Lyra Health, the mental health access platform backed by healthcare provider Providence Health and Services, has raised an undisclosed amount from venture capital fund Plus Capital and assorted individuals. Providence investment vehicle Providence Ventures took part in a $110m series D round for Lyra in August this year at a $1.1bn valuation alongside Addition, Adams Street Partners, Casdin Capital, Glynn Capital, Greylock Partners, IVP, Meritech Capital Partners, Tenaya Capital and Howard Schultz to take its total funding past $268m.
Karakuri, a UK-based developer of robotics technology for the food industry, completed a £6.3m ($8.4m) funding round on Wednesday that included grocery delivery service Ocado Group. VC firm Firstminute Capital led the round, which also featured Hoxton Ventures, Taylor Brothers and the UK government’s Future Fund, and which came in the wake of a $9.1m round in May 2019 led by Ocado and backed by Hoxton Ventures, Firstminute Capital and Taylor Brothers.
VC firm Vertex Ventures has added $3m to the latest financing round for India-based app development platform provider Signzy to increase it to $8.4m, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday. Payment services firm Mastercard joined Arkam Ventures, Kalaari Capital and Stellaris Venture Partners in the round’s $5.4m first tranche in October this year, following a $600,000 round led by Kalaari Capital’s K-Start fund in mid-2018 and a $3.4m round featuring Stellaris and K-Start in November the same year.
Media group Bertelsmann’s BDMI subsidiary led an $8m funding round yesterday for Zephr, a UK-based developer of software that helps digital media companies boost their subscription revenue. The round included Knight Capital, Nauta Capital and debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank, and it came after $3.1m in seed capital from Nauta Capital in July 2019.
Guuru, the Switzerland-based provider of a customer support service that combines human agents and artificial intelligence, has raised $5m from investors including Swiss Post Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of postal service Swiss Post, for a series A round that now stands at $7.9m. Spark Invest led the second tranche, which also featured Investiere and EquityPitcher Ventures, both of which backed the March 2019 first close with Swiss Post, e-commerce services provider MS Direct and Wayra UK, a subsidiary of telecoms company Telefónica.
Fisdom, the India-based operator of a mutual investment app, has secured $7m in a funding round led by digital payment technology producer PayU, the Economic Times reported yesterday. Quona Capital and Saama Capital also participated in the round, having contributed to an $11m round for the company in October 2019 that was led by a $5m investment from PayU.
US-based cancer care management startup Onc.AI closed a $6m financing round yesterday co-led by Blue Venture Fund, the investment vehicle for 36 Blue Cross and Blue Shield health insurers, with VC firm Accomplice. The round also featured KdT Ventures, Digitalis Ventures, The Operator Network and angel investors including Jonathan Fleming, Chen Fong and Stanley Mark.
China-based on-demand delivery service Pickupp has completed a series A round of undisclosed size that included e-commerce group Alibaba’s Entrepreneurs Fund and Swire Properties New Ventures, an investment vehicle for real estate developer Swire Properties, DealStreetAsia reported on Monday. Cyberport Macro Fund, Vision Plus Capital and SparkLabs Taipei also took part in the round, which followed undisclosed amounts from mobile app developer Sage42, Shanghai Bestway Enterprise Development Company, Axis Capital Partners and Metroworks Equity in 2017, and Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, Spark Ventures and Axis Capital in late 2018.
Investment firm Edge Investments has provided £2m for UK-based speech transcription tool developer Trint to boost a funding round already backed by media company New York Times in September this year to £5m ($6.7m) on Monday. Trint raised an undisclosed sum from Wild Blue Cohort in 2016, $3.1m in a Horizons Labs-led pre-series A round in 2017 and $4.5m from media company Associated Press, Horizons Labs and TechNexus in April 2019. Its early backers include internet technology provider Google’s Digital News Innovation Fund and Knight Enterprise Fund.
Engineering and equipment manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries invested an undisclosed amount in Monolith Materials, a US-based developer of methane-to-hydrogen and carbon black conversion technology, on Monday through subsidiary Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America. Monolith raised $20m in September this year according to a securities filing, having previously secured a total of roughly $170m between 2013 and December 2019, from investors including Azimuth Capital Management, Warburg Pincus and Cornell Capital, according to other filings.
US-based cloud automation technology startup Fylamynt emerged from stealth on Wednesday with $6.5m from a seed round led by Gradient Ventures, internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund. VC firms Mango Capital and Point72 Ventures also contributed to the round, which will support the growth of Fylamynt’s research and development team. It follows an undisclosed amount of angel funding previously supplied by Liquid2 Ventures and individuals including Ameet Patel and Sri Pangulur.
Infinite Uptime, an India-based developer of industrial internet-of-things technology provider, has received $5.15m in series B funding from investors including mechanical engineering equipment producer THK, the Economic Times reported yesterday. VC firm VenturEast led the round, which was also backed by Mayfield, GSR Ventures, IIML and GiTV – the four investors that had provided $5m in series A funding for the company in July 2018.
McKesson Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical distributor and health IT provider McKesson, supplied an undisclosed amount for US-based clinical trial technology provider Clinical Ink yesterday. The company raised $5.3m from investors including NovaQuest Capital Management in May 2018, following a total of $17.7m in equity funding and $1.7m in debt financing between 2010 and 2017, according to securities filings. Its earlier backers include MPM Capital, F2 Ventures and FCA Venture Partners, the last of which led its $4.3m series B round in 2013.
Automotive manufacturer Volvo Cars co-led a $5m seed round on Wednesday for Actasys, a US-based developer of sensor cleaning equipment for use in smart vehicles. The corporate’s Volvo Cars Tech Fund co-led the round with VC firm NextGear Ventures, and it is working with Actasys on a dedicated version of its ActaJet sensor cleaning system for Volvo cars.
Australia-based online moderation support provider Mod.io raised $4m in seed funding from investors including game, app and fashion brand developer Machinefloor yesterday. The round was co-led by VC firm Sequoia Capital India’s Surge accelerator and VC fund Makers Fund, and it also featured Play Ventures and GameTech Ventures. Mod.io had secured $1m in a March 2020 seed round led by Play Ventures and backed by GameTech Ventures and unnamed angel investors.
AceAge, a Canada-based provider of medication packaging technology that helps patients manage complex medication regimes, closed a C$5m ($3.9m) series A round yesterday led by Longliv Ventures, a VC subsidiary of conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings. The round included Bloom Burton Investment Group, and Longliv Ventures managing director Dan Eldar is joining AceAge’s board of directors.
US-headquartered online soil marketplace Soil Connect completed a $3.25m seed round on Wednesday featuring building materials producer Cemex’s investment arm, Cemex Ventures, as well as real estate services provider Situs Real Estate, real estate developer and investment firm Altmark Group, property developer JG Pertucci and concrete contractor Bazella. The round was co-led by TIA Ventures and Heartland Ventures and included Alpaca VC, Great Oaks Venture Capital and AB Investment Group.
Saison Ventures, the strategic investment arm of payment services firm Credit Saison, has co-led a $3.2m funding round for Tazapay, the Singapore-based creator of a trade management software platform for small and medium-sized businesses, The Business Times reported on Tuesday. The round was co-led by VC firm Sequoia India’s Surge accelerator and the proceeds will support product development, hiring and regional expansion.
Aces, a Japan-based developer of image recognition software, secured ¥320m ($3.1m) yesterday from consulting firm Industrial Growth Platform and Deep30, the artificial intelligence investment vehicle for University of Tokyo’s Matsuo Lab where it was incubated. It came after an undisclosed amount from Deep30 in May 2019.
Singapore-based digital identification technology developer Credify raised an undisclosed amount from IT services firm TIS’s corporate venturing unit, telecoms and internet conglomerate SoftBank’s Deepcore subsidiary and VC firm Beenext on Monday. Deepcore and Beenext had previously supplied $1m in seed capital for Credify in February this year following the startup’s participation in Plug and Play Japan’s 2020 FinTech Accelerator.
Pharmaceutical company Eisai has co-led a $2.3m pre-seed round for Neuroglee, a Singapore-based developer of digital therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round was co-led by Kuldeep Singh Rajput, the founder and CEO of predictive healthcare technology provider Biofourmis, and Neuroglee plans to initiate clinical trials for its lead product candidate, a potential Alzheimer’s disease treatment, in 2021.
BRI Ventures, the VC arm of financial services firm BRI Bank, has supplied $2m in series A funding for Indonesia-based beverage retail chain Haus, DealStreetAsia reported on Wednesday. The cash was invested through BRI Ventures’ Sembrani Nusantara fund and will support the company’s expansion activities in its home country.
Construction firm Daito Trust Construction invested an undisclosed amount in Japan-based micromobility service Luup yesterday. The company had raised a total of $8.1m as of July 2020, from investors including petroleum supplier Eneos Group, construction firm Obayashi, financial services firms Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, mobile game publisher Akatsuki, graphic design agency The Guild and public relations firm Breakthrough Company Go.
Micoly, a Japan-based provider of online lessons for leisure pursuits and hobbies, received ¥200m ($1.9m) on Monday from investors including digital marketing agency Adways, insurance firm Mitsui Life’s Sansei Capital unit and brokerage Daiwa Securities’ Daiwa Corporate Investment subsidiary. They were joined by Anri, Samurai Incubate and two undisclosed private investors.
Evonik Venture Capital, the strategic investment arm of chemicals producer Evonik, provided an undisclosed amount for Denmark-based hydrogen peroxide generator developer HPNow on Monday. The unit had previously invested a similarly undisclosed sum in HPNow in 2017, the year after it had secured $430,000 from the Danish government-backed Innovation Fund Denmark’s Innobooster scheme.
US-based automotive safety product developer PreAct Technologies secured $1.6m from investors including consumer electronics manufacturer Sony’s Innovation Fund yesterday. VC fund Alpha Bridge Ventures led the round, which was also backed by Elev8.vc, the fund that led PreAct’s $1m seed round in April 2019. The startup joined the Safe x Connected Cities Accelerator formed by insurer Aviva Canada and Highline Beta nine months later.
Digital insurance provider Tangerine Life has participated in a $1.5m funding round for Nigeria-based consumer credit provider CredPal, Disrupt Africa reported on Wednesday. The round also featured Y Combinator and GreenHouse Capital, and it came after CredPal had received $17,500 from Startupbootcamp’s AfriTech accelerator in August 2018.
BPM, a Japan-based developer of building management software, received an undisclosed amount yesterday from Double Sharp Partners, a corporate venturing vehicle for data management technology provider Pipedo HD, and unnamed angel investors. Financial services firm Fukuoka Financial Group’s FFG Venture Business Partners subsidiary and VC firm Spiral Ventures Japan had invested an undisclosed sum in BPM in January 2019 before construction materials trader Nohara Holdings added an undisclosed amount the next month.
Japan-based advanced circuit producer NanoBridge Semiconductor raised ¥130m ($1.25m) on Tuesday in a series A round that included IT equipment producer NEC Corporation and private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners. The startup was formed by NEC engineers in September 2019 and the technology was spun off by NEC into the subsequent company.
Japan-based coffee subscription service PostCoffee secured an undisclosed amount on Tuesday from D2C&Co and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, which invested on behalf of retail group Marui and insurer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, as well as media company Ceres and VC firm Samurai Incubate. It came after $460,000 from Ceres, media company Asahi Shimbun’s Asahi Media Lab Ventures, Incubate Fund and Studies in October 2019.
Tsunagu.AI, the Japan-based developer of a low-code programming platform for web engineers, has received ¥100m ($960,000) in a pre-series A round that included Anobaka, the VC firm spun off by mobile game producer KLab’s investment arm, KLab Venture Partners, as well as fellow VC firms DNX Ventures and East Ventures. The company had raised tens of millions of yen (¥10m = $90,000 at contemporary rates) in seed funding from recruitment firm DIP and VC firm Now in February 2019.
Automotive components producer Toyoda Gosei has supplied ¥100m ($960,000) in funding for Ball Wave, a Japan-based spinout of Tohoku University that is working on practical applications for ball surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors. The companies plan to collaborate on an airborne virus development system, and Ball Wave will utilise Toyoda Gosei’s surface treatment technologies in its ball SAW sensor coatings.
Electronics manufacturer Kaga Electronics invested an undisclosed amount in Japan-based online healthcare support provider Linkage on Tuesday. Linkage offers services such as a smoking cessation aid and a women’s health support app. Its existing investors reportedly include materials and healthcare technology producer Teijin.
Japan-based urban farm operator PlantX raised an undisclosed amount of funding from agricultural machinery manufacturer Kubota on Monday. The funding was provided through a cooperation agreement that will involve the companies partnering on the planning and construction of farms in Japan and internationally.
Clicky, a Pakistan-based online fashion retailer that counts e-commerce marketplace Souq among its investors, has received $700,000 in pre-series A funding from angel investors including Asif Keshodia, formerly chief financial officer of Souq, Menabytes has reported. Souq and VC fund Fatima Ventures had invested an undisclosed amount in Clicky in 2017, the year after it was founded.
Chemical producer Daicel has invested an undisclosed amount in Japan-headquartered peptide drug developer PeptiStar on Tuesday. PeptiStar was formed by biopharmaceutical company PeptiDream, pharmaceutical firm Shionogi and chemical provider Sekisui Chemical in 2017, and they provided an undisclosed amount of funding for the company in March 2018. Public-private investment partnership Innovation Network Corporation of Japan agreed to invest up to $6.9m the following month.
I2O Therapeutics, a US-based developer of oral formulations for injectable drugs, has raised an amount indicated by a securities filing on Tuesday to be $600,000, from investors including pharmaceutical technology provider Colorcon’s corporate VC unit, Colorcon Ventures. The company had previously received $4m in an April 2020 seed round co-led by Sanofi Ventures, the investment of pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, and philanthropic VC fund JDRF T1D Fund, following $800,000 in debt financing in July 2019.
Handwriting software producer AI Inside invested an undisclosed amount in Showcase, a Japan-headquartered developer of cloud-based digital transformation technology provider, on Monday. The companies plan to exchange technology and expertise through a parallel strategic partnership agreement.
Shock Tech, the Japan-based creator of a data analysis software platform for the food ordering sector dubbed Loop, secured about ¥57m ($550,000) on Monday from investors including web services provider Teory, restaurant menu designer Menu Design Lab and food-focused consultancy Bank of Strategy. The round also featured undisclosed angel investors and the proceeds have been earmarked for platform development.
MTG Ventures, a corporate venturing vehicle for brand development firm MTG, provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Japan-based professional table tennis club Ryukyu Asteeda on Monday. Ryukyu Asteeda raised the money from existing investor MTG Ventures through a strategic collaboration agreement.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
