Funding
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 has led a $70m series B round for BloXroute, a US-headquartered developer of technology that speeds up decentralised finance transactions, Coindesk reported yesterday. Robert Kaplan, investment director for Vision Fund 2 manager SoftBank Investment Advisers, will take a board seat at BloXroute in connection with the round, which included digital asset trading firm GSR, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Dragonfly Capital and ParaFi Capital.
India-based digital health software provider Medikabazaar has received $65m in funding from investors including diversified conglomerate Ackermans & van Haaren at a $700m valuation, the Economic Times reported yesterday. Lighthouse India Fund invested $30m to lead the round, which also featured Creaegis, HealthQuad, KOIS Holdings and British International Investment, the development finance vehicle formerly known as CDC.
US-headquartered cybersecurity software provider Silverfort completed a $65m series C round yesterday featuring GM Ventures, Singtel Innov8 and Citi Ventures, on behalf of carmaker General Motors, telecoms firm Singapore Telecommunications and financial services group Citi respectively. Investment firm Greenfield Partners led the round, which was also backed by Acrew Capital, Vintage Investment Partners, StageOne Ventures, Aspect Ventures and Maor Investments.
Jiangsu Synthgene Biotechnology, a China-based provider of raw materials for life sciences companies, has raised over RMB300m ($47.1m) in series A funding from investors including Legend Star, a corporate venturing vehicle for conglomerate Legend Holdings, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. Lake Bleu Capital, Lyfe Capital and Sherpa Healthcare Partners also contributed to the round.
Nomad, the creator of a cryptocurrency targeted at digital nomads, secured about $22m yesterday in a seed round featuring crypto financial services provider Amber Group and Circle Ventures, the investment arm of payment technology provider Circle. The round was led by Polychain at a $225m valuation and included 1kx, Ethereal Ventures, Hack VC, Figment, Archetype, Hypersphere, Dialectic, Lattice Capital, A&T Capital, Wave Financial, Breyer Capital, Continue Capital, Robot Ventures, LedgerPrime, Open Web Collective and unnamed angel investors.
US-based claims guidance software developer EvolutionIQ received $21m in series A funding yesterday from investors including claims management services provider Sedgwick and insurers Reliance Standard Life, Guardian Life and New York Life, the last through its New York Life Ventures unit. Venture capital firm Brewer Lane Ventures led the round, which also featured First Round Capital, FirstMark Capital and Foundation Capital, Altai Ventures and Asymmetric Ventures.
Investment firm Tiger Global Management led a $16m series A round today for Grain, a US-based provider of video meeting analysis software, that included video communication software producer Zoom and messaging app developer Slack, which took part through Zoom Apps Fund and Slack Fund respectively. They were joined by Unusual Ventures, Freestyle VC, Acrew, Peterson Ventures and undisclosed others.
Diversified cooperative group OK Ekonomisk Förening has participated in a SEK150m ($15.8m) funding round for Charge Amps, a Sweden-based provider of electric vehicle charging technology, Tech.eu reported yesterday. The round included Swedbank Robur, a fund management vehicle financial services firm Swedbank, as well as Skellefteå Kraft, Concejo, LMK, and Quinary Investment.
Duos, a US-headquartered developer of digital health products aimed at older adults, raised $15m in series A funding yesterday from investors including pharmacy benefits manager Optum’s corporate venturing unit, Optum Ventures. VC firm Imaginary Ventures led the round while existing backers Forerunner Ventures and Declaration Partners also contributed.
Diversified conglomerate Mitsui provided €10m ($10.8m) in funding for France-headquartered renewable hydrogen producer Lhyfe yesterday through a strategic partnership agreement. Private equity firm Andera Partners’ Andera Smart Infra fund had led a $19.5m round for Lhyfe two months ago that included wastewater treatment provider Ovive and Société Financière Lorient Développement.
Datafluct, the Japan-based developer of a data science software platform intended to solve corporate and social challenges, completed a ¥1.1bn ($8.8m) series B round yesterday featuring food and drink wholesaler Kokubu, general contractor Takenaka, cosmetics producer Pola Orbis, conglomerate Tokyo Boeki, electronics producer Toshiba and insurer Mitsui Sumitomo, the last two through Toshiba Digital Solutions and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Capital. The round was led by University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners.
IT services provider Tech Mahindra paid $4m yesterday for a 25% stake in Surance.io, an Israel-based developer of cybersecurity software for the insurance market. The terms of the transaction give the corporate the option to acquire another 20% in future.
Israel-headquartered drone navigation software provider InfiniDome raised an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding yesterday from investors including Honeywell Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for industrial and consumer technology producer Honeywell. The round was also backed by VentureIsrael and Next Gear Ventures.
Telltail, the US-based operator of an online community and services provider for pet breeders, has secured $3.4m in seed capital from investors including confectionery and pet food producer Mars’ Companion Fund, BostInno reported on Monday. VC firm General Catalyst led the round, which also featured Scribble Ventures.
Financial services provider Fino Payments Bank is paying an undisclosed sum for a 12.2% stake in India-based digital banking software developer PaySprint, Press Trust of India reported yesterday. The cash is being supplied through a strategic partnership.
UK-based remote work tool developer Flown has received £2.5m ($3.3m) in seed financing from investors including media group Bertelsmann’s Digital Media Investments vehicle, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Pi Labs led the round with additional backing from Venrex, January Ventures, Auxxo Ventures and Alma Angels.
US-based respiratory monitor system developer Curie AI completed a seed round of undisclosed size yesterday backed by digital health technology provider ResMed. The corporate was joined by Factory and SeedToB, and Curie’s earlier backers include Stanford University’s StartX fund.
RociFi, the US-headquartered creator of a decentralised lending protocol, closed a $2.7m seed round backed by digital asset trading firm Skynet Trading in November 2021, it revealed yesterday. Arrington XRP Capital, Goldentree Asset Management, Nexo Capital and LD Capital also took part.
US-based marine product e-commerce marketplace Boatzon raised an undisclosed amount of funding from boat and yacht retailer MarineMax yesterday. Customers can buy boats, engines, trailers and other marine products on Boatzon’s platform while also accessing finance options.
US-based cybersecurity awareness training provider HacWare has secured $2.3m in a seed round that included digital protection technology producer Aura’s Innovation Fund, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Elevate Capital led the round, which also featured 2.0 Ventures, Chai Angels and unnamed additional investors.
M&A
Digital transformation services provider Innominds purchased Canada-headquartered connected working software developer Nymi yesterday in a deal of undisclosed size allowing enterprise software producer Salesforce and payment services firm Mastercard to exit. Formerly known as Bionym, the company raised $14m from MasterCard, corporate VC unit Salesforce Ventures, Export Development Canada, Ignition Partners and Relay Ventures in 2014 to take its total funding to $15.3m, before the last two joined GII Tech to add $15m three years later.
Funds
India-based peer-to-peer online lending marketplace LenDen Club has launched a venture capital vehicle dubbed LenDenClub Alpha, the Economic Times reported yesterday. It is targeting early-stage financial technology developers and will offer expertise from its parent company as well as investment.
Additional reporting by Thierry Heles.
