, construction equipment producer Doosan, Sabre Partners, NPTK Emerging Asia Fund, Lionrock Capital and Kris Gopalakrishnan as of December 2019.
Advanced materials supplier JSR Corporation invested $1.5m in US-based semiconductor technology producer Mattrix Technologies on Monday as part of a round expected to close at $3m. JSR had joined Samsung Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung, to provide $3m of series A funding for the startup’s May 2019 series A round, and it said its investors also include UF Innovate | Ventures, the investment fund formed by University of Florida.
SusLab, the Japan-based creator of an artificial intelligence-equipped software platform that visualises sustainable development goals, raised ¥142m ($1.3m) from investors including photo-oxidation technology producer Sustainable Titania Technology yesterday. The round also featured Energy and Environment Investment in addition to angel investors Masaru Sunagawa and Kazuomi Kanetō.
Human resources firm Mynavi has provided $900,000 in seed capital for Taiwan-based online recruitment platform CakeResume, TechCrunch reported on Monday. CakeResume hosts more than 500,000 resumes and has earmarked the funding for expansion in international markets including India and Japan.
Fuji Media Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of broadcaster Fuji Media, has supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Room4D, the Japan-based creator of an artificial intelligence-equipped business contacts management system. The corporate made the investment as part of its interest in linking television and data technology.
Japan-based digital transformation adviser Industrial-X secured an eight-figure yen amount (¥10m = $94,000) today from career support service Hajimari, startup services provider Bulb, real estate investment trust Property Agent and individuals including Hiroshi Fukudome, Masanori Morishita and Shūkichi Kuwata. The equity portion of the round was raised alongside an undisclosed amount of debt financing.
India-based workplace automation software developer DocSumo has received $220,000 in seed capital from investors including Techstars Barclays London Accelerator, which is co-managed by financial services firm Barclays, the Economic Times reported on Monday. The round also featured VC firm Better Capital and it came after DocSumo’s participation in the Techstars/Barclays accelerator in January this year.
Socially responsible services provider Facedrive agreed last week to invest an undisclosed amount in Tally Technology Group, the Canada-based creator of a free-to-play sports prediction game, it announced on Wednesday. Tally was spun off by celebrity-focused social media platform TraceMe in 2017 with an undisclosed amount of funding from unnamed angel investors.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
