Intel Capital, semiconductor technology producer Intel’s corporate venturing unit, led an oversubscribed $10m series A round for computer vision technology startup Airy3D on Tuesday. The round included Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of industrial product and appliance maker Robert Bosch, as well as CRCM Ventures, Nautilus Venture Partners, R7 Partners and WI Harper Group, all of which had backed Airy3D’s $3.5m seed round in May 2017 alongside unnamed angel investors.
Integris Software, a US-based developer of software that automates the data privacy process, secured $10m on Tuesday in a series A round featuring Workday Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of enterprise software provider Workday. The oversubscribed round was led by Aspect Ventures and included Madrona Venture Group and Amplify Partners, both of which had joined Ignition Partners for a $3m seed round that was disclosed by Integris when it emerged from stealth in May 2016.
Swim.AI, the US-based creator of an edge computing intelligence software platform, raised $10m in series B funding from investors including semiconductor producer Arm on Tuesday. Cambridge Innovation Capital led the round, which also featured Silver Creek Ventures and Harris Barton Asset Management, both of which participated as existing backers according to Swim.AI, which has not revealed details of their earlier investments.
Benu Networks, a US-based virtual network technology developer backed by mass media group Liberty Global, has completed a $10m funding round led by Spring Lake Equity Partners, it revealed yesterday. The round was disclosed alongside a $7.5m round that also closed in the past year, and which was co-led by Liberty Global subsidiary Liberty Global Ventures and VC firm Sutter Hill Ventures. Benu’s earlier investors include telecommunications firm Shaw, smartphone maker Motorola Mobility and mass media company Comcast.
Hotel and restaurant reviews and booking platform TripAdvisor has supplied an amount of pre-series C funding likely to be $9.5m for Thailand-based online food delivery platform Eatigo, Tech in Asia reported on Monday. The round increased Eatigo’s overall funding to $25m to date and followed a late 2016 investment by TripAdvisor subsidiary TheFork that took the company’s total equity financing to $15.5m.
Meat processor Bell Food Group and M Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Merck & Co, co-led a €7.5m ($8.7m) series A round for Netherlands-based cellular meat developer Mosa Meat on Tuesday. Glass Wall Syndicate also contributed to the round, which came after an undisclosed amount of earlier financing from investors including Sergey Brin, a co-founder of internet technology provider Google.
Sinar Mas Digital Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of conglomerate Sinar Mas, has led an $8m pre-series B round for Bizzy, the Indonesia-based operator of an online procurement platform for businesses, DealStreetAsia reported on Monday. The round came after VC firm Ardent Capital had invested $2.5m in Bizzy in 2015.
Points, the Singapore-based creator of a blockchain-equipped credit scoring system, raised $8m from investors including credit ratings agency Zhong Cheng Xin Credit Technology and distributed ledger network developer Ontology Foundation today. The round included DHVC, Cherubic Ventures, Ceyuan Ventures and Nest.Bio Ventures, and the funding will support the launch of the startup’s blockchain-based credit network.
Cryptocurrency exchange operator Binance has acquired a 5% stake in decentralised, community-owned and Malta-based financial services startup Founders Bank at a $155m pre-money valuation, Bloomberg has reported, citing emailed comments from Binance. The company invested alongside undisclosed additional backers and the money was provided in advance of a token sale set to take place on equity fundraising platform Neufund.
Israel-based oncology drug developer Presage Biosciences has closed a $6m series D round on Tuesday that was co-led by pharmaceutical firms Takeda and Celgene, increasing its overall funding to $26m. Celgene had already invested $8m in Presage in 2013, and Takeda’s corporate VC vehicle, Takeda Ventures, added an undisclosed amount of funding two years later.
US-based geospatial data supplier Ursa Space Systems recently secured $5.7m in funding from investors including credit ratings and financial data provider S&P Global, it announced yesterday. VC firm RRE Ventures led the round, which also featured Paladin Capital Group, the same three investors having joined New Enterprise Associates for Usra’s $7m series A round in October 2017.
Tianji Yunfu Technology, the China-based operator of smartphone repair service Jikexiu, has raised an undisclosed sum in a series B round led by JD Logistics, the logistics subsidiary of e-commerce group JD.com, as part of a commercial partnership agreement, Marbridge Consulting reported on Tuesday. The round followed the $7m in series A funding the company received from Liangjiang Capital and Huohua Ventures in January this year.
Lactips, the France-based developer of a biodegradable plastics material made from milk protein, completed a €3.7m ($4.3m) funding round on Tuesday that included BASF Venture Capital, the corporate venturing vehicle for chemicals producer BASF. The round also featured BNP Paribas Development and Crédit Agricole Loire Haute-Loire Capital Innovation, subsidiaries of financial services firm BNP Paribas and banking cooperative Crédit Agricole, as well as private equity firm Demeter.
Xiuke Information Technology, the China-based owner of mobile device maintenance platform Jiasudu, has received an eight-figure renminbi amount (RMB10m = $1.5m) of series A funding from e-commerce ecosystem developer Galaxy eSolutions, Marbridge Consulting reported on Tuesday. The funding will be used to build out the company’s franchised smartphone repair stores across China.
Singapore-based domestic imaging technology developer Foyr has secured $4.2m in series A funding from investors including property developer and manager Jones Lang Lesalle (JLL), SRI Capital, which provided $2m of the capital, and undisclosed other investors, Times of India reported on Tuesday. Foyr has now raised more than $10.4m altogether, including $3.8m in a round led by JLL in December 2017.
Cyrcadia Asia, the China-based creator of a smart bra that can detect signs of breast cancer, closed a $3.8m pre-series A round led by artificial intelligence technology provider iFlytek and backed by unnamed Asian investment funds and individual investors on Monday. The company was formed in 2017 to commercialise technology from US-headquartered Cyrcadia Health in the region.
Digital Risks, a UK-based provider of insurance for emerging technology and media companies, received £2.25m ($3m) in funding on Monday from investors including insurance firm Beazley. The round was led by investment partnership Concentric with backing from Atami Capital, Seedcamp and London Co-Investment Fund, and it followed an undisclosed amount from Earlymarket in June 2017.
Investment banking firm JPMorgan Chase made what it described as a strategic investment in Volley.com, the US-based developer of a data integration and management platform, on Tuesday. Volley had previously raised $1.8m in funding in early 2016 and almost $5m in an April 2017 round, according to regulatory filings. Its existing backers include education services provider TAL Education, Zuckerberg Ventures and assorted angel investors.
Belgium-based skin microbiome researcher S-Biomedic closed the €2m ($2.3m) first tranche of its series A round on Wednesday, with skincare product manufacturer Beiersdorf leading the close. Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, the corporate VC vehicle for medical group Johnson & Johnson Innovation, also contributed capital, as did Investiere.ch, and S-Biomedic expects to reach a final close for the round in September 2018.
Revibe Technologies, the US-based developer of a wristband intended to help treat attention deficit disorder, has raised an undisclosed amount from medical assessment services provider Multi-Health Systems in connection with a strategic partnership agreement, it revealed on Wednesday. CoFounders Capital, Bootstrap Advisors, BioVenture Partners, Tamiami Angel Fund, Charlotte Angel Fund, RTP Capital and Blount Street Capital also took part in the round.
Jido Maps, a US-based developer of technology that recalls when an augmented reality session ended in order to reconstitute the environment, has secured $2.1m in seed capital from investors including digital media company Gree, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round was led by VC firm Khosla Ventures, with contributions from additional backers including Seraph Group and Outpost Capital, and Jido raised the funding just after graduating from accelerator Y Combinator.
Fresenius Medical Care Ventures, the strategic investment arm of renal disease product and services provider Fresenius Medical Care, provided $2m in funding for Israel-based heart monitoring technology developer Vectorious Medical Technologies on Monday. The cash will be added to the $9.5m in series B funding Vectorious received in May 2018 from Broadview Ventures, GEOC, the EU’s Horizon 2020 initiative, which provided a $2.2m grant, and various angel investors. It has now raised $16.5m altogether.
Perch, a US-based company working on a mixed reality-based retail marketing platform, received what it described as $1.7m in follow-on seed funding from visual merchandising product developer The Visuality Corporation, VC firm Corigin Ventures and undisclosed angel investors on Tuesday. The round came after Perch secured $1.1m in April 2015 and $1m in November 2016, according to securities filings.
W2 Global Data, a UK-based anti-fraud technology developer backed by software provider SimpleWeb, has completed a £1.25m ($1.6m) round that included Mercia Fund Managers, Development Bank of Wales and TTI Angels, taking its total funding to about $3.9m, Finextra reported yesterday. SimpleWeb invested an undisclosed amount in W2 in 2013, before Mercia Fund Management, Thorium Technology Investors and existing investor Finance Wales supplied an undisclosed amount in April 2017.
India-based crowdfunding platform Wishberry has secured Rs 100m ($1.4m) in series A funding from investors including Reliance Entertainment, the film production and distribution subsidiary of conglomerate Reliance Group, VCCircle has reported. Investment firm 3one4 Capital and private investor Sunil Patil also took part in the round, which followed an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding from angel investors including Sharad Sharma, Rajan Anandan, Amit Ranjan, Alok Mittal and Venkat S Raju in January 2017.
StayAbode, an India-based provider of co-living spaces, has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-series A round featuring game developer Akatsuki and angel investors Anupam Mittal and Vineet Sekhsaria, Inc42 reported on Monday. The startup had previously received an undisclosed amount from assorted angel investors in February 2017, and a similarly undisclosed sum from Incubate Fund and various angels six months later.
Restaurant review platform Wongnai has provided $1m of funding for FoodStory, the Thailand-based creator of a point-of-sale device for restaurants, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. The investment was made in conjunction with a partnership agreement that will involve the companies collaborating on a platform that will link restaurant owners to users of Wongnai’s platform.
US-based medical device developer Thubrikar Aortic Valve received a $460,000 investment by its licensee, biological prostheses producer Labcor Laboratórios, on Monday along with a $500,000 promissory note. The financing will be added to the $40,000 Thubrikar raised from two unnamed physicians last month, and it comes after the company raised $870,000 from undisclosed investors in 2011, according to a regulatory filing.
Chasing Returns, an Ireland-based developer of risk management technology for financial traders, has secured €600,000 ($700,000) in funding from backers including investment banking firms Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan and unnamed private backers, the Irish Independent has reported. The company, which was founded in 2014, had previously raised about €100,000 from state-owned investors NDRC and Enterprise Ireland as of 2015.
Xchng, a spinoff from US-based mobile app attribution software provider Kochava, raised an undisclosed amount on Tuesday, in a round led by blockchain-focused investment fund Hashed. Xchng has created a blockchain-based framework for digital advertising and is working to secure presale partners as it prepares for a sandbox launch of the platform in Q3 2018.
Mahindra Finance, the financial services subsidiary of conglomerate Mahindra, has agreed to pay Rs 40m ($580,000) for a 13% stake in India-based peer-to-peer lending platform RupeeCircle, VCCircle reported yesterday, citing a regulatory filing. The startup was founded in January this year and has applied for a peer-to-peer licence from the Reserve Bank of India.
Taya Ventures, the corporate VC arm of visual media company Taya Media, has led a $500,000 round for Stanga Games, the Spain-based developer of mobile game Underworld Football Manager, PocketGamer.biz reported on Monday. The round included angel investor Gigi Levy, and Stanga had previously received $500,000 in another Taya Ventures-led round in December 2017.