Pharmaceutical firm Celgene has invested an undisclosed amount in US-based immunometabolic cancer drug developer Kyn Therapeutics as part of a strategic collaboration deal that will also involve an upfront payment of $80m. Kyn had previously received $49m in series A funding from healthcare investment firm OrbiMed and venture capital firm Atlas Venture in December 2017.
Farewill, the UK-based operator of an online will preparation service, has secured £7.5m ($9.6m) in funding from investors including DMG Ventures, the venture capital arm of media group Daily Mail and General Trust, UKTN reported on Monday. The round also featured Augmentum Fintech, Transferwise, Venture Founders, Saatchinvest, Kindred Capital, Tiny VC and angel investors including Tracy Terrill, Alex Chesterman and Taavet Hinrikus.
Iwoca, a UK-based business loan provider backed by financial services firms Commerzbank and Intesa Sanpaolo, has also received £7.5m, from VC fund Augmentum Fintech, BusinessCloud reported yesterday, citing a stock market disclosure. The company had already raised a total of $49m from investors including Commerzbank unit CommerzVentures, Acton Capital Partners, Global Founders Capital, Prime Ventures and Redline Capital when it added an undisclosed sum from Intesa Sanpaolo in 2017.
Shell Ventures, petroleum supplier Shell’s strategic investment arm, has added an undisclosed amount to a series D round being raised by US-based energy management software provider Autogrid that stood at $32m as of September 2018. Oil and gas provider Total’s corporate venturing arm, Total Energy Ventures, had joined renewable power producer Orsted and energy utilities CLP, Innogy, Tenaska and Eon as well as Clearsky Power & Technology Fund, Foundation Capital, Envision Ventures and Energy Impact Partners for the 2018 close.
US-based lithium-sulphur battery technology developer Oxis Energy raised £7m ($9m) on Tuesday from Safran Corporate Ventures and Samsung Ventures, respective subsidiaries of aerospace manufacturer Safran and electronics producer Samsung, as well as advanced materials provider Arkema and private equity fund Aerotec. Oxis said the round took its total funding to £24m, £15m of which came through an investment by petrochemical company Sasol in 2012 ($22m at contemporary exchange rates), and that Aerotec is now its second largest shareholder.
Darkstore, a US-based same-day delivery services provider that received $120,000 from advertising agency R/GA’s investment vehicle, R/GA Ventures, in 2016, has taken $7.5m in a series A round led by PivotNorth Capital that included Cota Capital, Village Global, s356Fund and Firebolt Ventures, Axios reported yesterday. PivotNorth had previously supplied $1.4m in seed capital for Darkstore in 2017 following the R/GA deal after an earlier $150,000 investment by Gary Fritz.
US-based optical imaging technology developer Modulated Imaging secured $7m on Wednesday in a series B round featuring Fresenius Medical Care Ventures and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, respective investment vehicles for medical supplies producer Fresenius Medical Care and financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. The round was led by Pangaea Ventures, also backed by Grey Sky Venture Partners and Fouse, and followed $500,000 from optics technology provider Hamamatsu Photonics in 2016 and $2.9m from investors including Fresenius Medical Care Ventures and Hamamatsu the following year.
BP Ventures, oil and gas provider BP’s strategic investment arm, led a series A round of undisclosed size yesterday for Powershare, a China-based developer of electric-vehicle charging software and hardware. Private equity firm Detong Capital Partners also participated in the round, which represented BP Ventures’ first direct investment in China, the unit said.
Groww, the India-based operator of an online investment platform, has received $6.2m in series A funding from investors including Propel Venture Partners, the VC firm funded by financial services firm BBVA, YourStory reported on Wednesday. Sequoia India led the round, which also featured Kauffman Fellows and Y Combinator, and which came after $1.6m in seed capital from investors including Insignia Ventures Partners, Lightbridge Partners and Kairos in July 2018.
CrediFi, a US-based provider of commercial real estate data, secured $6m in series B funding on Wednesday from Liberty Technology Venture Capital, a subsidiary of mass media company Liberty Media, as well as property developer Mitsui Fudosan, Maverick Ventures Israel, Battery Ventures, Viola Ventures and OurCrowd. The round, which now totals $19m, also includes Carmel Ventures and Stax Development Corporation, and it boosted CrediFi’s overall funding to $29m.
Weel, the Brazil-based cash management platform formerly known as WorkCapital, has raised $6m in funding from investors including financial services firm Banco Votorantim and VC firms Monashees and Mindset Ventures, TI Inside has reported. Monashees and Mindset Ventures had previously joined FJ Labs to invest $8.5m in the company in July 2017.
Real estate developer and services provider JLL led a £4m ($5.1m) series A round on Monday for Hubble, the UK-based operator of an online platform where flexible office space can be rented, investing through its JLL Spark Global Venture Fund. The round also featured Downing Ventures, Starwood Capital and assorted angel investors, and came after a $1.6m round in June 2017 led by Firestartr and backed by 500 Startups, Maxfield Capital and Concrete, an investment fund backed by Starwood Capital and Seedcamp.
Conglomerate LG Group supplied $5m in series B funding on Wednesday for US-based specialty chemical provider Lygos through its LG Technology Ventures unit, increasing the company’s overall equity financing to more than $41m. VC firms IA Ventures and First Round co-led the round’s $15.5m first tranche in July 2018, investing alongside Y Combinator Continuity Fund and OS Fund. The company had previously received $13m in a 2016 series A round co-led by IA Ventures and OS Fund.
US-based workforce training platform developer Hone officially emerged from stealth on Tuesday with $3.6m in seed funding from investors including Slack Fund, workplace communication platform developer Slack’s corporate venturing vehicle. Cowboy Ventures and Harrison Metal co-led the round, which also featured Rethink Education, Day One Ventures, Reach Capital, Entangled Ventures and angel investors including David Rogier and Rachel Carlson, and which TechCrunch had initially reported on last week.
Fiddler Labs, a US-based startup working on machine learning development technology, has secured $3m in a seed round that included Bloomberg Beta, media company Bloomberg’s data-focused corporate venturing unit, CNBC reported yesterday. VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, which also featured VC fund Haystack, and the cash will support hiring as Fiddler prepares to launch its lead product later this year.
Reinsurance firm Hiscox Re and MS&AD Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of insurance group MS&AD, have provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Akoniva, the UK-based creator of an electronic marketplace where insurance risk can be traded. The capital will support the development of the platform as the startup prepares to launch it in the coming months.
Networking technology producer Juniper Networks has led a $2.5m funding round for US-based startup accelerator operator Alchemist that included industrial technology provider Siemens’ Next47 fund, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. Alchemist Accelerator had previously raised funding from corporates Salesforce in 2014; Salesforce, Cisco, Siemens, SAP and Tyco in 2015; Johnson Controls, Ericsson and Analog Devices in January 2017; Cisco in March 2017 and General Electric later the same month.
Cavallo Ventures, the strategic investment vehicle for agribusiness Wilbur-Ellis, provided a seven-figure amount of funding for US-based crop protection technology developer Crop Enhancement on Tuesday. MLS Capital Fund and 1955 Capital had co-led an $8.5m series B round for the company in 2016 that included Bandgap Ventures and existing backer Phoenix Venture Partners. It will use the Cavallo investment to further develop its technology.
AnChain.ai, a US-based blockchain security technology startup backed by technology and trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG), has raised $2m in seed funding from Amino Capital and CRCM Ventures. The round was disclosed through a blog post by Amino Capital, and AnChain’s website also lists SIG and Brain Robotics Capital as investors without providing further details.
White Mountains Insurance Group, a subsidiary of financial services holding company White Mountains, has invested an undisclosed amount in US-based online automotive insurance provider Noblr. The startup provides real-time data on insurance prices and uses telematics technology to get information on driver behaviour in real time. Gary Tolman, a board member at White Mountains for 10 years until 2015, is a co-founder of Noblr, which intends to expand into property and casualty insurance.
Search for Goods, the China-based operator of a business-to-business goods and inventory sourcing platform, has received RMB10m ($1.5m) in pre-series A funding, 36Kr has reported. The round was approved in November 2018 and comes after a RMB10m investment by heavy equipment manufacturer Sany Group in July 2017.
Saison Ventures and Sony Innovation Fund, corporate VC subsidiaries of payment services firm Credit Saison and electronics producer Sony, have invested in Japan-based insurance sales software developer Hokan as part of a ¥140m ($1.3m) round, VentureTimes has reported. The round included Archetype Ventures, 500 Startups Japan, MID Venture Capital and Beenext.
ScientificMed, the Sweden-based developer of a digital platform for cancer treatment, has raised SEK10m ($1.1m) in funding from investors including health-focused publisher Add Health Media. The corporate was joined by family office Bonit Capital and entrepreneur Fabian Fischer, and the company, which claims to have been profitable since it was founded in 2012, will channel the funds into international growth and business development.
Jamja, the Vietnam-based operator of an online search platform for discounts, has secured $1m in bridge funding from internet company CyberAgent and BonAngels, DealStreetAsia reported on Tuesday. It raised funding from online food listings platform Foody in 2016, an undisclosed amount from ESP Capital the following year and $860,000 from IT services provider Framgia, KB Investment, a subsidiary of financial services firm KB Financial Group, BonAngels and Nextrans.
Nissay Capital, the VC arm of insurance provider Nippon Life, has invested in Studio Unbuilt, the Japan-based creator of a software product that helps users draw up plans for homes and other buildings still in the planning stage, as part of a ¥110m ($1m) seed round, VentureTimes has reported. It participated alongside Shizuoka Capital Corporation and OKB Capital, subsidiaries of financial services firms Shizuoka Bank and Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank respectively.
Japan-based web development technology provider Peraichi has also raised funding from Nissay Capital, as part of a round of undisclosed size that also featured Tokyo University of Science Investment Management, according to VentureTimes. The company, which has secured more than 140,000 registered users, will put the funding toward increasing headcount and scaling its business.
Logistics service provider Wincanton and VC fund and corporate innovation specialist L Marks provided an undisclosed amount of funding on Tuesday for Storekat, the Australia-based developer of a software platform that helps businesses utilise unused warehouse space. The startup had previously been a participant in W² Labs, the accelerator run by Wincanton and backed by L Marks.
Indonesia-based legal services marketplace Justika has received an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding from investors including legal firm Assegaf Hamzah & Partners, Katadata reported on Wednesday. Justika was formed as a subsidiary of online legal advocacy provider Hukumonline, itself formed by a senior partner at Assegaf Hamzah & Partners.
Japan-based artificial intelligence technology startup Connectome.Design has secured ¥70m ($640,000) in a seed round backed by Intage Open Innovation Investment, an investment vehicle formed by market research provider Intage, VentureTimes has reported. SBI Investment, a subsidiary of financial services provider SBI, also took part in the round, along with University of Tokyo’s Matsuo Lab.
Meily, the Japan-based operator of a social media and advice app centred on cosmetic surgery, has raised a six-figure dollar sum from investors including YJ Capital, the corporate venturing arm of internet company Yahoo Japan, TechCrunch Japan has reported. YJ Capital was joined by Now, East Ventures and angel investor Ken Honda, and the round followed ¥70m from CodeRepublic, the accelerator operated by YJ Capital and East Ventures.
Investment firm TechAccel revealed yesterday that it has invested an undisclosed sum in US-based RNA agricultural technology developer GreenLight Biosciences as part of a $50m round featuring food and commodities producer Continental Grain Company, real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities’ Alexandria Venture Investments subsidiary, S2G Ventures, Baird Capital, Blue I/O and Tao Capital Partners. The round took GreenLight’s total funding to $95m, its earlier backers including agribusiness Syngenta.
