Nigeria-based digital banking startup Kuda has received $10m from investors including SBI Investment, a venture capital vehicle for financial services provider SBI, through a seed round that is reportedly the largest ever for an African company, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. Target Global led the round, which also featured Entrée Capital and angel investors including Raffael Johnen, Johan Lorenzen, Brandon Krieg, Ed Robinson and Oliver and Lish Jung, and it followed $1.6m in pre-seed funding.
Fnatic, a UK-based esports franchise that counts financial services firm Raptor Group as an investor, secured $10m on Wednesday in an internal round led by Beringea that included existing backers Unbound, LVL1 Group, JHD and undisclosed members of management. Raptor Group, Hersh Family Investments, Hannes Wallin and Joi Ito had invested $7m in the company in 2017 before it added $19m in a May 2019 round led by LVL1 founder Lev Leviev and backed by Beringea, Unbound, BlackPine and Joi Ito.
Financial information provider S&P Global Market Intelligence led a $7.2m series A round on Tuesday for Maestro, the US-based developer of a software platform that helps optimise the value of private equity-backed companies. The round also featured Accordion, the private equity-focused financial technology and consulting firm that incubated Maestro, in addition to undisclosed private equity firms.
Dermala, a US-headquartered developer of microbiome-based dermatology treatments, completed a $6.7m series A round on Monday co-led by medical products group Johnson & Johnson through corporate venturing unit Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC. The round was co-led by VC fund True Wealth Ventures and also featured Seventure Partners’ Health for Life Capital Funds as well as Cove Fund. It comes after $1m from unnamed investors in May 2018, according to a regulatory filing.
Local Logic, a Canada-based location intelligence software provider backed by business directory operator Yellow Pages, secured C$8m ($6.1m) on Monday in an equity and debt round led by VC firm GroundBreak Ventures. The round included Shadow Ventures, BDC Capital, Jones Boys Ventures, Cycle Capital and Desjardins Capital and it followed an $870,000 round in 2017 led by Cycle Capital and backed by Yellow Pages, BDC Capital and 500 Startups Canada.
Yotta Energy, a US-based developer of grid-scale solar energy storage technology, completed a $5m seed round on Tuesday that included energy utility EDP’s corporate venturing unit, EDP Ventures. The corporate joined Fiftysix Investments, Skyview Ventures and unnamed other investors in the round, and the proceeds will go to securing safety certification for Yotta’s technology and initiating commercial manufacturing of its products.
Zero Egg, the US-based developer of a plant-based egg substitute, raised $5m in series A funding from investors including packaged food provider Strauss Group’s Kitchen Hub on Wednesday. Growth equity fund Powerplant Ventures led the round, which was also backed by Unovis Asset Management’s New Crop Capital vehicle. The latter was, like Kitchen Hub, described as an existing investor.
Consumer electronics producer Xiaomi’s Yangtze River Industrial Fund has led a RMB30m ($4.5m) series A-plus round for US-headquartered tactile sensor developer TacSense, EqualOcean reported on Monday. The round included another consumer electronics manufacturer, Lenovo, and it comes four years after TacSense, a University of California spinout, was founded.
UK-based fuel management software developer 16 Group has received an undisclosed amount in a series A round featuring oil and gas supplier Shell, fuel trader World Fuel Services and airline operators International Airlines Group and JetBlue, which had invested through its JetBlue Technology Ventures unit in February this year. The company will put the funding into further development of its platform, which is tailored for the aviation industry.
ReSec Technologies, a US-based developer of cybersecurity software focusing on file-based malware, closed a $4m series A round on Monday that included insurance group Talanx’s HDI Group subsidiary. VC fund QBN Capital led the round, which was also backed by Disruptive Ventures and Pico Venture Partners. It follows $750,000 from diamond provider Moldawsky Group, Plus Ventures and B2Angels in 2013, before Pico Venture Partners and Founders Group co-led a $5m series A round in 2016. ReSec added $2m in a January 2019 round that included Plug and Play Ventures.
Highwing, an open insurance data platform formed by diversified financial services firm IMA Financial Group, completed a $4m funding round on Wednesday led by a middle market subsidiary of insurance distributor BRP Group. It included insurance brokerages Holmes Murphy, ABD, Conner Strong & Buckelew and Heffernan Insurance Brokers as well as insurance distributor AmWins Group, SkyKnight Capital, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, SpringTime Ventures, Cameron Ventures and Service Provider Capital.
Funding U, a US-based provider of credit to financial underrepresented higher education students, raised $4m in equity funding last month from investors including Deciens Capital, Valor Ventures, Next Act Fund, The JumpFund and private investor MacKenzie Scott, alongside a $10m credit line from Goldman Sachs. It had previously received $3.4m in equity funding, $2.4m coming in a 2018 round led by Deciens Capital and backed by GMO Ventures, the investment arm of internet company GMO, as well as Valor Ventures and unnamed angel investors.
Union, the Cayman Islands-registered developer of a software platform designed to improve access to decentralised finance, secured more than $3.9m on Tuesday from investors including Bering Waters Ventures, the VC arm of crypto trading exchange Bering Waters, as well as quantitative trading firm Alameda Research, crypto trading firm Alpha Chain and crypto trading bot developer 3 Commas. The round was also backed by Spark Digital Capital, AAM, Solidity Ventures, Cluster Capital, Rarestone Capital and Black Edge Capital.
MDI Ventures, the corporate VC arm of telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia, invested an undisclosed amount in Indonesia-based telemedicine app developer Alodokter yesterday. The cash will be added to the company’s series C round, which stood at $33m as of October 2019. Commodities trader Gunung Sewu’s life insurance subsidiary, Sequis Life, led the first close, which included electronics producer Philips, SoftBank Ventures Asia and Heritas Capital Management – on behalf of telecoms and internet group SoftBank and maritime consulting firm IMC Group – as well as Hera Capital, Dayli Partners and Golden Gate Ventures.
Singapore-based digital transformation services provider C2C increased its pre-series A round to ¥270m ($2.6m) on Monday, raising money from recruitment firm En-Japan, travel agency AirTrip and undisclosed angel investors. It had raised $1.6m from AirTrip (then Evolable Asia), real estate developer Ambition and angel investors including Keiji Nishie and Tomohiro Ootomi for the round’s December 2019 first close, following an undisclosed sum from En-Japan in September 2019.
X-Cor Therapeutics, the US-based developer of a carbon dioxide removal device intended to treat acute respiratory failure, completed a $2.6m seed round yesterday featuring Pisa Biopharma, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical and medical device provider Grupo Pisa. The round was led by life sciences advisory firm Alira Health’s accelerator and investment subsidiary, Alira Health Ventures, and also featured Good Growth Capital and Flybridge Partners’ Graduate Syndicate.
Japan-based smart oil sensor provider ZeroSpec closed a ¥230m ($2.2m) pre-series A round on Wednesday that included petroleum distributor Eneos and electronic components trader Sanshin Electronics. ZeroSpec, which disclosed the Sanshin investment last month, will use the funding to enhance an automated oil inventory and delivery order management service called GoNow.
BitClass, the India-based developer of a cloud platform that helps teachers build education-focused businesses, has secured $2m from investors including mobile game publisher Akatsuki’s AET Fund, VCCircle reported on Tuesday. Venture Highway led the round, which also featured Figure Eight Investments and WaterBridge Ventures, and which will support user acquisition and technology development.
Industrial technology and appliance producer Robert Bosch has paid Rs 148m ($2m) for a 7.1% stake in Nivaata Systems, the India-based operator of workplace transport provider Routematic, valuing it at $28m, the Economic Times has reported. Angel investor Naresh Malhotra led a $2.5m pre-series A round for the company in April 2019 that included existing backer Vamm Ventures. Its earlier investors include Blume Ventures.
Mouro Capital, the VC firm spun off by financial services firm Santander, provided an undisclosed amount of series A funding on Tuesday for Clikalia, the Spain-based developer of an online platform that digitises the home buying and selling process. Manuel Silva Martínez, general partner at Mouro Capital, is taking a seat on the company’s board of directors in connection with the round.
Japan-based crowdfunding service Campfire received an undisclosed sum from e-commerce company Base today in connection with a strategic partnership. Campfire had raised a total of $31m as of a $20m series C round in May 2019 featuring corporates Itochu, FreakOut Holdings, Search Field, Ceres, World, Alliance Partners, Parco, KDDI, Credit Saison, SoftBank and Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank as well as VC firm Global Brain.
Base also supplied an undisclosed amount for India-based online payment platform developer Instamojo today. Instamojo had received $2.6m from Kalaari Capital, Blume Ventures and 500 Startups in 2014, an undisclosed sum from Kalaari Capital and consulting firm Anypay three years later, $7m in a January 2019 series B round featuring Anypay and Gunosy Capital, the investment arm of curated news provider Gunosy, and $940,000 from media group Bennett Coleman & Co’s Times Internet subsidiary in March this year,
Demoflow, the US-based creator of a remote collaboration software platform for sales teams, secured $1.6m in seed capital on Monday from investors including Slack Fund, the corporate venturing arm of enterprise communication software provider Slack. The round was led by VC firm FirstMile Ventures and also featured RTP Seed, Next Frontier Capital and Heroic Ventures. The capital will go to hiring sales and marketing staff and adding features to the platform.
Nippon Steel Trading, a subsidiary of steel producer Nippon Steel, has invested an undisclosed amount in Japan-based soybean meat substitute producer Daiz through a business partnership agreement. Diaz had raised a total of approximately $11.2m as of a $6.1m series A round featuring frozen food producer Nichirei Foods, organic vegetable provider Kajitsudo, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Okasan Capital Partners and A-Five in May this year.
Xend Finance, a Nigeria-headquartered developer of decentralised software for credit unions, has launched with $1.5m million in funding from investors including Binance Labs, a subsidiary of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, and internet technology provider Google’s Launchpad vehicle, Coindesk has reported. AU21 Capital and TRG Capital also contributed to the round, and Binance invested in Xend after the startup built its product on the Xend platform.
Philippines-based livestreaming platform developer Kumu has received an undisclosed amount from Gobi-Core Philippine Fund, a $10m vehicle formed by VC firms Gobi Partners and Core Capital, Tech in Asia reported on Tuesday. Media company Summit Media led a $1.2m round for Kumu in late 2018 that included Foxmont Capital Partners, Two Culture Capital, Scott Hartley and Jove Schrottmann, before it added $4m to $5m in an April 2020 round led by Openspace Ventures and backed by Summit Media, telecoms firm Globe Telecom, broadcaster ABS-CBN and conglomerate Ayala Corporation’s Kickstart Ventures unit.
Makoto Capital, a corporate venturing subsidiary of consulting firm Makoto, provided an undisclosed amount for Japan-based regenerative medicine researcher Sky Pharma on Monday through its Stage Up Fund. The startup was founded in November 2019 off the back of university research and is assessing the use of low-molecular-weight compounds in regenerative treatments.
Natee, the Japan-based creator of a data analytics platform for social media influencers, secured ¥120m ($1.1m) on Monday from Monex Ventures, the VC arm of financial exchange operator Monex, as well as mobile game publisher Akatsuki’s Heart Driven Fund, Cubic Ventures and XTech Ventures. The startup had already raised an undisclosed sum from Heart Driven Fund, East Ventures and angel investors including Keito Noguchi, Chikako Morimoto and JJ Combi in February this year.
Web development services provider Hinode Labo supplied a undisclosed amount Ceylon Soft Solutions, the Sri Lanka-based operator of a service that provides IT human resources for Japanese companies, on Tuesday. The investment was made through a strategic partnership intended to plug a gap in expertise in Japan’s IT services space.
Enowa, the Japan-based creator of smart irrigation software platform Paditch, received ¥100m ($950,000) in series A funding from investors including Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, a subsidiary of insurer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, on Wednesday. Monozukuri Ventures and Skyland Ventures also took part in the round, which the company said increased is overall funding to approximately $1.6m.
Money Forward Venture Partners, the corporate venturing arm of personal accounting app developer Money Forward, invested an undisclosed amount in Japan-based salon sharing service Salowin today. The cash was supplied through the unit’s Hirac Fund and will fund the expansion of Salowin’s four outlets in the city of Tokyo.
Nishika, the Japan-based operator of an online recruitment platform for data scientists, secured ¥83m ($790,000) in seed capital today from CyberAgent Capital, a subsidiary of internet company CyberAgent, as well as education services provider Globis’ G-Startup Fund and angel investor Hajime Hotta. The round represented the company’s first external funding and it included debt financing from undisclosed financial institutions.
Online local information provider Jimoty joined VC firm F Ventures to provide an undisclosed amount of seed capital for Rsmile, the Japan-based developer of property maintenance sharing app Cosoji, on Monday. The funds will support product development, recruitment and marketing activities.
Product Guru, the UK-headquartered operator of an online product discovery platform, raised £330,000 ($440,000) yesterday, £230,000 of which was supplied by retail consumers’ co-operative Scotmid Coop and seed fund Techstart VC. The remaining capital came from the state-owned Scottish Enterprise and the round came in the wake of $380,000 from another co-operative society, Scotmid, as well as Scottish Enterprise and Belmond Capital in June 2019.
Oga Fit, an India-based livestreamed workout platform developer backed by yoga studio operator Sarva, has received an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding from Venture Catalysts’ 9Unicorns incubator and VC partnership Joyance Partners, VCCircle reported yesterday. The existing investors in Oga, which is owned by holding company Qvady Technologies, include Sarva, Inflection Point Ventures and angel investor David Giampaolo, according to VCCircle.
Energy utility EDP has invested R$2m ($360,000) in Time Energy, a Brazil-based provider of connected energy management systems, through corporate venturing vehicle EDP Ventures Brasil, Baguete has reported. The company had participated in EDP’s Starter Business Acceleration initiative in 2019.
Japan-based website design service Helix Creative secured an undisclosed amount of funding on Monday from incubator, graphic design and back-office services provider Link-Up. Founded in 2013, Helix will use the capital to recruit more staff as it looks to meet demand for urgent web support during the coronavirus pandemic.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
