Funding
Pharmaceutical company Betta Pharmaceuticals has co-led a RMB556m ($87.3m) funding round for China-based recombinant protein technology developer Healthgen Biotechnology, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday, citing a company announcement. The investor that co-led the round was not disclosed but it is expected to be the last for Healthgen before it launches an initial public offering.
Tive, a US-based provider of supply chain visibility software, completed a $54m series B round yesterday led by Axa Venture Partners, the venture capital firm sponsored by insurance firm Axa. The round included Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, as well as Sorenson Capital, Fifth Wall, SJF Ventures, Floating Point Ventures, RRE Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, NextView Ventures, Hyperplane Ventures, Broom Ventures and Supply Chain Ventures.
China-headquartered game development software provider Cocos Technology closed a $50m series B round yesterday backed by interactive streaming platform developer Agora. The round also featured financial services firm China Construction Bank’s CCB Trust subsidiary and VC firm GGV Capital.
China-based autonomous driving technology developer Haomo.AI raised hundreds of millions of yuan (RMB100m = $15.7m) in series A-plus financing yesterday from investors including conglomerate Shoucheng Holdings. Financial services firm Bank of China led the round through subsidiary Bank of China Group Investment and it came four months after Shoucheng contributed to a $157m series A round also backed by local services portal Meituan and Qualcomm Ventures, a subsidiary of mobile semiconductor producer Qualcomm.
US-headquartered robotic automation technology developer Diligent Robotics secured over $30m yesterday in a series B round featuring healthcare provider Cedars-Sinai’s strategic investment arm, Cedars-Sinai Health Ventures. The round was led by Tiger Global Management and included Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab’s E14 Fund, True Ventures, DNX Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, Boom Capital and Gaingels.
PhableCare, the India-based developer of a chronic disease management app, received Rs 1.87bn ($24.6m) in series B funding yesterday from investors including Aflac Ventures and Omron Ventures, which participated on behalf insurer Aflac and medical device maker Omron. VC firm Kalaari Capital led the round, which also featured Digital Horizon, Stride Ventures, SOSV, Social Starts and Fresco Capital.
Deutsche Bank Corporate Venture Capital, a subsidiary of financial services firm Deutsche Bank, provided a ‘sizeable’ amount of equity funding yesterday for SkyHive, a US-headquartered producer of human capital management software. It came six months after SkyHive raised $40m in series B funding from investors including Accenture Ventures and Workday Ventures – on behalf of consulting firm Accenture and enterprise software provider Workday – to increase its overall funding to at least $48m.
Internet holding company Smile Group has taken part in a $7m funding round for India-based imaging technology developer Spyne, YourStory reported today. VC firm Accel led the round, which was also backed by Storm Ventures, Pentathlon Ventures, Core91 and unnamed angel investors.
Regulatory Genome Development, a UK-based regulatory information platform developer spun out of University of Cambridge, closed a $6m seed round yesterday backed by payment services firm Mastercard. The round was led by Evolution Equity Partners and also featured Cambridge Enterprise and AlbionVC.
Biopharmaceutical company HanAll Biopharma joined Daewoong Pharmaceutical, a life sciences subsidiary of conglomerate Daewoong, and Astellas Venture Management, a vehicle for pharmaceutical firm Astellas, in a round of undisclosed size for US-based mRNA therapeutics developer Turn Biotechnologies yesterday. LongeVC, ThreeD Capital,and Vitality Healthspan Foundation filled out the round with existing backers Methuselah Fund, Formic Ventures and Shanda Group.
Circle participated in a $4m angel round for Shorter Protocol, a China-headquartered creator of decentralised shorting software tailored for use on multiple blockchains simultaneously, through its Circle Ventures unit yesterday. VC firm IDG Capital led the round, which included a vehicle identified as Hedgue Fund in addition to Halls Investment, NFV and unnamed other investors.
Dragonfly AI, a UK-based developer of predictive visual analytics software, completed a £3m ($3.9m) series A round yesterday that included outsourcing firm Capita. The round was led by early-stage investment firm Guinness Ventures and was also backed by investment manager and existing shareholder Downing Ventures.
Ceramics technology producer NGK Insulators invested an undisclosed sum in Japan-based perovskite solar cell developer EneCoat Technologies today. EneCoat had raised $12.9m in series B funding last month from investors including telecommunications firm KDDI, optical technology producer Nikon and chemical and material technology manufacturer Japan Material Technologies Corporation.
Earthbanc, the Sweden-headquartered operator of a digital carbon credit and financing platform, has secured $1.5m in pre-seed funding from investors including blockchain software developer Regen Network Development. Regen was joined in the round by Rampersand VC, Visive Capital, Katalista Ventures, Sting Accelerator, European Space Agency Incubator, Regenerative Ventures Holdings and clients of Jindabyne Capital and Kaai Capital.
Publishing group Nahdet Misr’s EdVentures unit has contributed to a $1.2m seed round for Egypt-based coding education provider Sprints, Waya reported on Sunday. Alexandria Angels Network, MED Angels, AUC Angels, Cubit Ventures, Challenge Fund, Falak Startups and Cairo Angels were also among the participants.
Oil and gas supplier Saudi Aramco’s Waéd subsidiary provided an undisclosed amount of funding for WakeCap Technologies, the United Arab Emirates-based developer of an internet-of-things product intended to improve construction site safety, yesterday. WakeCap had received $300,000 from construction firm Consolidated Contractors Company in 2018 and its earlier backers include Hax, a vehicle for VC firm SOSV.
Palats, a Sweden-based developer of a property inventory management software, completed its inaugural funding round today with SEK4.4m ($460,000) from investors including Länsförsäkringar Göteborg och Bohuslän, a member company of insurance group Länsförsäkringar. The round also featured Chalmers Ventures and angel investor Adam Nilsson.
M&A
Singapore-based shared living space provider Hmlet agreed today to an all-share acquisition by Germany-headquartered counterpart Habyt. The round was fuelled by an undisclosed sum in a round co-led by Burda Principal Investments – on behalf of media company Hubert Burda – and Sequoia Capital India and backed by Vorwerk Ventures, a subsidiary of consumer product distributor Vorwerk, as well as Sasscorp, Aldea Ventures and Inveready. Hmlet had raised $47.5m as of May 2021, from investors including Burda Principal Investments, Sequoia, property developer Mitsubishi Estate, Reinventure (backed by banking firm Westpac) and Aurum Investments.
Audio equipment producer Sonos paid $100m in cash to purchase US-based disruptive transducer technology developer Mayht Holding yesterday, allowing solar cell technology provider Exeger to exit. Exeger supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Mayht in December 2021, and Delft Enterprises and Forward.One are also among the exiting investors.
Funds
Uniswap Labs, the US-headquartered developer of a decentralised trading and automated market-making protocol, unveiled a venture capital vehicle called Uniswap Labs Ventures yesterday. The fund will invest in a range of Web3 technologies and it is headed by ventures lead Matteo Leibowitz and Uniswap’s chief operating officer, MC Lader.
Additional reporting by Thierry Heles.
