Guangkong Zhongying Capital, an investment fund formed by outdoor advertising firm Focus Media and state-owned holding company China Everbright Holdings, has led a series C round of undisclosed size for China-based rice cooker producer Chunmi Electronics Technology, China Money Network reported yesterday. Star VC also took part in the round, which follows investments of undisclosed size by electronics manufacturer Xiaomi in 2014 and 2015, and an eight-figure dollar amount from GGV Capital and Shangshi Fund in 2015.
Internet group Tencent has provided an undisclosed amount of funding for China-based eSports promoter Versus Programming Network (VSPN), Sohu Sports has reported. The investment, made in connection with a strategic partnership agreement that builds on VSPN’s experience in holding tournaments for games distributed by Tencent, was made after it was launched by mobile game producer Hero Entertainment in September 2016.
Brightside, the US-based creator of an employee-based financial management and wellness platform, emerged from stealth on Monday with $4m in seed capital provided by Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of mass media group Comcast, and venture capital firm Trinity Ventures. Callum King, Brightside’s co-founder and CEO, was previously a principal at Comcast Ventures for two years up to April 2017 when the startup was formed.
Fruit and vegetable supplier Fresh Del Monte Produce invested $4m in Purple Carrot, the US-headquartered operator of a plant-based meal delivery service, on Monday. Purple Carrot had raised $3.8m in a 2015 seed round that included New Crop Capital, Stray Dog Capital and angel investor Mario Batali, before adding $5m in debt financing from WindSail Capital in May 2016.
Line Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of messaging platform Line, has led a $4m round for iPrice, a Malaysia-based aggregator of regional e-commerce platforms, TechCrunch reported on Monday. Cento Ventures and Venturra Capital also took part in the round, which came after Venturra, Cento (then known as Digital Media Partners), Asia Venture Group, Gobi Partners, Econa and Starstrike Ventures provided $4m of series A funding for the company in December 2016, and which increased iPrice’s total funding to $9.7m.
Travelio, an Indonesia-based short-term accommodation marketplace spun off from property developer and construction firm SSIA, has secured $4m in a series A round led by Vynn Capital that included Insignia Ventures Partners, Fenox Venture Capital, IndoGen Capital and Stellar Capital, Tech in Asia reported on Monday. Gobi Partners had led the company’s $2m pre-series A round in 2016, investing together with SSIA, Anthill Ventures and undisclosed angel investors.
Luna DNA, the US-based creator of a community-owned database for genomic and medical research, received $4m in financing on Tuesday from investors including Illumina Ventures, the corporate VC subsidiary of genomics technology provider Illumina. The round also featured Arch Venture Partners, Bridgelink Capital, Hemisphere Ventures and angel investor Aristides Patrinos, and the proceeds will support the development of the platform as Luna looks to attract data providers.
O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of media company O’Reilly, was among the investors in a $4m series A round for US-based on-demand handyman services startup Fixer on Wednesday. The round was led by Founder Collective with backing from Impact Engine, Hyde Park Venture Partners and unnamed private investors, and comes after Fixer had raised $1m from undisclosed angel investors as of June 2017.
US-based oncology drug developer OncoSynergy has raised an undisclosed amount in a series A round led by Connecticut Innovations, the VC fund overseen by the US state of Connecticut, and backed by payment technology supplier Korea Information and Communication and family office NLabs, both of which were identified as existing shareholders. OncoSynergy, which was founded in 2011, was acquired by biotech developer DanDrit Biotech in 2016.
France-based crowdfunding platform Lita.co has received €2.2m ($2.6m) in funding from investors including insurance firm Aviva, which provided the cash through its Aviva Impact Investing France fund, La Tribune reported on Tuesday. The round also featured Phitrust, Inco Investissement and angel investors Gilles Chetelat and Yannis Yahiaoui, and follows a €700,000 round closed by Lita in 2016.
The Mom Project, the US-based developer of an online recruitment platform for working mothers, has secured $2.6m in a seed round that included BBG Ventures, the female-focused VC fund owned by online media group Oath, Fortune reported yesterday. The round was led by Atlanta Seed Company and backed by Wintrust Ventures, OCA Ventures, IrishAngels and Engage VC.
Insurance and financial services firm Nationwide provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based machine learning software developer Betterview on Tuesday. Betterview had raised $2m in a September 2017 round led by Compound and backed by reinsurance provider Maiden Re, 645 Ventures, Arab Angel, Winklevoss Capital, Chestnut Street Ventures, Haystack, MetaProp and angel investors Pierre Valade and Edward Lando, after closed a $1.5m seed round co-led by Arena Ventures and Metamorphic Ventures the year before.
OpenSea, the US-based developer of a peer-to-peer trading marketplace for crypto assets, received $2m in seed capital from investors including over-the-top media company Chernin Group and Coinbase Ventures, the strategic investment arm of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, yesterday. Founders Fund, 1confirmation, Foundation Capital, Blockchain Capital, Stable Fund, Blockstack and assorted angel investors also took part in the round, which was disclosed in the wake of OpenSea graduating from accelerator Y Combinator.
SBI Crypto Investment, a subsidiary of financial services provider SBI Holdings, invested an undisclosed sum in OwlTing, a Taiwan-based startup looking to apply blockchain technology in fields such as food safety, travel and media, on Wednesday. OwlTing had raised a total of $6m from investors including Kyber Capital and Midana Capital as of March this year, according to BusinessDay.
BitofProperty, the Singapore-based operator of a crowdfunding platform for property investments, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed capital from real estate and domestic services information provider Lifull, E27 reported yesterday. The funding, which comes after a pre-seed round of undisclosed size that was led by Spaze Ventures, will be used to beef up BitofProperty’s technology as it looks to expand.
Classified listings operator Info Edge has invested approximately $510,000 in Rare Media Company, the India-based operator of employee tracking technology platform Blue Dolphin, VCCircle has reported, citing a stock exchange filing. Info Edge, which had previously supplied $1.1m of funding for the company in early 2016, now owns a 43.9% stake in the company.
Packaged food producer MTR Foods has supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for FirmRoots, the India-based owner of children’s snack brand Timios, through its MTR Seed Fund unit, VCCircle has reported. MTR, an India-based subsidiary of diversified Norway-headquartered conglomerate Orkla, established the fund in 2017 with Rs 500m ($7.5m) of capital to invest in food-related startups.
TravelSkope, a Taiwan-based provider of digital technologies for the travel and short-term accommodation industries, has raised approximately $300,000 from online travel and tourism platform Venture Republic Global and a range of angel investors, Travel Weekly Asia reported today. Pinehurst Advisors, KK Fund and Coent Venture Partners had already provided an undisclosed amount of seed funding for TravelSkope in 2016.
Kilimo, the Argentina-based developer of a big data-equipped crop irrigation management system, has received $200,000 in funding from Xpand Ventures, the startup accelerator formed by media company Diario Clarín. Xpand Ventures had previously contributed to an $850,000 round for the company that included Alaya Capital Partners, Glocal Managers and various angel investors.