US-based stream processing software startup Fastdata.io received $5m on Tuesday in a seed round co-led by venture capital firm Pelion Venture Partners and seed-stage investor CrossCut that included graphics processing technology provider Nvidia. Fastdata raised $1.5m from Nvidia’s corporate venturing unit, Nvidia GPU Ventures, and undisclosed other investors in May 2017, and the latest funding came as it prepared to launch and demonstrate its technology at the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference this week.
US-based online web comics publishing platform Tapas Media has raised $5m in funding from SBI Investment Korea, a subsidiary of financial services provider SBI, ID Ventures, Medici Investment and EN Investment, TechCrunch has reported. The round was originally reported by Forbes, which named internet company Kakao, 500 Startups and angel investor Adam D’Angelo as participants, earlier this month, and it increased the company’s overall funding to approximately $10.8m.
Samsung Ventures, a subsidiary of consumer electronics producer Samsung, invested an amount likely to be $4.6m in US-based audio search technology provider Audioburst on Wednesday as part of a commercial partnership. The funding increased Audioburst’s series A round to $11.3m and follows an initial $6.7m from speech recognition technology producer Advanced Media, Flint Capital, 2B-Angels and an investors consortium related to driver assistance technology developer Mobileye in June 2017.
Dandelion, a US-based home geothermal energy system developer spun out of internet and technology group Alphabet’s Alphabet X division, received $4.5m on Tuesday in a round led by VC firm New Enterprise Associates. The round also featured BoxGroup, Ground Up and angel investor Daniel Yates, as well as Borealis Ventures, Collaborative Fund and ZhenFund, the three investors that provided $2m of seed funding for the startup in July 2017.
Internet technology provider Google has led a series C round of undisclosed size for India-based fashion e-commerce platform Fynd, the Economic Times reported today. Financial data provider IIFL, Kae Capital, Singularity Ventures, GrowX Venture Management, Tracxn Labs, Venture Catalyst, Patni family office, Axis Capital and unnamed angel investors also took part in the round, which followed $4.4m of earlier funding, and Fynd’s past investors include FJ Labs, Rocketship and additional angel investors.
Streem, the US-based developer of an online video streaming platform for home workers, closed a seed round featuring GVR Fund, which is managed by online media company Gree, at $3.7m yesterday. GVR joined Flying Fish, Columbia Ventures Corporation, Rogue Venture Partners, Curious Capital, Betaworks Ventures, Greycroft, GGV Capital and General Catalyst AR Fund for the $1.7m first tranche in December 2017, before Archivist Capital, Oregon Venture Fund, Portland Seed Fund, Flying Fish, Rogue and Betaworks added $2m.
Diesel engine producer Yanmar invested an amount indicated by a securities filing to be $3.5m in US-based boat and marine leisure equipment rental service GetMyBoat on Tuesday. Yanmar put up the funding as part of a strategic partnership between its marine engine subsidiary, Yanmar Marine International, and GetMyBoat, and the latter said the investment was the first external funding it has raised, though it had disclosed $500,000 from undisclosed angel investors in 2013.
US-based cryptocurrency and market analysis platform Flipside Crypto completed a $3.4m funding round featuring over-the-top media company Chernin Group yesterday. The round was led by VC firm True Ventures and included Resolute Ventures, Boston Seed, Converge and Founder Collective, and Flipside, which has so far established six crypto investment vehicles, will use the capital to enhance its algorithms.
Citi Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for financial services firm Citi, has joined VC firm Canaan Partners Israel to provide an undisclosed amount of funding for Contguard, the Israel-based creator of a monitoring software platform for shipped goods, Reuters reported yesterday. Contguard will invest the money in product development as it looks to form partnerships with banks and insurance firms.
Ermeo, a France-based developer of industrial optimisation software, has secured €2.5m ($3.1m) in a round led by Hi Inov, the strategic investment vehicle for logistics and shipping service provider Dentressangle. The round also featured SNCF Digital Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of rail operator SNCF, as well as VC firm Partech Ventures and accelerator Axeleo Capital.
AntVoice, a France-based targeted advertising technology developer backed by digital creation software provider Claranova and home improvement retail group Adeo, has raised €2m ($2.5m) from investors including VC firm CapHorn Invest, FrenchWeb has reported. The company secured $1.1m from Claranova (then known as Avanquest), Alven Capital, Nestadio Capital and angel investor Michel Gotlib in 2011, before adding $1.5m from Adeo, CapHorn, Nestadio and Alven Capital in April 2016.
Pharmaceutical company Senju Pharmaceutical and VC fund AmorChem have provided $2m in funding for SemaThera, the Canada-based developer of a treatment for diabetic macular edema. SemaThera was spun off from AmorChem in January 2017 with $760,000 in funding, and Senju made its investment as part of a licensing agreement whereby it will gain the rights to market SemaThera’s lead product candidate in China and Japan.
Australia-based cloud cybersecurity software provider Kasada has received A$2.5m ($1.9m) in funding from Reinventure, the VC firm funded by financial services provider Westpac, and VC firm Our Innovation Fund. It will use the funding to strengthen Polyform, its bot detection and mitigation software, and to expand its presence in the US, where it also runs an office.
Financial services firm HSBC has invested an undisclosed sum in US-based financial research platform developer Visible Alpha. The company had previously raised $68m from Goldman Sachs and fellow financial services providers Macquarie Group, Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo. Bank of America, Citi, Jefferies, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Santander and BNP Paribas, most recently closing a $38m round in January this year.
Healthcare provider ProMedica agreed on Monday to make a $1m investment in US-based surgical reconstruction technology developer Tela Bio through its ProMedica Innovations Venture Fund. Tela Bio had raised $75m from investors including Signet Healthcare Partners, HighCape Partners and OrbiMed when it signed an agreement with pharmaceutical company Pacira Pharmaceuticals in October 2017 that involved Pacira investing $15m and potentially another $10m at a later date.
Neo Global Capital, the investment arm of blockchain platform Neo, provided $1m for Singapore-based blockchain database technology startup Bluzelle yesterday as part of a strategic partnership deal. The funding comes after Bluzelle raised $19.5m in an initial coin offering in January this year.
Capital One Growth Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of financial services firm Capital One, has invested in US-based transactional database developer Fauna as part of a $25m series A round. The round, initially announced in September 2017, also featured GV, the corporate VC unit formerly known as Google Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Afore Capital and Costanoa Ventures, and increased Fauna’s total funding to $29.5m since it was founded in 2012.
Culqi, a Peru-based digital payment technology developer and a graduate of telecommunications firm Telefónica’s Wayra accelerator, has completed a $500,000 seed round led by VC firm Angel Ventures and backed by unnamed angel investors. Founded in 2014, Culqi graduated from Wayra Peru and raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Start-Up Peru the same year
Aviva Impact Investing France, a subsidiary of insurance firm Aviva, has supplied €326,000 ($400,000) in funding for Clip-It, the France-based creator of a toy made from recycled bottle caps, Metropolitain has reported. Clip-It plans to use the funding to expand its network of partners, which includes both schools and businesses.
Airporter, a Japan-based company that provides luggage delivery services to and from airports, has raised an eight-figure yen amount (¥10m = $94,000) from e-commerce company Beenos and VC firm Base Partners, The Bridge reported on Tuesday. The company transports a customer’s luggage between their accommodation and either of Tokyo’s two airports, allowing them to travel across the city more easily.
US-based insurance management platform developer Socotra received an undisclosed amount of funding from financial services provider USAA last month. Socotra raised $2m in debt financing in 2014 and $1.3m in debt the following year according to securities filings, and its existing investors include CrunchFund, Founders Fund, Greenoaks Capital, SciFi VC, SV Angel, Vulcan Capital and angel investors Ron Conway, Michael Ovitz and Joe Lonsdale, it said in a statement.