Wish, a US-based e-commerce platform backed by investors including e-commerce firm JD.com and conglomerate Legend Holdings, raised an undisclosed amount on Monday in a series F round led by Everbright-IDG Industrial Fund that included Temasek, DST Global, Third Point Ventures and Founders Fund. The company had raised more than $575m as of a 2015 series D round that valued it at $3.5bn, and a report in November 2016 stated it was about to raise up to $500m in additional cash.
BC Platforms, the Switzerland-based developer of a genomic data management platform, has raised $10m in a series B round led by Debiopharm Innovation Fund, a subsidiary of biopharmaceutical company Debiopharm, and which included venture capital and private equity firm Tesi and unnamed existing investors. Its past backers include private equity partnership Boston Millennia Partners, which invested an undisclosed amount in the company in November 2016.
US-based IT infrastructure technology provider Liqid has secured $10m in a series A round led by growth capital firm Marker Hill Capital that included flash memory semiconductor producer Phison Electronics. Liqid has now raised $20m in total, its past funding coming from Phison Electronics as well as flash storage technology producer Kingston Technology, ABR Capital Management and DH Capital.
Latch, a US-based smart lock developer and a graduate of advertising agency R/GA’s accelerator initiative, has raised $10m from VC firm RRE Ventures and undisclosed existing investors to take its series A round to $20.5m, TechCrunch has reported. The company has now raised $26m altogether and its other backers include Lux Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Corigin Venture Partners, Camber Creek, Expansion Ventures, PCH, firm Fairhaven Capital, 3rd Prime Capital, Techstars and angel investor Wan Li Zhu.
Denmark-based banking app developer Lunar Way has raised €4.7m from financial services firm Nykredit, VC fund Seed Capital and undisclosed angel investors, increasing the size of its series A round to €8.7m ($9.5m). Nykredit and Seed Capital also provided the capital for the round’s first tranche in December 2016, and the extension was announced at the same time as the introduction of a crowdfunding feature for the app.
US-based lidar technology developer TriLumina Corp closed $9m in equity and debt financing on Wednesday from Denso Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of automotive technology producer Denso, as well as Kickstart Seed Fund, Stage 1 Ventures, Cottonwood Technology Fund and Sun Mountain Capital. TriLumina had previously raised $9.2m in equity and $1.1m in debt, according to regulatory filings, and its past investors include both Denso Ventures and Caterpillar Ventures, a subsidiary of construction equipment maker Caterpillar.
France-based online asset management platform developer CBien has received €8m ($8.8m) in funding from insurance firm Maif and its Macif subsidiary as well as VC firm 5M Ventures. The three investors had previously supplied €1.4m for CBien, which enables users to make a digital inventory of their physical possessions, attach values to them and insure them, in late 2015.
IoTium, a US-based developer of network infrastructure technology for the industrial internet of things, has completed an $8.4m series A round co-led by GE Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of industrial equipment producer General Electric, and VC firm March Capital Partners. The round also included funding from networking technology provider Juniper Networks, investment syndicate OpenSource Ventures and angel investor Pankaj Patel.
US-based healthcare engagement and management software provider HealthLoop has secured $8.4m from investors including Summation Health Ventures, a fund formed by care providers Cedars-Sinai Health System and MemorialCare Health System, as well as genomics technology developer iCarbonX’s DigitalLife Alliance, care provider Lafayette General Hospital’s Health Innovation Fund, NextEquity and Canvas Ventures, Med City News reported on Monday. HealthLoop has now raised $23.8m in total, according to securities filings.
Social Native, the US-based developer of a platform for the creation of branded content, completed an $8m seed round yesterday that included SoftBank Capital, a VC subsidiary of telecommunications firm SoftBank. The startup’s other backers include angel investors Jeff Ragovin and Eytan Elbaz, both of which subsequently joined the company, and it will use the capital to grow sales and marketing while further developing its Content Optimization Engine.
PeerNova, a US-based company applying blockchain technology to enterprise big data issues, has raised $7m in funding, $3.8m of which consists of promissory notes that were converted to equity, according to a securities filing. Construction services provider Zhejiang Zhongnan Holdings Group paid $4m for a 5% stake in PeerNova in November 2016, after the company had raised $8.6m from investors including Mosiak Partners and Crypto Currency Partners, and $5m from e-commerce company Overstock in April 2015.
Financial service provider SBI Group has provided $6.3m in funding for Indonesia-based peer-to-peer business lending platform Taralite, Tech in Asia has reported. The funding will be used to grow the company’s research and development team as it looks to add more loan and credit products to its service, which allows institutions and individuals to lend to businesses.
Bunker, the US-based developer of an online platform that supplies business insurance, has closed a $6m series A round led by VC firm Omidyar Network that included Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mass media group Comcast, and Route 66 Ventures. The latter two co-led Bunker’s $2m seed round in June 2016, investing alongside insurance firms Hiscox and American Family, the latter taking part through its American Family Ventures unit.
US-based immuno-oncology drug developer Dragonfly Therapeutics raised an undisclosed amount in funding on Monday from Celgene Switzerland, an affiliate of biopharmaceutical firm Celgene, and family office investors representing members of the Disney family and the Duke of Bedford. Dragonfly’s technology aims to utilise white blood cells called NK cells, which form part of the human immune system.
PaySense, an India-based online lending and credit scoring platform, has secured $5.3m in series A funding from media and e-commerce group Naspers as well as Jungle Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners, the Economic Times reported yesterday. The capital, which comes after a $2.3m seed round featuring Nexus and assorted angel investors in 2015, will support the growth of the company’s headcount and the enhancement of its technology.
Sync Project, a US-headquartered company developing music-based medical treatments, disclosed on Wednesday that it has received $5m in funding from investors including internet company Digital Garage and biotech research and development firm PureTech Health. The company’s other backers are Greylock Partners’ Discovery Fund and angel investors Reid Hoffman, Esther Dyson and David Shaw.
BCX, a digital technology subsidiary of telecommunications company Telkom, will invest R60m ($4.6m) in South Africa-based coding school WeThinkCode, IT Web Africa has reported. The capital will be provided as part of a partnership that will involve Telkom companies hosting 40 WeThinkCode interns per year in the next three years, and will be used to expand the startup’s Johannesburg office and launch a new campus in Cape Town.
US-based virtual reality experience provider Upload received $4.5m in series A funding in September 2016 from investors including internet technology provider NetEase, digital media company Gree, mobile game publisher Colopl, General Catalyst, Sparkland Capital, Unity Ventures, CRCM, Greycroft Partners, Outpost Capital and angel investors David Chao and Julia Popowitz, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. The round, which followed a $1.25m seed round in 2015 featuring investment group Shanda, was revealed in the paperwork for a sexual harassment lawsuit from an ex-employee.
US-based retinal disease therapy developer ONL Therapeutics completed a $4.25m series A round on Wednesday that included pharmaceutical firm Novartis, the University of Michigan’s Michigan Investment in New Technology Startups initiative, Capital Community Angels, Invest Michigan, Biosciences Research & Commercialization Center and Hestia Investments. The round included the conversion of $1m in debt financing and was closed alongside a $1m grant from National Eye Institute.
GE Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in US-based data unification technology provider Tamr yesterday, two years after parent company General Electric began using its software. Tamr had previously raised $41m from investors including data services provider Thomson Reuters, and Hewlett Packard Ventures, MassMutual Ventures and GV, respective subsidiaries of computing company Hewlett-Packard, insurer Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance and internet technology group Alphabet.
Canada-based 3D computer vision technology developer Airy3D secured $3.5m on Monday in a seed round featuring Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the corporate venturing arm of industrial product manufacturer Robert Bosch. The oversubscribed round was co-led by CRCM Ventures and R7 Partners, and included WI Harper Group, Nautilus Venture Partners and angel investors affiliated with TandemLaunch, the incubator that spun out Airy3D.
7Summits, a US-based developer of online community software for businesses, raised an undisclosed amount on Monday from Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of enterprise software provider Salesforce, as well as private equity firm Sverica Capital Management, members of its own management team and unnamed existing investors. The round follows $1m of funding from undisclosed investors in 2011 and an undisclosed amount from Sverica Capital two years later.
McKesson Ventures, the strategic investment arm of pharmaceuticals distributor McKesson, has invested £2.25m ($2.9m) in Unforgettable.org, the UK-based creator of an online resource and advice hub for dementia sufferers and their carers. The deal, which represents McKesson Ventures’ first investment outside of North America, increased the total funding raised by Unforgettable to £4.3m.
Circle-in, the Japan-based operator of cross-border logistics management platform Shippio, has received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from YJ Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of internet company Yahoo Japan, as well as 500 Startups Japan and East Ventures, The Bridge has reported. The startup had previously raised funding through its participation in Code Republic, the accelerator formed by YJ Capital and East Ventures.
E-commerce firm Alibaba’s Entrepreneurs Fund and VC firm MindWorks Ventures have co-led a $2m seed round for China-based small business finance provider Qupital, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. DRL Capital and Aria Group also participated in the round, and Qupital plans to leverage Alibaba’s links to traders and small and medium-sized business owners in order to grow its service.
SAP.io, the artificial intelligence-focused corporate venturing fund recently launched by enterprise software producer SAP, has made it first investment, providing an undisclosed amount of funding for India-based automated ordering software startup Niki.ai, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday. Founded in December 2016, Niki had previously raised at least Rs 30m ($470,000) from Unilazer Ventures and angel investors Haresh Chawla and Ratan Tata.
EV Hive, an Indonesia-based co-working space provider backed by conglomerate Sinar Mas, has raised $800,000 in funding from angel investors Carlson Lau, Jason Lee and Ethan Choi, DealStreetAsia reported on Monday. The company had previously received funding from SMDV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of Sinar Mas, as well as VC firm East Ventures, and plans to use the capital to open seven new spaces in 2017.
Optimatics, a US-based creator of technology that informs the efficient design of water and sewer networks, received an undisclosed amount of funding from investors including Suez Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for water treatment services provider Suez Group, yesterday. Suez Ventures was joined in the round by existing backers including Emerald Technology Ventures.
Northwell Ventures, the strategic investment subsidiary of care provider Northwell Health, has added $500,000 to a series A round for US-based disease prevention platform developer HealthReveal that now totals $11.3m. GE Ventures is leading the round, which includes Manatt Ventures, the VC investment vehicle for law firm Manatt, Phelps & Philips, as well as Greycroft Partners and Flare Capital Partners.