Snappy, the US-based operator of a service that helps businesses provide gifts for employees in lieu of direct financial benefits, revealed on Tuesday it has secured a total of $10m in funding from investors including Hearst Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of media group Hearst. The company’s lead investor is venture capital firm 83North, and Snappy said the funding will be used for international growth and product development.
E-commerce firm JD.com has invested $10m in China-based file management and collaboration software developer FangCloud through its JD Finance and JD Cloud subsidiaries. Lightspeed Venture Partners had led the company’s $5m series A round in 2014 and returned for an $8.4m series A-plus round in late 2016 featuring UMC Capital, the investment vehicle for semiconductor producer UMC, as well as Matrix Partners and Chen Weixing.
WiredScore, the US-based creator of a system that rates digital connectivity in commercial buildings, received $9m in series A funding from investors including property developers U+I, Town Centre Securities and Savitt Partners, and financial services and insurance firm Legal & General on Tuesday. The round also featured Sterling.VC, KingSett Capital, Momeni Digital Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and Fifth Wall Ventures, the latter two having paid an undisclosed amount for a majority stake in the company in October 2017.
US-based lithium-ion battery developer Enevate Corporation has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from investors including battery producer LG Chem, consumer electronics manufacturers Samsung and Lenovo, and Presidio Ventures, a corporate venturing vehicle for diversified conglomerate Sumitomo. The corporates were joined by Mission Ventures, DFJ, Tsing Capital, Infinite Potential Technologies and CEC Capital.
US-based holographic technology startup Spatial emerged from stealth on Wednesday with $8m of seed capital from investors including Samsung subsidiary Samsung Next as well as iNovia Capital, Expa and angel investors Joi Ito, Mark Pincus and Andy Hertzfeld. Spatial is working on augmented reality technology that will use holograms to facilitate group communication in workplaces.
Sweden-based virtual and augmented reality game studio Resolution Games completed a $7.5m series B round on Tuesday featuring GV and Bonnier Ventures, respective subsidiaries of internet and technology group Alphabet and media company Bonnier. The round, which valued Revoution at $87.5m according to TechCrunch, was led by Mizmaa Ventures and included GP Bullhound, Fly Forever, Partech, Creandum, Sisu Game Ventures and private investor David Helgason. It followed $6m in series A funding from backers including GV and Bonnier Growth Media in 2015.
US-based energy efficiency services provider Carbon Lighthouse secured $7.5m on Tuesday from family office investor CEAS Investments. The investment comes after a $27m round in March this year featuring JCI Ventures, the corporate venturing fund formed in the merger of industrial manufacturers Johnson Controls and Tyco International, as well as GRC SinoGreen, Ulupono Initiative, SV Tech Ventures, Ekistic Ventures and angel investors including Steve Girsky and JB Straubel.
US-based online publisher Scroll raised $7m yesterday in a series A round that included Samsung Next as well as media companies Bertelsmann, Gannett, Axel Springer, The New York Times and O’Reilly Media, the latter investing through its OATV unit. The round was led by VC firm Union Square Ventures and also featured Uncork Capital, Founder Collective and angel investor Tom Glocer. Scroll had previously received $3m in seed capital from OATV, Axel Springer, New York Times, News Corp and Softech VC in November 2016.
Axa Venture Partners, the VC arm of insurance firm Axa, led a £5m ($6.4m) funding round yesterday for Hackajob, the UK-based creator of a recruitment platform for technical workers that fuses artificial intelligence and human expertise. Early-stage investment fund Downing Ventures also participated in the round, having co-led two earlier rounds with angel investor Dragos Nicolaescu, one of which was a $610,000 round in May 2016.
Cannabis grower MedMen Enterprises paid an undisclosed sum for a minority stake in US-based cannabis flower supplier Old Pal on Tuesday. Old Pal plans to use the funding, which MedMen said represented its third investment, to grow its brand while also expanding its product offering.
Mexico-based e-commerce fulfilment services provider Skydrop has received $5m in funding from logistics service EasyPost, Variv Capital, Y Combinator, FJ Labs, Sierra Ventures, Soma Capital, Sinai Ventures, GMF and Dynamo. Skydrop’s service calculated shipping times, prints return labels and handling returns, which are aggregated with those of other customers in order to make the entire process cheaper.
Automotive manufacturer Volvo Cars invested an undisclosed amount in US-based electric vehicle charging technology developer FreeWire Technologies on Wednesday through its Volvo Cars Tech Fund. FreeWire had raised $7.6m in series A funding before Stanley Ventures, the investment arm of tool manufacturer Black and Decker, added an undisclosed sum in September 2017. Oil and gas supplier BP provided an other $5m in January this year through its BP Ventures subsdiary.
Hiver, the India-based business email management service formerly known as GrexIt, has secured $4m in a funding round co-led by VC firms Kalaari Capital and Kae Capital, the Economic Times has reported. The company had previously raised $130,000 from Citrix Startup Accelerator, from which it had graduated in 2011, and angel investor Vijay Shekhar Sharma in 2012.
Caterpillar Venture Capital, the strategic investment arm of construction equipment maker Caterpillar, provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based electric vehicle and battery technology provider Fisker on Monday. Fisker had originally raised $1.5bn from 2007 but filed for bankruptcy in 2013, the year before it was acquired by auto components provider Wanxiang.
Drug producer Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical supplied $3m in funding for Glycotest, a US-based developer of liver disease diagnostics technology, on Monday. The deal could involve Fosun Pharmaceutical investing another $7m dependant on certain milestones being reached, giving it a 40% stake in Glycotest, giving NetScientific, the commercialisation firm that helped establish Glycotest, a 51.5% majority stake.
Brazil-based digital payment processor Conductor received an undisclosed amount of funding from payment services firm Visa on Tuesday. Conductor said it had been backed by private equity firm Riverwood Capital since 2014, while Visa made the investment as part of a wider drive to grow its ecosystem that will be boosted by the expansion of its fintech onboarding initiative to startups located in Latin America and the Caribbean.
US-based on-demand web services provider Lorem raised $2.5m yesterday in a funding round led by VC firm Flybridge Capital Partners that also featured sales and marketing software provider HubSpot, FJ Labs and Fresco Capital. The round came after the startup received $1.1m from Flybridge Capital Partners, Founder Collective and undisclosed angel investors in June 2017.
KPN Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for telecommunications company KPN, has invested an undisclosed amount in Cujo AI, a US-based developer of artificial intelligence technology for network providers, as part of an ongoing series B round. Telecoms firm Charter Communications led a first close of the round in May this year, after Cujo had raised $8.5m from undisclosed investors in May 2017 according to a regulatory filing.
Blixt, a Sweden-based developer of circuit breakers designed for use in smart meters, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from BayWa re Energy Ventures, the corporate VC arm of energy utility BayWa re. The deal took the total raised by Blixt to €2m ($2.3m) since it was founded in February 2018, and followed an angel round of undisclosed size earlier in the year.
Nantero, a US-based memory storage technology developer backed by corporates including networking technology producer Cisco, memory storage device provider Kingston Technology and oilfield services firm Schlumberger, has raised $2m in equity funding, according to a securities filing. The company had previously raised more than $120m from investors also including CFT Capital and unnamed semiconductor technology providers, most recently securing $29.7m in April this year.
Payment technology producer PayPal supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for consumer lending platform Tala on Monday, and the cash will be added to the $50m in series C funding it raised from Revolution Growth, Institutional Venture Partners, Data Collective, Lowercase Capital, Ribbit Capital and Female Founders Fund in April this year. The first close of the round increased Tala’s total funding to $90m and its earlier investors include GV as well as Bam Ventures and Collaborative Fund.
China-based online learning service 17smile has secured more than RMB10m ($1.4m) in a round led by digital radio platform Ximalaya FM, KrAsia reported on Monday. Zhi Zhuo Capital and GSR Ventures also contributed to the round, reported by KrAsia as the company’s fourth, and it plans to use the proceeds for product development and geographic expansion.
Razor manufacturer Dorco has provided an undisclosed amount of series A funding for India-based online grooming product retailer LetsShave in return for a 10% stake, the Economic Times reported yesterday. LetsShave had not disclosed any earlier funding but will use the investment to expand its offering from 22 products to 40.
Finland-based clean technology advisory service Solved completed a round that included engineering and consulting firm Pöyry at the end of September that increased its overall funding to €1.1m ($1.25m), it revealed on Tuesday. Avanto Ventures, LC Ventures and angel investors including David Kirp and Pia Erkinheimo also participated in the round, Solved’s second. Its earlier investors include Neulogy Ventures.
Reinsurance provider Greenlight Capital Re has invested an undisclosed amount in South Africa-based digital insurance startup Click2Sure Holdings. The company was admitted to fintech accelerator AlphaCode Accelerate earlier this year, and raised the Greenlight funding as it prepares to expand overseas.
