Funding
China-headquartered genomic drug developer EdiGene has closed a RMB400m ($61.6m) series B-plus round featuring Lilly Asia Ventures, a corporate venturing vehicle for pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly. The round was led by Loyal Valley Capital and included BioTrack Capital, Sherpa Healthcare Partners and existing backers including IDG Capital, 3H Health Investment, Huagai Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Alwin Capital and Kunlun Capital. The company had raised over $100m in total as of its last round, a $66.8m series B backed by Lilly Asia Ventures that closed in October 2020.
Go Green, the Netherlands-headquartered parent company of electric vehicle sharing service Go Sharing, has secured €50m ($60m) in a funding round led by investment firm Opportunity Partners that included Rabo Investments, a corporate venturing subsidiary of financial services firm Rabobank. The company had already received $11m in funding from Rabo Corporate Investments in February 2020.
RapidAPI, the US-based provider of a software platform for the management of application programming interfaces (APIs), has received $60m million in series C funding from investors including M12, the corporate venturing arm of software producer Microsoft. Venture capital firm Green Bay Ventures led the round, which also featured Stripes and existing backers including Andreessen Horowitz, DNS Capital, Viola Growth and Grove Ventures. The company closed its M12-backed series B round at $50m in May 2020, taking its total funding to $62.5m.
ExecOnline, a US-based company that provides online leadership training, has raised $45m in a series D round that included education product provider Kaplan. The round was led by Omers Growth Equity, a vehicle for pension fund manager Omers, and also featured ABS Capital Partners, NewSpring Capital and Osage Venture Partners. The company had raised over $41m as of an $18m series C round in 2018 led by ABS Capital and backed by existing investors Kaplan, NewSpring Capital, Osage Venture Partners and New Atlantic Ventures.
US-headquartered enterprise cybersecurity software provider AppOmni has completed a $40m series B round featuring Salesforce Ventures and ServiceNow Ventures, the corporate VC subsidiaries of enterprise software producers Salesforce and ServiceNow. The round was led by VC firm Scale Venture Partners and included ClearSky, Costanoa Ventures, Inner Loop Capital and Silicon Valley Data Capital. AppOmni secured $3m in seed capital from Costanoa Ventures, Silicon Valley Data Capital and angel investor George Hu in April 2019 and $9.5m in July according to a securities filing, before the seed investors joined ClearSky and Inner Loop Capital in a $10m series A in January 2020. Salesforce Ventures added an undisclosed amount in December.
Welcome Tech, a US-headquartered provider of online tools for immigrants, has completed a $35m series B round co-led by telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s SB Opportunity Fund. The round was co-led with TTV Capital and Owl Ventures, and it included Crosscut Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Next Play Capital and Owl Capital. The company said it has now raised $50m altogether, $8m of which came in a March 2020 series A round led by Crosscut Ventures.
Internet group Tencent and VC firm Sequoia Capital China have co-led a $25m series B-plus round for China-based enterprise data services provider Shenzhen WakeData Technology. IDG Capital and Redpoint China Ventures also took part in the round, which followed $4.3m in pre-series A funding from mobile developer services provider Aurora Mobile in 2018, an eight-digit yuan amount (RMB10m = $1.5m) from Aurora and Sequoia China in a February 2019 series A round and $10m in series B funding from Sequoia China, Redpoint China Ventures and IDG Capital in May 2020.
Netherlands-based, phosphatase-focused drug developer Anavo Therapeutics has emerged from stealth with €20m ($24m) from a seed round co-led by M Ventures, a strategic investment vehicle for pharmaceutical firm Merck Group. The round was co-led with VC firm Inkef Capital and included Taiho Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Taiho, as well as life sciences investment firm Bioqube Ventures.
China-based automated industrial vehicle developer VisionNav Robotics has raised $15m in a series B2 round featuring Lenovo Capital, a corporate venturing subsidiary of consumer electronics manufacturer Lenovo, DealStreetAsia reported today. VC group IDG Capital led the round, which included Eastern Bell Capital and Flyfot Ventures – both of which had participated in a $14.2m series B1 round led Lenovo Capital in June 2020. It has now received more than $33m altogether.
Financial services firm DCB Bank has paid an undisclosed amount for a 9% stake in India-based non-banking financial services provider Techfino Capital, Press Trust of India reported yesterday. Techfino uses an artificial intelligence-equipped online platform to issue microloans in areas such as education and healthcare.
Diversified conglomerate Petra Group has co-led a $12m funding round for Creator+, a US-based company that intends to help social media personalities create and distribute their own films, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round, announced as the startup emerged from stealth, was co-led by VC firm Freestyle Capital and also featured angel investors including Jake Roper, Peter Hollens, Wendy Ayche, Selina Tobaccowala and Judd Zebersky.
Sayurbox, the Indonesia-based operator of an online marketplace for fresh fruit and vegetables, received $5m in equity funding from diversified conglomerate Astra International last month, Tech in Asia reported today. Patamar Capital reportedly invested $200,000 to $300,000 to lead a round of undisclosed size for the company in 2018 that included Insignia Ventures Partners. It had previously been a participant in the Plug and Play Indonesia accelerator.
US-based augmented reality technology developer Leo AR has secured $3m in a seed round that included telecoms firm Deutsche Telekom, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. Great Oaks Ventures led the round, which also featured IVP, Betaworks, Quake Capital and undisclosed angel investors. Its earlier backers include XFactor Ventures.
Agrolend, a Brazil-based startup that helps farmers access loans, has raised $1.6m in seed funding from investors including agribusiness Continental Grain Company, AgFunder News reported yesterday. The cash was provided by a consortium of 30 investors that also featured VC firm SP Ventures, family office Provence Capital and VC fund Barn Invest.
Torum, a Malaysia-based startup working on a social media platform for cryptocurrency users, has received $1.45m from investors including crypto trading platform developer Hotbit, Fintechnews Malaysia reported yesterday. AU21 Capital, N7 Labs, Momentum 6, Lotus Capital, Consensus Lab, Redline Blockchain Capital, Waterdrip Capital, Angel One, Oasis Capital, Skywater Capital, IDC and Worshipper Capital also contributed to the round.
Conglomerate Tolaram Fintech has invested R$5.5m ($980,000) in Brazil-based mobile lending app developer Click Cash, Startupi has reported. The deal came after Tolaram had already supplied approximately $110,000 for Click Cash in late 2020, the company having been launched by Latam Fintech Holdings Group earlier the same year.
Consumer finance platform developer Zip has provided an undisclosed amount for South Africa-based buy-now-pay-later app developer Payflex, IT Web reported yesterday. Customers can pay for goods provided through Payflex’s e-commerce platform in four equally sized instalments.
Consulting firm Elifegroup has supplied R$1.4m ($240,000) for Fatura Simples, a Brazil-based developer of receipt integration and management software, Startupi has reported. It will channel the funding into increasing headcount and opening an office in the city of São Paulo.
MDI Ventures, the corporate VC arm of telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia, has invested undisclosed amounts in Indonesia-based logistics platform developers Waresix and Paxel, DealStreetAsia reported today. Waresix had raised a total of $101m as of a $74m series B round in February this year, while Paxel reportedly secured up to $10m in seed capital from its co-founders in September 2019 before adding $7m from SMDV, a subsidiary of conglomerate Sinar Mas, as well as quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and VC firm East Ventures, the following month.
M&A
Insurance firm Porto Seguro has acquired a 13.5% stake in Brazil-based petcare product retailer PetLove through a merger between PetLove and its pet health insurance subsidiary, Health for Pet. PetLove had raised over $87m from telecoms and internet group SoftBank’s Latin America fund, L Catterton, Tiger Global Management, Monashees, Tarpon and Kaszek Ventures prior to a November 2020 merger with animal services provider DogHero.
Business finance provider Credijusto has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire Visor, the Mexico-based creator of a data analytics and factoring software platform, allowing payment services firm American Express to exit. The company raised an undisclosed amount in 2018 from the corporate’s VC arm, American Express Ventures, as well as Ignia and AllVP, and its earlier backers include 500 Startups.
