Japan-based, Africa-focused e-commerce platform Wassha has raised ¥1.01bn ($9.2m) in a series B round from backers including air conditioning equipment manufacturer Daikin Industries, motor vehicle manufacturer Yamaha Motor Company and trading group Marubeni. The round also featured Mizuho Capital, a VC vehicle for financial services firm Mizuho Bank, University of Tokyo Edge Capital (Utec), a VC firm affiliated with the institution, and Mistletoe Japan. Founded in 2013, Wassha has developed an off-grid solar service for rural areas in Africa. Its overall funding now stands at approximately ¥2.4bn ($21.9m).
US-based artificial intelligence-powered leadership coaching platform Cultivate received $8m in a series A round on Wednesday led by Trinity Ventures, with participation from Bloomberg Beta and SAP.io, respective investment vehicles for media group Bloomberg and software producer SAP, as well as Silicon Valley Data Capital. Cultivate has now raised $10m in funding altogether, it said, and identified Bloomberg Beta, SAP.io and Silicon Valley Data Capital as returning investors.
CTO.ai, a US-based platform to rapidly scale developer teams at startups, has collected $7.5m in a seed round backed by Slack Fund, the investment unit of messaging service Slack, as well as Tiger Global, Yaletown Partners, Pallasite Ventures, Panache Ventures and angel investor Jonathan Bixby. CTO.ai will put the money towards growing its offering and hiring key staff across its engineering, product, marketing and sales teams.
US-based healthcare technology provider Socially Determined has collected $7.3m in a series A round backed by OSF Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of health system OSF Healthcare, industrial group 3M, health system ProMedica, LRVHealth and Ziegler Link-Age Funds. Social Determined has created an analytics platform to identify patient’s social risks, facilitating more efficient medical interventions. The money will support Socially Determined’s recruitment drive.
Gradeup, an India-based edtech developer that runs a platform to help university students prepare for exams, has raised $7m in series A funding from Times Internet, the digital arm of media conglomerate Times Group, according to TechCrunch. Times Internet also revealed it previously provided $3m in seed funding to Gradeup, making it the company’s only investor to date. Gradeup will use the cash to double its team of faculty members from 50 to 100, expand the range of subjects it covers and target more users in smaller cities and towns throughout India.
Aircam, a US-based photography platform that gives clients immediate access to pictures taken by professional photographers at events such as weddings, has launched with $6.5m in series A funding from Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mass media group Comcast, and lead investor Upfront Ventures, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The company will launch a marketplace to book professional photographers at $99 per hour, which includes the photo-sharing service in the package.
Slack Fund has also backed a $4m funding round for Parabol, a US-based platform that enables remote teams to organise and evaluate meetings, together with CRV and Haystack, according to TechCrunch. The cash injection will allow Parabol to further develop its offering, which offers functionality such as conducting retrospective meetings, and to scale its infrastructure.
Australia-based legal technology developer Lawpath has closed a A$4.4m ($3m) funding round backed by legal document creation platform LegalZoom, according to the Australian Financial Review. The round was led by Adcock Private Equity, and also featured Pollenizer Investments, Fort Street Advisors, Machdoch Ventures and Nick Abrahams. Lawpath enables clients to manage legal aspects of their business, such as automatically generating policies. LegalZoom previously supplied $1.3m in funding for Lawpath in July 2018.
Media group XRM Media has participated in a $3m funding round for India-based news and classifieds platform Lokal, according to YourStory. The round also included 3one4 Capital, Y Combinator, RB Investments, Soma Capital, India Quotient, Starling Ventures, I2BF Global Ventures and assorted angel investors. Founded in March 2018, Lokal offers local news, jobs, classified listings and matrimonial adverts through an app currently available in three Indian states. It will use the money to expand into three additional states in the coming months.
Classified listings operator Info Edge has increased its commitment to India-based exam preparation platform developer Adda247, investing another Rs210m ($2.9m) to extend its stake in the business to approximately 17%, according to VCCircle. The investment comes just a couple of weeks after Info Edge acquired a 7.06% stake in return for a $1m commitment.
US-based direct-to-consumer cookware retailer Our Place has revealed $2.35m in initial funding to date from investors including the investment arm of retail and lifestyle company FabFitFun and Dreamers VC, according to TechCrunch. The company is aiming to educate consumers about cooking cultures while selling high-end products to socially conscious users.
Japan-based cloud-based recruitment marketing tool provider NetOn has raised ¥250m ($2.3m) from investors including Daiwa Corporate Investment, a vehicle for securities brokerage Daiwa, and higher education provider Globis University’s Graduate School of Management. Newspaper publisher Asahi Media, as well as financial services firms Mizuho Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ, Nanto Bank, Shizuoka Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation have also participated through their respective subsidiaries – Asahi Media Lab Ventures, Mizuho Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Nanto CVC Fund, Shizuoka Capital and SMBC Venture Capital. The round additionally included VC fund Future Venture Capital. NetOn will strengthen its sales structure as it looks to expand its customer base.
Israel-based cybersecurity technology developer SafeHouse Technologies has emerged from stealth with more than $2.2m in seed funding from Barclays Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of financial services firm Barclays, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday. The round will enable SafeHouse to launch its business in the UK and in India. SafeHouse’s flagship offering, BodyGuard, is a mobile app that encrypts phones and protects users from attacks such as phishing and ransomware.
Sky Mavis, the Vietnam-based developer of blockchain-based game Axie Infinity, has attracted $1.5m in a funding round led by game publisher Animoca Brands, according to Tech in Asia. The round also attracted 500 Startups, Hashed, Pangea Blockchain Fund and Consensys. The cash injection has been allocated to expanding the team behind Axie Infiinity and speed up development of additional features for that game. The company also plans to develop more practical blockchain-based applications.
Indonesia-based peer-to-peer lending platform KoinWorks has added $1.4m in a series B extension provided by Saison Capital, the investment arm of financial services firm Credit Saison, to bring the round to $13.6m, according to Tech in Asia. The company previously attracted an initial $12.2m series B tranche in June this year led by Quona Capital and EV Growth. The additional money will go towards product development, with a view of better supporting SMEs in the social commerce space.
UK-based children-focused edtech company Banjo Robinson has obtained £1m ($1.3m) in pre-seed funding led by Collab+Sesame, an investment vehicle set up by Sesame Ventures – the corporate venturing arm of media group Sesame Workshop – and Collaborative Fund. The funding will support the further development of Banjo Robinson’s first subscription service, which teaches children about the world by receiving interactive letters from a globetrotting cat.
OneMile Partners, the Japan-based operator of an asset management plan selected by professionals from various industries such as life insurance, investment trusts, stocks and bond, has raised a ¥130m ($1.2m) seed round from IT services provider Information Services International-Dentsu, Coral Capital and Monex Ventures. The company will use the funding to bolster its recruitment, store development and regulatory compliance.
Info Edge has also provided Rs50m ($560,000) in funding to India-based real estate technology developer Terralytics Analysis in return for a 20% stake. Founded in 2018, Terralytics will use the money to further develop its technology. The company is developing a real estate intelligence and analytics platform that it aims to market to financial services firms, developeers and consultancies.
Goof, the Japan-based operator of a marketing automation and e-commerce-oriented printing platform called Print of Things, has raised a ¥60m ($549,000) pre-series A round from investors including mail-order retailer Dinos Cecile and advertising agency Ascon. The company will utilise this funding to improve its Print of Things platform, develop an application programming interface and strengthen the customer support system. It plans to close the second tranche of its pre-series A round by the end of April 2020, but did not offer a target size.
Japan-based university student schedule management app provider Penmark has raised a ¥58m ($532,000) seed round from investors including DMM Ventures, internet company DMM’s corporate venturing unit, consultancy SNS Media and Consulting and online preparatory school operator Agaroot, in addition to angel investors Yasuyoshi Yanagisawa, Masakazu Mito, Yusuke Kusafuka, Shinya Tanaka and Hikaru Tomura. An unnamed VC firm has also taken part. The funding will be used to improve service quality and expand the existing business.
Japan-based logistics management platform developer CBCloud last month added approximately ¥50m ($460,000) to its series B round, from media company Okinawa Times, JR East Start Up and BOR Venture Fund, which invest on behalf of rail operator JR East and financial services firm Bank of the Ryukyus respectively. The round now stands at $11.9m following a first tranche featuring corporates Sagawa Express, CRE and Japan Post – the latter through its Japan Post Capital unit – in August this year.
Datagrail, the US-based data privacy platform developer, has added American Express Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of payment processing firm American Express, to its series A round, without revealing an updated size for the round. Datagrail received $5m in series A funding led by Cloud Apps Capital in July 2019, and has since also named Okta Venture and Basis Set Ventures as participants. The company had already collected $4m in series A capital led by Cloud Apps, with participation from law firm Gunderson Dettmer, in September 2018.
Metawave, a US-based wireless technology developer spun out from IT research and development company Parc, has closed a series A round of undisclosed size led by automotive components manufacturer Denso, with participation from NTT Docomo Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of telecoms firm NTT Docomo, Mirae Asset Capital and Bold Capital Partners, as well as unnamed existing backers. The company previously raised $7m in a seed round led by Thyra Global Management in 2017, before adding $10m in a series seed-plus round in May 2018 also led by Denso.
US-based cybersecurity company Sepio Systems yesterday secured $6.5m in a series A round co-led by Hanaco Ventures and Merlin Ventures, with participation from energy utility Energias de Portugal (EDP), Mindset Ventures and Pio Partners. Sepio Systems has now raised $11m in total funding, it said, and EDP previously provided an unspecified sum in March 2019.
Credit reporting platform Experian has invested an undisclosed amount in Vserv, an India-based data platform for mobile marketing, according to Tech in Asia. Experian expects its investment to improve financial inclusion and expand its credit-scoring services to customers hitherto excluded from securing loans. Vserv previously closed a multi-tranche $15m series B round in 2015 backed by Maverick Capital, Chiratae Ventures – then known as IDG Ventures India – and Epiphany Ventures.
Japan-based cloud security camera system developer Safie has received an undisclosed sum from 31 Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle run jointly by real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan and Global Brain. The company has partnered Mitsui Fudosan to create different video platforms for purposes ranging from construction to city planning.
– Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu
