Alternative investment manager Investcorp provided an undisclosed amount of funding on Monday for WeDoctor, a China-based online medical booking service backed by corporates NWS, Tyan Home, AIA, Fosun and Tencent. WeDoctor’s most recent funding had consisted of a $500m round in mid-2018 that valued it at $5.5bn, and Investcorp announced the deal alongside an investment in China-based specialist medical care provider Lu Daopei Medical Group.
Aerospace manufacturer Airbus co-led a $10m series A round for UK-based ecosystem restoration services provider Dendra on Wednesday through corporate venture capital unit Airbus Ventures. The round was co-led by At One Ventures, Future Positive Capital and Lowercarbon Capital and included Lionheart Ventures, SystemIQ and VentureSouq. The company had raised $2.5m in seed funding from SystemIQ and unmanned aerial vehicle producer Parrot in April 2018 when it was still known as BioCarbon Engineering.
US-based digital health insurance provider Decent has received $10m in series A funding from investors including Santander InnoVentures, the corporate venturing arm of banking group Santander that has spun off its holdings into a venture capital affiliate called Mouro Capital. The round also featured QED Investors, Foundation Capital, Vulcan Capital, Asset Management Ventures, Core Innovation Capital, Future Positive, Sure Ventures, Healthy Ventures, Meridian Street Capital, Precursor Ventures, Maverick Venture, AirAngels, Unpopular Ventures, Work Life Ventures, Necessary Ventures, Digital Currency Group and unnamed angel investors. It had previously raised $8m in May 2018.
BoCloud, a China-based cloud software provider backed by e-commerce firm JD.com and electric carmaker Nio, closed a series D round of undisclosed size yesterday featuring Oriental Fortune Capital, Bocom International, Assets Management’s Guoxin Investment subsidiary, Shanghai Xinheng Investment and Hone Capital, part of GP Capital. The company raised an undisclosed of series C-plus funding from Nio vehicle Nio Capital and CETC Fund in July this year, after a $14.5m series C featuring Nio Capital and JD.com subsidiary JD Cloud in January 2020.
InsideSherpa, an Australia-based virtual work experience provider backed by education services provider Navitas, has rebranded to Forage having secured $9.3m in a series A round led by VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners, TechCrunch reported yesterday. It has now raised $11.6m in total and its earlier backers include Navitas subsidiary Navitas Ventures as well as FundersClub, Y Combinator, Arizona State University and Transition Level Investments, which led a $1.7m round for the company in October 2019.
US-based probiotics and gut health product developer Sun Genomics completed a $9.25m series A round on Wednesday that included Danone Manifesto Ventures, the strategic investment arm of packaged food producer Danone. The round was led by Pangaea Ventures and also featured the K3 Ventures-managed Orion Fund, Emerging Technologies Partners, SOSV, Human Longevity and Nascita Ventures. The last three were – like Danone Manifesto Ventures – implied to be existing backers, the company having previously secured $3m in January 2019.
Allergan Aesthetics, a medical aesthetics subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm AbbVie, co-led a $7.5m seed round on Wednesday for Stemson Therapeutics, the US-based developer of a hair loss treatment that uses a patient’s cells to regrow hair follicles. The round was co-led with VC firm Fortunis Capital and the proceeds will fund the growth of Stemson’s executive team in addition to its research and development capabilities.
US-based graphene transistor developer Cardea Bio received $7.5m in series A2 funding from laboratory instrument producer Agilent Technologies, Tsingyuan Ventures, Lifespan Investments, Serra Ventures, Table Mountain Capital, Photon Fund and Taihill Venture yesterday. Serra Ventures had previously joined Alexandria Venture Investments, the VC vehicle for life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, in a $7.8m series A1 round for the company in March 2019.
Industrial technology producer Robert Bosch has paid an undisclosed amount for a 26% stake in Sun Mobility, the India-based operator of an electric vehicle charging network, through subsidiary Robert Bosch Investment Nederland. The corporate invested through a strategic partnership with Sun Mobility, which was founded in 2017 as a joint venture between design and manufacturing services provider Maini Group and media conglomerate SUN Group.
Japan-based autoimmune disease drug developer Cell Axia has secured ¥700m ($6.7m) in a series B round featuring medical services network M3 and Miyako Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, FFG Venture Business Partners, Mizuho Capital and Okasan Capital Partners, subsidiaries of Kyoto University, financial services firms Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Fukuoka Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group, and securities firm Okasan Securities respectively. The funding will support clinical work on its lead drug candidate, E-MNC (CA-702).
Factris, a Netherlands-based developer of software that helps automate business lending, revealed on Wednesday it recently closed a €5m ($5.9m) series A round led by financial services firm Arab Bank’s corporate venturing unit, AB Ventures. Existing backers Speedinvest and Optima Investments also took part in the round along with unnamed angel investors, Speedinvest having led a $1.7m seed round for the company in November 2018.
CarbonCure Technologies, a Canada-based developer of carbon dioxide removal technology for the concrete industry, raised an undisclosed amount yesterday in a round co-led by e-commerce firm Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and VC fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The round included software provider Microsoft, BDC Capital, 2150, Thistledown Capital, Taronga Ventures and GreenSoil Investments, and it followed an undisclosed sum from construction firm Shaw Group, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GreenSoil, BDC Venture Capital, Pangaea Ventures, 350 Capital, Innovacorp, Brightpath Capital Partners, Neo Ventures, Power Generations and Carmanah Management in 2018. It secured $4.75m from investors including Pangaea Ventures, BDC Capital and Power Generations across 2015 and 2016.
Pachama, the US-based creator of a system that tracks how much carbon dioxide is captured in forestry offset projects, has received $5m in a funding round led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures that included Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, TechCrunch reported yesterday. It secured $4.1m from Saltwater, Lowercase Capital, Social Capital, Global Founders Capital and various angel investors in January this year, having been admitted to Y Combinator’s accelerator in March 2019.
Incentify, a US-based startup that has developed a cloud software platform that facilitates the management of tax credits and incentives, completed a $4.25m funding round on Tuesday led by tax software and services provider Ryan. The corporate will also begin offering Incentify’s service to its 16,000 global clients.
France-based educational game studio PowerZ has secured $3.5m in seed capital from investors including publishing group Hachette Livre, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. Education technology-focused VC fund Educapital and angel investors including Pierre Kosciusko-Morizet, Michaël Benabou and Octave Klaba also participated in the round, and PowerZ is aiming to advance its debut game to alpha testing in 2021.
Conglomerate JG Summit Holdings has provided an undisclosed amount of series B funding for Malaysia-based e-commerce aggregator iPrice, DealStreetAsia reported today. It will be added to the $10m raised by iPrice in March this year from Line Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of online messaging platform Line, as well as ACA Investments, Daiwa PI Partners and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, which is backed by internet group Naver. It had raised a total of $9.7m before Line Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in August 2018.
HRTech II Investment Limited Partnership, an investment joint venture formed by human resources firm Will Group and VC firm Future Venture Capital, invested ¥350m ($3.3m) in Lapras, the Japan-based owner of engineer recruitment service Lapras Scout, on Monday. Lapras (then called Scouty) raised $880,000 from Infinity Venture Partners and two angel investors including Yasushi Kim in 2017, and added $2.7m from Will Group HR Tech Investment Limited Partnership, Incubate Fund, X Fund and private investor Yusuke Sato in December 2018.
Financial services firms Banco Sabadell and Bankia co-led a pre-series A round sized at more than €2.6m ($3.1m) for Spain-based digital financing platform developer Nemuru on Wednesday through their InnoCells and Bankia Fintech Venture units. The round included Plug and Play and Scale Lab Andorra as well as Antai Venture Builder, Encomenda and Lánzame, all three of which had taken part in the company’s $2.2m seed round in May 2019.
Epigeneron, a Japan-headquartered developer of genetics-based drug discovery technology, received ¥320m ($3.1m) from electronics, industrial and IT product manufacturer Toshiba and University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners on Wednesday. In addition to investing in the company, Toshiba has signed a memorandum of understanding with it covering possible collaboration.
Fertiliser producer Hubei Forbon Technology supplied $3m in series A funding on Tuesday for LIGC, an Israel-based developer of laser-induced graphene filters. The capital will be allocated to product development and manufacturing activities for the filters, which are designed to eliminate airborne bacteria and viruses.
US-based family caregiver support service TCare completed a $3m financing round yesterday led by VC group SixThirty Ventures that included Aflac Ventures, the investment arm of insurer Aflac, as well as health insurer BlueCross BlueShield MN. The round also featured Blu Ventures, Village Capital, Connetic Ventures and Gener8tor, and it followed $75,000 from Village Capital in February 2019.
Japan Legal System Institute, the Japan-based developer of legal text editing platform Lawgue, secured ¥300m ($2.9m) on Monday from UB Ventures, the investment arm of business intelligence provider Uzabase, as well as legal information providers Shinnippon-Hoki Publishing and Dai-Ichi Hoki, logistics services firm Suzuyo, document digitisation service AI Inside, and debt financing from Mitsubishi UFJ Bank. It had already raised $730,000 from investors including UB Ventures in December 2019.
Pinnacles, the Japan-based operator of video workplace training app Tebiki, also raised ¥300m ($2.9m), in a seed round that included Globis Capital Partners, the corporate venturing subsidiary of education services provider Globis, on Tuesday. Angel investors Nobuhiro Ariyasu, Yosuke Tsuji and Yu Akasaka also contributed to the round, which was disclosed 13 months after the launch of the app.
Aiforce Solutions, a Japan-based developer of artificial intelligence-equipped human resources software, received ¥260m ($2.5m) on Monday in a series A round featuring diversified conglomerate Sumitomo. The corporate joined financial services firms Mizuho Bank and 77 Bank’s Mizuho Capital and 77 Capital units, Development Bank of Japan’s DBJ Capital fund and investment firm Gordon Brothers Japan in the round, which came in the wake of an undisclosed amount from Sumitomo in July 2019.
Information and communications technology provider Infocom has invested an undisclosed amount in Homage, a Singapore-based telehealth technology and senior care services provider, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. Homage had raised approximately $15.4m as of a $10m series B round in January this year led by EV Growth, which is backed by conglomerate Sinar Mas and internet company Yahoo Japan, as well as Alternate Ventures, KDV Capital and existing investor HealthXCapital.
Finch, the US-based creator of an all-in-one savings and investment app, raised $1.8m on Wednesday in a seed round that included financial services firm Barclays. The round was led by VC fund Mendoza Ventures and also featured Techstars Investors and Draper Frontier. It came after the startup joined the New York batch of the 2019 Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars.
Uuuo, the Japan-based operator of a mobile app that lets users order fish directly from market auctions, has secured an undisclosed amount of series A funding from investors including Itochu Technology Ventures, Tsuneishi Capital Partners, Hiroshima Venture Capital and Tottori Capital, on behalf of trading group Itochu, shipbuilder Tsuneishi and financial services firms Hiroshima Bank and Tottori Bank respectively, as well as Full Commit Partners and Incubate Fund. It had previously raised about $3.5m as of May 2020, including $930,000 in a December 2018 pre-series A round featuring Tottori Capital, Hiroshima Venture Capital, Incubate Fund and Lifetime Ventures.
Telecoms firm MTS has provided RUB125m ($1.7m) in funding for CoinKeeper, the Russia-based developer of a personal finance management app, investing through its MTS Venture Fund. Coinkeeper raised the money having been selected by the corporate to launch a pilot project through its MTS Startup Hub accelerator.
Plastic piping manufacturer Aliaxis agreed today to invest an undisclosed amount in Kando, the Israel-based developer of a software platform that enables water utilities to track data from their wastewater systems. The deal is the first to be conducted by corporate venturing unit Aliaxis Ventures and comes after Kando received an undisclosed amount from Israel-Colorado Innovation Fund in September 2018.
Recipio, the Japan-based operator of online convenience store QuickGet, received ¥170m ($1.6m) from UB Ventures, Monex Ventures and CyberAgent Capital, on behalf of business intelligence provider Uzabase, currency exchange provider Monex and internet company CyberAgent, as well as FGN AbbaLab, F Ventures and private investors Yū Akasaka, Ayatarō Nakagawa and Kōichirō Yoshida, and debt financing from Japan Finance Corporation. The company – then focused on menu recommendations – secured $92,000 from F Ventures and unnamed individuals in April 2018 and $480,000 from CyberAgent Capital, UB Ventures and various angel investors nine months later.
NearMe, the Myanmar-based operator of a digital services platform for businesses, has raised a seven-digit dollar amount from diversified conglomerate Sumitomo, DealStreetAsia reported on Wednesday. The company was launched by digital payment processor 2C2P as 1-Stop and it plans to get support for its retail partners from Sumitomo’s affiliates.
Good Offices, the Japan-based flexible workspace subscription service also known as iiOffice, has secured ¥99m ($940,000) on Tuesday from sales and marketing services firm Suprieve along with Suprieve’s chief executive, Takeshi Mori. The company plans to strengthen its links with Suprieve in addition to expanding its network of spaces and improving branding.
QibiTech, the Japan-based developer of a autonomous remote control system for robots, received ¥68.4m ($650,000) today from engineer training provider Willtec, robotics technology producer Takumi and ThinQ I Holdings, the operator of an open innovation platform. The funding will be channelled into technology development.
UMG Idealab, the accelerator subsidiary of conglomerate UMG, has provided an undisclosed amount of seed capital for Jarvis, a workplace monitoring app developed by Indonesia-based financial and mobile technology provider Jari Solusi Internasional, e27 reported yesterday. Jarvis, which is also known as Jari Visibility, will put the funding toward sales and marketing.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
