Commercial vehicle manufacturer Navistar invested an undisclosed amount in US-based autonomous truck developer TuSimple on Wednesday through a strategic partnership agreement. The company had raised $298m as of a series D round featuring UPS Ventures, the investment arm of logistics group UPS, as well as automotive component maker Mando, internet company Sina, CDH Investments and Composite Capital Management that stood at $215m as of September 2019. Its earlier investors include Fuhe Capital, Zhiping Capital and Nvidia GPU Ventures, a subsidiarity of graphics chipmaker Nvidia.
South Korea-based esports team manager DRX raised $10m yesterday from luxury handbag exporter JS Corporation as well as Seoul Investment Partners, Quantum Venture Korea, Shinhan Capital, Wonik Investment Partners and Devsisters Ventures. The cash will support the entry of DRX’s League of Legends team to the Legends Champions Korea tournament and was secured alongside a $12.5m agreement for future investment from steel producer Kibo Steel and its ATU Partners subsidiary. The latter is already DRX’s largest shareholder.
Biopharmaceutical company Junshi Biosciences agreed on Tuesday to make a conditional $10m investment in US-based cancer immunotherapy developer Revitope Oncology that would give it a 9.99% stake. The companies have signed a strategic research collaboration, and the deal comes after Revitope raised $8.5m from undisclosed investors in 2016.
Seebo, an Israel-based manufacturing analytics platform developer that counts design software provider Autodesk as an investor, closed a $9m funding round on Tuesday led by Ofek Ventures that included Vertex Ventures, Viola Ventures and TPY Capital to take its total funding to $31m. Autodesk invested in the company in 2016 and its other existing backers include Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Global IoT Technology Ventures. It completed its $16.5m series A round in 2017.
Illumina Ventures, the strategic investment arm of genomics technology provider Illumina, led a $9m series B-1 round for US-based in vitro diagnostics technology developer Pattern Bioscience on Tuesday that included Omnimed Capital, a branch of investment manager Concorde Investment Management. Pattern raised $3.4m in April 2018 when it was still known as Klaris Diagnostics, and closed a further $6.4m in October 2019, according to securities filings.
Semiconductor producers Arm and Applied Materials (through Applied Ventures) joined commercialisation firm Allied Minds and Abies Ventures to add an amount revealed by Allied Minds to be $8.3m to US-based random access memory (RAM) technology developer Spin Memory’s series B round. Arm and Applied Ventures were among the investors in the $29m equity portion of the round’s 2018 first close, which came after a total of $106m of earlier funding from Allied Minds, Invesco Asset Management, Woodford Investment Management and SandAire.
Cyr3con, a US-based developer of cyber threat prediction software, secured $8.2m on Tuesday in a round led by investment firm Pivotal Group that included Trumpf Venture, the corporate venturing arm of industrial equipment maker Trumpf, as well as 3Lines Venture Capital, DF Enterprises and Hike Ventures. The company – then known as Cyber Reconnaissance – had previously raised an undisclosed sum in a January 2020 round led by Trumpf Venture. The cash will fund the expansion of the industries served by its platform.
Canada-based artificial intelligence chip developer Untether AI completed a $7m funding round on Monday that was led by venture capital firm Radical Ventures and backed by Intel Capital, the investment arm of semiconductor and data technology producer Intel. The same two investors had joined undisclosed additional backers to provide $20m in series A funding for Untether in November 2019. The extra cash is expected to fund the entry of the startup’s chips into production.
Samast Technologies, the India-based operator of hyperlocal discovery app Magicpin, has secured $7m in series D funding from electronics producer Samsung’s corporate venturing unit, Samsung Ventures, as well as existing backers including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Waterbridge Ventures, Hindu Business Line reported on Wednesday. Samsung Ventures invested $3m according to a regulatory filing. Samast was valued at $150m as of a $3.9m series C1 round in May 2020 and it has raised a total of about $41m from investors also including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bunting Family Private Fund, Moonstone Investments, WaterBridge Ventures and private investor Srivatsan Rajan.
US-based cloud management software startup Env0 increased its seed round to $6.8m on Wednesday when it raised $3.5m from investors including M12, the corporate venturing vehicle for software provider Microsoft. The tranche was led by VC firm Crescendo Venture Partners and also featured Boldstart Ventures and Grove Ventures. The latter two co-led the round’s $3.3m first close in April this year, participating alongside angel investors including Guy Podjarny.
Cohesion, a US-based provider of smart building management software, received $6.5m in seed capital from investors including real estate developer Frasers Property Group and proprietary trading firm CMT yesterday. Angel investment group Hyde Park Angels led the round, which also featured private investors Raj Gupta, Ken Griffin and Michael Sacks.
Japan-based digital transformation services provider Counterworks closed a ¥650m ($6.1m) series B round on Tuesday featuring TFHD Open Innovation Program, a joint investment venture for retail group Marui and real estate developer Tokyu Fudosan, in addition to debt financing from Japan Finance Corporation. It said it has now raised $7.6m altogether, including a nine-figure yen amount (¥100m = $980,000 at contemporary rates) from investment firm Jafco in 2016.
Financial services firm Commerzbank has invested $6m in UK-based insurance analytics provider Concirrus through VC subsidiary CommerzVentures. The deal came after Concirrus closed a $20m series B round in February this year that was led by AlbionVC and which included IQ Capital and Eos Venture Partners as well as unnamed angel investors. Touchstone Ventures invested $3.9m in the company in 2016 and added $3.8m in 2017 to take its stake to 66.7%. IQ Capital and Eos Venture Partners supplied another $6.5m in September 2018.
US-based digital healthcare software developer Noteworth raised $5m on Wednesday in a seed round led by VC firm Laconia Capital Group that included Draper Associates, Frontier Ventures, Techstars Ventures, Wavemaker360 and Springtide Capital. The company graduated from Cedars-Sinai Accelerator, the startup accelerator formed by healthcare provider Cedars-Sinai and accelerator operator Techstars, in 2017. Its existing investors include Colle Capital and Compound.
US-based domestic services provider Homee has received $4.5m in funding from Ferguson Ventures, a subsidiary of plumbing supplies distributor Ferguson Enterprises, as well as insurance firms State Farm, Liberty Mutual and The Hartford, Florida Funders, Activate Capital Partners and Forte Ventures, CEO Douglas Schaedler confirmed to Tampa Bay Inno yesterday. It has now raised $34.5m altogether, the latest investors having joined multi-corporate VC fund Engage and Deepwork Capital in a $15m series B round in September 2019.
Orbital Witness, the UK-based creator of an artificial intelligence software tool for due diligence on real estate deals, has secured £3.3m ($4.1m) in seed capital from investors including real estate services provider JLL’s corporate venturing unit, JLL Spark, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. LocalGlobe and Outward VC led the round, which also featured Seedcamp and which follows $1.5m from JLL Spark, Seedcamp and Life Ventures in May 2019.
Enduvo, the US-based developer of a software platform that facilitates the creation of interactive, immersive content, raised $4m on Wednesday in a seed round led by VC firm Math Venture Partners and backed by UL Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of certification services provider UL. It came after UL Ventures, Caerus Institute and unnamed angel investors provided an undisclosed amount for the company in July 2019 that was likely to be at least $1.4m according to a regulatory filing.
Media group Bertelsmann participated in a $4m series A round for US-based marketing technology startup Tenovos on Wednesday through its Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments subsidiary. VC fund Progress Ventures led the round, which also featured Revel Partners and Dublin Capital. The cash will fund product development as well as the startup’s customer success plans.
Sorare, a France-based digital football game developer backed by blockchain technology provider ConsenSys, secured $4m yesterday in a seed round led by E.ventures that included Partech, Fabric Ventures, Semantic Ventures, Cygni Capital and professional footballer André Schürrle. It came in the wake of more than $560,000 from ConsenSys subsidiary ConsenSys Ventures, Seedcamp, Kima Ventures and unnamed angel investors in May 2019.
RPSG Ventures, an investment fund backed by industrial conglomerate RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, has led a series A round for India-based media and e-commerce company Incnut Ventures that was sized at about $4m, the Economic Times reported on Monday. Incnut was founded in 2011 and raised $100,000 from VC firm Ventureast in 2013. Beauty e-commerce and media group iStyle acquired Ventureast’s stake for $3.4m in late 2018.
De Beers Group Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of jewellery producer De Beers, invested an undisclosed amount yesterday in Gemist, the US-based operator of an online platform that enables users to create their own jewellery designs that can be made into specialised pieces. Gemist has not revealed details of its past financing but named Legendary Ventures, Lightspeed Scout and Luma Launch as earlier investors.
Shuuumatu-Worker, an online Japan-based freelancer-sourcing platform raised ¥400m ($3.7m) in pre-series B funding from Tokyo University of Science Innovation Capital and Energy and Environment Investment on Tuesday. CyberAgent Ventures, the subsidiary of internet company CyberAgent since rebranded as CyberAgent Capital, joined KLab Venture Partners and two unnamed angel investors to provide $370,000 for the company in May 2018 before it added an undisclosed sum from KLab and recruitment firm En-Japan in April 2019.
Human resources provider Recruit has supplied $3.3m in pre-series B funding for Mystifly, the Singapore-based operator of an online marketplace for airfares, YourStory reported on Monday. Mystifly last raised money in 2016 when it secured $5m in a series A round led by Recruit’s RSI Fund at a $38m valuation.
CrossAngle, the South Korea-based developer of crypto asset disclosure service Xangle, closed ₩4bn ($3.3m) in series A2 funding yesterday from investors including Hanwha Investment and Securities, the brokerage subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Hanwha Group. The round was led by CrossAngle founder James Junwoo Kim and the cash will go to improving the startup’s technology infrastructure.
UK-based fact-checking software developer Logically has received £2.5m ($3.1m) in funding from electronic market-maker XTX Markets’ VC arm, XTX Ventures, as well as NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance, Private Equity Wire reported on Monday. It had raised a total of about $1.4m from unnamed investors as of February 2018 according to BusinessCloud, and was in the process of raising $7m in seed capital in August 2019.
Globis Capital Partners, the investment arm of education services provider Globis, joined University of Tokyo Edge Capital to supply ¥250m ($2.3m) in pre-series A funding for Japan-based real estate data provider Estie last month, it revealed on Tuesday. The money was raised alongside the formation of a strategic partnership with mapping services provider Zenrin and came after an undisclosed amount of seed financing from University of Tokyo Edge Capital in March 2019.
Osaka University Venture Capital (OUVC) invested ¥151m ($1.4m) in PGV, the Japan-based developer of a brain-monitoring sensor, on Tuesday. PGV received $460,000 from OUVC in 2016 and $2.4m in an August 2017 round featuring OUVC, automotive sensor maker Mektron and Senshu Ikeda Capital, part of financial services firm Senshu Ikeda Bank. It added $800,000 from SMBC Venture Capital, Mizuho Capital and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, on behalf of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the following month, before raising $1.2m from OUVC, oil seal manufacturer Nok and electronic material producer Nikkan Industries in January this year.
Joe Coffee, the US-based operator of a mobile ordering system for local coffee shops, has raised $1.3m in a funding round led by VC fund Craft Ventures that included VC firm Flying Fish Partners, TechCrunch has reported. Payment services provider Gravity Payments supplied $500,000 for the company in February this year, six months after a $750,000 investment by Flying Fish Partners that brought its overall funding to $1.7m.
CyberAgent Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of internet company CyberAgent, joined diversified group Kakuichi to supply ¥100m ($930,000) for Japan-based drone services provider Drone Pilot Agency on Tuesday. The company had previously received $520,000 from infrastructure maintenance provider Kashiwabara Corporation, multi-corporate VC partnership B Dash Ventures and undisclosed individuals in August 2019.
Japan-based customer behaviour intelligence startup Kizukai secured ¥80m ($750,000) from digital media company Gree’s Strive subsidiary and Reality Accelerator on Monday. Kizukai’s technology leverages artificial intelligence to reduce customer churn rate for businesses by identifying the customers most likely to leave.
Asset management firm Sparx Group led a $600,000 round for Myanmar-based telemedicine startup MyanCare that included IT services firm Scala and pharmacy chain AIN Holdings, e27 reported today. MyanCare has so far signed up more than 200 doctors to its online platform, which offers consultations through a mobile app.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu. Photo courtesy of TuSimple, Inc.
