Diversified conglomerate Dutco supplied an undisclosed amount of series E financing for Singapore-based solar energy provider Sunseap yesterday. Sunseap had closed $146m in series D funding in February 2020 from investors including energy utility Banpu, Temasek and ABC World Asia. It had previously raised $222m from investors including Banpu, building maintenance provider IsoTeam, conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Shell Ventures, the subsidiary of petroleum supplier Shell then still known as Shell Technology Ventures.
US-based antagonist antibody drug developer Boston Immune Technologies and Therapeutics closed a $10m series A/A1 round yesterday featuring biopharmaceutical company BeiGene, Hatteras Venture Partners, EGP Investment and unnamed private investors. The company named Hatteras Venture Partners and EGP Investment as existing backers and the cash will support development of a product pipeline including a lead drug candidate focusing on cancer and infectious diseases.
Gatsby, the US-based digital trading platform developer backed by financial services firm Barclays and virtual bank Radius Bank, has raised $10m in series A funding from Techstars Ventures, Beta Bridge Capital, a ClearList group of angel investors and a campaign on equity crowdfunding platform SeedInvest, TechCrunch has reported. Venture capital firm SWS Venture Capital led a round of undisclosed size for Gatsby in April 2020 following $2m in earlier funding from Barclays, Radius, SWS Venture Capital, Techstars, Plug and Play Ventures, Irish Angels and Alex Wohl.
Reinsurance firm Swiss Re’s Corporate Solutions subsidiary invested an undisclosed amount in Coefficient, the insurance risk technology developer created by internet and technology group Alphabet’s Verily life sciences unit, on Monday. The prospective investment was initially announced in August 2020 when Coefficient was launched.
Stockmark, a Japan-based developer of natural language processing technology, has completed a funding round sized at more than ¥1bn ($9.2m) that included Bonds Investment Group, a subsidiary of marketing firm Opt, and NTT Docomo Ventures, the investment arm of mobile network operator NTT Docomo. The round also featured Daiwa Corporate Investment, part of brokerage Daiwa, and World of Innovation Lab, the VC firm that had supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Stockmark in February 2020.
CourseKey, a US-headquartered trade school software provider backed by educational content producer Ingram Content Group, has secured $9m in a series B round led by VC firm SignalFire and backed by Builders VC. The company raised an undisclosed sum from Tech Coast Angels in 2017 and $3.5m in seed funding from backers including Steve Altman and Larry Rosenberger the same year, adding $5m in a July 2019 series A round led by Builders VC and backed by Ingram’s ICG Ventures, Entangled Ventures, Bisk Ventures, Social Starts, Altman, Rosenberger and fellow angel investor Paul Jacobs that took its total funding to $9m.
Internet group Tencent invested €5m to lead a €7m ($8.3m) series B round for Finland-based digital payment services provider Enfuce on Wednesday, with VC firm Maki.vc supplying the rest of the cash. Ling Ge, chief European representative for Tencent, will join Enfuse’s board of directors in connection with the round, which the company said lifted its overall equity funding to €15m. Maki.vc had led an $11m round for Enfuce in November 2019 that including venture debt from Nordea, LähiTapiola, and Finnvera.
Ubiquitous Energy, a US-based provider of transparent solar coating technology, received $8m in funding from oil, gas and mining group Eneos Holdings yesterday. The company had raised $1m in seed funding in 2012 before Riverhorse Investments led a $5.8m series A round in 2014 that included existing backers Cranberry Capital and angel investor Arunas Chesonis. It added $1.2m from unnamed investors in 2016 and $15m the following year, according to securities filings.
Japan-headquartered cloud game service Ubitus completed a round of undisclosed size on Wednesday led by internet and gaming group Tencent. The round included Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, a VC firm sponsored by consumer electronics manufacturer Sony, as well as game producers Square Enix and Actoz. The company had raised $2m from mobile network operator NTT Docomo’s NTT Investment Partners unit in 2010 before adding $15m from investors including electronics producer Samsung’s Venture Investment Corporation in 2013.
Aptpod, the Japan-based operator of automotive internet-of-things product Intdash, closed an ¥800m ($7.3m) series C round on Monday featuring medical information provider M3, Kiraboshi Capital and SMBC Venture Capital (on behalf of Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation), DBJ Capital and Mizuho Securities Principal Investment. It had raised $5.9m from SBI Investment, Mizuho Capital, SMBC Venture Capital and Mirai Creation Fund in 2017 and $7m in a 2018 series B round featuring Subaru-SBI Innovation Fund, a joint venture between carmaker Subaru and financial services firm SBI, in addition to an affiliate of electronics manufacturer Foxconn, Mirai Creation Fund and 2020.
Fidelity International Strategic Ventures, the strategic investment arm of financial services and investment group Fidelity, has co-led a £5m ($6.9m) extension to UK-based equity management platform developer Capdesk’s series A round with VC firm MiddleGame Ventures, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. Fuel Ventures led the $3.7m first close in April 2020, having joined unnamed angel investors to provide $2m for Capdesk in March 2019.
Conglomerate Sojitz agreed today to pay an undisclosed sum for a 25% stake in PET Refine Technology, a chemical recycling service subsidiary of Japan Environment Planning, the Japan-based recycling technology provider also known as Jeplan. The deal is related to a strategic partnership that will involve Sojitz helping PET Refine grow its polyethylene terephthalate chemical recycling activities both in Japan and internationally.
ZwitterCo, a US-based producer of fouling-resistant membrane technology, completed a $5.9m seed round yesterday co-led by filtration equipment manufacturer Mann+Hummel through its Mann+Hummel Corporate Ventures unit. R-Cubed Capital Partners co-led the round, which also featured Burnt Island Ventures and undisclosed angel investors. ZwitterCo was spun out of Tufts University in 2018 and had subsequently joined the Greentown Labs incubator and Imagine H2O accelerator.
Genomenon, a US-based developer of genome sequencing analysis software, closed a $5.3m financing round yesterday backed by insurance provider Atain Specialty Insurance. The round included BroadOak Capital Partners, Green Park & Golf Ventures, Red Cedar Ventures and Michigan Rise as well as Invest Detroit Ventures, IrishAngels, Michigan Angel Fund and Invest Michigan, all of which like Atain were described as existing investors. Genomenon had raised $450,000 from unnamed investors in 2015 and $2.9m in debt financing in May 2020, according to securities filings.
Electronics casing manufacturer Catcher Technology invested an undisclosed amount in Via Surgical, an Israel-based provider of non-invasive surgical suture, yesterday. Benslie Investment Group led a $6m funding round for Via Surgery in 2016, and the company will allocate the Catcher investment into expansion in the Asia-Pacific region.
Decibel Partners, the VC firm backed by networking technology provider Cisco, led a $5m funding round for US-based asset inventory software developer Rumble on Tuesday. The round included angel investors Jon Oberheide, Slavik Markovich, Rishi Bhargava, Oliver Friedrichs, Haroon Meer and Michael Sutton. The cash will fund the strengthening of Rumble’s product as well as its go-to-market capabilities.
Vega, a US-based developer of decentralised derivatives trading technology, secured $5m yesterday from investors including Coinbase Ventures, the strategic investment arm of cryptocurrency trading platform developer Coinbase. The company said the capital was raised through rounds led by Cumberland DRW and Arrington XRP Capital that included ParaFi Capital, Signum Capital, CMT Digital, CMS Holdings, Three Commas, GSR, SevenX Ventures, ZeePrime Capital, DeFi Alliance, multiple individuals and existing backers Gumi Cryptos Capital (on behalf of game publisher Gumi), Hashed, Eden Block, Greenfield One, KR1 and Monday Capital, all of which backed Vega’s $5m seed round in late 2019.
XTX Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets, co-led a ‘multimillion-pound’ (£1m = $1.4m) seed round of undisclosed size yesterday for Lucida Medical, a UK-based developer of artificial intelligence technology for cancer diagnostics. The round was co-led by Prostate Cancer Research and comes after Lucida was spun out of the University of Cambridge.
UpSwot, a US-based provider of software that helps financial services firms improve their small business-focused activities, raised $4.3m in seed funding on Monday from investors including financial services firm First Southern National Bank. The round was led by Common Ocean Ventures and included CFV Ventures, ICBA, SpeedUp Venture Group and unnamed earlier backers. UpSwot entered media provider Bank Automation News’ Fintech Discovery accelerator last month.
Tsukuba Exceed Fund, a vehicle formed by financial services holding company Mebuki Financial Group’s Joyo Bank and Joyo Industrial Research subsidiaries, joined Drone Fund to invest an undisclosed amount in Japan-based underwater drone developer FullDepth on Tuesday. FullDepth raised $3.1m from insurer Mitsui Sumitomo’s investment arm, Mitsui Sumitomo Capital, as well as Drone Fund, Beyond Next Ventures and University of Tsukuba’s Institute of Research in April 2019 to take its total funding to at least $4.8m.
Online supermarket Oisix Ra Daichi’s Future Food Fund joined health and wellness information provider Cuore in a ¥340m ($3.1m) funding round for MiL, the Japan-based owner of infant food brand The Kindest, alongside unnamed existing investors on Monday. The company had secured a total of at least $2.7m as of a $1.6m series A round in January 2020 that included Future Food Fund, Yuto Nagatomo and Takashi ‘Bazooka’ Okada. Its earlier backers include MTG Ventures, a subsidiary of brand development firm MTG.
Alcoholic beverage distributor Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits provided an undisclosed amount for ReserveBar, the US-based operator of an e-commerce platform for luxury spirits, on Wednesday through its Southern Glazer’s Ventures unit. The deal allows the corporate to harness an extra distribution option for its products.
Uplift Labs, a US-based developer of movement analytics software for athletes, has received $3m in funding from investors including internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s artificial intelligence fund, Deepcore, Crunchbase News reported on Monday. The corporate was joined by VC firm Stadia Ventures and the proceeds from the round will be used to increase the size of its sales, marketing and product development teams.
US-based online fundraising platform developer Pledge raised $3m in in seed capital on Tuesday from MS&AD Ventures, a subsidiary of insurance group MS&AD, as well as Maven Ventures, Designer Fund, Mantis VC and individuals including Randi Zuckerberg and Bill Tai. The company said it has now raised $12m altogether and is using the latest funding to launch a virtual camera app intended to help make fundraising more interactive.
Financial services firm Grupo Alfin has provided $3m in growth funding for Mexico-based online lending platform developer Baubap, Crunchbase News reported today. Baubap received $50,000 in funding through its participation in impact fund Seedstars’ accelerator in September 2020 and it has now raised a total of $3.5m according to Crunchbase. It plans to double the size of its 10-person team by the end of 2021.
Germany-based gas insulated switchgear developer Nuventura secured €2.5m ($3m) in seed funding in December 2020, it revealed on Monday, raising the cash in an extension co-led by Cycle Group and Doen Participaties that included power producer Apex Energy, IBB Ventures and Future Energy Ventures. Nuventura said it has now received more than €8m altogether, having raised an undisclosed amount in the round’s first tranche from Apex, energy utility Eon, the IBB-managed VC Fonds Technologie Berlin and existing backers including angel investors Arndt Neuhaus, Kaveh Niayesh, Christoph Wolff and Caio Koch-Weser.
US-based fibrosis drug developer Mediar Therapeutics received an undisclosed amount of seed funding on Wednesday from Pfizer Ventures and Ono Venture Investment, the corporate venturing vehicles for pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Ono Pharmaceutical respectively. Mediar was co-founded by Mass General Brigham Ventures, a subsidiary of healthcare provider Mass General Brigham, and had previously raised $5m from undisclosed investors according to a February 2019 securities filing.
Advanced materials producer Saint-Gobain invested an undisclosed amount in US-based 3D printing technology developer Continuous Composites on Wednesday. Continuous Composites had previously received $1.6m in equity funding from unnamed investors in December 2019 and $1.4m a year later, according to regulatory filings.
Internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund, Gradient Ventures, co-led a $2.5m seed round for Digitail, the US-based creator of a business management software platform for veterinarians, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. The round was co-led by byFounders and also featured Partech and individuals including Ivan Zakharenkov. It followed $250,000 in pre-seed funding from Fast Track Malmo, The Nordic Web Ventures and angel investors such as Christian Jantzen, Hampus Jakobsson, Erik Byrenius, Jonas Vig and Emil Sjödin.
Scientific instrument producer Bruker Corporation has supplied an undisclosed amount of seed funding for GlycoPath, a US-headquartered developer of bioanalytical assays based on technology created at the Medical University of South Carolina. GlycoPath is initially targeting hepatic fibrosis, a condition where an excess amount of connective tissue builds up in the liver.
US-based financial governance software developer Equa received $2.3m in funding from investors including enterprise blockchain technology producer Horizen Labs on Tuesday. It has accumulated more than 350 customers and is already preparing for its next funding round.
Telecoms firm KDDI’s Open Innovation Fund III provided an undisclosed amount of series A2 funding for Allganize, a Japan-based developer of natural language processing technology, in January this year, it revealed on Monday. The fund had invested $1m in Allganize in 2017 and returned for a $3.4m series A round in mid-2019. Its latest investment would have been part of the $10m round led by Atinum Investment and backed by financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Stonebridge Ventures and unnamed existing backers last week.
KDDI Open Innovation Fund III also invested an undisclosed sum in US-headquartered meeting software developer Bizly on Monday. Bizly had previously raised $3.6m in equity funding and $400,000 in debt financing as of late 2019 when it received $1.5m from JetBlue Technology Ventures, the investment arm of air carrier JetBlue, as well as Hone Capital and Eric Yuan. Its earlier backers are property developer LeFrak, FJ Labs, MetaProp, Jina Ventures, Hemisphere Ventures, Expansion Venture Capital and Brooklyn Bridge Ventures.
Cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research supplied $2m on Monday for Efficient Frontier, an Israel-headquartered digital currency trader and liquidity provider. The company named blockchain and crypto-focused VC fund Collider Ventures and algorithmic VC fund Follow The Seed as existing investors.
Indonesia-based shipping services provider Andalin has raised an undisclosed amount in a series A round led by BRI Ventures, the VC arm of financial services firm Bank Rakyat Indonesia, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. The unit invested through its Sembrani Nusantara Fund and the round followed an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Mountain Partners in 2017, an undisclosed sum in a February 2019 round co-led by Access Ventures and ATM Ventures, and a seven-figure sum in an October 2020 pre-series A round led by Beenext that took its total funding to $1.5m.
Japan-based fermentation technology developer FermenStation received ¥200m ($1.8m) on Monday from investors including JR East Start Up, the corporate venturing vehicle for rail operator JR East. The round was also backed by Shinsei Corporate Investment, the VC arm of financial services firm Shinsei Bank, in addition to investment firm SX Capital. The company had raised an undisclosed sum from VC firm Global Brain and academia-focused fund Iwagin Jigyo Souzou Capital in 2018.
Stock exchange operator National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has invested an undisclosed sum in Capital Quant Solutions, an India-based developer of software that uses machine learning to source crucial information from unstructured data, through subsidiary NSE Data and Analytics, LiveMint reported yesterday. NSE already uses the company’s FinStinct software.
Honeycomb Credit, the US-based operator of an online crowdfunding platform for loans, completed a $1.75m seed round anchored by insurance firm American Family Insurance’s Institute for Corporate and Social Impact on Monday. Innovation Works, K50 Ventures Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh, Reinforced Ventures and Flight.vc also participated in the round, which followed a $1m round led by Innovation Works in 2018 that included angel investor Ed Engler and which took the company’s overall funding to $1.2m.
Robot Start, the Japan-based developer of text-to-voice software tool Audiostart, secured ¥160m ($1.5m) in debt and equity financing on Tuesday from investors including advertising agency Logly’s corporate venturing subsidiary, Logly Investment. The equity portion of the round also featured VC firm K&P Partners while Japan Finance Corporation provided the debt financing. The company has now raised about $3.1m altogether.
Commercial solar power contractor iSun revealed yesterday it has invested $1.5m in US-based, stealth-stage mobility technology developer Gemini Electric Mobility. The deal was disclosed at the same time as a $1m investment in AmpUp, the electric vehicle software provider also known as Nad Grid Corp. AmpUp took part in the Y Combinator accelerator in 2019 and secured an undisclosed amount of series B funding from carmakers SAIC Motor and Hyundai Motor Company in April 2020, its other backers including Forest Ventures.
Dating platform operator Match Group provided a seven-figure amount for Garbo, the US-based developer of a background check platform, on Monday. The investment was made through a deal that will make the company’s product available to its US users beginning with Tinder later this year.
SolarWorx, a Germany-based developer of off-grid solar energy technology, raised an undisclosed seven-figure amount on Tuesday in a series A round that included solar module producer Canadian Solar. The corporate was joined by EIT InnoEnergy and Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft, and the round will be used to bolster the company’s sales activities and expand its product range.
TactileAI, the US-based creator of an analytics software platform for the beauty industry, received $1m in seed capital from SpringCamp, a VC fund backed by internet group Naver, on Wednesday. The funding will support the recruitment of engineers and data scientists as the startup looks to further develop the platform.
Insurance firm Nippon Life, media company Asahi Shimbun and broadcaster Nagoya TV have invested an undisclosed amount in Petokoto, the Japan-based direct-to-consumer dog food provider formerly known as Syrup, through Nissay Capital, Asahi Medialab Ventures and Nagoya TV Ventures respectively. The company had raised $1.8m in February 2020 from Colopl Next, the investment arm of mobile game developer Colopl, as well as media company Ceres, Genesia Ventures, unnamed corporate investors and individuals including Takahiro ‘Go’ Miura.
InitialPoint, the Japan-based developer of multifactor authentication tool JinCreek, secured about ¥100m ($920,000) from Shinsei Corporate Investment, the VC subsidiary of financial services firm Shinsei Bank, and GA Investment Association yesterday. The cash will go to product development and building out the startup’s sales and customer support resources.
Japan-based digital comic distributor No.9 has raised up to ¥100m ($920,000) in equity and debt financing from an undisclosed company listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and unnamed banks. No.9 said the round increased its overall funding to more than ¥300m and it follows a $1.8m investment by pachinko machine vendor Fields Corporation in 2017.
Blockchain technology provider Consensys has led a $660,000 seed round for Transak, the UK-based operator of an online platform that helps users convert fiat money to cryptocurrencies and back, YourStory reported on Tuesday. The Lao, IOSG, LuneX Ventures and Koji Capital also participated in the round together with undisclosed angel investors.
Internet technology provider Google’s Assistant Investment scheme has supplied an undisclosed amount for Wysa, the India-based creator of a mental health promotion and coaching app, YourStory has reported. Wysa (then known as Touchkin) raised $400,000 in seed funding from angel investors including Alok Mittal, Amit Gupta, Anuj Srivastava, Himanshu Aggarwal, Raghunandan G and Puneet Agarwal in 2016, $1.3m from Kae Capital and unnamed other investors the following year and $2m in pre-series A funding from Pi Ventures, Kae Capital and undisclosed others in June 2019.
Paintnote, a Japan-based producer of business management software tailored for the paint industry, secured about ¥40m ($370,000) today from investors including infrastructure painting and maintenance provider Kashiwabara Corporation. The corporate was joined by VC firm Gazelle Capital and undisclosed individual investors.
Abentry, the Japan-based owner of social video platform Dorm, received an undisclosed amount of funding from investors including construction, property and financial services group Green Innovations Holdings on Tuesday. FactPlus and KSK Angel Fund also took part in the round along with several individual investors.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
