AAA Corporate venturing deal net: 16-20 October 2017

Corporate venturing deal net: 16-20 October 2017

Brazil-based online recruitment marketplace Revelo has secured $4.6m in a funding round led by venture capital fund Valor Capital that included Australia-headquartered online recruitment platform Seek, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. The round, which followed an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Social Capital, Graph Ventures and various angel investors in 2015, will support product development, sales and marketing.

Electronic components and systems producer Bachmann Group has led a €3.4m ($4m) round for Germany-based smart home security camera developer BuddyGuard, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. The round also featured 20 angel investors, and the funds will be used to launch the startup’s Flare camera, which is currently available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, in North America and additional European markets.

Private equity fund Fortissimo Capital invested $4m in Equinom, an Israel-based high-protein seed developer backed by agribusiness Hazera (1939), on Wednesday. Equinom had previously received $2.25m in funding, $1.25m of which came in a Hazera-led round in April 2016, and its backers also include angel investors Michael and Gabriel Danziger.

Aerospace company Boeing provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based autonomous flight software developer Near Earth Autonomy yesterday through its HorizonX subsidiary. The investment was made as part of a strategic partnership agreement whereby the companies will look to jointly develop products for areas such as urban mobility.

Corporate-funded, virtual reality-focused VC fund Venture Reality Fund and data science consulting firm Silicon Valley Data Capital co-led a $3.5m seed round for Torch3D, the US-based creator of a prototyping platform for augmented and virtual reality, on Tuesday. Seven Peaks Ventures, GVR Fund, Presence Capital, Antipodean Ventures, Jerome Capital and TWB Investment Partnership also participated in the round.

Pick-Up, the China-based creator of a logistics optimisation platform for rapid package delivery, raised an undisclosed amount on Monday from investors including mobile app developer Sage42 and diversified holding group Shanghai Bestway Enterprise Development Company. The round also featured Axis Capital Partners and Metroworks Equity, and Pick-Up plans to now expand in Southeast Asia.

YG Investment, the strategic investment vehicle for record label and entertainment agency YG Group, has provided $3m of funding for Gushcloud International, a Singapore-based talent management agency for online influencers, the Vulcan Post reported on Monday. Gushcloud will use the capital to expand into additional markets in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Credit ratings agency Moody’s Corporation supplied an undisclosed amount of funding on Tuesday for CompStak, a US-based provider of lease information for the commercial real estate sector. CompStak had previously raised more than $10m in funding, $4.4m coming from media group DMGI, Canaan Partners, Expansion VC and Rubenstein Partners in 2014, and its other investors include 500 Startups, Founder Collective and Silicon Badia.

Corporate-backed VC fund Fifth Wall has invested an undisclosed amount in Appear Here, a UK-backed of a retail space marketplace operator backed by commercial real estate developer Simon Property Group, as part of a strategic partnership agreement that will help it expand in the US. Simon’s corporate venturing unit, Simon Venture Group, invested in Appear Here as part of a $12m round in May this year that was led by Octopus Ventures, and which took the company’s overall funding to $21.4m.

Boostr, the US-based creator of a customer relationship management platform for the media and advertising industry, has completed a $1m seed round featuring Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, a corporate venturing arm of media group Bertelsmann. The round was also backed by VC fund WGI Group and angel investors including Jon Steinberg and Bryan Goldberg, and the proceeds will go to growing Boostr’s sales, marketing and customer success teams.

Japan-based sleep analysis technology developer Neurospace has raised ¥100m ($890,000) in funding from Real Tech Fund, a corporate VC subsidiary of biotech company Euglena, as well as financial services provider SMBC Nikko and startup hub Leave a Nest Capital, The Bridge reported on Wednesday. Investment firm Slogan Coent joined assorted angel investors to provide an undisclosed amount of funding for Neurospace in July 2015, before Leave a Nest affiliate Glocalink added an undisclosed sum in December 2016.

Actor Leonardo Di Caprio provided an undisclosed amount of funding on Tuesday for Beyond Meat, a US-based vegetarian meat substitute developer backed by packaged food producers Tyson Foods and General Mills. Tyson paid an undisclosed amount for a 5% stake in Beyond Meat in November 2016, after General Mills subsidiary 301 had joined Humane Society of the United States, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and private investor Bill Gates to invest a reported $17m in the company in 2015.

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