Switzerland-based antibody therapy developer NovaGo Therapeutics, a spinout of University of Zurich, completed a CHF10m ($10m) series A round on Monday featuring biopharmaceutical company Neurimmune, which invested through a strategic partnership agreement. The round was led by venture capital fund Pureos Bioventures and the funding will be used to advance NovaGo’s regenerative medicines toward clinical trials.
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank agreed on Monday to invest $10m in Sweden-based solar cell manufacturer Exeger Operations through a strategic partnership agreement, in a transaction that will give it a seat on the company’s board of directors. Exeger had previously received $5.5m in funding from power producer Fortum’s corporate venturing arm, Fortum Technology and New Ventures, in a 2016 deal that valued it at $110m.
Automotive component producer Knorr-Bremse has led a $10m funding round for Rail Vision, the Israel-based creator of an automated early-warning system for trains that can prevent collisions, Calcalist reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Rail Vision has not revealed details of its earlier funding but according to Calcalist its existing investors include automotive imaging technology provider Foresight Autonomous Holdings, which owns a 40% stake, and rail operator Israel Railways.
Mocana, a US-based industrial cybersecurity software provider backed by industrial and power technology producer General Electric, raised almost $10m from Sway Ventures, Shasta Ventures and ForgePoint Capital on Monday, representing the first close of a $15m round. It had previously secured $93.6m as of an $11m round in mid-2017 that included General Electric’s corporate venturing unit, GE Ventures, as well as Sway Ventures, Shasta Ventures and Trident Capital. Its earlier backers include corporates Intel, Symantec, Panasonic and Matsushita.
Bertelsmann Asia Investments, a corporate venturing subsidiary of media group Bertelsmann, and Longhu Capital, an investment vehicle for real estate developer Longfor Holdings, co-led a funding round of undisclosed size for China-based boutique lifestyle e-commerce platform Gohoo on Wednesday that increased its overall funding to RMB100m ($14.9m). The round included undisclosed existing investors and came after Gohoo raised an undisclosed amount from Qiming Ventures, Jiacheng Capital and Qicheng Capital in mid-2018.
Aster Capital, the VC firm sponsored by energy and automation equipment producer Schneider Electric, invested in Hadean, the UK-based creator of a cloud-first computer operating system, yesterday as part of a £7m ($9.2m) funding round led by VC firm Draper Esprit. The round also featured London Venture Partners, Luminous Ventures and Entrepreneur First, the latter two of which also took part in Hadean’s $2.6m seed round in May 2017, which was led by White Cloud Capital before it spun outLuminous.
US-based medical research technology provider Owkin raised an undisclosed sum yesterday from investors including GV, the corporate venturing subsidiary of internet technology conglomerate Alphabet formerly known as Google Ventures. The round was co-led by F-Prime Capital and Eight Roads Ventures and included Cathay Innovation and NJF Capital, and followed an undisclosed amount from GV in May 2018 that increased Owkin’s overall funding to $18m. Its earlier financing had come from Cathay Innovation, NJF Capital, Plug and Play and Otium Venture.
US-based recruitment technology provider Wade & Wendy has secured $7.6m in a series A round led by VC firm Jazz Venture Partners that also featured Randstad Innovation Fund (RIF), a corporate venturing subsidiary of human resources provider Randstad, as well as FF Venture Capital and Indicator Ventures, VentureBeat reported on Tuesday. The latter three had joined enterprise communication platform developer Slack and VC firm Converge for Wade & Wendy’s $4m seed round in 2016.
PlayVox, the US-based developer of a quality assurance measurement tool for customer support teams, received $7m in funding from growth equity firm Five Elms Capital last month. The investment came four years to the month after PlayVox, which was founded in Colombia, raised $1.5m from FCP Innnovación, the corporate venturing arm of utilities operator EPM.
Tasso, a US-based developer of a blood-sample collection technology, closed a $6.1m financing round on Wednesday that was led by VC firm Vertical Venture Partners and backed by healthcare provider Cedars-Sinai and accelerator operator Techstars. The company had previously received $13.1m in grant awards from various US governmental organisations and had graduated from the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator Powered by Techstars, in 2017.
Stable, the UK-based creator of a software platform that helps food and commodities traders mitigate volatility in prices, has secured $6m in seed funding from investors including insurance firm Baloise, Syngenta Ventures and Ascot Underwriting, respective subsidiaries of agribusiness Syngenta and insurance and reinsurance group Ascot, AgFunder reported on Tuesday. The corporates were joined by VC firm Anthemis, and AgFunder reported the news alongside the launch of the platform, which stretches across 15 markets.
Food ingredient producer Griffith Foods and Eighteen94 Capital, the strategic investment arm of packaged food supplier Kellogg, have co-led a $5m series B round for US-based moringa superfood provider Kuli Kuli that included InvestEco, S2G Ventures, Authentic Ventures, VilCap Investments, Rocana Venture Partners, Portfolia, Astia Angels, Next Wave Impact and Golden Seeds. It had previously raised $4.25m in series A funding from investors including Eighteen94 Capital, InvestEco and S2G Ventures in early 2017.
Lifesum, a Belgium-based fitness and diet tracking app developer backed by NGP Capital, the VC firm spun off from communications technology producer Nokia, has raised $5m from VC firm Balderton Capital, VentureBeat reported yesterday. Media group Bauer and VC firm SparkLabs Global Ventures co-led Lifesum’s $6.7m series A round in 2014, before the company added $10m in a 2016 series B led by NGP and backed by Bauer, SparkLabs Global and Draper Esprit.
Australia-based digital payment technology provider SimplePay has received $5m in financing from construction services firm Versatile Group and crypto-funded wealth manager Fluce Capital. The cash was provided as part of a larger private placement that will fund a geographic expansion drive expected to in particular focus on the European, Middle East and Asia regions.
MassMutual Ventures, the VC arm of insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, co-led a $4.8m financing round for US-based legal contract analytics startup LinkSquares yesterday. The round was co-led by VC firm Hyperplane Venture Capital and included an undisclosed law firm. The company had raised $850,000 from unnamed investors in November 2017 and a further $1.4m in a December 2018 round that could potentially have formed part of this funding, according to regulatory filings.
Hammerhead, a US-based cyclist navigation software developer that is also a graduate of the accelerator run by Techstars and advertising agency R/GA, closed a $4.1m funding round yesterday co-led by Primary Venture Partners and KB Partners and backed by Courtside Ventures, Maveron and angel investors Robin Thurston and Andy Ording. The company had graduated from R/GA Connected Devices Accelerator in 2014.
Logistics provider SF Express has paid $4m for a 25% stake in Myanmar-based third-party logistics service Kospa, DealStreetAsia has reported. Kospa was formed as a joint venture between diversified conglomerate Yoma Strategic Holdings and Japan-headquartered food and beverage distributor Kokubu Group, and SF has acquired its stake from Yoma.
Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), the engineering services subsidiary of automotive technology provider Williams Group, joined private equity firm Foresight Group to invest £1m in UK-based molecular mass measurement technology startup Refeyn as part of a £2.6m ($3.4m) round. Oxford Sciences Innovation and the University of Oxford also participated in the round, and WAE will provide its design and manufacturing knowledge to help Refeyn expand.
Israel-based data management technology provider Iguazio received an undisclosed amount of funding from Samsung SDS, the IT services subsidiary of consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung, yesterday. It had previously raised $48m, including $33m in a mid-2017 series B round featuring Verizon Ventures, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, CME Ventures and Dell Technologies Capital, subsidiaries of telecoms firm Verizon, industrial product maker Robert Bosch, exchange operator CME Group and computing technology provider Dell.
IT services provider Aman Group has invested $3m in Asperii, an Israel-based provider of technology and software consulting services. The funding will support expansion activities that will include the addition of new offices in Europe and Australia to existing locations in Israel, the US and UK, in addition to recruitment.
Energy utility EDP has supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Sepio Systems, the US-based developer of a cybersecurity software product that protects against hardware-based cyberattacks, Reuters reported on Monday. Sepio and EDP have also formed a strategic partnership that will involve EDP helping the company expand its technology in the infrastructure, utilities and financial services spaces.
Sony Innovation Fund, the corporate venturing subsidiary of consumer electronics and media group Sony, has joined an undisclosed existing investor to provide ¥250m ($2.2m) in funding for Japan-based odour sensor developer Aroma Bit. The company’s technology sensors odours and provides representational visual images, and it will use the funding to support a business collaboration scheme that will involve it creating company-specific products using its technology.
Jargon, a US-based developer of voice application technology for digital personal assistants, secured $1.8m yesterday, in a pre-seed round that included domestic robotics technology provider iRobot and Alexa Fund, a corporate venturing subsidiary of e-commerce and smart domestic product maker Amazon. The round was co-led by Ubiquity Ventures and Crosslink Capital and it followed Jargon’s participation in the Amazon-backed Alexa Accelerator in 2018.
Innogy Innovation Hub, the early-stage investment vehicle powered by energy utility Innogy, invested an undisclosed amount in Calipsa, a UK-based developer of video-feed monitoring technology, on Wednesday. Calipsa had previously received funding from LocalGlobe, Horizons Ventures and Entrepreneur First, and will put the Innogy investment into further development of its product and commercial growth in its home country and elsewhere in Europe.
Ucommune Academy, an education-focused offshoot of working space provider Ucommune, has raised RMB10m ($1.5m) in a round led by Letai Capital, a fund owned by digital education product supplier Shanghai Retech Enterprise Management Group, China Money Network reported on Tuesday. The companies intend to collaborate on a product that will combine online and offline entrepreneurship and education resources for use by trade schools and universities.
ConsenSys Ventures, the strategic investment vehicle formed by blockchain technology provider ConsenSys, has provided $1.15m in funding for zero-knowledge proof cryptography technology startup Ligero, Coinbase reported yesterday. The cash was supplied alongside an investment of undisclosed size in Philippines-based cryptocurrency exchange operator PDAX (Philippine Digital Asset Exchange).
Beacon Venture Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm Kasikornbank, has supplied an undisclosed amount of seed capital for Thailand-based rental management services provider Horganice, e27 reported on Tuesday. KBank will also assist Horganice in offering financial services such as online bill payment and debt financing options to tenants through its platform.
InvestSure, a South Africa-based provider of insurance cover for investors, has raised R9.6m ($680,000) from backers including Lireas Holdings and Compass Insure, both subsidiaries of reinsurance firm Hannover’s Hannover Re Africa division, Disrupt Africa reported on Tuesday. VC firm 4Di Capital also contributed to the round, which came two years after InvestSure began being incubated at insurance services provider Compass Insure.
Claimbot, the UK-based creator of a chatbot for use in the insurance and automotive industries, secured $615,000 in funding on Tuesday from investors including Google Assistant Investments, an investment vehicle formed by internet technology provider Google. The round also featured Notley Ventures, Social Starts and undisclosed angel investors, and the proceeds will be used to enhance Claimbot’s technology and to hire additional sales and product development staff.
Individual investor Gaurav Manglik and family office Fu Family Trust have provided Rs 22.5m ($320,000) in funding for Mobikwik, an India-based digital payment platform backed by a host of corporate investors, Entrackr reported yesterday, citing a regulatory filing. The company had raised a total of $155m as of August 2017, from backers including consumer lender Bajaj Finance, mobile payment technology producer Net1, fabless semiconductor maker MediaTek, internet company GMO, payment services firm American Express and networking technology provider Cisco.
