AAA Corporate venturing deal net: 24-28 April 2017

Corporate venturing deal net: 24-28 April 2017

Mech Mocha Game Studios, an India-based mobile game developer backed by e-commerce firm Flipkart, has secured $5m in a series A round co-led by venture capital firms Accel Partners and Shunwei Capital that also featured fellow VC firm Blume Ventures, Tech Portal reported yesterday. Flipkart and Blume had provided $1m in seed capital for Mech Mocha at the end of 2015, after the company had raised an undisclosed amount from angel investors including Devendra Parulekar, Sanjay Mehta and Ravi Trivedi.

Reveal Energy Services, a US-based oilfield imaging technology startup spun out of energy company Statoil’s Statoil Gulf Services subsidiary, has received an undisclosed amount of equity financing from Lime Rock Partners, an oil and gas-focused branch of investment firm Lime Rock Management. Statoil Technology Invest, the corporate venturing arm of Statoil, founded Reveal in January 2016 to commercialise research and development work conducted by Statoil in the field of hydraulic fracturing.

Financial services firm National Bank of Canada (NBC) has invested C$6m ($4.4m) in Canada-based automated wealth management technology developer Nest Wealth Asset Management as part of a strategic partnership agreement that will involve Nest’s technology being incorporated into the bank’s internal digital platforms. Publisher Metroland Media Group had provided $1.5m of funding for Nest in 2015.

NBC has also paid an undisclosed amount for a 22% stake in Burma-based mobile payment platform developer Ongo, which forms part of Ireland-headquartered investment entity Ronoc Asia. The investment will complement NBC’s Cambodia-based subsidiary ABA Bank, through which it operates in the Southeast Asian region.

Conglomerate Hong Leong Group has led a $4m series A round for China-based on-demand business advice and consulting services provider Lynk, E27 reported on Tuesday. The round also featured construction and engineering firm Zhuhai Da Heng Qin, Cyberport Management Company, CRE Venture Capital and Wavemaker Partners, the lead investor in Lynk’s $1m seed round in 2015.

Klöckner.v, the corporate venturing vehicle for steel and metal product distributor Klöckner & Co, has invested an undisclosed amount in Germany-based industrial 3D printer developer BigRep as part of the latter’s series B round, and will use the company’s systems at its sites in Europe and the US. Paper supplier Koehler Paper Group and VC firm B-to-V led BigRep’s last round, a €7m ($7.8m at contemporary rates) series A that closed in late 2015.

Japan-based user experience/user interface design company Goodpatch has received ¥400m ($3.6m) in a series C round featuring Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Capital and SBI Investment’s FinTech Fund, respective subsidiaries of insurer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and financial services provider SBI Holdings. Goodpatch raised $1m from internet company Digital Garage’s DG Incubation unit in 2013 before adding $3.5m in February 2016 from DG Incubation, SBI Investment, weight loss service Finc and corporate venturing units Salesforce Ventures and SMBC Venture Capital.

Insurance group Allianz has invested an undisclosed amount in Lemonade, a US-based startup that sells homeowner and rental insurance through an app that utilises artificial intelligence and behavioural economics. Lemonade had previously raised $60m from GV, the corporate venturing arm of internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet, as well as General Catalyst, Thrive Capital, Tusk Ventures, Aleph, Sequoia Capital and XL Innovate.

Popxo, the India-based operator of an online community for women, has secured $3.1m in a round co-led by IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital that included Gree Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of mobile gaming company Gree, as well as media company Summit Media and angel investors Gurpreet Singh and Atul Goel, YourStory reported on Monday. The series B round was increased from a $2.7m close last month, and follows $2.5m of earlier funding from investors including Kalaari, 500 Startups and Chennai Angels.

JetBlue Technology Ventures, the strategic investment arm of aviation company JetBlue Airways, supplied an undisclosed amount of funding on Monday for Recharge, the US-based creator of an app that allows users to book luxury hotels by the minute. Recharge had previously closed a $2.3m seed round led by Binary Capital and backed by Floodgate, Eniac VC, Expansion VC and angel investors Rick Marini, Scott Banister and Harry Cheung in June 2016.

France-based skin cancer diagnostics technology developer Damae Medical has received €2m ($2.2m) in funding from marketing and communication services provider News Invest, IT Espresso reported on Monday. Growth equity firm Idinvest Partners, healthcare-focused VC fund Kurma Partners and Paris-Saclay Seed Fund, the VC investment vehicle for Paris Saclay University, also took part in the round along with undisclosed angel investors.

US-based oncology treatment developer Circle Pharma raised $2m from WI Harper Group, Elements Partners, Whitesun Healthcare Ventures and LifeForce Capital on Wednesday. The funds will be added to the $4.5m Circle received from pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and ShangPharma, and VC firm Mission Bay Capital in November 2016 and closes the company’s series A round, which follows an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Pfizer and Mission Bay in 2014.

Management and technology consulting firm BearingPoint invested an undisclosed amount yesterday in Tribe Venneforsikring, a Norway-based insurance provider that leverages information in a customer’s social network. In addition to supplying funding, BearingPoint also intends to provide its expertise in insurance, digital transformation, analytics and regulations to Tribe.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *