Real estate services provider Cushman & Wakefield has contributed to a $5m seed round for Bowery Valuation, a US-based developer of commercial property appraisal software, Real Estate Weekly reported on Wednesday. Bowery, which raised $1.75m in funding from investors including Camber Creek, a subsidiary of property developer Berman Enterprises, as well as Corigin Ventures, LeFrak, Expansion Ventures and Fika Ventures in April 2017 according to TechCrunch, will use the funding to grow its team from 14 to 20.
DoubleDutch, the US-based creator of an engagement platform for live events, received an undisclosed amount of funding from existing investors including KKR, Bessemer Venture Partners and Bullpen Ventures yesterday. The company had previously raised $82.5m from investors including Grace Beauty Capital, the corporate venturing arm of beauty product supplier Grace Beauty, as well as Index Ventures, Mithril Capital Management, Floodgate and Enspire Capital.
TickX, the UK-based operator of an online aggregator for event tickets, has raised £3m ($4.2m) in a series A round that included event promoter and music brand Ministry of Sound. BGF Ventures, the venture capital branch of the government-mandated Business Growth Fund, led the round, which also featured investment platform and existing backer 24 Haymarket. The platform was launched in 2014 and had secured a total of £175,000 from investors including Ministry of Sound as of late 2015.
Financial services provider SBI Holdings has paid an undisclosed amount for a 40% stake in CoolBitX, a Taiwan-based developer of hardware devices for the storage of cryptocurrency assets, in order to enhance the blockchain ecosystem it is building. Blockchain-focused VC firm Kyber Capital had led a $500,000 round for CoolBitX in March 2017 that included medical equipment producer iMediPlus.
Senic, a Germany-based developer of control and interface systems for smart home devices, has completed a $4m seed round that included electrical installation technology provider Gira, EU Startups reported on Tuesday. The round was also backed by Birchmere Ventures and Target Partners, the latter of which had invested an undisclosed amount in the company in August 2016.
Mad Paws, the Australia-based operator of an online marketplace for pet care services, has raised A$5m ($3.9m) in a series A round featuring Qantas, the airline operator with which it signed a partnership agreement in December 2017, Dynamic Business reported on Tuesday. The round included Microequities Venture Capital, Scale Up Media Fund, Macdoch Ventures and angel investor Tim Fung, and comes after approximately $800,000 from Macdoch and assorted angel investors in 2015.
US-based cyber threat detection technology provider Bandura Systems completed a $3.5m seed round on Wednesday that included financial services firm UMB Financial Corporation. The rest of the capital was supplied by Blu Ventures, Gula Tech Adventures, Maryland Tech Development Corp, Prosper Women Entrepreneurs, SixThirty and SixThirty Cyber, and will help Bandura meet demand for its threat intelligence gateway product, PoliWall.
Electronic component manufacturer Molex Electronic Technologies invested an undisclosed amount in US-based silicon photonics technology developer Elenion Technologies yesterday through its corporate venturing unit, Molex Ventures. The funding was supplied as part of a strategic collaboration with Molex’s Optical Solutions Group that will involve the companies jointly developing advanced interconnect technology.
Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for mass media group Comcast, led a $3.3m seed round for Blockdaemon, a US-based developer of software that helps businesses manage blockchain applications, on Wednesday. VC firm Boldstart Ventures also took part in the round, as did accelerator operators Plug and Play and mState, and assorted angel investors, and the proceeds will be used to double the size of the startup’s engineering team to 20.
Medici Ventures, the blockchain-focused investment vehicle for e-commerce company Overstock.com, provided $3m of funding for Barbados-based cryptocurrency exchange operator Bitt yesterday at a $34.9m valuation. Bitt had previously received $4m of funding from Medici in 2016, after securing $1.5m in seed capital from Avatar Capital the previous year, and Medici’s investment this time round increased its share of Bitt by 8.6%.
Learn to Live, a US-based cognitive behavioural therapy platform backed by health insurer Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, has received $2.5m in equity financing from a single investor alongside $1.8m in debt, according to regulatory filings last week. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota joined TreeHouse Health, Matchstick Ventures and angel investor Daren Cotter to invest $1m in Learn to Live in January 2016, which was followed by $600,000 in debt financing in January 2017.
France-based private flight marketplace operator Wingly, a graduate of media company Axel Springer’s Plug and Play Accelerator, raised €2m ($2.5m) in seed funding on Monday from VC fund Howzat Partners and angel investors including Philipp Rösler and Stephane Mayer. Wingly graduated from the accelerator in December 2016, six months after it received an undisclosed amount in an angel round featuring Yhibaud Elziere, Felix Haas and Charles Cabillic.
Portugal-based cybersecurity software developer Jscrambler revealed on Monday it has raised more than $2.3m in a series A round led by Sonae IM, the corporate venturing vehicle for retail and telecommunications group Sonae. The round included Portugal Ventures, the VC firm that first invested in Jscrambler in 2014, and the proceeds will fund the company’s expansion in Europe and the US.
Life Labs, the South Korea-based operator of home cleaning service Cleaning Lab, has completed a $2.3m series A round featuring K-Cube Ventures, a corporate venturing vehicle for internet company Kakao, and YellowDog, AllTechAsia has reported. The round comes after an undisclosed amount of seed funding from K-Cube in April 2017, and the proceeds will support an expansion from the cities of Seoul and Seongnam to the rest of the country’s large cities and metropolitan areas.
United Arab Emirates-based e-commerce holding company Enhance has secured $1.5m in seed funding from investors including payment services provider iNet. The round also featured 500 Startups, Shorooq Investments and unnamed angel investors, and the capital will be used to expand Enhance’s online gifting service, Joi, across the Middle East.
Online classified listings company Info Edge has led a $1m pre-series A round for crop data analytics startup Gramophone, YourStory reported on Monday. The round followed an undisclosed amount of funding provided by assorted angel investors, and Gramophone plans to use the funding to expand its user base to 1 million farmers over the next year.
Business management software provider Pronto Software has invested an amount reported by Australian Financial Review to be A$1.3m ($1m) in Australia-based cybersecurity technology developer Forticode. The funding was provided as part of a partnership agreement whereby the companies will jointly develop a secure authentication system for enterprise mobile devices.