Alliance Ventures, the investment arm of the partnership between carmakers Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, led a series A round of undisclosed size for WeRide.ai, the China-based autonomous driving software developer formerly known as JingChi.ai, on Wednesday. The round included motor technology producer Johnson Electric, Qiming Venture Capital, Hanfor Capital, Atop Capital, Idinvest Partners, OceanIQ Capital and angel investor Xiaopeng He, and followed a $52m pre-series A round in September 2017.
Protembis, the Germany-based developer of a filtration system that reduces the risk of patients undergoing heart procedures suffering from neurological injuries, has completed a $10m series A round that included medical device maker Abiomed. The round also featured Coparion, regional investor Seed Fonds III for the region of Aachen and Mönchengladbach, and undisclosed family offices and angel investors. The funding is expected to be enough to support the launch of the company’s product.
Financial services and retail group Alfa Group has invested between “a few million” and $10m in Russia-based online insurance platform Mango, East West Digital News has reported, citing comments by chief executive Viktor Lavrenko to Russian newspaper RBC. Mango is targeting users aged between 20 and 40 years old but will not integrate with Alfa’s own insurance offering, Alfa Insurance.
US-based travel services app developer Freebird raised $8m on Tuesday in a series A round led by American Express Ventures, the strategic investment vehicle for payment services firm American Express. It was joined by Citi Ventures, which functions as the VC arm of financial services group Citi, as well as Par Capital Ventures, General Catalyst Accomplice, and unnamed angel investors. General Catalyst and Accomplice co-led Freebird’s $3.5m seed round in 2015 and invested a further $5m in April 2017.
American Express Ventures has also invested in a funding round of undisclosed size for Cloud Elements, the US-based developer of an application programming interface integration platform for digital products, on Tuesday. Harbert Growth Partners, Rally Ventures, Access Ventures and Grotech Ventures, came after a $13m series B round in January 2017 that included Harbert Partners, Rally Ventures, Access Ventures and Grotech Ventures, and which the company told TechCrunch increased its total funding to $21.2m.
Ant Financial, the financial services affiliate of e-commerce group Alibaba, has led a series B-plus round of undisclosed size for China-based fashion rental service MSParis, China Money Network reported on Tuesday. VC firm Northern Light Venture Capital led the company’s $18m series B round in February 2017, investing together with Matrix Partners China and existing backer China Growth Capital.
Diversified trading group Itochu has provided £5m ($6.4m) in funding for UK-based car sharing service Hiyacar, The Telegraph has reported. Hiyacar had previously raised approximately $2.4m from angel investors including Mark Chapman and Graham Hobson in late 2016 in addition to $310,000 on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs in 2016 and about $1.7m on CrowdCube in at a $10m valuation earlier this year.
Oil and gas supplier Showa Shell, diversified conglomerate Sumitomo, gas providers SK Gas and Tokyo Gas, energy utility Hokuriku Electric Power, workplace learning software developer Looop and brokerage Daiwa Securities have invested ¥700m ($6.2m) in a secondary purchase of shares in Japan-based energy management technology provider Enechange, TechCrunch Japan has reported. The company had previously raised $8.3m in VC funding from investors including corporates Epco, Opt and Mizuho Financial.
Data processing technology provider Shore Group led a $6m funding round on Tuesday for H1, a US-based healthcare data startup it also incubated. H1 sources real-time data from a variety of sources to help healthcare professionals fight diseases, and was co-founded by Ariel Katz, also a co-founder of Labspot, the medical school research management platform acquired by Shore Group in 2016.
US-based programmatic advertising software developer ZypMedia closed a $5.6m series C round led by investment firm Archer Venture Capital that included media company Sinclair Broadcast Group and VC firm US Venture Partners (USVP). It followed a $4.4m series B in 2015 that was led by Sinclair and backed by existing investor USVP, bringing the company’s overall funding to $7m according to LA Biz.
India-based medical supplies aggregator Medikabazaar has secured $5m in a series A round that included pharmaceutical company Elan Corporation, prepared food supplier Sasaki Foods, diversified trading group CBC and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, the VC arm of the eponymous insurance provider, the Economic Times reported on Monday. HealthQuad led the round, which included Kois Invest as well as existing backers Rebright Partners II Investment Partnership and angel investors Sunil Kalra and Arun Venkatachalam.
US-based edge computing technology developer Edgeworx emerged from stealth on Tuesday with an undisclosed amount of funding from Samsung Next, a corporate venturing vehicle for consumer electronics provider Samsung, as well as Sequoia Seed and CloudScale Capital Partners. The startup’s lead product is ioFog, a system that enables users to convert electronics devices or hardware to secure software platforms.
CognitionX, the US-based creator of an assistance platform for artificial intelligence technology, increased its latest funding round to $4.1m on Wednesday with $1.1m from Unilever Ventures, the corporate VC unit owned by consumer goods provider Unilever, as well as CXO Fund and assorted angel investors. The company had received $3m in June 2018 from angel investors including Brent Hoberman, Esther Dyson, Joanna Shields, Lord Young and William Tunstall-Pedoe.
W2 Global Data, an identity verification software developer that counts software provider SimpleWeb as an investor, raised £3m ($3.8m) on Monday, £2m of which was supplied by investment firm Mercia Technologies and the rest from Development Bank of Wales. It had previously received $3.9m in funding including undisclosed sums from SimpleWeb in 2013 and Mercia, Thorium Technology Investors and existing backer Finance Wales in April 2017, as well as $1.6m from Mercia Fund Managers, Development Bank of Wales and TTI Angels in July 2018.
LetinAR, the South Korea-based developer of optical technology for augmented reality glasses, has secured $3.6m on Wednesday in a series A round featuring Kakao Ventures, a subsidiary of internet group Kakao, as well as fellow internet company Naver Corporation, DSC Investment, Korea Asset Investment Securities and Platinum Technology Investment. The round came after $700,000 of seed capital from Naver and the funding will support the company as it looks to begin providing samples of its lenses in 2019.
Gradient, the US-based creator of a software platform that helps consumer goods brands maximise their search potential on e-commerce platform Amazon, has raised $3.5m in seed capital from investors including MDC Ventures, the VC arm of advertising agency MDC Partners. The round was led by Flying Fish Partners and also featured startup studio Pioneer Square Labs, from where Gradient was spun out, and Black Jays Investments.
Evonik Venture Capital, a branch of chemicals producer Evonik, has co-led a series A round for Netherlands-based in utero poultry analysis startup Ovo sized in the “several million” euro (€1m = $1.14m) range. Venture capital fund VisVires New Protein co-led the round, which included Leiden University and which will fund the development of a prototype version of the technology over the coming months.
Consumer intelligence provider Mintel Group and SPH Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of media company Singapore Press Holdings, have provided $3m of funding for US-based marketing intelligence software developer Pathmatics. The investment follows $4.7m across two rounds from media group Bertelsmann’s BDMI unit, Upfront Ventures, Karlin Ventures, Baroda Ventures, Double M Partners, Daher Capital, Wavemaker Partners and Manatt Venture Fund, part of law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
Germany-based livestreaming software developer Contentflow has received almost €2m ($2.8m) in funding from game developer Akatsuki’s AET Fund, Speedinvest, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, Betaworks and undisclosed private investors, Handelsblatt reported on Monday. The startup, announced as one of the participants in Betaworks’ livestreaming-themed LiveCamp accelerator in September this year, will use the funds for international expansion.
Energy utility Shikoku Electric Power has invested ¥300m ($2.7m) in Japan-based electric vehicle developer Fomm, VentureTimes has reported. Fomm is working on what will be the world’s smallest four-seater electric vehicle, and it is set to enter production in Thailand this year with entry to the European market slated for 2020.
Pharmaceutical company JW Pharma has paid ₩3bn ($2.6m) for a 25% stake in UK-based cancer drug developer Argonaut Therapeutics, Korean Biomedical Review reported on Monday. Argonaut, which was spun out of University of Oxford, had received an undisclosed amount from university venture fund Oxford Sciences Innovation in 2016 when it was launched in 2016.
NFP Ventures, the corporate VC arm of insurance brokerage NFP, invested an undisclosed amount in Wellth, the US-based developer of an app that helps encourage healthy behaviour in patients, on Tuesday. Wellth had raised $2m in a mid-2016 round led by Axa Strategic Partners, a strategic investment vehicle for insurance firm Axa, that also featured B-Fore Capital, I2BF Venture Capital, Beta Bridge Ventures and Altair Capital.
JLL Spark, the corporate venturing subsidiary of property developer JLL, has led a $1.5m funding round for VergeSense, a US-based developer of sensor technology for use in buildings. Hardware-focused VC fund Bolt and VC firm Pathbreaker Ventures also participated in the round, which followed the startup’s graduation from accelerator Y Combinator in August 2017.
24Kick, the China-based operator of a chain of martial arts training academies, secured RMB10m ($1.46m) in August this year in a pre-series A round featuring Legend Star, the seed-stage fund run by conglomerate Legend Holdings, 36Kr reported last week. Ruchuan Capital and Plum Ventures also contributed to the round.
China-based social commerce startup Goxip has raised $1.4m from investors including image editing platform Meitu and financial services provider Convoy, TechCrunch reported on Monday. Ardent Capital and Chryseis Tan invested $1.6m in Goxip in May 2016 before returning for a $5m round led by Meitu in January this year that also featured Mills Fabrica, an incubator subsidiary of real estate-focused conglomerate Nan Fung Group, as well as Sabrina Ho and Iman Allana.
Brazil-based smart locker storage service Alfred executed a stock swap with China-headquartered counterpart Pakpobox last month that involved the latter taking a 7.4% stake, Istoé Dinhero has reported. Alfred acquired a 5% stake in Pakpobox in return, having raised R$5m ($1.3m) from investors including the family office of the Gontijo family in September that increased its overall funding to R$6.6m.
Gracia, the Japan-based owner of gifting app Tanp, has secured ¥120m ($1.1m) in a round featuring SMBC Venture Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, TechCrunch Japan has reported. The round included Anri, Monex Ventures, Venture United, Dream Incubator and angel investors Ayutaro Nakagawa, Akawa Konoya, Muneaki Kawahara and Tatsuo Sakamoto, and followed ¥13m from Anri’s Kim Yuukyu in 2017.
Boolino, a Spain-based reading tool developer backed by telecommunications company Telefónica, has received €1m ($1.1m) in a round led by social entrepreneurship foundation Ship2B, La Vanguardia has reported. The round consisted of €400,000 in equity funding and €600,000 that came from the conversion of convertible notes. Boolino graduated from Telefónica’s Wayra accelerator in 2013.
Internet company Mail.Ru has led a $1m round for Russia-based food distribution service Foodza, VC.ru has reported. The round included Larix VC, FJ Labs and undisclosed angel investors, and the founders told VC.ru they have retained an 85% share of the company, which was founded earlier this year.
Event Banana, the Thailand-based operator of a venue booking platform for events, has raised ฿20m ($610,000) in funding from investors including textile producer and distributor Jaspal Group, E27 has reported. The round also featured 500TukTuks and SMEs Private Equity Trust Fund II, a vehicle backed by the Thai state-owned Government Savings Bank and Stock Exchange of Thailand.
India-based eSports platform developer GamingMonk has received Rs 40m ($540,000) in funding from Smile Group, Incubate Fund, Stellaris Ventures, AdvantEdge Partners and angel investor Rajan Anandan and Samir Khurana, Gizbot reported on Tuesday. AdvantEdge had previously invested an undisclosed amount in GamingMonk in September 2017 when the company entered its incubator.
