Insurance group AIA has provided an undisclosed amount for the series F round being raised by Gojek, the Indonesia-based ride hailing service previously known as Go-Jek, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Gojek had raised $1.1bn from investors including corporates Astra International, Tencent, JD.com, Google and Mitsubishi for the round as of March this year before adding undisclosed sums from Mitsubushi, financial services firm Siam Commercial Bank and payment services provider Visa. It is targeting $3bn for the round’s close.
Digital exchange operator Binance has invested an undisclosed amount in Huoxing24, the China-based operator of blockchain media, data and training platform Mars Finance, at a $200m valuation. The deal came as part of a round that also includes Ceyuan Ventures and Matrixport, according to Technode, which reported the startup had previously received undisclosed amounts from the corporate venturing subsidiaries of cryptocurrency exchange operators OKCoin and Huobi as well as venture capital group IDG Capital.
Biproxi, the US-based creator of an end-to-end platform for handling real estate transactions, received $10m on Tuesday in a seed round led by venture capital firm Greycroft that included real estate advisory Newmark Knight Frank, trade body National Association of Realtors and VC firm RPM Ventures. It disclosed the funding alongside the release of its latest product, an algorithmic data platform for real estate brokers dubbed Biproxi Off Market that offers valuation data on millions of properties.
US-based precision medicine developer InsightRX completed a $10m series A round yesterday featuring healthcare provider OSF Healthcare and hospital services firm Premier. VC firm HealthX Ventures led the round, which included Rock Health, Leawood Venture Capital and GreatPoint Ventures, the latter participating as an existing investor. The round boosted InsightRX’s overall funding to $13m, it said, its earlier backers including FundersClub.
An undisclosed investor has provided $10m in funding for Kite Hill, a US-based vegan food product maker backed by packaged food provider General Mills, as part of a round with a $15m target, according to a securities filing. General Mills subsidiary 301 co-led an $18m round for Kite Hill with growth equity firm Cavu Venture Partners in 2016, before the same two investors added $40m of extra funding in October 2018.
Pol, the Japan-based owner of science student-focused human resources database LabBase, secured ¥1bn ($9.2m) in series A funding on Tuesday from investors including internet company CyberAgent’s Fujita Fund and Pksha Sparx Algorithm Fund, a joint venture between algorithm provider Pksha Technologies and financial services group Sparx. The round also featured Spiral Ventures Japan, Beyond Next Ventures and Beenext, and followed $450,000 in 2017 and an undisclosed amount from Pksha Technology and various angel investors in November 2018.
India-based retail services provider Peel-Works has closed its series B round having received an undisclosed amount from Unilever Ventures, consumer goods producer Unilever’s corporate venturing unit, as well as financial services firm HDFC Bank and Equanimity Ventures – which co-led the round – Chiratae Ventures, Inventus Capital India and private investor Bruno Raschle, Vantage Asia reported on Monday. The round stood at $5m as of May this year and it followed $2m of funding in 2014 and an undisclosed sum from Unilever Ventures three years later.
Optum Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for health services provider Optum, led an $8m funding round for US-based digital medicine developer Kaia Health on Tuesday. Kaia had raised $4m in seed funding in 2016 before pulling in $10m in a January 2019 series A round led by Balderton Capital. The latest funding will be used to expand Kaia’s platform from musculoskeletal disorders like chronic back pain into new areas.
Rafay Systems, the US-based developer of a containerised application management system, has raised $8m in a series A round that included NTT Docomo Ventures, mobile network operator NTT’s corporate venturing subsidiary. Ridge Ventures led the round, which also featured fellow VC firms Costanoa Ventures and Moment Ventures, and which followed $4.1m in seed funding, according to the company.
US-based encryption technology developer PreVeil secured an amount reported by Boston Business Journal to be $7m on Tuesday in a series B round led by Presidio Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Sumitomo. VC firm Spark Capital also participated in the round, having led a series A round of undisclosed size for the company in March 2018. Japan-headquartered Sumitomo plans to make the company’s technology available to its customers following the round.
HG Ventures, the VC arm of diversified holding group The Heritage Group, led a $7m series A round on Tuesday for 120WaterAudit, the US-based creator of a cloud software platform that facilitates the provision of water infrastructure. VC firm Allos Ventures and growth equity firm Greenhouse Capital also contributed to the round, and Allos managing director David Kerr will join the company’s board of directors along with Kip Frey, managing partner of HG Ventures.
Toyota AI Ventures, carmaker Toyota’s strategic investment arm, has supplied an undisclosed amount of series A funding for US-based scooter rental service Skip, Axios reported on Wednesday. It will be added to the $25m Skip raised from Menlo Ventures, Accel and Y Combinator in June 2018 at a valuation reported by The Information to be $100m post-money, as well as $6m in seed capital from Initialized Capital, A Capital and SV Angel disclosed the previous month. Skip then secured $100m in debt financing in December.
Embr Labs, the US-based creator of a smart bracelet that can help regulate a user’s temperature, raised $6m in series B funding from investors including audio equipment producer Bose’s corporate venturing arm, Bose Ventures, on Tuesday. DigiTx Partners led the round, which included Safar Partners, Joyance Partners and PBJ Capital, and which came after $100,000 in debt financing in 2015 according to a regulatory filing.
2ULaundry, a US-based on-demand laundry and dry cleaning service backed by media, communications and transportation group Cox Enterprises, has completed a $6m series A round co-led by Florida Funders and Morgan Creek Capital, Hypepotamus has reported. The round included Engage, Reform Ventures, Service Provider Capital and unnamed angel investors and it was preceded by $400,000 from undisclosed investors in 2016 and $2.5m in September 2017 according to regulatory filings, with Cox and Techstars Ventures taking part in the latter according to Hypepotamus.
US-based artificial intelligence software developer Digital Reasoning secured an undisclosed amount of funding from SC Ventures, the strategic investment vehicle for financial services firm Standard Chartered Bank, on Tuesday to increase its series D round to $40m. The round, which includes payment processor Square, care provider HCA, exchange operator Nasdaq, banks BNP Paribas and Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Lemhi Ventures and Partnership Fund for New York City, stood at $30m as of March 2018 before Macquarie Group added an undisclosed sum in February 2019.
Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs has provided Rs 349m ($4.9m) of series D funding for NestAway Technologies, an India-based online home rental portal backed by e-commerce marketplace Flipkart, YourStory reported on Tuesday. The company had raised $10m from Tiger Global Management and Chiratae Ventures for its series D round in May this year, having previously received more than $94m from investors also including UC-RNT, Ratan Tata, Yuri Milner, Sujeet Kumar and Naveen Tewari.
Canada-based customer relationship management services provider Traction on Demand has received an undisclosed amount of funding from Salesforce Ventures, enterprise software producer Salesforce’s corporate venturing unit, and growth equity firm Guidepost Growth Equity. The round represents the first external funding raised by the company, which offers its services to Salesforce users, since it was founded in 2007.
SocialFlow, a US-based social-media management platform developer backed by telecommunications firm SoftBank, advertising agency KBS and AOL – the online media company now part of telecoms firm Verizon – has secured $3.5m in funding according to a securities filing. It had raised a total of about $27m in funding from investors also including Cayuga Venture Partners, Fairhaven Capital, Betaworks, RRE Ventures, SV Angel, High Line Venture Partners and Rand Capital as of 2015, and added $1.9m in April 2017 according to a separate filing.
Plum, the Canada-based creator of an artificial intelligence-equipped human resources platform, raised C$4.2m ($3.2m) on Wednesday in a round led by VC firm Real Ventures that included SAP.io, enterprise software producer SAP’s corporate venturing unit, as well as BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund. It had received $1.5m from BDC Capital, Thomvest Ventures, Golden Triangle Angel Network, Angel One, Capital Angels, Keiretsu Forum and Conconi Growth Partners in February 2017.
Schoo, the Japan-based operator of an online adult education platform, received an undisclosed amount of series C funding on Wednesday from investors including telecoms firm KDDI’s Regional Initiatives Fund and VC firm Global Brain. The company secured $1.5m in 2013 from Itochu Technology Ventures, a vehicle for diversified trading group Itochu, as well as Incubate Fund and Anri, before all three joined consultancy Link and Motivation and Dentsu Digital Holdings, part of marketing firm Dentsu, in a $2.9m round in 2015.
OpenSC, an Australia-based joint venture between consulting firm Boston Consulting Group’s BCG Ventures unit and charitable organisation World Wide Fund for Nature Australia, secured A$4m ($2.7m) in seed capital from strategic impact investors including VC fund Working Capital and angel investor Christian Wenger on Monday. The startup is developing a blockchain-equipped software platform that tracks food and other products and ensures they are lawful, ethical and environmentally sound.
US-based quantum computing technology developer Aliro Technologies emerged from stealth on Wednesday having completed a $2.7m seed round featuring Q Fund, the cutting edge tech-focused vehicle launched by consumer electronics producer Samsung’s Next unit. VC firm Flybridge Capital Partners led the round, which also featured Crosslink Ventures. Aliro spun out of Harvard University’s quantum computing laboratory.
Hardware and tool producer Stanley Black & Decker has provided an undisclosed amount of series A funding for Linq, the US-based creator of a data management platform for the construction industry. The startup, which has developed software that lets users search for a wide variety of construction-related information, had previously raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding.
Cancer care services provider Varian is supplying an undisclosed amount of funding for Oncora Medical, a US-based provider of predictive analytics software for use in cancer care. Oncora received $1.2m from investors including BioAdvance, iSeed Ventures and angel investor Thomas Mackie in 2016 and a further $1.3m in a round featuring BioAdvance and iSeed in September 2017. Its earlier investors include First Round Capital’s Dorm Room Fund, Wharton Innovation Fund, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, PennHealthX and University City Science Center’s Digital Health Accelerator.
Mitto, the Spain-based provider of a credit card for use by children, has received €2m ($2.2m) from InnoCells, a corporate venturing vehicle for financial services firm Banco Sabadell, TechCrunch reported on Monday. VC firm Athos Capital also took part in the round, which also featured additional investors that included Spanish social media influencers. It will use the cash to boost its partnerships and product offering as it looks to enter Latin America and additional European countries.
Evonik Venture Capital, the corporate venturing arm of chemicals producer Evonik, invested an undisclosed sum in Modern Meadow, the US-based developer of a platform for advanced materials creation that eschews the use of animal products, yesterday. Modern Meadow had previously raised $53.5m, including $40m in a 2016 series B round co-led by Horizons Ventures and Iconiq Capital and backed by Artis Ventures, Temasek, Breakout Ventures, Red Swan Ventures, Collaborative Fund and private investor Tony Faddell.
UK-based online data platform developer Dataswift secured £1.6m ($2m) yesterday in a seed round featuring enterprise services provider Alphanumeric Corporation. The round was led by VC firm IQ Capital included investment fund Pacific & Orient Properties, and the proceeds will support technology development as the company looks to introduce private artificial intelligence technology and developer tools.
France-based organic food distributor Rutabago has secured €1.8m ($2m) in funding from investors including organic food cooperative Biocoop, Les Echos has reported. NovEss also contributed to the round and the proceeds will support construction of additional warehouses that will enable Rutabago to better serve customers outside Paris while reducing its carbon footprint.
Cemex Ventures, cement producer Cemex’s strategic investment arm, has provided an undisclosed amount of funding for GoFor Industries, the Spain-based operator of a last-mile delivery platform for the construction industry. GoFor raised approximately $370,000 from VC firm Panache Ventures and Capital Angels Network in June this year, and plans to now enter 20 major markets in the US.
US-based mobile wallet developer AlphaWallet closed a $1.2m pre-series A round that included blockchain technology provider and asset manager HashKey and blockchain information provider and incubator LongHash last month. Blockchain-focused VC fund Fenbushi Capital also participated in the round.
Venture builder Coplex led a $1m funding round yesterday for Insurmi, the US-based creator of an intelligent engagement platform for insurance providers, that included Global Insurance Accelerator, the accelerator initiative funded by 13 insurance companies. The cash will be used for business expansion and recruitment.
C2C, the Singapore-based owner of an online platform that matches individual service providers with potential customers, received an undisclosed amount of funding from online recruitment service En-Japan today. The startup intends to work with En-Japan to develop new services and products that utilise the corporate’s experience in human resources.
Investment services provider Maclaurin Group has co-led an $835,000 pre-seed round for Trilogy Mentors, the US-based developer of a software platform that enables educators to launch their own online learning products, with Michael Silverman, co-founder of language learning platform Rosetta Stone, Richmond Inno reported on Tuesday. It will put the funding into hiring sales and technology staff.
Extra, the US-based operator of an online platform that enables brands to access hotels and other hospitality areas, raised an undisclosed amount on Tuesday from Crush Ventures, the VC fund affiliated with artist management agency Crush Music, and an unnamed international hotel and restaurant group. The round was led by VC fund LayJax Ventures and also featured Steven Izen, founder of bracelet producer Lokai.
Payment services firm Mastercard and IT and networking technology provider ACPL have supplied an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding for Syntizen Technologies, an India-based developer of identity protection technology, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday. The capital will be used to reinforce the company’s core technology.
B:Live, the India-based operator of a tourism service that relies on smart electric bicycles, has secured Rs 40m ($560,000) from live entertainment event manager DNA Entertainment Networks, YourStory has reported. The company had raised Rs 10m from angel investors Shrinivas V Dempo and Shivanand V Salgaocar earlier this year, according to YourStory.
Edoga, a Japan-based provider of virtual reality training services, closed ¥47m ($440,000) in funding last month having participated in Dentsu’s Grasshopper accelerator, it revealed today. The cash took the company’s total funding to about $990,000, it said, and the investors also included Young Holdings and angel investors Yuki Nakamura, Satoshi Yamabe, Harumi Shimizu, Yuji Takeuchi and Masato Sugihara.
