The government-mandated Cool Japan Fund today invested $10m in KKDay, a Taiwan-based experience travel booking platform backed by travel agency HIS, messaging platform Line and e-commerce group Alibaba. HIS led a $10.5m series B round for KKday in February 2018 that also featured venture capital firm MindWorks Ventures, taking the company’s total funding at the time to $22m. It added undisclosed sums from Alibaba in July 2018 and Line Ventures, Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, CDIB Capital and Monk’s Hill Ventures in November. Its earlier investors include AppWorks, 91Capital, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Cathay Venture and Substance Capital.
CoinFlex, the Seychelles-registered creator of a cryptocurrency futures exchange, has received about $10m from investors including NGC Ventures, the venture capital arm of asset digitisation platform developer Neo, as well as Polychain, Fenbushi Capital and Struck Capital, CEO Mark Lamb has told The Block. The startup was spun off from UK-based cryptocurrency trading platform Coinfloor in 2019, and futures trading platform Trading Technologies and private investor Roger Ver are also among its backers, according to The Block.
China-based neurology care technology developer Neuracle has closed a RMB60m ($8.4m) series A round featuring Baidu Ventures, a corporate VC subsidiary of internet group Baidu, Sohu reported on Monday. The round included China Development Fund and China Development Frontier Fund, which both represent China Development Bank, as well as China Control Fund and existing investor Cowin Venture. The round took the company’s overall funding to about $14m.
Oil and gas supplier Shell has provided Rs 550m ($7.7m) of series B funding for India-based biomass briquette producer Punjab Renewable Energy Systems, Press Trust of India reported on Wednesday. Asset manager responsibility invested an undisclosed sum in the company in 2013, before private equity fund Neev Fund supplied $5m in March this year.
JD Digits, e-commerce firm JD.com’s financial services arm, invested an undisclosed amount in Shenghuoquan, the China-based operator of a community service promotion app, yesterday, according to China Money Network. The funding reportedly came after Shenghuoquan had raised an undisclosed sum from KeyTone Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners in a series B round earlier this month.
Motorised vehicle producer Yamaha Motor led a $7.5m series A round for US-based robotic agricultural equipment developer Advanced Farm Technologies on Tuesday through its Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley subsidiary. Tractor manufacturer Kubota Corporation also invested, along with Catapult Ventures and Impact Venture Capital. The startup had previously received $1.7m in equity financing in November 2018 according to a securities filing.
Ichikara, the Japan-based developer of a group of virtual YouTubers called Nijisanji, raised ¥700m ($6.6m) on Wednesday from investors including social game developer KLab and SBI AI & Blockchain Fund, which is operated by financial services firm SBI’s SBI Investment subsidiary. The round featured undisclosed Chinese investors and the funds will support recruitment and international growth.
China-based escape room operator Omescape has received RMB40m ($5.7m) in a series A2 round led by game developer MiHoYo, Sohu has reported. Fanchuang Capital and Tipping Point Capital also invested in the round, which reportedly took Omescape’s total funding to about $10m.
US-based office space services provider Salaryo secured $5.5m on Wednesday, from entrepreneur Michael Ullmann’s investment group and Ruby Ventures, the investment entity owned by the Rubinstein family. The company graduated from the Tel Aviv iteration of Barclays Accelerator, Powered by Techstars – the accelerator initiative backed by financial services firm Barclays – in 2017.
Indonesia-based peer-to-peer microlending platform UangTeman has raised an undisclosed sum from investors including telecommunications firm KDDI’s Open Innovation Fund to close the first tranche of a series B round expected to close at $10m, e27 has reported. Draper Associates led the close, which included Global Brain, while Spiral Ventures is set to anchor the second tranche. UangTeman had secured $12m in an August 2017 series A round led by K2 Venture Capital that included Draper Associates, asset manager STI Financial Group and existing backers Alpha JWC Ventures and angel investor Teong Chee Hooi.
Ready, the US-based operator of an online tournament platform for casual games, has received $5m in funding from investors including Comcast Ventures, mass media group Comcast’s corporate venturing unit, VentureBeat reported yesterday. ESports investment fund Bitkraft Esports Ventures led the round, which included investment firm Eldridge Industries
Shopping app developer Joom has paid ₽325m ($4.9m) for a 10% stake in Russia-based grocery delivery service iGooods, VC.ru reported on Monday. The deal comes after iGooods raised $1.9m from VC fund SOL Ventures and angel investors including Christoph Weise, Petra Weise, Reinhard Kohleick, Andrey Brovtsinov and Olga Mescherina in June 2018 at a $7.7m valuation.
Credit scoring service Experian supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based consumer location data provider PlaceIQ on Tuesday. The company secured $52m from KBS+ Ventures, the corporate VC arm of advertising agency KBS+, in addition to US Venture Partners, Iris Capital, IA Ventures, Valhalla Partners, Harmony Partners and Social Leverage across multiple rounds before raising an undisclosed amount from e-commerce firm Alibaba in 2016.
Gracia, the Japan-based operator of gifting services platform Tanp, received ¥500m ($4.7m) in series B funding on Wednesday from investors including Globis Capital Partners and SMBC Venture Capital, the VC arms education services provider Globis and financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. The round included Spiral Ventures, Anri, Monex Ventures, Dream Incubator and angel investors Yoshinori Fukushima, Nobuhiro Ariyasu, Shunsuke Ohyu and Takafumi Endo, increasing Gracia’s overall funding to about $6m.
Food processing equipment producer Marel paid approximately $3.8m to lead a C$6.5m ($4.7m) series A round for Canada-based intelligent industrial technology developer Worximity Technology on Wednesday. Investment firm W Investments and development capital fund Fonds de solidarité FTQ also participated in the round, having previously co-led a round sized at approximately $1.5m for the company in 2015.
Energy company Equinor and accelerator operator Techstars provided $4.5m of series A funding on Tuesday for Interface Fluidics, a Canada-based developer of nanotechnology for the oil production industry. The company’s existing investors include Valhalla Angels, and it raised the latest funding after graduating from the Equinor-backed Techstars Energy Accelerator in December 2018.
Indonesia-based e-commerce platform Sorabel has secured an undisclosed amount of pre-series C funding from media company MNC, SMDV, the corporate VC subsidiary of conglomerate Sinar Mas, as well as Ncore Ventures, Kejora-Intervest Growth Fund, Shift, Golden Equator Capital, Gobi Partners, Alpha JWC Ventures, Convergence Ventures and Korea Investment Partners, DealStreetAsia reported on Tuesday. The company, then known as SaleStock, raised $27m from MNC, SMDV, Golden Equator, Gobi Partners, Alpha JWC, Convergence and Korea Investment Partners in an August 2017 series B round.
US-based crop protection product startup AgroSpheres received $4m in series A funding on Wednesday from investors including Cavallo Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of seed and agricultural technology producer Wilbur-Ellis. The round was led by VC firm Ospraie Ag Science and it will fund further development and eventual commercialisation of the startup’s technology.
Financial services firm Standard Bank has led a $4m funding round for Nomanini, the South Africa-based developer of a mobile point-of-sale platform that allows online merchants to offer banking and digital services to their customers. The company had raised about $2m from investors including Rockbridge Investments, eVentures Africa Fund and private investor Esther Dyson as of 2014, before adding $450,000 in series B funding from development finance institution Industrial Development Corporation later the same year.
Mass media group Grupo Globo has invested R$16m ($4m) in Brazil-based fitness, nutrition and wellness app developer Tech.fit, Brazil Journal has reported. The corporate partly provided the financing through an ad-for-equity model that will give Tech.fit advertising space, with the rest supplied in the form of series A funding.
India-based furniture rental service Rentomojo is set to secure Rs 277m ($3.9m) in series C funding from consumer electronics provider Samsung, through its Samsung Venture Investments Corporation subsidiary, and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, a subsidiary of insurer Mitsui Sumitomo, Entrackr reported on Wednesday. The round already included some $11.1m in investments by GMO Venture Partners – part of internet company GMO – as well as existing backers Accel, Chiratae Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures, in May this year.
US-based video game and animated content studio Wonderstorm has raised $3.6m from media and entertainment company Madison Wells Media (MWM), company president Justin Santistevan told Los Angeles Business Journal on Monday. The company has not revealed any earlier funding, and the MWM investment came nearly a year after its first animated series, The Dragon Prince, debuted on streaming service Netflix.
Digital asset trading platform NextHash has invested £2.5m ($3.1m) in Skills Matter, a UK-based provider of employee skills enhancement training, Angel News reported yesterday. The company had previously received $5m in a 2012 round led by growth equity firm Beringea.
Leasing services provider Showa Leasing has invested in Camelove, the Japan-based operator of camera rental service GooPass, as part of a series A round sized in the hundreds of millions of yen (¥100m = $940,000) that was disclosed last week. Financial services firm Shinsei Bank also took part in the round, a did VC firm Nippon Venture Capital and assorted angel investors.
Indonesia-based grocery delivery service Klikdaily has received $3m in funding from Global Founders Capital, the VC fund formed by the founders of e-commerce holding group Rocket Internet, DealStreetAsia reported on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The company graduated from GnB Accelerator, the accelerator joint venture operated by IT services provider Infocom Corporation and VC firm Pegasus Tech Ventures, in 2016.
Japan-based intelligent industrial technology startup Tryeting secured ¥300m ($2.8m) in series A funding yesterday from automotive components producer Toyoda Gosei, which invested ¥50m, advanced materials provider Japan Material Technologies Corporation and Tokai Tokyo Investment, a vehicle for financial services holding company Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings. It plans to put the proceeds into securing more customers and expanding research and development.
Go Today Shaire Salon, the Japan-based operator of an online marketplace for beautician services, has raised ¥260m ($2.4m) from investors including BG Ventures and Freebit Investment, corporate venturing subsidiaries of salon services provider Beauty Garage Group and internet service provider Freebit. VC firm W Ventures led the round, which increased the company’s funding to $3m altogether.
Cosmetics producer Pola Orbis Holdings invested an undisclosed amount in Mellia, the owner of body wash and wipe brand I’m La Floria, yesterday. The funding will be used to promote brand awareness for the product, which is intended for use in ‘delicate areas’, and the companies plan to create synergies in order to promote increased awareness of care for that part of the body.
BioInnovation Institute, an innovation hub operated by Novo Nordisk Foundation – the owner of pharmaceutical firm Novo – co-led a $1.8m funding round for Denmark-based non-hormonal contraceptive technology startup Cirqle Biomedical on Tuesday. The round was co-led by impact investor Rhia Ventures and the capital will support the advancement of the technology’s testing into animal models.
EDP Ventures, energy utility EDP’s strategic investment arm, supplied $560,000 in funding for Fuelsave, the Portugal-based creator of an analytics system that assesses the driving patterns of trucks and suggests methods to improve fuel economy, as part of a €1.4m ($1.6m) round disclosed on Tuesday. The round included undisclosed private investors, and Fuelsave also identified EIT Climate-KIC Accelerator as an earlier investor.
Inzpire.me, the Norway-based operator of an online platform that helps brands and marketers work with online influencers, has secured €1.2m ($1.3m) in a funding round led by media group Schibsted, Tech.eu reported on Tuesday. VC firm Snö Ventures and angel investors Thomas Falck and Martin Ingemansson also contributed to the round, which followed $1m from Snö Ventures and individuals Erik Bakkejord and Tomas Settevik in April 2017 at a $5m valuation.
Crowd Investment, the Japan-based operator of real estate crowdfunding platform Fuel Online Fund, raised an undisclosed amount from logistics real estate provider CRE and its Strategic Partners subsidiary on Wednesday through a capital tie-up. The funding will support the launch of Fuel Online Fund, for which CRE will help in sourcing and managing properties.
Property developer Aspen (Group) Holdings is leading a RM5m ($1.2m) funding round for Malaysia-based online food delivery service DeliverEat through subsidiary Aspen Vision All, Business Times reported on Tuesday, citing a stock exchange filing. The company had previously received $450,000 in a February 2017 pre-series A round led by VC firm Gobi Partners’ ASEAN Superseed Fund.
Henkel Ventures, the corporate VC unit owned by adhesives, cosmetics and laundry care product manufacturer Henkel, has provided undisclosed amounts of funding for Germany-based beauty e-commerce platform Purish and Youtiful, the Germany-based operator of a social selling platform. The startups will also gain access to Henkel X, the corporate’s open innovation and collaboration platform.
Multi-corporate VC fund Mainport Innovation Fund II invested €500,000 ($550,000) in Aiir Innovations, a Netherlands-based developer of artificial intelligence technology for use in aircraft engine maintenance, on Wednesday. The company secured the funding in the wake of a long-term collaboration with one of Mainport’s founders, airline operator KLM.
Inaho, the Japan-based developer of a robot designed to harvest vegetables, raised an undisclosed amount on Wednesday from Itochu Technology Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of diversified trading group Itochu, as well as dental systems producer DOF, medical consulting firm Emergence Planning and assorted individual investors. It will spend the proceeds on marketing, recruitment and the further development of its technology.
Tech Ocean, the Japan-based operator of student-focused scientist and engineer recruitment platform Tech Offer, secured ¥50m ($470,000) on Tuesday from investors including Nanto CVC, Mizuho Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, respective subsidiaries of financial services firms Nanto Bank, Mizuho Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. The round also featured VC firm Venture Labo Investment and will fund marketing, technology and product development.
Retail analytics and services provider Satin Neo Dimensions has supplied an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding for India-based retail software startup Vedalabs, YourStory reported on Tuesday. Vedalabs received an undisclosed sum from Alchemist Accelerator in December 2018 and will put the latest funding towards upgrading its offering.
