GV, the corporate venturing subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet formerly known as Google Ventures, led a $10m funding round for US-based medium-term accommodation platform 2nd Address on Monday. Foundation Capital, Amicus Capital and angel investor Pierre Lamond also contributed to the round, which took the total raised by the company, formerly known as HomeSuite, to $42m according to TechCrunch. Its earlier investors include Battery Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Israel-based wireless connectivity technology developer CoreTigo secured $10m on Monday in a series A round co-led by Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of wireless technology manufacturer Qualcomm, and venture capital firm Sierra Ventures. The round included Magma Venture Partners, Cardumen Capital and Meron Capital, and the funding will go to strengthening CoreTigo’s core technology and growing its network of partners.
China-based genomic medicine developer EdiGene closed a pre-series B plus round on Monday sized at approximately $10m with participation from Lilly Asia Ventures (LAV), an investment vehicle for pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, as well as Green Pine Capital Partners, which led the round, and IDG Capital. It had raised an undisclosed amount in an IDG Capital-led series A round before adding $15m in pre-series B funding from investors including LAV, IDG Capital, Huagai Capital and WI Harper Group in August 2018.
US-based connected car and telematics technology developer Zubie received an undisclosed amount yesterday from BP Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of oil and gas supplier BP, and investment firm Melody Capital. The company had previously raised $32m from NGP Capital, the VC firm since spun out of communications technology producer Nokia, as well as communications equipment maker Comporium, auto components manufacturer Magna International, lubricants provider Castrol, Melody Capital and OpenAir Equity Partners.
Dharma Labs, a US-based developer of credit services for cryptocurrency traders and asset holders, has raised $7m in funding from investors including cryptocurrency services provider Blockchange as well as Coinbase Ventures and Xpring, respective subsidiaries of digital currency exchange Coinbase and crypto trading software provider Ripple, Coindesk reported on Tuesday. VC firm Green Visor Capital led the round, which also featured Polychain Capital, Y Combinator and Passport Capital.
IT and financial services provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise invested in US-based software development technology provider Agile Stacks yesterday as part of a $6m series A round that was led by VC firm Rosecliff Ventures and backed by Canaan Partners and Alumni Ventures Group. It came after Canaan had led a $2.6m seed round for the company in 2016 that included Alumni Ventures, and the funding will be used to further develop the Agile Stacks DevOps platform and expand the services it offers.
Financial services firm Intesa Sanpaolo led a €5m ($5.8m) funding round for Italy-based digital insurance and brokerage services startup Yolo through corporate venturing vehicle Neva Finventures late last month. The corporate was joined by Barcamper Ventures, a fund set up by VC firm Primomiglio which had participated in Yolo’s $1.2m seed round in October 2017 alongside insurance brokerage Mansutti and investment firm Miro Ventures.
UK-based enterprise communications software provider DataSine secured £4m ($5.2m) yesterday in a series A round co-led by Propel Venture Partners, the VC firm funded by financial services firm BBVA, and fellow VC firm Pentech. The round included Sistema VC, a corporate venturing subsidiary of conglomerate Sistema, as well as Cathay Innovation’s C.Entrepreneurs fund and Twin Ventures. It came after $1.2m in seed capital from Sistema VC, C. Entrepreneurs and Force Over Mass in late 2017.
Inventys, the Canada-based creator of a carbon trading marketplace, raised $5m from the state-owned Business Development Bank of Canada’s cleantech practice on Wednesday as well as an undisclosed sum from Chevron Technology Ventures, a subsidiary of energy company Chevron, bringing its series C round to $16m. It received $11m from Chevron Technology Ventures, OGCI Climate Investments and Roda Group for the first close in July 2018.
DSM Venturing and Applied Ventures, respective subsidiaries of health and nutrition product supplier Royal DSM and semiconductor manufacturing technology provider Applied Materials, co-led a series A round of undisclosed size on Tuesday for Adaptive3D, a US-based producer of polymer resins for additive manufacturing. Materials and adhesives producer Chemence also took part in the round, as did existing backers including Mary McDermott Cook and the late Margaret McDermott.
Media and entertainment investment house Edge Investments provided $4.6m for UK-based online music festival ticket retailer Festicket on Tuesday. Festicket had raised $10.5m in series D funding from broadcaster Channel 4’s Commercial Growth Fund, carmaker Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures unit, Beringea, Lepe Partners, U-Start and Eelko Van Kooten in November 2018 and has now secured almost $29m in funding to date, from investors also including Wellington Partners, Profounders, Windcrest Partners and Playfair Capital.
Crehana Education, a Peru-based online art and digital education course provider that graduated from telecoms firm Telefónica’s Wayra Peru accelerator, received $4.5m last month in a series A round led by investment advisory firm Acumen Latam Capital Partners. The round included Dila Capital, Mountain Nazca Mexico, Rethink Education and Howzat Partners. It follows $750,000 from Howzat and ClearlySo in January 2017 and a $900,000 round led by Rethink Education in May the same year.
E-commerce and home electronics company Amazon’s Alexa Fund invested an undisclosed amount in Hatch Baby, the US-based developer of a range of smart baby products, on Tuesday. The company had previously received $7m in series A funding from True Ventures, H. Barton Co-Invest Fund, Veddis Ventures and angel investors Geoff Ralston and James Hong in 2015, and will partner Amazon Baby Registry and connect its technology to Amazon’s Alexa device.
MDC Ventures, the corporate VC arm of advertising firm MDC Partners, has contributed to a $4m seed round for Perksy, the US-headquartered developer of an app-based market research service, Forbes reported on Monday. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, the VC arm of private equity firm Bain Capital, and included Founder Collective, Sinai Ventures, Torch Capital and Gingerbread. The cash will go to hiring and technology development.
US-based data management software developer TileDB raised $4m last month in a seed round featuring Intel Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of semiconductor and data technology provider Intel. The round was led by VC firm Nexus Venture Partners and also featured VC fund Big Pi Ventures, and followed a $1m round co-led by Intel Capital and Nexus Venture Partners in late 2017.
Oil and gas supplier Shell provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Nordsol, a Netherlands-based producer of liquified biomethane, on Wednesday, investing through its Shell Ventures unit. The capital will help Nordsol expand from being a technology provider into a fully fledged producer that will build and operate its own biogas plants together with strategic partners.
Pharmacy software provider Pharmagest led a $3.7m series A round for Embleema, the US-based creator of a blockchain-based electronic health record platform, on Wednesday. Accelerator operator Techstars also participated in the round, and disclosed its investment alongside news that it intends to open a New York-based accelerator scheme in partnership with blockchain advisory group Alchemist.
Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, the fintech investment arm of financial services firm Wells Fargo, invested an undisclosed sum in Engage3, a US-based provider of retail data assessment software, on Tuesday. Engage3 had raised $12m in series B funding from Kayne NewRoad Ventures Fund II, Pereg Ventures, Moneta Ventures and Dale Carlsen in 2017, and its earlier backers include media companies Swift Communications and McClatchy Company, which each provided undisclosed amounts of funding in 2014.
Graph Protocol, the US-based creator of a software platform that can index data from the Ethereum blockchain, has secured $2.4m in seed capital from investors including Digital Trade Chain (DTC), the blockchain-focused consortium formed by seven banks. The round was led by Multicoin Capital and also featured Compound VC, CoinFund, Kilowatt, Reciprocal Ventures and SPC.
E-commerce group Alibaba has led a Rs 150m ($2.1m) round for India-based video analytics technology provider Vidooly that also featured Times Internet, a subsidiary of media group Bennett, Coleman & Co, Entrackr reported yesterday, citing a regulatory filing. Vidooly graduated from Times Internet’s TLabs accelerator in 2014 and secured $1m from Bessemer Venture Partners the following year, before adding $1.4m in a mid-2017 series A round that included Times Internet and GVFL.
US-based personalised health counselling and treatment provider Ideal Option raised an undisclosed sum on Wednesday from BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, the VC vehicle for 33 health insurers that operate under the BlueCross BlueShield banner. It had previously received an undisclosed amount from private equity firm Varsity Healthcare Partners in September 2018.
Curious Thing, the Australia-based creator of an artificial intelligence bot for use in job interviews, has received A$1.5m ($1.1m) from investors including Reinventure, the fintech-focused VC firm mainly funded by financial services firm Westpac, and VC firm Qualgro, Australian Financial Review reported on Monday. It will put the funding toward expanding its technology team as it looks to further develop its technology.
Schneider Electric Ventures, the strategic investment arm of automation and energy management equipment producer Schneider Electric, supplied an undisclosed amount of seed funding on Monday for EIQ Mobility, a US-based developer of technology for the management of electric mobility services. Annette Clayton, chief executive of Schneider Electric’s North America operations, will join EIQ’s board of directors in conjunction with the corporate’s investment.
Biopharmaceutical company Ligand Pharmaceuticals provided $1m of convertible note financing for US-based inflammatory disease drug developer Dianomi Therapeutics on Monday. The note was supplied alongside an additional $2m in financing, and the investment will give Ligand a 2% to 3% royalty rate on the first five drugs to be approved which make use of Dianomi’s Mineral Coated Microparticle technology.
Gatsby, the US-based operator of a social platform for options trading, has received $500,000 in funding from investors including financial services firm Barclays, virtual bank Radius Bank, accelerator operator Techstars and angel investor Alex Wohl, American Banker has reported. Radius is mulling a partnership that would involve the startup’s service being offered to its customers, while Barclays’ and Techstars’ involvement would follow its participation in the 2018 class of the UK-based Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars.
EDP Ventures, the strategic investment arm of energy utility EDP, has led a R$1.5m ($410,000) round for Delfos, a Brazil-based developer of smart maintenance technology for energy companies, Fusões & Aquisições has reported. BMG Uptech, the corporate venturing vehicle for mining company BMG Group, and Bossa Nova Investimentos also contributed to the round, which came after Delfos won the EDP Open Innovation prize in 2016, getting $55,000 from the corporate in the process.
Showcase Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of website optimisation services provider Showcase-TV, invested $300,000 in Singapore-based microloan provider Digicro on Tuesday. The funding will support Digicro’s Cambodian subsidiary, Spean Luy, which is seeking a lending licence that will be utilised with a system that will make use of a machine learning-equipped credit scoring mechanism.
