Siilo, a Netherlands-based operator of a secure collaboration app for healthcare professionals, has attracted €9.5m ($11.2m) in funding from Philips Health Technology Venture Fund, the investment arm of conglomerate Philips’ healthcare subsidiary, Heal Capital and EQT Ventures. Siilo previously secured $5.1m in a seed round led by EQT, with participation from unnamed backers, in 2018.
Gracia, the Japan-based operator of gifting e-commerce platform Tanp, has secured a ¥1.1bn ($10.5m) series C round from Globis Capital Partners, SMBC Venture Capital and YJ Capital, respective subsidiaries of education services provider Globis, financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and internet company Yahoo Japan. Internet company United also invested, as did private backer Nobuhiro Ariyasu. Globis Capital Partners, SMBC Venture Capital and Nobuhiro Ariyasu had already backed the company’s $4.7m series B round in August 2019, which included currency exchange provider Monex’s Monex Ventures unit, Anri, Dream Incubator, Spiral Ventures and a number of individuals. Anri, Dream Incubator, Monex Ventures and SMBC Venture Capital also took part in the company’s $1.1m round nine months before, investing with Venture United and multiple angel investors.
MomentFeed, a US-based localised marketing platform backed by digital marketing consultancy Rockfish, has picked up $10m in funding led by Level Equity, with commitments from Signia Venture Partners, Draper Nexus, and DFJ Frontier also participated. Level Equity had already led MomentFeed’s last round, a $16.3m transaction in 2017.
China-based online design platform Chuangkit has received approximately $10m in a series A-plus round led by office software publisher Kingsoft, according to DealStreetAsia. The round also featured Gobi Partners China, which had previously supplied $4.3m in funding in June 2019. The cash injection will allow Chuangkit to drive business and product development, and support marketing and copyright management activities. Its existing shareholders include Atom Ventures, Telescope Investment, Zhongshan Ventures and Changrun Jinkong Investment Management, DealStreetAsia said.
US-based virtual reality game developer Polyarc has closed a $9m series B round that featured Galaxy EOS VC Fund, a partnership between blockchain software publisher Block.One and Galaxy Interactive. The round also included Vulcan Capital and was led by Hiro Capital. The money will allow Polyarc to add augmented reality to its capabilities. Ian Livingstone, a founding partner at Hiro Capital, will join the board of directors.
India-based social commerce platform Bulbul has raised $8.7m in a funding round led by internet company Info Edge’s IE Venture Fund I. The round also featured Sequoia Capital and Leo Capital. Info Edge invested $6.3m, though this included a secondary transaction. The investment is part of $14.7m round announced in October 2019, according to Inc42, though further details could not be ascertained. Leo Capital and Sequoia’s investment vehicle 10XF invested $2m in March 2019. Bulbul’s backers also include Surge, the accelerator program of Sequoia.
US-based customer relationship and order management platform Boostr aimed at media and advertising companies, has raised $7m in a series a round led by Vocap Partners, with participation from Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, a corporate venturing arm of media conglomerate Bertelsmann, as well as Math Capital and C2 Ventures. The cash will drive expansion, product development and recruitment activities.
Neos Surgery, a Spain-based developer of medical devices for cranial and spinal applications, has completed a €5m ($5.9m) round featuring medical distribution firm Jiadel Medical and Catalan government-owned enterprise agency Avançsa. The funding comes ahead of an anticipated launch of Neos Surgery’s third product next year.
Tire Agent, a US-based marketplace for tires that also helps users find local mechanics to install new tires, has completed a $5m funding round led by American Family Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of insurance firm American Family, with contributions from Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, Sidekick Fund, NY Angels and HBS Angels, according to TechCrunch. The company, which also offers a tire financing option, has now raised $6m altogether, according to the report.
Philippines-based consumer goods delivery service Pickaroo has received $5m in funding from Agile Digital Ventures, the investment arm of real estate conglomerate Megaworld, according to Tech in Asia. The investment marked Agile’s first deal. Pickaroo is building a delivery service that hopes to deliver any and all types of consumer products, from food to hardware.
Japan-based micromobility sharing service Luup has raised ¥450m ($4.3m) in a round led by venture capital firm Anri, which invested with petroleum company Eneos Group’s corporate venturing vehicle, Eneos Innovation Partners, and construction firm Obayashi Corporation, which took its overall funding to ¥855m ($8.1m at current rates). Anri had led the company’s $3.25m round in June this year, which featured financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital unit, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s Mitsubishi UFJ Capital vehicle, mobile game publisher Akatsuki, graphic design agency The Guild, public relations firm Breakthrough Company Go, East Ventures, KSK Angel Fund, Scrum Ventures and Pksha Sparx’s Algorithm I fund, in addition to multiple private investors.
WhizAI, the US-based creator of an artificial intelligence-equipped conversational intelligence platform, has received $4m in seed funding led by Healthy Ventures, with participation from Bling Capital, Firebolt Ventures and unnamed existing backers. WhizAI has now raised more than $6.5m, it said, having previously obtained $1.1m in funding led by IT services firm Trigyn Technologies, with contributions from undisclosed angel groups and investors, in late 2018.
France-based wearable technology developer Clim8 has received €2.8m ($3.3m) in a series A round backed by textile manufacturer Deveaux, Seventure Partners and Agileo Ventures. The money will go towards accelerated business growth, product development, international expansion and entering additional sectors, such as industrial and defence.
BluAge, a Japan-based operator of a real estate rental platform dubbed Canary, has raised a ¥300m ($2.9m) of funding from financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital vehicle, University of Tokyo’s Entrepreneur Supporter’s Club Incubation Fund angel investor network Angel Bridge and private investors. The company had secured $617,000 from Coral Capital (then 500 Startups Japan) in late 2018.
Japan-based cake mail order site operator Cake.jp has raised ¥260m ($2.5m) from Nissay Capital, insurer Nippon Life’s investment vehicle.
WonderLab, a Japan-based developer of app-based children’s educational materials, has received ¥250m ($2.4m) from publisher Shogakukan.
South Korea-based customer engagement technology developer Zoyi has rebranded to Channel Corporation and revealed that it completed a ¥250m ($2.3m) round in March this year. Atinum Investment, KB Investment and Laguna Investment were among the latest investors after the company had secured $3.9m from KDDI Open Innovation Fund, formed by telecommunications firm KDDI, and Colopl Next, a vehicle for game publisher Colopl, in 2017.
InHealth Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of preventative and diagnostic healthcare services provider InHealth, has backed a $1.7m seed round for Transformative, a US-based developer of software that aims to predict sudden cardiac arrest. The round was led by Tera Ventures and also included charity Wellcome Trust. Andrus Oks of Tera Ventures and Nick Slater of AI Seed will join Transformative’s board. The company’s co-founders include Marek Sirendi, a former PhD candidate at University of Cambridge and researcher at Cern, and Marek Reid, a machine learning research at Imperial College London.
Mountain Health Technologies, a US-based provider of healthcare for young adults, has completed a $1.5m seed round backed by Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, an investment arm of insurer Northwestern Mutual. The round was led by Matchstick Ventures and also attracted Techstars Ventures, Bread and Butter Ventures and Route 66 Ventures. Mountain Health has allocated the funding to an expansion into additional US cities and growing its partner network.
UK-based smart pest system developer Spotta has raised £934,000 ($1.2m) in a seed round featuring Martlet Capital, the investment arm of aerospace company Marshall of Cambridge. The round also featured Remus, Wren Capital, Angel CoFund and Cambridge Angels. The company’s inaugural product monitors bed bugs in short-term accommodation and hotel rooms.
Japan-based virtual reality-sickness prevention technology developer Univrs has raised ¥100m ($951,000) of equity funding from e-book distributor Media Do, game publisher AltPlus, Arco Partners, Tsukuba Exceed Fund and unnamed angel investors. The round additionally included debt of the same size from undisclosed entities. The company had secured $654,000 of equity and debt financing in October 2019 from entertainment group NHN Entertainment’s NHN Japan Corporation unit, investment firms GoodSmile Partners and Star Fragments, as well as five angel investors.
AutoPhagyGo, a Japan-based ageing-related disease prevention medicine and cosmetics producer spun out of Osaka University, raised ¥100m ($928,000) in May this year, it has revealed. The investors were Matsumura Oil Research, the producer of automotive lubricants, speciality chemicals and adhesives that is also known as Moresco, confectionery and food manufacturer UHA Mikakuto and angel investor Makoto Naruke.
Buildout, a US-based developer of customer relationship management software for commercial real estate brokerages, has raised an undisclosed sum from Riverside Company. Saratoga Investment Corp concurrently provided an undisclosed amount of debt financing. Buildout previously raised $8m in series A funding from Susquehanna Growth Equity, a subsidiary of technology and trading firm Susquehanna International Group, in 2017.
Russia-based data science education company SkillFactory has received an undisclosed amount from internet company Mail.ru. The investment, which closed earlier this month, gave Mail.ru an 18.3% in SkillFactory and an option to invest more capital.
Japan-based food-focused marketing company Favy has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from artificial intelligence (AI)-equipped data software provider Datasection. The deal included a strategic partnership to ramp up the AI-based voice analytics joint venture dubbed iVoice. Favy had secured $8.8m from recruitment firm Mynavi in October 2018.
Digital gifting service Giftee has invested an undisclosed amount in Switch Smile, the Japan-based creator of a location-specific marketing platform dubbed Pinable. Signage, display and retail technology developer Crest had invested an undisclosed amount in Switch Smile in February 2019, which came after it received another undisclosed sum from rescue services firm Japan Best Rescue System three months earlier. Switch Smile has also received backing from refrigerator manufacturer and IT systems developer Sanden Retail Systems, which provided an amount of undisclosed size in October 2018 that came after IT services firm Evolable Asia did the same earlier the same year. The company’s earliest funding took place in December 2017, where marketing firm Vector provided an undisclosed figure.
Japan-based administrative service information aggregator Asukoe Partners has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from IT services management company Densan System.
Japan-based direct-to-consumer technology developer Super Studio raised an undisclosed amount of funding in March this year from Pola Orbis Capital, the corporate venturing arm of cosmetics producer Pola Orbis Holdings, it has announced.
Japan-based agricultural technology developer SenSprout has raised an undisclosed sum from investors including JMTC Capital and GMO Venture Partners, respective subsidiaries of advanced materials producer JMTC and internet company GMO. Construction group Shibata and sales management holding company Regain Group also participated, as did investment funds FGN AbbaLab and Yosemite, and angel investor Tommy Tomishima. The company will use the funding to develop an automatic irrigation system. GMO Venture Partners had already backed SenSprout’s $1.3m round in September 2018, investing alongside insurer Mitsui Sumitomo’s Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital unit, internet-of-things incubator ABBALab and VC fund Spiral Ventures Japan.
Japan-based edge AI technology developer Deep Insight has completed a pre-series A round of undisclosed size from J&TC Frontier, a joint investment vehicle formed by engineering services provider JFE Engineering and financial services firm Tokyo Century, and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, a VC subsidiary of financial services provider Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
Japan-based entertainment-oriented customer service provider Xseed Digital has received an undisclosed amount from marketing firm Dentsu.
Japan-based space communication infrastructure company WarpSpace has completed a seed round of undisclosed size featuring Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, a venture capital subsidiary of financial services provider Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. It has also been included in Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Sapoin program, which took its overall funding to ¥300m ($2.9m at current rates). It had raised an undisclosed sum from financial services firm Tsukuba Bank’s Tsukuba Region Revitalisation Fund, in July 2019.
– Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu
