Micin, the Japan-based creator of telehealth app Curon, raised ¥1.1bn ($10m) in series A funding from investors including diversified trading group Mitsubishi Corporation last month, The Bridge has reported. Mitsubishi was joined by undisclosed additional companies, and the funding will be used to expand Micin’s business development and data science teams while it looks to grow its business through partnerships with Mitsubishi subsidiaries.
Lumina Networks, a US-based developer of open-software network technology, has closed a $10m series A round after raising an $8m second tranche led by Verizon Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for telecommunications firm Verizon. The round included fellow telecoms company AT&T and data centre equipment provider Rahi Systems, and comes after Lumina was spun off from networking technology producer Brocade in August 2017.
India-based payment and customer data technology developer ToneTag has secured between $8m and $10m in funding from investors including payment services firm Mastercard and e-commerce firm and smart device provider Amazon, LiveMint reported on Wednesday. ToneTag had previously raised more than $2.3m from Reliance Venture Asset Management, a subsidiary of conglomerate Reliance, as well as Tropical Star and angel investors Arun Seth, TV Mohandas Pai, Anand Chandrasekaran and Deepak Ghaisas across three rounds.
Photosynth, the Japan-based developer of smart lock Akerun, has received ¥1bn ($9.1m) in equity and debt financing from YJ Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of internet company Yahoo Japan, as well as Daiwa Corporate Investment, a subsidiary of trading firm Daiwa Securities, Globis Capital Partners, Japan Finance Corporation and Orix, the latter two providing the debt, The Bridge has reported. YJ Capital had previously joined game testing service Gaiax, Jafco and Beta Catalyst to invest $3.7m in Photosynth in 2015.
US-based workflow automation software provider WorkFusion has raised an undisclosed amount from insurance firm Guardian, healthcare provider New York-Presbyterian, financial services firm PNC Bank and Alpha Intelligence Capital as part of a $50m round it announced in April 2018, TechCrunch has reported. The round already included NGP Capital, which is backed by telecoms firm Nokia, Hawk Equity, Declaration Partners, iNovia Capital and Georgian Partners, and had increased WorkFusion’s overall funding to $118m.
US-based cancer drug developer Xynomic Pharma closed a series B round of undisclosed size today that was co-led by digital technology provider Hakim Unique Internet Company, Northern Light Venture Capital, Zhongshan Bison Healthcare Investment, Prosperico Ventures and Yinglin Mark Xu, the company’s founder and chairman. Xynomic has not disclosed details of its earlier funding but identified Prosperico Ventures and Xu as existing investors.
France-based gas sensor developer eLichens has raised €7m ($8.1m) from ventilation system producer Aereco, Demeter Partners, Sofimac Innovation, undisclosed angel investors and Fonds Ville de Demain, which is managed by state-owned investment bank BPIfrance. The company had previously received just over $3.5m in funding from Aereco, BPIFrance, Sofimac, Emertec Gestion, ISource and various angel investors in July 2016.
Pixoneye, a UK-based mobile advertising technology provider backed by telecoms firm Telefónica and financial services firm Santander, has secured £6m ($8m) in funding from investment firm Octopus Ventures. The company closed a $3.2m series A round featuring Telefónica, ZenInvest and Collider in September 2016 that took its total funding to $3.9m, before Santander subsidiary Santander InnoVentures added an undisclosed amount in September 2017.
Japan-based parking spot reservation service Akippa has raised ¥810m ($7.5m) from postal service Japan Post Holdings, car rental service Nippon Rent-a-car, financial services firm Fukuoka Financial Group’s Venture Business Partners unit, media company Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting, property developer Chishima Real Estate, conglomerate Sumitomo and JR East Startup Program, part of rail operator JR East, The Bridge reported on Tuesday. It has now raised $22m in total including an undisclosed amount from internet company DeNA in 2014.
Cinnamon, the Japan-headquartered developer of an artificial intelligence-based document-reading tool, has raised ¥800m ($7.3m) in series B funding from systems integrator TIS and Sony Innovation Fund, Itochu Techno-Solutions, SBI Investment and FFG Venture Business Partners, subsidiaries of electronics producer Sony, trading firm Itochu and financial services providers SBI and Fukuoka, The Bridge reported today. The cash was secured alongside $910,000 of debt from Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.
Medical device maker Boston Scientific has led the $7m first tranche of a $10m round being raised by RenovoRx, the US-headquartered developer of a catheter-based cancer treatment. Btov Partners also took part in the round, as did existing investors Astia Angels, Angels’ Forum, the Halo Fund III, Golden Seeds and Acorn Campus Taiwan. RenovoRx had previously received $3.9m across rounds in 2013 and 2016, according to regulatory filings.
Virtuagym, the Netherlands-based operator of a mobile fitness planning and nutritional tracking app, has received €6m ($6.9m) in funding in a round led by growth equity firm Endeit Capital. SanomaVentures, the corporate venturing arm of media company Sanoma, had provided $900,000 of funding for the company in 2013, before investment firm Saffelberg Investments added $2.3m in 2015.
Voltaiq, the US-based creator of an analytics platform for advanced batteries, raised $6.6m in series A funding from investors including UL Ventures, the corporate VC unit owned by safety certification services provider UL. The round was led by Anzu Partners and included SJF Ventures and Bee Partners, the latter having previously led Voltaiq’s $2m seed round in November 2016.
CAA Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of talent agency CAA, has participated in a $5.7m round for Neighborhood Goods, a US-based company looking to establish a new model of department store, WWD reported yesterday. Forerunner Ventures led the round, which included investments from Maveron, Global Founders Capital, undisclosed additional VC firms and angel investors including Michael Dubin, the co-founder of razor seller Dollar Shave Club.
Weights & Biases, the US-based creator of a software platform that helps developers debug machine learning models, launched yesterday with $5m gained from a series A round co-led by Bloomberg Beta, the investment vehicle for media group Bloomberg, and VC firm Trinity Ventures. Daniel Scholnick, a general partner at Trinity Ventures, will take a board seat at the startup.
Albert, a US-based financial management app developer, has secured $5m in a series A round featuring American Express Ventures, the strategic investment arm of payment services firm American Express, as well as Portag3 Ventures and QED Ventures, Fortune has reported. The company had previously raised $2.5m from Bessemer Ventures Partners, financial advisory organisation Center for Financial Services Innovation, 500 Startups and 500 Fintech in late 2016.
GV, a subsidiary of internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet, has added an amount likely to be $4.9m to close a series A round for Owkin, a US-based provider of machine learning technology for the pharmaceutical research sector. Owkin had raised a total of $13.1m as of January 2018 when it secured $11m in a series A tranche led by Otium Venture with backing from Cathay Innovation, Plug and Play and NJF Capital, and the latest round took its total funding to $18m.
Cloudtenna, the US-based developer of an artificial intelligence-equipped file management system, has launched with $4m of seed capital from investors including virtualisation software producer Citrix. The round was led by investment firm Blazar Ventures and was announced as the startup prepares for a commercial launch of its DirectSearch platform that is expected to take place in Q3 2018.
Cryptocurrency miner Riot Blockchain has invested an undisclosed sum in The Block Crypto, a US-based startup developing an online community for those interested in blockchain technology and cryptoassets. The platform is not yet online, but Riot’s investment will support the enhancement of The Block’s technology and the expansion of its team.
Flock, a UK-based drone management software developer that has graduated from advertising firm R/GA’s accelerator scheme, has received £2.25m ($3m) in a seed round led by Anthemis that included Plug and Play, Seed and Speed, Downing Ventures and unnamed angel investors. The startup was announced as one of 10 participants in the R/GA IoT Venture Studio UK initiative in February 2017, through which startups are eligible for up to £75,000 in funding.
France-based financial analytics platform developer QuantCube Technology closed a $5m series A round on Tuesday backed by credit rating provider Moody’s Corporation. The round also featured Five Capital, the fund backed by state-owned investment bank Caisse des Dépôts and investment holding group Kingdom Holding Company, and will support product development and international expansion.
US-based wine subscription service Bright Cellars has raised $2.8m from Cream City Venture Capital, the VC arm of financial services provider Northwestern Mutual, Urban Milwaukee has reported. VC funds Cleveland Avenue and CSA Partners also participated in the round, the latter having led Bright Cellars’ $2m seed round in 2015, the same year the company graduated from accelerator Gener8tor.
Holt Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of construction equipment dealer Holt, has led a round indicated by a securities filing to be $2.6m in size for Used Equipment Guide (UEG), the US-based developer of an online search platform for construction machinery. The round valued UEG at more than $10m and included fellow dealers Rush Enterprises, Doggett Equipment Services Group, NC Machinery, Tractor & Equipment Company, Carter Machinery, Empire Southwest, Warren Equipment Company, Fabick CAT and Yancey Bros.
Communications equipment producer Nokia has supplied C$3.3m ($2.5m) of funding for Canada-based non-profit innovation hub Innovation Factory, the Globe and Mail has reported. Innovation Factory offers workshops, mentoring and introductions to potential investors, and the cash, provided alongside C$1m of credits from cloud computing services provider Amazon Web Services, will fund the creation of an autonomous driving technology lab.
Lift99, the Estonia-based operator of a co-working centre for startups, has secured $2.3m from investors including Agrello, a blockchain-focused legal technology developer, as well as angel investors Taizo Son, who led the round, and Ahti Heinla, United Angels VC, Passion Capital and Al-Shanti Holding, an investment vehicle for private investor Adam Omar Al-Shanti. The company raised the cash to fund a pivot that will allow it to concentrate on an online skills exchange platform for startup co-founders.
Payment technology provider Stripe invested $2m in Polybit, the US-based owner of application programming interface technology development platform StdLib, yesterday. The deal doubled Polybit’s total funding to $4m and came after the company had raised $2m in a June 2017 seed round led by BlueYard Capital and backed by Liquid 2 Ventures, Nordic Makers Venture Group and angel investors Aston Motes and Michael Dabrowski.
C31 Ventures, the corporate VC subsidiary of shopping centre operator CapitaLand, has led a seven-figure dollar round for Singapore-based retail data analytics software provider Omnistream, Tech in Asia reported on Monday. Wavemaker Partners, angel investor Olga Lyudovyk and an undisclosed Hong Kong-based investor also contributed to the round, and the proceeds will fund product development and international growth.
Oro Wealth, the India-based operator of an online mutual fund investment platform, has received $1.6m in series A funding from investors including personal accounting software provider Money Forward and B Dash Ventures, the VC fund backed by a range of Japanese corporates, BW Disrupt reported on Tuesday. Powerhouse Ventures led the round, which also featured Social Capital, angel investors including Anand Chandrsekaran and Dinesh Agarwal, and existing backers M&S Partners and GSF, which invested an undisclosed amount of seed funding in 2016.
Scout.fm, the US-based operator of a curated podcast subscription service, has emerged from stealth with $1.4m in a seed round featuring Bloomberg Beta, Precursor Ventures, Advancit and #Angels, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The startup’s platform uses artificial intelligence to adjust its podcast line up based on a user’s preferences, and it has so far been responsible for more than 1.5 million minutes of listening.
Boeing HorizonX Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of aerospace manufacturer Boeing, invested in US-based computational storage technology startup Agylstor on Wednesday as part of a series A round of undisclosed size. Aglystor had previously received an undisclosed amount of funding from Amazon’s cloud computing subsidiary, Amazon AWS, and unnamed private investors, it said.
UK-based satellite data analysis startup SatSense has publicly launched with £750,000 ($1m) of seed funding from investors including railway parts supplier Unipart Rail and NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, part of the UK government-backed Northern Power Investment Fund, Bdaily reported on Wednesday. University of Leeds, from which SatSense was spun out, also participated in the round.
US-based natural language processing technology startup Inbenta Technologies received an undisclosed amount of funding yesterday from NTT Docomo Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of mobile network operator NTT Docomo. The investment follows a $2m series A round in 2014 led by Scale Capital’s Amérigo Chile Early Stage and Growth fund, which returned for a $12m series B led by Level Equity and backed by Amasia in September 2016.
Digital advertising technology provider Otello has joined undisclosed angel investors to provide $700,000 in funding for Zenscreen, the US-based developer of a system designed to promote more balanced online activity, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. The product works by limiting access to certain parts of a mobile device’s online functions over a set period of time.
Insurance broker SterlingRisk paid $250,000 yesterday for a 1% stake in FitSafe, the US-based owner of an insurance service specialising in the sport and fitness space. The funding will be used to further develop FitSafe’s back-end capabilities as it prepares to publicly launch in the fourth quarter of 2018.