Funding
SafeGuard Cyber, a US-based provider of digital risk protection management software, has secured $45m in debt and equity financing in a round that included Cisco Investments, a subsidiary of networking technology provider Cisco. Venture capital firm NightDragon led the round, which also featured Allegis Cyber and which followed $2.5m from unnamed investors in 2009, $5.5m in 2011 and $3.9m in 2015 according to securities filings, and $11m in series B funding from AllegisCyber and NightDragon in 2018.
WeWork India, a regional offshoot of US-headquartered co-working space provider WeWork, has received Rs 2bn ($26.7m) in debt and equity financing from unnamed investors, the Economic Times reported yesterday. WeWork expanded into India in partnership with real estate developer Embassy Group in 2017 and had provided about $100m in funding for the subsidiary as of 2020.
Consumer electronics manufacturer Xiaomi has led a RMB150m ($22.9m) series A round for China-based cloud video software developer Welink. Video game developer Mihoyo and CMGE also participated in the round, as did Shunwei Capital and Dunhong Capital Management. Welink raised about $1.4m from cloud services provider Kingsoft Cloud and Sea of Stars Capital in October 2019, the latter joining Mihoyo and Binfu Capital in an eight-digit yuan pre-series A round in February 2020. All the existing backers returned two months later for a series A round also in the eight-figure range that included Orient Hontai Capital, a vehicle for cybersecurity software provider Orient Security.
Orum, a US-based provider of intelligent bank transfer technology, has raised $21m in a series A round featuring American Express Ventures, the investment arm of payment services firm American Express, Forbes has reported. Private equity firm Bain Capital led the round, which included Inspired Capital, Homebrew, Acrew Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Clocktower Ventures, Box Group, Amex Ventures and SVB Capital. The company had prevoiusly received $5.2m in seed funding from Homebrew, Inspired Capital, Bain Capital and various angel investors in August 2020.
Italy-based bone regeneration technology developer GreenBone Ortho has closed a €10m ($11.8m) series B round featuring 3B Future Health Fund, which is backed by cancer care provider Helsinn, in addition to Innogest, Meta Group, CDP Venture Capital and private investors including some from Italian Angels for Growth (IAG). The company received $9.4m from 3B (then Helsinn Investment Fund), Innogest, IAG and Invitalia Ventures in 2017, two years after it raised roughly $3.3m from ZernikeMeta Ventures, IAG and various angel investors.
Venture capital firm True North has divested part of its stake in ETechAces, the India-based owner of insurance comparison service PolicyBazaar, to five investors including vaccine provider Serum Institute of India, DealStreetAsia has reported. The other investors in the secondary deal included Ashoka India Equity Investment Trust, Triumph Global Holdings, IIFL Special Opportunities Fund Series 8 and India Acorn Fund, and it came less than a month after the company raised $75m in a round led by Falcon Edge Capital.
DX Ventures, the VC firm formed by food delivery service Delivery Hero, has co-led a $6m series A round for Poland-headquartered health supplement provider Sundose with VC fund Atmos Ventures, Tech.eu has reported. The round included Investible Club, Polipo Ventures and Aria Fund – all described as existing investors – and came after Investible Club took part in a $1.2m round for Sundose in April 2020.
Futurae, the Switzerland-based developer of a cybersecurity software platform covering user authentication and transaction confirmation, has secured €5m ($5.9m) from Axa Venture Partners, a corporate venturing subsidiary of insurance group Axa, as well as financial services firm Zürcher Kantonalbank and VC firm EquityPitcher Ventures. The company was spun out by ETH Zurich’s Systems Security Group in 2016 and raised $2m in a 2018 round co-led by Axa Venture Partners and DIventures that included Zürcher Kantonalbank and Stefan Muehlemann.
Virtue Poker, the Malta-registered operator of a decentralised online poker platform, has closed a $5m funding round backed by blockchain software provider Consensys. The round also featured Pantera Capital, DFG Group and angel investor Jez San, and it came after the company took part in the winter 2021 batch for digital asset trading platform Coinlist’s accelerator, Coinlist Seed.
GiftPad, a Japan-based e-gifting platform developer backed by several corporate investors, has raised ¥400m ($3.7m) from JIC Venture Growth Fund, a vehicle for the Japanese government-owned JIC Growth Investments. It received $2.6m in January this year from Kansai Innovation Network Investment Limited Partnership, which is backed by a range of corporate limited partners; financial services firm Minato Bank’s Minato Capital unit; the Chugoku Bank-backed Chugin Infinity Fund; Nanto CVC, which is backed by financial services firm Nanto; Setouchi Tourism Revitalisation Fund and Shikoku Alliance Capital.
Oil and gas supplier Shell has provided an undisclosed amount of funding for LanzaJet, the jet fuel offshoot of sustainable fuel producer LanzaTech. The company was spun off in June 2020 with $36m in equity funding from oil and gas supplier Suncor, diversified conglomerate Mitsui and air carrier ANA and a $14m grant from the US Department of Energy. It said this week it had subsequently raised an undisclosed sum from airline operator British Airways.
Sabadell Venture Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm Banco Sabadell, has led a €3m ($3.6m) funding round for Spain-based fundraising tool provider Ritmo. The round was co-led by asset management firm Inveready and VC fund FinRebel and also featured angel investors Bruno del Ama and Alfredo Soriano.
Ocergy, the US-headquartered creator of a low-cost foundation for floating offshore wind turbines, has received an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Moreld Ocean Wind and Chevron Technology Ventures, which invested on behalf of industrial group Moreld and oil and gas supplier Chevron respectively. The company has not revealed how much it raised but a regulatory filing from earlier this month indicates it had been targeting $2.2m.
Brandit, a Japan-based developer of digitalisation service for the fashion industry, has secured a total of ¥235m ($2.1m) in a series A round led by media company Daiko Advertising. It also featured SMBC Venture Capital, a subsidiary of financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, as well as incubator operator Dream Incubator’s Dimension fund. It had raised $940,000 in an August 2020 pre-series A round led by IT recruitment firm Geechs that included Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and existing backer Dimension Fund.
Japan-based business support service Nokioo has raised an undisclosed amount in a pre-series A round featuring corporate branding group Paradox and Yaramaika Fund, a vehicle for financial services firm Shinkin Bank’s Shinkin Capital subsidiary. Nokioo’s online service is intended to help mothers on maternity leave.
Crypto exchange operator Binance has led a $1.6m funding round for Mound, the South Korea-based developer of decentralised finance (DeFi) provider Pancake Bunny, through its Binance Labs subsidiary. The round included Ideo CoLab, the investment arm of design agency Ideo, as well as SparkLabs Korea and angel investor Andrew Lee, and Mound will work with Binance to enhance the DeFi options on the latter’s Binance Smart Chain platform.
Defiant Media, the owner of DeFi-focused digital media platform The Defiant, has completed a $1.4m pre-seed round that included Ideo CoLab. The round also featured ParaFi Capital, Blockchange Ventures, Axia8 Ventures, Defiance Capital, Youbi Capital, MetaCartel Ventures, Nima Capital, GBV Capital, Kenetic Capital, Mechanism Capital, IOSG Ventures, Cluster Capital, Serotonin, FreeCo, Morningstar Ventures and assorted angel investors.
Bonheur, a Japan-based provider of women’s sexual wellness products, has received an undisclosed amount of seed capital from investors including web designer Rich Forward and knife manufacturer Sekaie. The corporates were joined by five angel investors including Saya Hayashi, Takuya Homma, Katsumoto Sakaguchi and Takeshi Soga.
M&A
E-commerce services provider Pine Labs has acquired one of its portfolio companies, Singapore-based digital rewards software provider Fave, for $45m. In 2017, Fave merged with KFit, the fitness and healthcare services provider that had already raised $12m from quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group’s SIG Asia unit, telecommunications firm Axiata’s Digital Innovation Fund, 500 Startups, Sequoia India and Venturra Capital. It added $20m from investors including SIG Asia, Sequoia India and Venturra Capital in 2018 and an undisclosed sum from Pine Labs in July 2020.
Kamet Ventures, the incubator backed by insurance firm Axa, has exited France-based telemedicine technology developer Qare in an acquisition of undisclosed size by UK-headquartered peer HealthHero. Qare had raised $6.7m in 2017 and $22.6m from Kamet Ventures in April 2019, and the deal will allow HealthHero to expand geographically.
Liberated Syndication, the podcast hosting network also known as LibSyn, has bought Glow, the US-based podcast monetisation platform developer which raised $2.3m from investors including media holding company WndrCo in August 2019. The round was led by Greycroft and also featured Norwest Venture Partners, PSL Ventures, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest fund, Nasir ‘Nas’ Jones and Ken Moss
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
