Funding
US-headquartered sustainable materials producer Natural Fiber Welding completed an $85m funding round yesterday featuring fashion brand Ralph Lauren and BMW i Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of carmaker BMW. The round was led by Evolution VC Partners and included Tattarang, Lewis & Clark AgriFood, Collaborative Fund, AiiM Partners, Engine No.1, Raga Partners, Tidal Impact, Scrum Ventures, Gaingels, Advantage Capital and Central Illinois Angels.
Payment services provider Credit Saison supplied $80m for Indonesia-headquartered virtual credit card provider Julo yesterday. The deal consisted of $30m in equity funding and $50m in debt financing, the equity portion initially revealed in February this year as part of a larger round featuring telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia’s MDI Ventures unit, financial services firm Bank Central Asia’s Central Capital Ventura vehicle, Accion Quona Inclusion Fund, Surya Nuansa Ceria, AC Ventures and Meranti ASEAN Growth Fund.
China-based anode material producer Guangdong Dongdao New Energy has raised over RMB500m ($78.5m) from investors including carmaker SAIC Motor’s Shangqi Capital unit and metals trader Minmetals’ Innovation Investment vehicle, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. They were joined in the round by Guodiao New Economy Industry Investment Fund, Hua Ventures, CoStone Capital and Wens.
UK-based investor communication software producer Proxymity closed its series B round at $52m on Tuesday, adding $21m that included $15m from investor communications provider Mediant, financial exchange operator Deutsche Börse and Citi Ventures, a subsidiary of banking group Citi. The December 2021 first tranche included Deutsche Börse, Citi, fellow financial services firms State Street and Deutsche Bank, share management services firm Computershare and investment banks BNY Mellon and JP Morgan.
Colombia-headquartered digital ledger app developer Treinta has secured $46m in series A funding from investors including PayU, the digital payment subsidiary of internet holding group Prosus, Forbes Colombia has reported. Liontree, Ethos VC, Ten13, Enea Capital, Luxor Capital, Goodwater Capital, Soma Capital, Commerce Ventures, Soma Capital, Outbound Ventures, Rhombuz, First Check Ventures and FJ Labs also contributed to the round together with assorted angel investors.
Germany-based e-bike subscription service Rebike Mobility completed a €24m ($26m) round yesterday that included €19m of equity funding from investors such as retail group Tengelmann and consumer product distributor Vorwerk, which took part through Tengelmann Ventures and Vorwerk Ventures respectively. The equity portion was led by Circularity Capital and also featured BayBG Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft and Parkshore Holding while Varengold Bank provided €5m in debt financing.
Industrial observation and analytics equipment manufacturer Hitachi High-Tech Corporation invested $25m in US-headquartered genome mapping technology developer Nabsys yesterday. The corporate will add a further $13m to the deal if certain milestones are met.
Raptor Maps, a US-based producer of solar system management software, completed a $22m series B round yesterday featuring software provider Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, assurance and risk management services firm DNV and Engie New Ventures, a vehicle for energy utility Engie. Investment firm MacKinnon, Bennett & Co led the round, which also featured Blue Bear Capital, Buoyant Ventures, Congruent Ventures and Data Point Capital.
Brazil-based online student recruitment service Galena secured $16.7m yesterday in a series A round backed by media company Grupo Globo’s corporate venturing unit, Globo Ventures. Venture capital fund Altos Ventures led the round, which also featured Exor Seeds, the VC arm of diversified holding company Exor, as well as Owl Ventures, Reaction and angel investors including David Velez, Kevin Efrusy, Dan Rosensweig, Armínio Fraga and Romero Rodrigues.
Pharmaceutical and chemicals producer Bayer took part in US-based remote diabetes care provider 9am.health’s $16m series A round yesterday through strategic investment subsidiary Leaps by Bayer. The round was co-led by 7Wire Ventures and Human Capital with additional backing from StartUp Health, Define Ventures and Founders Fund.
Medical care provider IHH Healthcare co-led a $15m series A round for Singapore-based cardiac healthcare tool developer Us2.ai with VC fund Heal Partners today. They were joined by Pappas Capital and existing backers including Sequoia Capital India, EDBI and Partech.
Dfns, a France-headquartered developer of crypto asset security software, received €12.5m ($13.5m) in seed financing yesterday from investors including quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group, digital currency exchange Coinbase and financial services firm ABN Amro, which invested through its ABN Amro Ventures unit, Tech.eu reported yesterday. White Star Capital led the round while Hashed, Semantic Ventures, BPIfrance and angel investors Ryan Selkis and Xavier Niel also participated.
Beanstock, the France-based operator of an online investment platform for buy-to-let properties, has secured €12m ($13m) in a series A round featuring real estate manager Realty Corporation, TechCrunch reported today. The round was led by 360 Capital and included Entrée Capital, PropTech1, FJ Labs, Axeleo and private investors Giorgio Tinacci, Alister Moreno, Pablo Fernandez, Victor Lugger, Arkadi Jampolski, Jan Hase, Vincent Huguet and Raphaël Di Meglio.
Oncology drug developer Avacta Group provided an undisclosed amount of equity funding yesterday for AffyXell Therapeutics, a joint stem cell therapy venture it formed with pharmaceutical firm Daewoong early 2020. The extra funding came through a milestone payment and follows a $7.3m series A round for AffyXell in February 2021 featuring Samsung Venture Investment Corporation and Smilegate Investment, vehicles for electronics manufacturer Samsung and video game publisher Smilegate respectively.
Internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund, Gradient Ventures, has led an €8m ($8.7m) seed round for Payaut, the Netherlands-headquartered creator of a software product which lets European online retailers accept payment in a variety of currencies, Pymnts reported yesterday. Existing investors Local Globe and Entrée Capital also contributed to the round.
UK-based play-to-earn game developer First Light Games completed a $5m token sale co-led by blockchain game publisher Animoca Brands and Mechanism Capital yesterday. They were joined by cryptocurrency technology provider Polygon, Dragonfly Capital, DeFiance Capital, Play Ventures Future Fund, Double Peak Group, C2 Ventures, Morningstar Ventures, DWeb3 Capital, Merit Circle, Ancient8, Avocado DAO and individuals including Santiago R Santos and Nick Chong.
Video game publisher Epic Games invested an undisclosed amount in Brazil-headquartered game studio Aquiris yesterday. Hector Sanchez, head of third-party publishing for Epic, will take a board seat at the company in conjunction with the deal.
Tippsy, the US-based operator of sake subscription service Tippsy Sake Club, raised about ¥200m ($1.6m) in pre-series A funding today from investors including telecoms and internet group SoftBank’s Deepcore fund, The Bridge reported. W Ventures led the round, which also featured KSK Angel Fund and angel investors including Justin Waldron.
Management consultancy Oliver Wyman supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based data science, machine learning and data visualisation services provider Blue Orange Digital yesterday. The companies intend to collaborate on data and advanced analytics services for their clients.
Blockchain game producer Animoca Brands invested $1m in Firework Games, the creator of an online play-to-earn gaming platform, yesterday. Firework’s decentralised platform allows users to develop and release their own blockchain games.
Cryptocurrency exchange Tokocrypto has co-led a $500,000 funding round for Diamond Protocol, a modular digital asset vault spun off by Cyprus-registered crypto investment platform developer Omo Group, Tech in Asia reported today. The round was co-led by IVC and also featured decentralised exchange technology provider Perpetual Protocol.
US-based wedding finance provider Vue Corp raised an undisclosed amount yesterday in a series A round led by custom software developer Kahoa. The corporate will also offer Vue its expertise and will give its employees the chance to invest in the company.
M&A
Airport operator Groupe ADP and hospitality group Accor exited France-based tourism chatbot developer Mindsay yesterday in an acquisition of undisclosed size by automation technology producer Laiye. Both corporates had joined White Star Capital and Partech in Mindsay’s $9.9m series A round in 2019, two years after it raised $1.1m from Accor, Partech, Pole Capital and unnamed angel investors.
Online talent network Handshake paid an undisclosed amount yesterday to buy Germany-based digital recruitment fair operator Talentspace, providing an exit for Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator, a vehicle for media group Axel Springer. Talentspace’s investors also included STS Ventures and Avala Capital.
Image courtesy of Natural Fiber Welding, Inc.
