Funding
Hazel Technologies, a US-based anti-food waste technology developer, said it has completed documentation for a $70m series C round featuring Asahi Kasei Ventures, the investment arm of chemicals producer Asahi Kasei. The round was co-led by Pontifax AgTech and Temasek, and included S2G Ventures, Pangaea Ventures, Rhapsody Venture Partners, Jordan Park Group and Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust. The company has now raised $87.8m in total, $13m coming in a 2019 series B round also backed by Asahi Kasei Ventures.
Japan-based mobile payment technology provider Netstars has closed a ¥6.6bn ($60.6m) funding round that included ¥4bn from quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and investment groups KKR and LUN Partners. The company had previously received undisclosed amounts from telecommunications group NTT’s NTT Vietnam subsidiary and trading group Itochu’s Techno-Solutions unit in April 2018, from postal service Japan Post Group five months later and from LUN Partners in May 2020.
Papa, a US-based on-demand companionship and assistance provider backed by mass media group Comcast, has secured $60m in a series C round led by hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management. The company has now raised $91m in total, having received $2.4m from Initialized Capital and Sound Ventures in 2018, $10m in series A funding from Canaan, Pivotal Ventures, Initialized Capital, Sound Ventures and fellow existing investor Y Combinator in October 2019 and $18m from Comcast unit Comcast Ventures, Canaan, Initialized Capital, Sound Ventures, Pivotal Ventures and individuals including Scott Belsky in September 2020.
Seeq Corporation, a US-based provider of industrial internet-of-things technology, has completed a $50m series C round featuring Chevron Technology Ventures, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures and Cisco Investments, on behalf of petroleum suppliers Chevron and Saudi Aramco, and networking technology provider Cisco. The round was led by Insight Partners and included Altira Group and Second Avenue Partners. Seeq had raised a total of $65m as of a series B round in September 2020 backed by all three corporates in this round as well as industrial technology producer Siemens’ Next47 unit.
Cohere Health, a US-based healthcare collaboration software provider backed by health insurer Humana, has raised $36m in a series B round led by venture capital firm Polaris Partners and backed by Longitude Capital, Deerfield Management, Flare Capital Partners and Define Ventures. The last two participated in Cohere’s $10m series A round in October 2020 alongside a strategic investor that would have been Humana, which announced a partnership with the company the same week.
China-based industrial robotics technology developer Mech-Mind Robotics has closed a series C round in the nine-figure yuan range (RMB100m = $15.3m) led by local services portal Meituan, DoNews reported yesterday. Sequoia Capital China and Source Code Capital also took part in the round, having provided $15.2m in series B-plus funding for the company in November 2020. Its earlier investors include Intel Capital, the corporate VC arm of semiconductor technology producer Intel, as well as Source Code, Qiming Venture Partners and Delian Capital.
US-based health data services provider Vericred has closed a $23m series B round featuring Echo Health Ventures, the VC firm backed by healthcare provider Cambia Health Solutions, in addition to MassMutual Ventures and Guardian Strategic Ventures, respective subsidiaries of insurance firms MassMutual and Guardian Life. The round was led by Aquiline Technology Growth and backed by Riverside Acceleration Capital, FCA Venture Partners and First Health Capital Partners. Vericred raised $1.1m in 2014, $3.1m in a 2016 seed round, $5.5m in a 2017 round led by FCA Venture Partners, and $1.2m in April 2019 according to a securities filing. It named Riverside Acceleration Capital and First Health Capital Partners as existing investors.
Territory Foods, a US-based prepared meal subscription service backed by financial information provider The Motley Fool, has completed a $22m funding round led by VC firm US Venture Partners. The round also featured Upfront Ventures, Lewis & Clark Ventures, DF Enterprises, S2G Ventures, Gaingels, Middleland Capital, Finistere Ventures, Rethink Food Capital and private investors Abby Wambach and Vernon Davis. The round doubled its overall funding to $44m and followed a $4m investment by Upfront Ventures in April 2019.
UK-based potted desert brand Pots & Co has announced it is raising up to $20m in a multi-stage round led by 301, the strategic investment arm of packaged food producer General Mills. The funding will support a US expansion drive for the company that will begin on the West Coast and Rocky Mountains areas of the country.
Only Story, a Japan-based provider of sales support technology, has secured ¥1.3bn ($11.9m) from Japan Post Capital, a subsidiary of postal service Japan Post, as well as advertising agency Hakuhodo DY’s Future Design Fund, business information provider Uzabase, digital advertising technology provider United, Das Capital and DCI Venture Growth Fund. Recruitment firm En-Japan and VC firm XTech Ventures had co-led the equity portion of a $3.2m debt and equity round for Only Story in June 2020 that included angel investor Noboru Hachimine.
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank has provided $8.9m in series C funding for South Korea-headquartered vanadium ion battery developer Standard Energy through its Softbank Ventures Asia subsidiary, DealStreetAsia reported today, citing a company statement. Standard Energy was founded by researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and it has now received $22.5m in funding to date, according to TechCrunch.
Japan-based online recruitment platform developer Grooves has raised ¥800m ($7.3m) from Nissay Capital, Nanto CVC and Hiroshima Venture Capital – on behalf of insurer Japan Life and financial services firms Nanto Bank and Hiroshima Bank respectively – as well as JIC Venture Growth Fund, with and debt financing provided by unnamed financial institutions. It has now received about $21m in total, most recently securing an undisclosed amount from All-Japan Kanko Rikkoku Fund in 2019. It took $1.9m in a 2014 series A round featuring insurer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance’s Venture Capital unit, Japan Finance Corporation and Nippon Venture Capital in 2014.
Canada-based artificial intelligence technology developer Deeplite has completed a $6m seed round that included memory storage technology producer Smart Global Holding. The round was led by VC firm PJC and also featured Innospark Ventures, Differential Ventures, Somel Investments, BDC Capital, Desjardins Capital and Deeplite chairman Ajay Shah. Deeplite had secured $600,000 from TandemLaunch when it was spun off by the company builder and seed fund in 2019.
US-based digital manufacturing software producer aPriori Technologies has received $5m in a series C round led by VC firm Gutbrain Ventures valuing it above $200m. Design software provider Autodesk led a $26.8m series C round in September 2019 also described as a series C, investing alongside Gutbrain Ventures, NewSpring Capital, PBJ Capital, Oyster Angel Fund, Sigma Partners and Sigma Prime Ventures. It had previously raised a total of about $53m, according to media reports and securities filings, including $11m from Bain Capital Ventures and Sigma Partners in 2007, $5m from Sigma Partners in 2012, $6m from Sigma Prime and Sigma Partners in 2013.
Gradient Ventures, the artificial intelligence fund formed by internet technology provider Google, has led a $5m funding round for Wage, the US-based developer of a software tool that enables users to securely share their payroll data. Bloomberg Beta, the VC firm sponsored by media group Bloomberg, also took part in the round, as did 8VC, Pear Ventures, CoFound Partners and unnamed angel investors. It will use the cash for customer acquisition and the formation of more payroll data partnerships.
FIS Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for financial technology provider FIS, has invested an undisclosed amount in UK-based payment automation software provider Modulr. The company last raised funding in November 2020 when it received $12m from digital payment technology provider PayPal’s investment arm, PayPal Ventures, to boost its overall funding to $84m. Its earlier backers include Highland Europe, Frog Capital and Blenheim Chalcot.
Uganda-based microcredit provider Numida has completed a $2.3m seed round led by digital payment services provider MFS Africa, TechCrunch reported yesterday. DRK Foundation, Equilibria Capital and Segal Family Foundation also contributed to the round alongside undisclosed individual investors, and the capital will fund the company’s growth in Uganda and Nigeria.
M&A
Zoll Medical Corporation, a medical technology subsidiary of chemicals producer Asahi Kasei, has paid an undisclosed amount to purchase portfolio company Respicardia, the US-based developer of a sleep apnoea treatment system. Respicardia had raised a total of $142m as of a $58.5m round led by Zoll Medical in 2017, $20m of which came from medical device maker Sorin Group in 2014. Its investors also included Polaris Venture Partners, Versant Ventures, RK Ventures, Accuitive Medical Ventures, Affinity Capital Management and Three Arch Partners.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
