Cambridge Touch Technologies, a UK-based developer of touch technology for electronics, completed a $10m series B round on Tuesday led by speciality chemicals and plastics manufacturer Kuresha. The round included electronics components producer Futaba, Puhua Capital and existing investors Parkwalk, Downing Ventures, China Materialia’s CM Ventures unit, Amadeus Capital Partners, and University of Cambridge. The company has now raised almost $20m altogether, it said.
Indonesia-based healthcare access portal Halodoc has secured an undisclosed amount of series B-plus funding from Allianz X, the digital investment arm of insurance group Allianz, as well as insurance firm Prudential Life and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, e27 reported today. Halodoc had raised a total of $78m as of its $65m series B round in March this year, which included telecoms firm Singapore Telecommunications’ Singtel Innov8 unit, pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec, UOB Venture Management and Korea Investment Partners.
Private investor Anand Piramal has supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for India-based e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday. Snapdeal had raised a total of $1.7bn from investors including telecoms group SoftBank, e-commerce firms Alibaba and eBay, media group Bennett Coleman & Co, contract manufacturer Foxconn, chipmaker Intel and mobile software producer Myriad as of 2016, but its backers subsequently wrote off almost all the value of their investments after a sale failed to go through the following year.
US-based enzyme technology provider Agrivida completed the $8m first tranche of a funding round it expects to close at $20m, on Wednesday, having received the funding from investors including Syngenta Ventures, agribusiness Syngenta’s corporate venturing unit. The close was led by private equity fund Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund and included Arch Venture Partners, Batios Holdings, Cultivian Sandbox, Maschhoff’s Agricultural Holdings and Middleland Capital. Agrivida had raised a total of $58m before adding an undisclosed sum from TechAccel and Iowa Corn Opportunities in 2017.
Online lending platform CreditEase’s Fintech Investment Fund has co-led an A$11m ($7.6m) funding round for Jacobi, an Australia-based provider of technology for investment managers. Venture capital firms Illuminate Venture Partners and 8VC also co-led the round, which reportedly followed a $2.2m round in 2017 that was led by 8VC and backed by CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, Illuminate Ventures, real estate developer LeFrak, PLG Ventures and Rincon Venture Partners.
TVS Motor (Singapore), a subsidiary of two-wheeled vehicle producer TVS Motor, agreed on Monday to invest $7m in US-based enterprise planning software provider Scienaptic Systems in order to lead a series A round of undisclosed size. Scienaptic had received an undisclosed amount of funding from Pramod Bhasin, the founder of professional services firm Genpact, in 2016.
Replicant, a US-based developer of conversational artificial intelligence technology, raised $7m in seed capital on Wednesday from investors including Bloomberg Beta, media group Bloomberg’s early-stage investment arm. The corporate invested together with VC fund Atomic and VC firms Costanoa Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners. The funding will support the launch of Replicant’s lead product, which is aimed at call centre operators.
Laboratory services provider LabCorp provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based pathology research technology developer PathAI on Tuesday. PathAI had raised a total of $75m as of last month, when it secured $60m in a series B round led by growth equity firm General Atlantic and backed by existing investors including General Catalyst. The latter had led the company’s $11m series A round in November 2017, investing with Pillar Companies, Refactor Capital, 8VC, Danhua Capital and KdT Ventures.
Dearhealth, a US-based developer of artificial intelligence-powered software that helps personalise healthcare provision, has reached the €6m ($6.7m) first close of a series A round, raising the money from investors including Philips Health Technology Ventures, a corporate VC subsidiary of medical technology and electronics producer Philips. The corporate was joined by Vesalius Biocapital III and Health Innovations, and the company’s investors also include Kairos Ventures.
US-based robotics management software startup Freedom Robotics completed a $6.6m seed round on Tuesday featuring Toyota AI Ventures, a strategic investment vehicle owned by automotive manufacturer Toyota. The round was led by VC firm Initialized Capital and included Liquid 2 Ventures, S28 Capital, Green Cow Venture Capital and angel investors James Lindenbaum, Justin Kan, Josh Buckley, Kevin Mahaffey and Arianna Simpson.
Automation technology provider Glory has led a $6m series B round for Singapore-based banking services platform developer SoCash, e27 reported on Monday. The round also featured SC Ventures, which functions as financial services firm Standard Chartered’s VC arm, as well as Vertex Ventures. The company raised $1.5m from angel investors between 2014 and March 2017, before Vertex Ventures added $5.5m in August 2018.
Jolly Good, a Japan-based developer of virtual reality technology aimed at the nursing and healthcare industry, secured ¥650m ($6m) yesterday in a round that included SBI Investment, financial services firm SBI’s VC arm. The round also featured Shinsei Corporate Investment, MBS Innovation Drive and Axil Capital, and it increased the total raised by the company to approximately $10.6m to date.
VC firm Sunstone Life Science Ventures has invested €5m ($5.6m) in Forendo Pharma, a Finland-based endocrinologic drug developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Novo, Novartis and Merck Group. The deal comes after Forendo secured $15m in series A funding in 2014 from the corporates, which participated through their Novo Seeds, Novartis Venture Fund and MS Ventures units, as well as Finnvera and Karolinska Development, following $13.3m of commitments from Novo Seeds, Finnvera, Karolinska and Tekes the year before. Vesalius Biocapital added $4.6m in September 2018.
India-based digital insurance provider Coverfox has secured Rs 400m ($5.8m) from insurance group Ageon, which invested through its Aegon Digital Investments and Transamerica Ventures units, as well as International Finance Corporation (IFC), Accel India and SAIF Partners, Inc42 reported on Wednesday, citing a regulatory filing. Coverfox had raised a total of $39m as of a $22m series C round in April 2018 featuring Transamerica, IFC, SAIF Partners, Accel India and Catamaran Ventures.
Japan-based vertical-axis wind turbine developer Challenergy has closed a ¥600m ($5.6m) funding round featuring life insurance providers Dai-ichi Life and Mitsui Sumitomo, the latter through Mitsui Sumitomo Capital, as well as industrial parts manufacturer THK, agricultural equipment producer Kobashi Kogyo and broadcaster Sky Perfect JSat, it announced on Tuesday. The round included Real Tech Fund, a vehicle formed by biofuel supplier Euglena, Leave a Nest and SMBC Nikko.
Internet group Tencent led a series A round of undisclosed size for UK-based retro game streaming platform Antstream Arcade on Tuesday that included VC firm Hambro Perks. Antstream’s subscription-based service soft launched in Western Europe earlier this month and it is preparing to enter the US by the end of 2019.
WinZo, the India-based operator of an eSports platform where players can win cash prizes, secured $5m earlier this year in a series A round co-led by messaging app developer Hike and VC firm Kalaari Capital, the Economic Times reported on Monday. The platform has more than 7 million registered users and is available in 10 languages.
Financial services firm Nomura invested an undisclosed sum in Thailand-based digital payment technology provider Omise on Wednesday. Omise had received $20.5m from conglomerate Sinar Mas, e-commerce group Ascend, financial services firm SBI, Golden Gate Ventures, East Ventures and 500 Tuktuks through 2016 before raising an undisclosed amount from financial services firm Bank of Ayudhya’s Krungsri Finovate unit in 2017. and Sinar Mas unit Sinar Mas Digital Ventures joined 31 Ventures, a subsidiary of property developer Mitsui Fudosan, and Global Brain to invest an undisclosed sum in October 2018.
M12, the corporate venturing arm of software provider Microsoft, has led a $3.2m funding round for Australia-based agricultural data analytics platform developer FluroSat, AgFunder News reported on Monday. Costanoa Ventures, Space Capital, Artesian/GRDC GrainInnovate Fund, Artesian Clean Energy Seed Fund, Main Sequence Ventures, AirTree Ventures and Muru-D also participated in the round, the latter three having backed a December 2017 round reportedly sized at $1.1m. FluroSat has raised a total of $8.6m according to AgFunder News.
UnityPoint Health Ventures, the strategic investment arm of healthcare provider UnityPoint Health, supplied an undisclosed amount of funding yesterday for Vida Diagnostics, the US-based creator of a precision medicine platform for lung diseases. Vida raised $810,000 across rounds in 2007 and 2009 according to securities filings, and added $2m from Next Level Ventures alongside $500,000 in debt in 2014, and $5.1m from Next Level, Chartline Capital Partners, Rittenhouse Ventures, Rural Vitality Fund II, Iowa Seed Fund and Northern California Investment Fund in 2016.
Second State, the US-based creator of a smart contract platform that incorporates blockchain technology, received $3m on Tuesday in a series A round led by quantitative trading and technology firm Susquehanna International Group. The round included undisclosed venture capitalists and angel investors.
BP Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of oil and gas provider BP, invested $3m in Partstech, the US-based operator of an e-commerce platform for aftermarket automotive parts, yesterday. The cash was supplied as part of a series A round that is being supported by Castrol, the lubricant producer acquired by BP in 2000. Partstech had raised $3.5m of a round with a $7.5m targeted close as of January this year according to a regulatory filing, but has not revealed whether that constituted series A funding.
China-based security token issuance platform Liquefy completed a $2.6m funding round on Monday that was co-led by financial technology provider Ideanomics and Neo Global Development, the investment arm of asset digitisation project Neo Foundation. The round included trading and investment firm Kenetic and VC fund East Chain, and it took the company’s funding to $3m altogether. Liquefy also identified family office Soul Capital as a seed investor.
Japan-based augmented reality game developer Pretia raised ¥280m ($2.6m) in series A funding yesterday, from interactive entertainment producer Sega Sammy Holdings as well as TBS Innovation Partners and OLM Ventures, subsidiaries of broadcaster Tokyo Broadcasting System and animation and digital effects studio OLM. Pretia creates AR-based puzzle games and is also working on its own AR technology, dubbed AR Cloud.
Japan-based artificial window supplier Atmoph secured ¥270m ($2.5m) yesterday in a series B round where ¥170m came from mobile app developer And Factory, mobile marketing technology provider Adways, Kyogin Lease & Capital, Energy & Environment Investment, Darma Tech Labs and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. The other ¥100m was raised through a crowdfunding drive that took in Japan and the US.
US-based electronic data interchange technology provider B/2Bnow has closed a seed round of undisclosed size in which process automation software producer Esker supplied 40% of the capital. Esker’s chief operating officer, Steve Smith, is joining B/2Bnow’s board of directors in conjunction with its investment, which was made in connection with a strategic partnership agreement.
Spain-based identity technology developer Validated ID has received €2m ($2.2m) in funding from investors including human resources provider Randstad and law firm Cuatrecasas, which participated through Randstad Innovation Fund and Cuatrecasas Ventures respectively, El Periódico reported yesterday. The round also featured Caixa Capital Risc, which invests on behalf of financial services firm La Caixa, and CriteriaCaixa, La Caixa’s wealth management vehicle.
Goqii, an India-based wearable fitness and healthcare product developer backed by conglomerate Mitsui and mobile app developer Cheetah Mobile, has raised Rs 138m ($2m) from unnamed investors, Entrackr reported on Monday, citing a regulatory filing. The company is raising money for a series C round featuring actor Akshay Kumar, having previously received more than $43m from the corporates as well as Galaxy Digital, Denlow Investment Trust, DSG Consumer Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Edelweiss Financial Services and Great Wall Club.
Indonesia-based e-commerce services startup Raena secured $1.8m on Wednesday in a seed round led by VC firm Beenext that included e-commerce company Beenos and Strive, the digital media company formerly known as Gree. The company focuses its efforts on helping online influencers form their own e-commerce businesses affiliated to their individual brands.
Japan-based website design tool developer Studio closed a ¥130m ($1.2m) pre-series A round yesterday that featured design agencies Party, Nippon Design Center and The Guild. The round also included DV4, the VC fund affiliated with design and consulting firm Ideo, as well as Founder Foundry, Monex Ventures and angel investors Atsushi Tsubota, Hiroki Nakamura and Sugiyama Masayoshi.
UK-based voice-controlled game developer Doppio closed a €1m ($1.1m) seed round on Wednesday backed by e-commerce and home electronics company Amazon’s Alexa Fund and internet and technology group Google’s Assistant Investment Program. The round also featured Sisu Game Ventures, AngelList, BreakawayGrowth Fund, Portugal Ventures, Busy Angels and angel investors including Lasse Seppänen, Alexis Bonte and David Helgason. The round is the company’s first, and will support development of its next title.
Liv, a Czech Republic-based company developing a spectator platform for virtual reality games, has received $1m from investors including VR technology provider Vive and mixed reality content producer Splitverse, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. Seedcamp, Credo Ventures, TechStars and angel investors including Palmer Luckey and Jaroslav Beck also took part in the round, and Liv’s earlier backers include Right Side Capital Management.
CoCooking, the Japan-based operator of food sharing app Tabete, raised an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding on Tuesday from investors including Itochu-Shokuhin, a food and liquor wholesaler owned by diversified trading group Itochu. The round also featured VC firm Now and angel investors Naruhisa Nakagawa and Shunsuke Ikegami.
Elaly, the owner of furniture subscription service AirRoom, secured approximately ¥100m ($930,000) on Wednesday in a funding round that included e-commerce price comparison platform Aucfan as well as Nagoya TV Ventures and Colopl Next, subsidiaries of broadcaster Nagoya TV and gaming platform provider Colopl. The corporates invested alongside F Ventures, Japan Angel Fund and various angel investors.
BYKido, a Singapore-based family event booking platform backed by broadcaster Mediacorp, has completed a S$220,000 ($160,000) pre-seed round featuring undisclosed private investors, e27 reported on Monday. Mediacorp had provided an undisclosed amount of funding for BYKido in 2017 through the company’s participation in its Mediapreneur Incubator Programme.
Daisei Veho Works, the Vietnam-based operator of press release distribution service Veho.press, secured ¥9m ($85,000) from refrigerated food distributor Daisei Every24 on Wednesday. The startup will use the funding to support an expansion into six other Southeast Asian countries.
