Pharmaceutical firm Haisco agreed on Monday to invest $10m in Pneuma Respiratory, a US-based company developing a breath-activated digital inhaler, as part of an agreement that will allow it to distribute Pneuma’s products in China. The investment came after Pneuma raised $8.3m in series A financing from undisclosed investors last month, and the company has not publicly disclosed earlier funding.
Owl Cameras, a US-based in-car video technology developer backed by financial services and insurance provider CSAA, raised $10m on Tuesday in a series A1 round led by venture capital firm Canvas Ventures. The cash will be added to the $18m Owl received from CSAA, Maniv Mobility, Defy, Khosla Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Sherpa Capital and Moment Ventures in February 2018, representing the series A’s first close.
Online education provider K12 supplied $9m in funding on Wednesday for STEM Premier, the US-based operator of a recruitment service for talented STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students. STEM Premier had previously raised $2.6m in funding in April 2016 according to a securities filing, and its earlier backers include voice and data services firm Spirit Communications, telecoms firms FTC, Comporium and Home Telecom, holding company InterTech Group, SCRA and Sigma Diversified.
Airspace Technologies, the US-based operator of a supply chain services platform, received $8m on Monday in a series A round featuring Qualcomm Ventures, semiconductor technology producer Qualcomm’s corporate venturing vehicle. Defy led the round, which included fellow venture capital firms Cross Culture Ventures and Schematic Ventures, and the proceeds will be used to expand Airspace’s team from about 50 to more than 90.
Backbone PLM, a US-based developer of software that makes the consumer product development process more efficient, closed an $8m series A round on Wednesday that included Novel TMT Ventures, the corporate VC arm of telecommunications company Novel. The round was led by Signal Peak Ventures and included Grotech Ventures, Spider Capital, Beanstalk Ventures, Brainchild Holdings and Peterson Ventures, and followed $575,000 in funding closed in September 2016.
Design software producer Autodesk led an $8m round for Rhumbix, a US-based creator of organisation software for construction sites, on Wednesday through its Forge Fund. The round boosted Rhumbix’s total funding to almost $28m and follows a $7.4m series A round led by Blackhorn Ventures in September 2017 that included Greylock Partners, Brick & Mortar Ventures, Spectrum 28, Glynn Capital and Kiddar Capital. Its early investors include UJ Ventures and Stanford University professor Ray Levitt.
Australia-based employee training software provider Go1 has secured A$10m ($7.2m) in a funding round led by human resources firm Seek, Australian Financial Review reported on Monday. Go1 had raised $1m from Tank Stream Ventures and angel investor Steve Baxter in 2015, an undisclosed sum from Zillionize the same year and $3m from Tank Stream, Baxter and Blue Sky Venture Capital in late 2016.
Japan-based drug discovery and development startup Modulus Discovery has raised ¥800m ($7.2m) in a series A round led by the World Bank’s Fast Track Initiative that included biopharmaceutical company PeptiDream and DBJ Capital, the VC arm of Development Bank of Japan. Modulus, which already had a drug discovery research agreement in place with PeptiDream, will put the funding toward research and development and recruitment.
Vogo, the India-based owner of a scooter and bicycle rental service, has secured between $6m and $7m in a series A round co-led by on-demand ride provider Ola and private investor Pawan Munjal, DealStreetAsia reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Matrix Partners India, Stellaris Venture Partners and unnamed angel investors also contributed to the round, which followed an undisclosed amount of seed funding from assorted angel investors in September 2017.
Lucidity, a US-based startup developing blockchain technology for digital advertising, received more than $5m on Wednesday from a consortium featuring cryptowallet producer CoinUs and Pithia, the VC arm of blockchain technology developer RChain Cooperative. The round included contributions from 3Rodeo, Cypher Group and YouBi Capital, and the proceeds will be used for hiring and the ongoing development of Lucidity’s programmatic advertising technology.
E-commerce group Alibaba’s Entrepreneurs Fund has led a $5m round for Taiwan-based local events platform FunNow, TechCrunch reported on Monday, adding that the round boosted the company’s total funding to $6.5m. The round also featured boutique investment firm Darwin Venture Management, investment manager Accuvest and investment group China Development Industrial Bank, which participated as an existing investor.
Diversified conglomerate Fosun and its Fosun Hani Securities subsidiary jointly invested $5m in The Floor, an Israel-based startup that provides technology and advice to help financial services providers improve their business plans, yesterday, in a deal that gave the corporate a seat on The Floor’s board of directors. The company had previously received $2m from VC firm Pando Group in March 2016.
US-based flash storage software developer Excelero secured an amount likely to be $5m from Western Digital Capital, the corporate venturing arm of Western Digital, yesterday to take its overall funding to $35m. Excelero had raised a total of $30m as of a $25m series B round in November 2017 that included Qualcomm Ventures, VC firm Battery Ventures and two strategic investors the company has now revealed included semiconductor equipment producer Micron.
Beverage producer Coca-Cola provided an undisclosed amount of funding for sports hydration drink brand BodyArmor on Tuesday and will incorporate the startup into its Venturing and Emerging Brands portfolio. The deal will allow BodyArmor to access the bottling and distribution resources of Coca-Cola, which has also acquired the option to fully acquire the company.
Paragen Bio, an Australia-based startup developing autoimmune disease treatments, raised A$6m ($4.4m) on Tuesday from investors including pharmaceutical company AbbVie’s corporate venturing unit, AbbVie Ventures. The corporate was joined by VC firm Brandon Capital Partners’ Medical Research Commercialisation Fund and fellow VC firm OneVentures’ Healthcare Fund III.
Consulting firm Accenture invested an undisclosed sum in China-based computer vision and image recognition technology developer Malong Technologies on Monday in connection with a strategic alliance. Malong had previously raised more than $44m from telecoms group SoftBank’s Chinese investment arm, SBCVC, which led its $33.2m series B round in November 2017, as well as Fortune Capital, Telescope Investment, CSC Financial, Greenwoods Investment, Hongchou Investment and Coco Capital.
Indonesia-based online insurance platform Parsapolis has received an undisclosed amount of series A funding from on-demand ride provider Go-Jek, travel booking platform Traveloka and e-commerce marketplace Tokopedia, DealStreetAsia has reported. Go-Jek provided its portion of the round in connection with a strategic partnership that will involve its drivers accessing automotive insurance through the platform.
BioBeats, a UK-based health tracking technology developer backed by insurance firm Axa, raised £2.4m ($3.1m) on Tuesday in a funding round co-led by Oxford Sciences Innovation, White Cloud and IQ Capital. The round took BioBeats’ total funding to approximately $6.1m and came after it received $2.3m in a White Cloud-led round in 2016 that featured Axa’s corporate venturing unit, Axa Strategic Ventures, and IQ Capital. Its earlier backers include actor Will Smith and entertainment manager Scooter Braun.
Printing services provider LSC Communications has supplied an amount of series A funding indicated by a regulatory filing to be $3m in US-based online content delivery platform Maz Systems, AlleyWatch has reported. Maz had raised $2.1m in funding prior to the deal, according to AlleyWatch, and its investors include SierraMaya360, MI Ventures, T5 Capital and Expansion Venture Capital, the latter three of which took part in the company’s $1m seed round in 2012.
Cryptocurrency exchange operator Huobi made a “significant investment” in OpenFinance Network (OFN), the US-based creator of a security token trading platform, on Wednesday in connection with a strategic partnership agreement. Singapore-headquartered Huobi expanded into the US in June this year and launched a US exchange called HBUS the following month. It invested in OFN as part of a growth drive in the country.
US-based student lending platform Funding University has raised $2.4m in an equity round led by VC and private equity firm Deciens Capital that included GMO Ventures, which functions as internet company GMO’s corporate VC vehicle, Valor Ventures and undisclosed angel investors alongside $2.6m in debt financing from Caerus Foundation, Hypepotamus reported yesterday. Bezos Expeditions had led a $1m seed round for the company in July 2016.
Dell Technologies Capital, the corporate venturing vehicle for computing technology manufacturer Dell, led a $2m seed round for Netifi, a US-based developer of microservices and cloud-native application software, on Tuesday. Netifi intends to bring out a community version of its software, which is built on the open-source RSocket protocol, before adding a version with more features.
Concourse Global, the US-based creator of a platform that combines guidance counselling with artificial intelligence to help students make more informed educational choices, completed a $2m seed round on Tuesday that included educational services provider A-Star Education. The round was led by Colle Capital and also featured Third Kind VC, LearnStart, and Jay Varkey, senior director of business development and commercial for education provider Gems Education.
Stella Development, a sister company of health insurance provider Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, has invested an undisclosed sum in Fusionetics, the US-based developer of a digital system that helps reduce sports and musculoskeletal injuries. Fusionetics will put the funding toward expanding the use of its system in healthcare.
Spain-based influencer marketing platform SamyRoad has secured €1.4m ($1.6m) in a funding round co-led by Sabadell Venture Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm Banco Sabadell, and VC fund Inveready. The company had previously secured €3m from Caixa Capital Risc, a subsidiary of financial services firm La Caixa, as well as the Bulgari family and angel investors including Jesús Olmos.
Swoopos, a UK-based point-of-sale that is also a graduate of financial services firm NatWest’s non-equity accelerator, received £1.2m ($1.5m) on Monday in a seed round that, according to UKTN, included private equity firm Foresight Group. The funding will support an expansion into international markets, the launch of an updated version of the company’s technology and the opening of a second office.
Vantage Point, the US-based developer of a virtual reality system that will help businesses provide sexual harassment training, raised $1.3m in seed capital on Wednesday from investors including mobile game producer Colopl’s VR-themed Next Fund. The round was led by Venture Reality Fund and also featured Village Global, MVentures, Anorak Ventures and angel investor Josh Resnick.
Insurance firm World Insurance co-led a $1.2m round for Xagent, the US-based operator of a multi-quote platform for insurance agents, today with angel investment group Tribeca Angels. The round, described by the company as a Leadership Council financing round, comes after a $2.1m seed round closed by Xagent in February 2018 that included insurance provider NFP and angel investor Brian Kapiloff.
Motorcycle producer TVS Motor Company has invested Rs 60m ($860,000) in India-based electric motorcycle developer Ultraviolette Automotive, Press Trust of India reported on Monday. The funding was supplied as part of a series A round that will support product development, the enhancement of Ultraviolette’s core facility and the growth of its research and development team.
Jamja, the Vietnam-based operator of an online search platform for discounts and promotions, has received ?20vb ($860,000) in pre-series A funding from app developer Framgia and KB Investment, a subsidiary of financial services firm KB Financial Group, as well as Nextrans and BonAngels, DealStreetAsia reported on Monday. The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount from online restaurant listings platform Foody in 2016.
Online game producer Nazara Technologies has paid an amount likely to be about $800,000 for a 10% stake in InstaSportz, an India-based developer of VR gaming lounges, the Economic Times reported yesterday. Nazara has agreed to increase that stake to 26% by November 2018 by investing a total of Rs 150m ($2.1m) in the company, and may well seek a majority stake in InstaSportz in future, according to ET.
Socialeads, the US-based developer of a machine learning platform for the financial services industry, completed a $750,000 seed round yesterday featuring Cream City Venture Capital, the VC fund sponsored by financial services firm Northwestern Mutual. The round was led by Winnebago Seed Fund and included BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, and it comes after the startup won Northwestern Mutual’s Reverse Pitch in January this year, receiving an $85,000 commitment from the corporate in the process.
Ginkan, the Japan-based developer of restaurant discovery app SynchroLife, has raised ¥80m ($720,000) in seed capital from online marketing services provider Ceres and Fujio Komura, former chairman of mobile services provider Cybird Holdings, The Bridge reported on Monday. The round came after Ginkan received approximately $270,000 in funding from investors including Komura in September 2017.
Healthcare provider Northwell Health invested $500,000 in US-based patient engagement technology developer Playback Health on Wednesday as part of a seed round the startup aims to close at $1.25m. Playback’s technology will be piloted at Northwell’s hospitals ahead of a planned commercial launch in 2019.