Funding
InterWell Health, a US-based renal care network backed by kidney care provider Fresenius Medical Care, has completed a series B round sized at over $46m. The capital was provided by some 1,000 nephrologists representing 55 practices, and InterWell said it followed $20m in funding supplied by Fresnius and 16 nephrology practices in December 2019.
China-based men’s skincare brand Make Essence has received almost RMB300m ($46.2m) in series B-plus funding from investors including online video sharing platform Bilibli, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday, citing a company statement. Hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management led the round, which also featured 5Y Capital, Redpoint China Ventures and SIG Capital, all of which had participated in a January 2021 series A round sized at about $23m alongside M31Capital and online sports media platform Hupu.
Securrency, a US-headquartered developer of blockchain-based financial and regulatory technology, has secured $30m in a series B round featuring financial services firms State Street and US Bank. The round was also backed by Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners and WisdomTree Investments, the latter having led a $17.7m series A round for Securrency in January 2020 that included currency exchange operator Monex, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, RRE Ventures Strawberry Creek Ventures and Panthera Capital Partners.
EAVision, a China-based developer of drones for the agriculture industry, has raised $30m in a series C round that included chemicals producer BASF, agribusiness Continental Grain Company and fresh fruit retailer Pagoda, e27 reported today. Temasek, Citic and Bits x Bites co-led the round, which also featured Suzhou Oriza Holdings, Zhidao Capital, Songshan Capital and Yongxin Oriental. The company received an eight-digit yuan amount from Shun Financing and Reliable Capital in 2017 and a similarly undisclosed amount (RMB10m = $1.44m) in a 2018 series B round backed by Citic Agricultural Fund.
Japan-based online lending platform developer Funds has secured ¥2bn ($18.5m) in a series C round featuring online marketplace Mercari as well as Itochu Technology Ventures (ITV), Japan Post Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Mizuho Capital – on behalf of trading group Itochu, postal service Japan Post and financial services firms Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Bank respectively. Multicorporate-backed venture capital firm B Dash Ventures, AG Capital and Global Brain also took part in the round, which boosted Funds’ overall funding to approximately $29.5m and which followed a $5.9m round in July 2019 when it was still known as Crowdport.
Leaps by Bayer, the corporate venturing arm of chemicals and pharmaceutical producer Bayer, has led a $12m seed round for Edifice Health, a US-based immunology technology developer spun out of Stanford University’s 1,000 Immunomes Project. The corporate was joined by pharmaceutical company Taisho Pharmaceutical, Paladin Capital Group, Vertical Venture Partners, Ahren Innovation Capital, Ataraxia Capital Partners, Shanda Grab Ventures, Alafi Capital, Human Longevity and Performance Impact Venture Fund, Longevity Incubator Fund, Summer Venture Capital, Carlyle Global Advisors, M4 Capital and Better Food Ventures.
China-headquartered internet-of-things tool developer RAKwireless Technology has completed a $10m series A round led by Hong Kong NWS Holding, the conglomerate that owns property developer New World Development Company. VC firm Shunwei Capital also participated in the round, which will go to marketing as well as increasing the production of the company’s technology.
Package Free, the operator of an online marketplace that sells sustainable, plastic-free goods, has secured $8m from investors including fashion brand Naadam and private equity firm Vanterra Capital, AlleyWatch reported yesterday. Primary Ventures led the company’s $4.5m seed round in September 2019, investing alongside TQ Ventures, Day One Ventures and angel investors Ryan Engel, Brooke Wall and Neil Parikh.
Shop LIT Live, the US-based creator of a livestreamed online shopping platform, has raised $6m in a seed round that included mobile game publisher Colopl and Marubeni Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of diversified conglomerate Marubeni Ventures. VC firm CRCM Ventures led the round, which also featured Inventures. Founding CEO Toby Zhang had previously spent six years as a partner at CRCM Ventures.
Vietnam-headquartered mobile game studio Topebox has received $1m from Blockdream Ventures, an investment vehicle for cryptocurrency exchange operator OKEx, as well as mobile game publisher Animoca Brands, Axia8 Ventures and Megala Ventures, Tech in Asia reported today. The cash will support the launch of a blockchain gaming title it has developed with partner KardiaChain.
Singapore-headquartered crypto payment platform developer Mugglepay has closed a $1m seed round that included Borderless Algorand Accelerator, a partnership between decentralised finance technology provider Algorand and blockchain-focused VC firm Borderless Capital, 36Kr has reported. Blockchain accelerator Celo Camp’s Flori fund led the round, which also featured LuneX Ventures.
M&A
JazzHR, a US-based recruitment software developer that had raised $24m from investors including enterprise software producer Salesforce’s corporate VC arm, Salesforce Ventures, as of 2017, has agreed to merge with peer Jobvite and recruitment processing services firm NXTThing RPO. Neither of the other two have disclosed corporate investors but Jobvite’s most recent funding involved it raising $200m from investment firm K1 Investment Management in February 2019.
Technology integrator Science Applications International Corp has agreed to purchase Koverse, a US-based provider of data management software for artificial intelligence and machine learning, for an undisclosed amount, enabling financial services firm Credit Suisse to exit. Credit Suisse’s Asset Management subsidiary had invested an undisclosed amount in the company in 2016.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.