BMW i Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of automotive manufacturer BMW, has invested an undisclosed amount in gallium nitrate (GaN) power transistor producer GaN Systems. GaN Systems had received an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital and Rockport Capital in 2011 before raising $20m in a May 2015 round led by Cycle Capital Management that included BDC Capital, Tsing Capital, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital and RockPort Capital.
Statkraft Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of energy utility Statkraft, led a £3m ($3.9m) series A round for UK-based virtual power plant developer Limejump on Wednesday that included Passion Capital and Angel CoFund. Limejump, which had previously raised £1.4m from Angel CoFund, Passion Capital and JamJar Investments in September 2015, will invest the capital in growing its customer base and further commercialising its technology.
Payment services firm Visa provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based payment card issuing platform Marqeta on Wednesday as part of a strategic partnership agreement. Marqeta had previously raised $45.6m from investors including CommerzVentures, the venture capital arm of financial services firm Commerzbank, as well as IA Capital, 83North, Granite Ventures, Commerce Ventures and various angel investors across three rounds.
Germany-based online dental care access platform developer Dentolo has received €3m ($3.5m) in funding from investors including media group Axel Springer’s seed-stage investment subsidiary, Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator, Deutsche Startups reported on Wednesday. The round also featured Yabeo Capital, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, Atlantic Labs and undisclosed angel investors from the dental industry.
Diversified conglomerate Mitsui & Co has invested $3.5m in Russia-based online food delivery platform Chefmarket.ru, East-West Daily News reported on Tuesday. Chefmarket, which was founded in 2012, received $1.3 million in a June 2016 round led by Mitsui and backed by VC fund AddVenture and angel investor Andrey Romanenko, seven months after it had secured $5m in an AddVenture-backed round that valued it at $25m.
Signature Medical, the US-based developer of a wearable heart health evaluation device, closed a $2.5m series A round on Wednesday that included audio product maker Bose, intellectual property commercialisation firm Allied Minds and VC fund Riot Ventures. The startup’s AcoustiCare device combines advanced audio technology and artificial intelligence to monitor and evaluate heart failure and other coronary conditions.
Israel-based marketing intelligence provider BrandTotal raised $2m on Wednesday in a seed round led by VC fund Glilot Capital Partners that included KDC Media Fund, the strategic fund formed by broadcaster Keshet and television content producer Dick Clark Productions. The startup, which was founded in early 2016, uses cyber and machine learning technology to track so-called dark marketing, forms of marketing that centre on personalised efforts surrounding social media.
Medici Ventures, a blockchain-focused investment vehicle for retail technology provider Overstock.com, invested $2m in US-based business management and payment software startup Spera on Wednesday as part of a series A round in which it acquired the majority of Spera’s preferred stock. Steven Hopkins, chief operating officer and general counsel for Medici Ventures, will join Spera’s board of directors in conjunction with its investment.
Medici Ventures has also made an investment of undisclosed size in Symbiont, the US-based developer of a smart contracts platform for distributed ledger applications, as part of a strategic partnership agreement. Symbiont, which was founded by ex-Medici employees, raised $7m from undisclosed investors in January 2016 at a $70m valuation, according to Bitcoin Magazine, and its other backers include financial software provider Hundsun Technologies, Atlantic Merchant Capital Investors and Celeridem Capital Management.
US-based virtual testing and prototyping software startup MultiMechanics raised $1.9m yesterday from Solvay Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of chemicals producer Solvay, as well as VC and private equity firm Anzu Partners and public-private partnership Invest Nebraska. The funding will be used to grow MultiMechanics’ engineering team and accelerate product development.
Mobidoo, a South Korea-based company developing payment and certification technology that uses high-frequency sound waves, has secured $1.3m in funding from investors including Samsung Next, a corporate venturing vehicle for consumer electronics producer Samsung, Pulse News reported on Wednesday. The round, which represented Samsung Next’s first investment in a Korean startup, also featured payment card services provider Lotte Members and Capstone Partners.
Online classified listings provider Info Edge has invested Rs 80m ($1.2m) in BigStylist, the India-based operator of an online marketplace for beauty services, according to a regulatory filing that revealed Info Edge now owns 49.7% of the company. Info Edge initially provided $1m in funding for BigStylist in late 2015, before taking its shareholding to 39% with a $900,000 investment in September 2016.
Blue Inductive, a Germany-based developer of wireless charging systems for industrial robots, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from investors including Phoenix Contact Innovation Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of industrial automation equipment maker Phoenix Contact Group. The round also featured High-Tech Gründerfonds, VC Fonds Baden-Wuerttemberg, MBG Mittelständische Beteiligungsgesellschaft and an unnamed angel investor.
Diversified manufacturing conglomerate Holley Group has provided $500,000 in seed funding for Everex, the Singapore-based developer of a blockchain-based online payment platform, Tech in Asia reported on Monday. Customers can use Everex to transfer money and to access micro-lending facilities and a cryptocurrency e-wallet, and the startup has secured the seed capital in advance of a crowdsourced offering of its EVX tokens, through which it aims to raise up to $15m.
– Image courtesy of GaN Systems.