Human API, the US-based operator of a health data network, raised $10m from investors including insurance firm Guardian Life and reinsurer Scor Global on Monday, the latter participating through its Scor Life and Health Ventures unit. Existing investors BlueRun Ventures and SciFi VC also contributed to the round, which followed $75,000 in debt and equity financing in 2013 and $6.6m in equity funding two years later according to securities filings. Its earlier investors include Andreessen Horowitz.
BeliMobilGue, the Indonesia-based operator of an online marketplace for used vehicles formed as a joint venture between automotive e-commerce company Frontier Car Group and VC firm Intudo Ventures, has completed a $10m series A round, DealStreetAsia reported on Tuesday. Frontier led the round, which included Tunas Toyota, a subsidiary of car importer Tunas Group that functions as Japan-headquartered carmaker Toyota’s local distributor. It will fund geographic growth, hiring and sales and marketing.
Influitive, a Canada-based marketing technology provider backed by mobile network operator NTT Docomo, secured $10m in debt and equity financing from financial services firm Comerica Bank, Georgian Partners, Relay Ventures and Export Development Canada yesterday. It had raised a total of $50m as of a series B round featuring NTT Docomo unit Docomo Ventures, Export Development Canada, Georgian Partners, Relay Ventures, Leaders Fund, BDC Capital, Atlas Venture, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Illuminate Ventures, Resolute Ventures, CommonAngels Ventures, First Round and OurCrowd that closed in 2016.
Luminance Technologies, a UK-based developer of artificial intelligence software for the legal profession, has received $10m in funding from existing investors including law firm Slaughter and May, Invoke Capital and Talis Capital at a $100m valuation, Bloomberg has reported. The company has now secured $23m altogether, $10m of which came in a late 2017 series A round closed at a $50m valuation.
Polly, the US-based developer of a feedback tool for workplace communication platforms, closed a $7m funding round on Wednesday that was led by VC firm Madrona Venture Group and backed by Slack Fund, the corporate venturing vehicle formed by enterprise communication software provider Slack. The round included Amplify Partners and Fathom Capital, the former having led a $1.2m seed round for Polly in 2016 that also featured SV Angel, ZhenFund, Tempo Ventures and various angel investors.
Munich Re Ventures, the strategic investment arm of reinsurer Munich Re, led a $7m equity round for US-based digital auto insurance startup Inshur yesterday. The round included insurance-focused venture capital firm MTech Capital and was raised alongside a $2m credit facility. Inshur will use the funding to move into new areas of insurance and expand internationally, following its recent entry into the UK.
Digital Reasoning, a US-based provider of artificial intelligence technology for enterprise customers, received an undisclosed amount of funding from banking and fund management services firm Macquarie Group on Wednesday. The funding will be added to a $30m series D round featuring healthcare provider HCA, financial exchange operator Nasdaq, financial services firm Barclays and Square Capital, a subsidiary of payment processor Square, that brought its total funding to $127m in March 2018.
Reliance Retail Ventures, a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Reliance Industries, has paid Rs 450m ($6.3m) to increase its stake in India-based fashion distributor Genesis Colors from 19.6% to 29.1%, while sister unit Reliance Brands maintains a 43.7% share of Genesis. Reliance Brands has also invested approximately $2.8m in India-based apparel producer Future101 Design to take its share in the company from 12.5% to 15%. Both transactions were reported by VCCircle, which cited stock exchange disclosures.
E-commerce firm Rakuten made a strategic investment of undisclosed size in US-based virtual radio access network technology provider Altiostar Networks on Monday. Tech Mahindra, a subsidiary of conglomerate Mahindra and Mahindra, invested $15m in Altiostar in January 2018, as part of a round that closed at $32m the following month. It had previously raised $199m in equity financing and $12.5m in debt from investors including networking technology producer Cisco and Excelestar Ventures between 2012 and August 2017 according to securities filings and press reports.
US-based biomanufacturing startup Culture Biosciences secured $5.5m on Tuesday from investors including Verily, the life sciences subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet. Section 32 led the round, which also featured fellow VC firm Refactor Capital, and the capital will be used to expand Culture’s network of bioreactor facilities and enhance its digital biomanufacturing capabilities.
Socotra, the US-based creator of a software platform for core insurance functions, raised $5.2m on Tuesday from insurance and financial services firm Nationwide as well as a subsidiary of financial services provider USAA, and MS&AD Ventures, the corporate VC arm insurance provider Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance. It has now received $18m altogether, including $5.5m in a September 2018 series A round backed by 8VC and existing investors Founders Fund, Greenoaks Capital, SciFi VC, SV Angel, Tuesday Capital and Vulcan Capital.
Microshare, a US-based provider of data organisation and monetisation software, completed a $5m funding round on Tuesday led by Motley Fool Ventures, the VC arm of financial advice provider, media company and investment services provider Motley Fool. Formerly known as Point.io, Microshare had previously raised $5.5m in equity financing and $1.05m in debt according to media reports and regulatory filings.
6Estates, a Singapore-based developer of artificial intelligence technology for the consumer goods and financial services industries, has received an undisclosed amount of series B funding from investors including Central Capital Ventura, the VC fund operated by financial services firm Bank Central Asia, Business Times reported on Tuesday. GDP Venture led the round, which will support international growth and technology development. The company has not disclosed details of earlier funding.
Telecommunications firm SoftBank’s early-stage investment arm, Softbank Ventures Asia, and investment adviser Fast Investment have provided ₩5bn ($4.5m) of funding for South Korea-based book club operator Trevari, The Investor reported on Tuesday. The corporate supplied ₩4.5bn and its investment was led by senior associate Jay Choi. Trevari currently runs some 300 book clubs with roughly 4,600 paying members.
VC firm DVI Equity Partners invested an undisclosed amount in Appdome, a US-based code-free mobile integration software provider backed by computing technology producer Dell, on Tuesday. The company had previously raised $13m in a 2015 series A round led by Menlo Ventures and backed by Draper Nexus and existing investors Jerusalem Venture Partners and OurCrowd, taking its total funding to $20.5m. Dell’s corporate venturing arm, Dell Technologies Capital, was still in stealth at that stage but lists AppDome in its portfolio.
Dunzo, an India-based task management app developer backed by internet technology provider Google, has raised Rs 225m ($3.2m) in a series C round that included VC firm Blume Ventures and assorted angel investors, VCCircle reported on Tuesday. It had previously received approximately $14.4m, including $12.8m in a late 2017 series B round led by Google Asia Pacific that also featured existing investors Blume Ventures and Aspada Investment Advisors.
US-based safety technology developer MākuSafe completed a $3m seed round featuring insurance provider EMC Insurance Companies yesterday. The round also included VC firm Next Level Ventures and angel investment contest The Best of the Midwest, and it increased MākuSafe’s overall funding to almost $4.5m, the company said. It will use the seed capital to expand its manufacturing capabilities and increase the size of its team.
US-based eSports tournament organiser N3rd St Gamers has secured approximately $2.6m in funding according to a regulatory filing, and Technical.ly reported it was raised as part of a series A round featuring Comcast Spectacor, a sports and entertainment subsidiary of mass media group Comcast. The round also featured SeventySix Capital, the VC firm that had invested an undisclosed amount in N3rd in October 2017, before the company added $1.3m in June 2018 according to another filing.
Aurobindo Pharma has agreed to pay Rs 150m ($2.1m) for a 19.9% stake in India-based allopathic medicine provider Synergy Remedies, VCCircle has reported, citing a stock exchange disclosure. The deal will allow Aurobindo to source active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates from Synergy, and is expected to close by the end of this month.
3Den, the US-based builder of a destination that will offer on-demand amenities such as sound-proof phone booths or nap pods, raised $2m from investors including real estate consulting firm JTRE yesterday. The round was co-led by B8ta and Graphene Ventures and also featured Colle Capital Partners, The Stable and angel investors Clark Valberg, Casey Carl and Andrew Lee. It will fund the opening of additional 3Den destinations in the city of New York this year.
Pharmaceutical services provider Sygnature Discovery has invested an undisclosed sum in UK-based cancer and autoimmune disease therapy developer Pathios Therapeutics in connection with a strategic partnership agreement. The companies will collaborate on an integrated drug discovery scheme, as Pathios prepares to raise series A funding.
US-based cross-border financial remittance service SendFriend has secured a total of $1.7m in funding from investors including financial services firm Barclays, digital currency exchange Ripple and Mahindra subsidiary Mahindra Finance, it announced on Monday. MasterCard Foundation, which was formed by payment services provider MasterCard, also took part in the round, along with MIT Media Lab, Techstars, 2020 Ventures and 8 Decimal Capital.
Qlue, the Indonesia-based creator of an app that enables users to report local issues to the relevant government department, has raised an undisclosed amount from investors including MDI Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for telecoms company Telkom Indonesia, Berita Satu has reported. GDP Venture led the round, having invested an undisclosed sum in Qlue in November 2017, the year after construction services provider Juvisk and angel investment firm Prasetia Dwidharma supplied more than $1m in series A funding.
Security and alarm equipment producer Prosegur has invested €1.3m ($1.5m) in Germany-based augmented reality technology developer Reflekt, Chemie Zeitschrift reported on Wednesday. The cash will be added to the $4.3m the company received from chemicals producer BASF’s corporate venturing unit, BASF Venture Capital, in June 2018. Reflekt had previously raised an undisclosed sum from industrial technology producer Robert Bosch in 2015.
Canada-based online tutoring service GradeSlam has received “well over a million dollars” in funding from internet technology provider Google’s Assistant Investments initiative as well as Birchmere Ventures, BDC Capital, Reach Capital and Anges Quebec, CEO Philip Cutler told EdSurge on Tuesday. GradeSlam had already raised $1.6m in a 2016 seed round led by Birchmere and backed by Cutler, BDC Capital, Anges Quebec, Real Ventures and angel investors Brian Karol and Robert Luxenberg.
Digital currency exchange Bitmex has led a seed round of undisclosed size for China-based digital asset issuance and trading software developer FinFabrik through its Bitmex Ventures unit, DealStreetAsia reported on Tuesday. The startup will put the funding toward expanding its product range and strengthening its technology.
