Catalog, the US-based creator of a storage software platform for DNA data, received $10m on Wednesday in a $10m series A round led by venture capital firm Horizons Ventures that included Airbus Ventures, the investment arm of aerospace manufacturer Airbus. The company said it has now raised $21m in total, having secured $9m in a mid-2018 round led by New Enterprise Associates and backed by messaging app developer Line, Data Collective, Green Bay Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures and Industry Ventures. Its earlier investors include IndieBio and Pathbreaker Ventures.
Hai Robotics, a China-based warehouse robotics developer that counts courier service Best Logistics as an investor, has closed a series B round of undisclosed size led by Source Code Capital and backed by existing investors Walden International and 01VC that took its total funding to more than RMB100m ($14.7m), according to China Money Network. It came in the wake of an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Best Logistics and Walden International in 2019.
Financial services firm Siam Commercial Bank has led a $9m pre-series B round for Thailand-based online insurance platform Sunday through strategic investment vehicle SCB 10X, DealStreetAsia reported today, citing a company announcement. The round included Line subsidiary Line Ventures as well as Quona Capital and Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India. It followed $10m in series A from Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India in February 2019, before the fund joined Quona Capital to add $11m to the round in December.
Financial services firms State Street and Citi joined investment bank JP Morgan yesterday to provide an undisclosed amount of funding for Capitolis, the US-based developer of a software platform that helps financial institutions optimise their resources. Capitolis revealed in March 2018 it had raised $9m in a Sequoia Capital-led seed round and $20m in a series A led by Index Ventures, before both returned for a $40m series B round in November 2019 that was co-led by Spark Capital and SVB Capital and also backed by S Capital.
Japan-based AnSeen, which is developing a high-resolution X-ray colour image sensor, secured ¥900m ($8.5m) on Monday in a series B round featuring CEJ Fund, Shinkin Capital and Shizuoka Capital, on behalf of robotics technology provider Cyberdyne, Shinkin Central Bank and Shizuoka Bank, in addition to Energy & Environment Investment and Drone Fund, as well as debt financing from Shoko Chukin and Hamamatsu Iwata Shinkin Bank, and a $1.7m grant from New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation. AnSeen had received $2.7m in series A funding from RealTech Fund and Hamashin Lease Shinkin Capital in November 2018.
Japan Cloud Capital, the Japan-based owner of crowdfunding platform Fundinno, received ¥850m ($8m) on Tuesday from consulting services providers IR Robotics and NLinks, automotive components maker Sanoh Industrial, Ikemori Venture Support, Koshidaka, FinTech Global and Logly Investment. It had raised an undisclosed sum from investors including e-commerce company Raccoon Holdings in February 2017; $1m in a round featuring Seibu Shinkin Capital, part of Seibu Shinkin Bank, five months later; and $2.7m from insurer Dai-ichi Life, marketing firm Hakuhodo Group’s Seedata unit, investor relations services firm IR Japan Holdings and angel investors including Nobuyuki Idei in May 2018.
Athennian, a Canada-based developer of legal management software, emerged from stealth on Tuesday with C$10m ($7.6m) in funding from investors including law firm BCF’s corporate VC arm, BCF Ventures. The money consisted of a C$8m series A round led by Arthur Ventures that also featured financial services firm ATB Financial, Round13 Capital, InterGen Capital and existing backers BCF Ventures, Thin Air Labs, BlueSky Equities, Viewpoint Capital and Strategic Equities, all of which had taken part in a C$2m seed round in Q3 2019.
France-based telemedicine system provider Medaviz has raised €6m ($7.1m) from hospital owner Ramsay Santé and insurance providers Matmut, MBA Mutuelle and Groupama, the latter through its Loire Bretagne subsidiary. The round comes after Medaviz received $680,000 from Angelsquare, SFLD and unnamed angel investors in 2017, and the proceeds will support an increase in the company’s headcount.
Liver cancer drug producer Sirtex Medical participated in a series B1 round for US-based thermal ablation device developer Nanospectra Biosciences on Tuesday that was sized at $6.9m according to a securities filing. Nanospectra had previously raised a total of about $7.5m in equity funding and $870,000 in debt financing between 2002 and 2017 according to regulatory filings. Sirtex will get a seat on the company’s board of directors in connection with its investment.
Taiwan-based cancer diagnostics and risk assessment services provider ACT Genomics has closed an undisclosed amount of funding from Aflac Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of insurance firm Aflac, and Kyoto University Innovation Capital. ACT completed an $8m series A featuring unnamed investors in 2015 before adding $12.5m in a series B featuring Hotung Group, CDIB Capital Management and existing backers UMC Capital – semiconductor foundry UMC’s investment arm – Eminent II VC, Hua Nan Venture Capital and President International Development in 2016. CLSA Capital Partners co-led a round of undisclosed size for ACT in September 2018.
Financial trading software provider MetaQuotes has led a $6m series A round for UK-based identity verification technology developer Sumsub that also featured existing backers including angel investor Ilia Perekopsky, Silicon Canals reported on Tuesday. Sumsub secured an undisclosed amount of seed capital from UCP Investment Group and Flint Capital in 2017 and its investors also include Pretiosum Ventures. It has now raised in excess of $7.5m altogether, according to Silicon Canals.
Changmugu, a China-based developer of smart orthopaedics technology, received an eight-figure renminbi amount (RMB10m = $1.45m) of series A-plus funding on Monday from Lenovo Capital, a corporate venturing vehicle for consumer electronics manufacturer Lenovo. Also known as Longwood Valley, the company raised an eight-digit renminbi sum in a September 2019 pre-series A round featuring Legend Star, an investment vehicle for Lenovo owner Legend Holdings, as well as Frees Fund and Wanghui Capital. Fortune Capital led a similarly sized round in November 2018.
3YourMind, the Germany-based developer of a software platform that helps automate additive manufacturing processes, announced on Monday it recently completed a $5.5m series A-plus round featuring EnBW New Ventures and Trumpf Venture, subsidiaries of energy utility EnBW and manufacturing equipment maker Trumpf respectively. The corporates invested alongside UVC Partners, AM Ventures and Coparion in the round, all three of which had joined Trumpf Venture in a $12m series A round that closed in 2017.
Metro Engines, a Japan-based tourism data provider backed by printing services firm Toppan, e-commerce company Beenos, IT services firm NEC and property developers Samty and Mori Trust, raised ¥500m ($4.7m) in funding from unnamed investors yesterday. The corporates had joined financial services provider SBI’s AI and Blockchain Fund and Venture Labo Investment to invest $2.8m in the company in May 2019. It had secured $6.3m from investors including NEC, travel agency Evolable Asia, rail operator JR East, hotel management service Tap and marketing agency Vector nine months earlier.
Printing services provider Raksul invested ¥490m ($4.6m) in Japan-based web development software provider Peraichi yesterday. The company had previously received an undisclosed amount from Nissay Capital, the corporate venturing arm of insurance firm Nippon Life, in January 2019.
China-based currency and cryptocurrency processing software developer XanPool received $4.3m today in a pre-series A round led by blockchain services and technology provider OK Group. The round also featured Gumi Cryptos, an investment vehicle for mobile game publisher Gumi, in addition to digital asset manager Hashkey. XanPool has more than 75,000 users and will put the funding towards expansion in the eastern hemisphere.
Canada-based non-alcoholic beer brand Partake Brewing secured $4m on Tuesday that included consulting firms McLean & Associates and Natural Products Canada. The round, the first to be closed by Partake, was led by CircleUp Growth Partners, a vehicle for crowdfunding platform CircleUp, and also featured Export Development Canada and Barrel Ventures. The proceeds will support expansion in the United States.
Internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund, Gradient Ventures, led a $3.4m seed round for US-based data collaboration technology developer PopSQL on Tuesday. Y Combinator and FundersClub also took part in the round, along with angel investors Max Mullen, Calvin French-Owen and Guillermo Rauch. The capital will be allocated to the expansion of the company’s engineering team.
Kankak, a Japan-based developer of digitisation technology designed for the food and beverage industry, raised ¥350m ($3.3m) on Monday in a series A round that included mobile game producer Akatsuki’s Heart Driven Fund. The corporate was joined by VC firms Genesia Ventures and Coral Capital and the round was disclosed alongside Kankak’s acquisition of online coffee bean retailer Cottea.
Transcend Software, a US-based developer of design and automation software tools, was spun off by wastewater treatment technology provider Organica Water last month with $3m of series A funding last month. Private equity firm Vespucci Partners led the round, which included Organica shareholders Citic Capital, Idinvest Partners, International Finance Corporation, Invesco/WLR, Gamma Capital Partners and XPV Water Partners.
Aibono, the India-based operator of an online platform that connects farmers to retailers, has received $2m in funding from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, the corporate venturing arm of insurance provider Mitsui Sumitomo, as well as VC firm Rebright Partners and Lesing Artha, a subsidiary of family office Rianta Capital, the Economic Times has reported. Menterra Venture Advisors led a $2.5m round for Aibono in a March 2019 pre-series A round that included Rebright Partners, Milliways Venture, Artha Ventures and 3one4 capital. It reportedly followed about $600,000 in earlier funding from investors including Milliways.
Media company New York Times added an undisclosed amount to a series A round for UK-based speech transcription and content production software developer Trint on Wednesday following $4.5m from media company Associated Press, Horizons Labs TechNexus in April 2019. Horizons Labs led a $3.1m pre-series A round for the company in 2017, after an undisclosed amount from angel network Wild Blue Cohort the previous year. Internet technology provider Google’s Digital News Innovation Fund and Knight Enterprise Fund are among its early investors.
TechTouch, a Japan-based digitisation software provider backed by marketing agency Archetype, raised ¥150m ($1.4m) in convertible note financing on Wednesday from Aozora Bank’s Aozora Corporate Investment subsidiary. The startup had received $1.1m in seed capital from investors including Archetype’s corporate VC unit, Archetype Ventures, and DNX Ventures in September 2019 before the same two investors joined Development Bank of Japan’s DBJ Capital fund to provide $4.7m in series A funding in July this year.
Online automotive insurance provider Acko has supplied $1.2m in funding for Pitstop, the India-based operator of a digital after-market car servicing platform, the Economic Times reported yesterday. The company received $1m in pre-series A funding from vehicle leasing service Goldbell Group, Blume Ventures and various individuals in 2017 before the same two investors added $1.5m in April 2018 and returned for a $2.5m series A round led by insurance broker Landmark in March this year.
Reinsurance firm Scor Global Life has invested an undisclosed amount in US-based medical data provider Human API through VC arm Scor Life & Health Ventures. The unit had already taken part in a $10m round in February 2019 that included insurance firm Guardian Life and existing backers BlueRun Ventures and SciFi VC to take the total raised by Human API, whose earlier investors include Andreessen Horowitz, to approximately $16.7m.
Teemyco, the Sweden-based developer of a virtual office system, has secured $1m in a seed round featuring recruitment firm Gazella, TechCrunch was reported. The round was led by VC fund Luminar Ventures and also featured company builder and VC investor Antler in addition to undisclosed angel investors.
LN Markets, a France-based startup that has built a derivatives trading platform on cryptocurrency Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from investors including crypto trading platform operator Bitfinex, The Block reported on Tuesday. Arcane Crypto and Fulgur Ventures also participated in the round, announced six months after LN’s launch, and the funds will be used for platform development.
Caitech, the Japan-based operator of an online platform where nursing staff can be sourced, revealed on Monday it has accumulated ¥100m ($940,000) in seed funding from office supplies manufacturer Plus Corporation, VC firm East Ventures and individuals including Minoru Moriya. The capital has been allocated to product development, marketing and increasing the size of Caitech’s team.
Japan-based data sharing tool provider LinkLive has rebranded to Stock and revealed ¥100m ($940,000) in a seed round that included accounting software provider Money Forward and business development firm Infcurion. The corporates were joined by East Ventures, DNX Ventures and angel investors including Yō Nagami and Daisuke Kamada, and the cash has been allocated to product development and marketing.
Axa Life Insurance, a subsidiary of insurance group Axa, provided ¥99m ($935,000) in seed funding yesterday for MIG, the Japan-based creator of a virtual reality system called Brain100 Studio designed to detect the early stages of dementia. The deal took MIG’s total financing to about $3.4m including a grant from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and a joint research scheme with alcoholic beverage producer Kirin Holdings.
LeStyle, the Japan-based operator of a delivery service designed for use by small local retailers, received ¥10m ($94,000) in funding from logistics services firm Daiwa Corporation yesterday. In addition to the investment agreement, LeStyle and Daiwa will also seek areas where they can synergise their business activities.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
