Stripe, the US-based payment technology provider that counts payment services providers Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, Visa and American Express as backers, has received $5.1m in equity funding from two undisclosed investors according to a regulatory filing. Stripe has raised more than $300m since it was founded in 2011 and was valued at $5bn as of a 2015 series D round.
Canada-based, bus-focused ride sharing platform Sharethebus relaunched as an events shuttle service called Bus.com on Wednesday with $5m of funding from automotive manufacturer BMW’s corporate venturing unit, BMW I Ventures, and venture capital firm Jackson Square Ventures, according to TechCrunch. The company had previously raised approximately $2.3m from Real Ventures, Y Combinator, FounderFuel, Fondation Montreal and Maple Leaf Angels.
Upskill, a US-based developer of augmented reality technology for the industrial segment, received an undisclosed amount of series B funding on Wednesday from GE Ventures and Boeing Venture Capital, subsidiaries of diversified industrial conglomerate General Electric and aerospace company Boeing respectively. Formerly known as APX Labs, Upskill had previously raised $29m from GE Ventures, subsidiaries of enterprise software provider Salesforce.com and construction and financial services firm Clark Enterprises, New Enterprise Associates and SineWave Ventures.
India-based brokerage services provider FastFox has secured Rs 300m ($4.7m) in a series A round featuring CyberAgent Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of internet company CyberAgent, as well as Lightspeed India Partners and Blume Ventures, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday. The round, which follows Rs 640m of seed capital Lightspeed India invested in FastFox’s parent company Oku Tech in 2015, will go to strengthening the company’s technology base and expanding its engineering, sales and operations teams.
301, the strategic investment arm of packaged food producer General Mills, invested $3m in Purely Elizabeth, the US-based producer of a range of gluten-free vegan foods, on Monday. The capital represents the first external funding raised by Purely Elizabeth since it was founded in 2009, and General Mills will provide assets and advice to the company as well as financing as part of the deal.
Bitcoin miner Bitmain has led a RMB20m ($2.9m) series A round for China-based bitcoin mining pool ViaBTC that included two undisclosed private investors, Cryptocoins News reported on Wednesday. ViaBTC intends to launch an RMB-denominated bitcoin exchange in May 2017 with an offshore-based US dollar exchange to follow.
Advertising technology provider FreakOut Group has led a series A round of undisclosed size for India-based business intelligence software startup DataWeave, the Economic Times reported yesterday. WaterBridge Ventures, Blume Ventures, angel investor Herb Madan and two undisclosed VC firms, from India and Singapore, also contributed to the round, which follows a $270,000 seed round in 2013 featuring Blume Ventures as well as TLabs, a subsidiary of media company Times Group.
Genting Bio Cellular, a life sciences subsidiary of conglomerate Genting, has invested $2m in Singapore-based molecular diagnostics technology developer Nova Satra as part of a deal that gave it Malaysian distribution rights to the diagnostic tests the startup is working on, DealStreetAsia reported on Tuesday. Nova Satra is developing molecular diagnostics tests to detect a range of cancers.
Data capture software provider Tracsis has agreed to invest £1m in UK-based traffic and pedestrian data startup Vivacity Labs as part of a £1.3m ($1.6m) funding round, Bdaily reported on Tuesday. Tracsis will pick up a 23% stake in Vivacity as part of the round, which included Downing Ventures EIS and London Co-Investment Fund, and Tracsis has agreed to conditionally supply another £300,000 to take its shareholding to 27.8%.
UK-based money-saving app developer Oval Money has received €1.2m ($1.3m) in funding from investors including financial services firm Intesa SanPaolo and B-ventures, an incubator subsidiary of mobile network operator NTT Docomo, Tech City News reported on Wednesday. Family holding company Gruppo Bertoldi also participated in the round, which Italian daily La Stampa reported was closed at the end of 2016 as debt financing, though this has not been confirmed by Oval itself.
Credit risk manager Creditinfo Group has invested $1.1m in Alternative Circle, the Kenya-based owner of mobile lending platform Shika, Disrupt Africa reported on Monday. Shika uses artificial intelligence to assess the creditworthiness of potential borrowers, and is currently in beta testing, with plans for a full launch in July this year.
Gree Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for digital media company Gree, has led a $1m seed round for Indonesia-based bill payment app developer Ayopop that included unnamed angel investors, Tech in Asia reported on Tuesday. Ayopop launched its service, which enables users to upload money into an account from which they can manage the payment of a variety of bills, in 2016.
Aqualand Capital, a VC subsidiary of property developer Aqualand, has provided A$1m ($760,000) in funding for 1Scope, the Australia-based developer of an online hub for scholarships, work experience and training, Smart Company has reported. The platform launched in beta in July 2016 and 1Scope aims to open a full version by mid-2017.
Mainport Innovation Fund II, the transport-focused joint venture backed by corporates Schiphol, KLM, NS and Port of Amsterdam, has supplied €400,000 ($430,000) in capital for Netherlands-based ocean freight information platform We4Sea, Sanoma Media reported on Tuesday. The startup’s technology processes information on each ship together with environmental data to help improve efficiency.