Funds
India-based, consumer brand-focused venture capital firm Fireside Ventures has closed its third fund at $225m with backing from conglomerate ITC and consumer goods producer Emami. The limited partners also included financial services provider SBI, Self-Reliant India Fund, Investment Corporation of Dubai, Premji Invest, Waterfield-Fund of Funds and Sharrp Ventures.
M&A
Financial services firm BNP Paribas has agreed to pay €120m ($116m) to buy portfolio company Kantox, the UK-based creator of a software platform that automates currency risk management. The bank invested $8.6m in Kantox in early 2020 to take its total funding to over $26m. Its other backers include currency trading platform FxStreet and payment services provider Ingenico.
Singapore-based logistics optimisation software developer Luwjistik has been acquired by logistics technology provider Shippit for A$18m ($11.3m), allowing Telkom Indonesia’s MDI Ventures subsidiary to exit. The unit’s Arise fund took part in a seed round for Luwjistik that closed in March this year.
Ride hailing service Grab and financial services firm Kasikornbank’s Grab Ventures and Beacon Venture Capital units have exited Singapore-based on-demand staff provider Workmate through an acquisition of undisclosed size by human resources firm Persol. Workmate had raised over $20m as of mid-2020.
Investment manager Pollen Street Capital has paid an undisclosed sum for a majority stake in Pair Finance, a digital debt collection platform backed by fashion retailer Zalando. Fintech company builder Finleap will retain a minority stake in Pair having joined Zalando and various others in a $5.2m series A round in 2017.
| Company name | Company description | Sector | Country | Round | Round size ($) | Deal date | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FinAccel | Owner of buy now, pay later service Kredivo | Financial | Singapore | D | 140 | 07/10/2022 | GMO (GMO Global Payment); Mirae Asset (lead), Cathay Innovation, Endeavor Catalyst, Jungle Ventures, Openspace Ventures, Square Peg |
| Neumora Therapeutics | Brain disease drug developer | Healthcare | US | B | 112 | 11/10/2022 | Amgen; Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, Altitude Life Science Ventures, Arch Venture Partners, Exor (Exor Ventures), Fidelity (F-Prime Capital), Invus, Mubadala Capital, Newpath Partners, Polaris Partners, undisclosed others |
| Immersive Labs | Workplace cybersecurity services provider | Information Technology | UK | D | 66 | 12/10/2022 | Citi (Citi Ventures); Ten Eleven Ventures (lead), Goldman Sachs (Goldman Sachs Asset Management), Summit Partners, Insight Partners, Menlo Ventures |
| VectorBuilder | Gene delivery system designer | Healthcare | China | C | 57 | 11/10/2022 | Legend Holdings (Legend Capital) (co-lead), Xiamen C&D; Suikai Investment, Yuexiu Industrial Fund, Guangzhou Industrial Investment, Capital Operation Holding Group, Wanlian Securities |
| Stairwell | Cybersecurity software producer | Information Technology | US | B | 45 | 11/10/2022 | Alphabet (Gradient Ventures); Section 32 (lead), Sequoia Capital, Accel, Lux Capital, Eric Schmidt, Michael Ovitz |
| CrowdStreet | Online real estate investment platform | Financial | US | N/A | 43 | 10/10/2022 | The Dinerstein Companies, Foulger-Pratt; TIAA (TIAA Ventures), Cypress Equity Investments, Grotech Ventures, Rally Ventures, Seven Peaks Ventures, Green Visor Capital |
| Tehtris | Cybersecurity software producer | Information Technology | France | A | 42.7 | 12/10/2022 | CNP Assurances (Open CNP); Jolt Capital (lead), Tikehau Ace Capital, Nouvelle-Aquitaine Co-Investissement |
| AgriWebb | Livestock-focused business management soft | Industrial | US | B | 29.3 (updated) | 11/10/2022 | Telus (Telus Ventures); Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Germin8 Ventures, iSelect Fund, Grosvenor Food & AgTech |
| Endor Labs | Open source software management technology | Information Technology | US | Seed | 25 | 10/10/2022 | Dell (Dell Technologies Capital); Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sierra Ventures |
| Insite AI | Revenue growth management software provider | Services | US | A | 19 | 11/10/2022 | Microsoft (M12); NewRoad Capital |
| SettleMint | Low-code blockchain product development platform | Information Technology | Belgium | A | 15.5 | 11/10/2022 | Fujitsu (Fujitsu Ventures), Allusion; Molten Ventures (co-lead), OTB Ventures (co-lead), Bloccelerate, Medici Ventures |
| Didimo | Avatar development platform | Media | Portugal | A | 7.15 | 11/10/2022 | Sonae (Bright Pixel Capital); Armilar Venture Partners (lead), Portugal Ventures, Techstars |
| Tyles.io | Professional knowledge platform | Services | Germany | Seed | 1.4 | 10/10/2022 | Porsche and Axel Springer (APX); Slingshot Ventures, NCA, Venista Ventures, Diaspora Ventures, Lars Kamp, Vincent Peters, Jens Jahn, Martin Sinner |
| Universal Hydrogen | Green aviation hydrogen distributor | Energy and Natural Resources | US | N/A | N/A | 10/10/2022 | American Airlines |