Chinese state-owned postal service China Post invested an undisclosed amount in China-based ride ordering platform Didi Chuxing on Tuesday as part of a strategic partnership agreement. Other corporate shareholders in Didi Chuxing, a $35bn company as of three weeks ago, include Uber, Apple, Tencent, Alibaba, China Life Insurance, SoftBank, Poly Group, Baidu and Ping An Insurance.
Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, the corporate venture capital subsidiary of communication equipment maker Motorola Solutions, made a series A investment in US-based digital innovation consulting firm DevMynd yesterday indicated by a securities filing to be $4m. DevMynd will look to use its experience to help Motorola Solutions customers develop new products and apps.
Bloomlife, the US-based developer of a health measurement sensor for pregnant women and their unborn babies, completed a $4m seed round on Tuesday featuring electronics producer Hanmi IT, media company Chernin Group, angel investor Marc Benioff, Efficient Capacity, LanzaTech Ventures, MeusInvest, Kapor Capital, and Act One Ventures. The round, announced in a press release, also included CAA Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of talent agency Creative Artists Agency, according to MedCity News, and took Bloomlife’s total funding to $6m.
US-based identity verification service provider Onfido has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Salesforce Ventures, the strategic investment subsidiary of enterprise software provider Salesforce.com, Talis Capital and angel investors Charlie Songhurst and Hank Vigil. Onfido raised $25m in an April 2016 series B round backed by Idinvest Partners, Wellington Partners and CrunchFund that took its overall funding to $29.5m.
The State of Texas has invested $3.5m in FE3 Medical, a US-based iron-deficiency anaemia treatment developer, as part of a series B round featuring pharmaceutical company Jianmin Pharmaceuticals and insurance group Ping An that now stands at $14.5m. The round also includes InCube Labs, the R&D laboratory that launched FE3, and private equity firm HG Capital, and FE3 has now raised approximately $22.7m altogether.
Internet group Tencent has supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for China-based cloud collaboration and project management technology developer Teambition, China Money Network reported today. A graduate of Microsoft Ventures’ accelerator, Teambition raised $5m in series A funding from IDG Capital Partners, the local VC affiliate of media company IDG, and Vangoo Investments, in 2014, before the same two investors were joined by Northern Light Venture Capital for a $12m round in September 2015.
Rakuten Ventures, the strategic investment arm of e-commerce and fintech firm Rakuten, led a $2.3m seed round for US-based automation platform developer Dexter yesterday that included Social Starts and Betaworks, which launched the startup in September 2015. The money will help Dexter continue to developer its platform, designed to make bot building easier.
Germany-based water treatment technology developer Akvola Technologies has closed its series A round having raised an undisclosed amount from investors including VNG Innovation, the corporate venturing arm of natural gas provider VNG Group. The round included High-Tech Gruenderfonds, the corporate-backed VC fund that provided Akvola’s seed funding in 2014, as well as Bamac and angel investors Bruno Steis and Detlef Taprogge.
Netlify, the US-based developer of a code automation platform for website and mobile apps, received $2.1m in funding on Tuesday from investors including Bloomberg Beta, the early-stage investment arm of media group Bloomberg. The round also included Tank Hill Ventures, Designer Fund and angel investors including Ohad Eder-Pressman, Adam Wiggins, Tom Preston-Werner and Todd Morey.
Visybl, the US-based creator of an enterprise asset monitoring platform, closed a round of financing on Wednesday having raised an undisclosed sum from investors including supply chain systems integrator Barcoding. Investment management firm BlueSky Capital Partners led the round, which also featured angel investor Norbert Dawalibi.
IT services provider Wipro has invested $1.5m in Israel-based cybersecurity software startup Intsights Cyber Intelligence, The Hindu reported today, citing a regulatory filing which stated Wipro picked up a stake of less than 20% in the company. Intsights, which was founded in 2015, had previously received $1.8m from VC fund Glilot Capital Partners in October.
Energy and water services provider Enzen has provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Optimitive, a Spain-based producer of real-time optimisation technology. Optimitive graduated from Surge Accelerator in 2013 and secured $1.9m in series A funding from Surge and boutique investment bank GGM Venture Capital later the same year.
MDI Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia, has led a seven-figure dollar round for Singapore-based online payment technology developer Red Dot Payments, Tech in Asia has reported. The round also included GMO Venture Partners, the investment subsidiary of internet company GMO, Wavemaker Partners and angel investor Toivo Annus, and follows a 2014 series A round sized in “the low millions” funded by Wavemaker and GMO’s GMO Global Payment Fund subsidiary.
Alternative energy, heating and energy conservation technology provider Thermax is set to invest up to Rs 60m ($900,000) in India-based biomass and gasification system provider First Energy, according to a regulatory filing. Thermax acquired a 33% stake in First Energy in July 2015, paying Rs 20m.
Technology services firm Aspire Systems provided an undisclosed amount of funding for India-based e-commerce services agency Ziffity Solutions, the Economic Times reported yesterday. The funding will go to growing Ziffity’s team, enhancing its lab and building services, and strengthening training and development.
UK-based business information tracking startup Localistico has raised £250,000 ($320,000) in funding from Ascension Ventures and angel investors Richard Fearn, Nick Pendleton and Ed Freyfogle. Localistico, a graduate of telecom firm Telefónica’s Wayra accelerator, aggregates online data about a business into a single dashboard where it can be viewed, sifted through and managed.