Funding
Alexandria Venture Investments, the venture capital arm of real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, took part in a $76m series A round yesterday for Pheast Therapeutics, a US-based cancer drug developer spun out of Stanford University. Catalio Capital Management and Arch Venture Partners co-led the round, which also featured Risk and Reward and, according to MedCity News, Stanford University’s Presidential Venture Fund.
US-headquartered token exchange technology developer 0x Labs secured $70m in series B funding yesterday from investors including non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea, digital currency exchange Coinbase and Jump Crypto, a subsidiary of trading firm Jump Trading. VC firm Greylock led the round, which was also backed by Pantera Capital, Sound Ventures, A.Capital, Brevan Howard and private investors Reid Hoffman and Jared Leto.
Singapore-headquartered music creation tool provider BandLab completed a $65m series B round yesterday featuring Prosus Ventures, the investment arm of e-commerce and internet holding company Prosus, valuing it at $315m post-money. Vulcan Capital led the round, which included Caldecott Music Group – the umbrella group that oversees BandLab – and K3 Ventures.
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 led an ¥8bn ($63m) series C round for intelligent endoscopic technology developer AI Medical Service yesterday. Globis Capital Partners, a corporate venturing vehicle for educational services provider Globis, also took part in the round, as did World Innovation Lab and Incubate Fund.
China-based contract research organisation Elixir Clinical Research has received $52m in series A funding from investors including jewellery-focused conglomerate Chow Tai Fook, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. The corporate participated alongside healthcare investment firm Lyfe Capital and VC firm Sinovation Ventures.
Waltz Health, the US-based developer of an artificial intelligence-equipped online marketplace for prescription medicine, publicly launched yesterday with $35.4m from a series A round led by GV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet. The round included Echo Health Ventures, the VC group which includes health plan provider Cambia Health Solutions and health insurers BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and USAble, in addition to health insurance association BlueCross BlueShield’s Blue Venture Fund, Define Ventures, Byers Capital, Twine Ventures and undisclosed angel investors.
DotData, a US-based provider of artificial intelligence automation software, secured $31.6m today in a series B round that included IT services firm Otsuka Shokai. It was joined by financial services firms Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, and the company said its total funding now stands at $74.6m.
Verana Networks, a US-headquartered developer of 5G radio-access network technology, raised $28m yesterday in a series B round backed by electronics producer TDK’s corporate VC unit, TDK Ventures. The round was led by DC Investment Partners and included Spark Capital, Bold Capital Partners, Aspiro Capital and Taiwania Capital.
US-headquartered, web application-focused cybersecurity software producer Source Defense received $27m yesterday in a series B round that included Capital One Ventures, the strategic investment arm of financial services firm Capital One. VC firm Springtide Ventures led the round, which also featured Jerusalem Venture Partners, AllegisCyber Capital, Global Brain, Connecticut Innovations and NightDragon.
US-based rocket energetics producer Bow Systems completed a $27m series A round yesterday featuring aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin’s corporate venturing arm, Lockheed Martin Ventures. VC firms Crosslink Capital and Razor’s Edge Ventures co-led the round, which was also backed by Broom Ventures.
Supermarket retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard has led a $25m series A round for US-based grocery delivery service Food Rocket through its Circle K Venture Fund, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The company has also struck a deal to be the delivery partner of Alimentation Couche-Tard’s Circle K chain.
Japan-based blockchain game developer DoubleJump.Tokyo raised ¥3bn ($23.5m) today from investors including crypto financial services provider Amber Group, open-source development laboratory Protocol Labs, mobile game publishers Com2uS Group and Wemade, digital payment technology producer Circle, marketing firm Dentsu, blockchain technology producer Polygon, trading firm Jump Trading and internet group Z Holdings, the last five through Circle Ventures, Dentsu Ventures, Polygon Ventures, Jump Crypto and Z Venture Capital respectively. They were joined by Access Ventures, Arriba Studio, Fenbushi Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Jafco, Next Web Capital and PKO Investments.
US-headquartered digital banking platform developer Cogni publicly launched yesterday having collected $23m in a series A round co-led by conglomerate Hanwha’s Asset Management subsidiary and VC firm CaplinFO. The round included blockchain technology provider Solana and cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which invested through Solana Ventures and FTX Ventures respectively, as well as Ship Capital, Thirty Five Ventures, ROK Capital, Bluewatch Ventures and Alsara Investment Group.
Solar microinverter equipment maker APsystems helped add $3.5m to energy storage system provider Yotta Energy’s series A round yesterday, lifting it to $16.5m. Energy and forestry group Copec led the $13m first tranche in November 2021 through its Wind Ventures subsidiary, investing with of energy utility EDP and renewable energy project developer Doral – through EDP Ventures and Doral Energy-Tech Ventures – as well as Riverstone Ventures and Swan Impact Network.
South 8 Technologies, a US-based developer of electrolyte formulations for use in lithium batteries, secured $12m in series A funding yesterday from investors including industrial gas provider Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation, conglomerate LG and petroleum supplier Shell, the last two through LG Technology Ventures and Shell Ventures. The round was led by Anzu Partners and also backed by Foothill Ventures.
US-based conversational intelligence software provider Loris raised $12m yesterday in a series A round that included ServiceNow Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of workflow management software producer ServiceNow. VC firm Bow Capital led the round while existing investors Floodgate and Vertex Ventures also took part.
Chemicals producer Pola Orbis participated in a ¥1.46bn ($11.4m) series B round today for Babel, the Japan-based creator of an intelligent analysis tool for business negotiations. The round also featured Mirai Creation Fund, a joint vehicle formed by carmaker Toyota and asset manager Sparx, as well as three unnamed private investors and debt financing from unnamed institutions.
Financial services group Citi co-led a $10m funding round for Crowdz, the US-based operator of an online finance platform for small and medium-sized enterprises, yesterday, through its Global Spread Products division’s Spread Products Investment Technologies team. The round was co-led with Global Cleantech Capital and it included Bold Capital Partners, TFX Capital, and Augment Ventures, boosting the company’s overall funding to $25.5m.
CXIP Labs, the US-based creator of a protocol called Holograph designed to improve the non-fungible token minting process, received $6.5m yesterday in a seed round featuring decentralised fundraising protocol developer Avalaunch. The round was co-led by Courtside Ventures and Wave Financial and also backed by Vaynerfund, Arca NFT Fund, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Kenetic Capital, Mirana Ventures, Company Ventures, Soma Capital, Kosmos VC, Palm Drive Capital and angel investors Diplo, Gmoney, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Justin Aversano.
Japan-based corporate talent matching service Beatrust raised ¥800m ($6.3m) today in a series A round backed by CyberAgent Capital, Itochu Technology Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, Mizuho Capital and SMBC Venture Capital, on behalf of internet company CyberAgent, trading firm Itochu and financial services firms Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. VC firm Jafco led the round, which included Global Brain, Delight Ventures, Pksha Sparx Algorithm 1, One Capital and angel investor William Lohse.
Power and automation equipment producer ABB provided an undisclosed amount of series C funding for Cassia Networks, a US-headquartered developer of Bluetooth-based internet-of-things products, through corporate venturing unit ABB Technology Ventures yesterday. Cassia had raised a total of $13m as of a $10.3m series B round featuring digital television software provider SumaVision Technologies in 2016.
US-headquartered decentralised trading protocol developer Tonic secured $5m yesterday from investors including cryptocurrency wallet providers Daedalus and Bixin – the latter through its Bixin Ventures unit – as well as trading firms GSR, Wintermute, Flow Traders, Cumberland and Jane Street. The round was co-led by Electric Capital and Move while dao5, Framework Ventures and NetZero Capital also contributed funding.
Vaunt, the US-based operator of an online streaming platform for professional athletes, raised $5m on Monday in a series A round backed by metaverse infrastructure provider InfiniteWorld. The round also featured Elysian Park Ventures, True Culture Fund and angel investors Justin Tuck and Michele Roberts.
Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of enterprise software producer Salesforce, invested an undisclosed amount in US-based digital innovation services provider Robots & Pencils yesterday. The company was already a partner of Salesforce’s enterprise communication app subsidiary, Slack.
Japan-based, women’s wellness-focused e-commerce platform developer Fermata received ¥210m ($1.6m) today in a series A round backed by telecommunications firm SoftBank’s DeepCore subsidiary and diversified trading group Itochu Corporation. The round was led by University of Tokyo’s Edge Capital Partners unit and included iSGS Investment Works.
Canon IT Solutions, a subsidiary of marketing group Canon Marketing Japan, supplied an undisclosed of funding for Japan-based systems integrator THS today. The cash was invested through a capital and business agreement.
Nissay Capital, the VC subsidiary of insurance firm Nippon Life, led a ¥180m ($1.4m) pre-series A round today for Bizpa, the Japan-based operator of an advertising service for small and medium-sized businesses. The corporate participated in the round together with Astart and Coral Capital.
Japan-based flexible accommodation subscription service Sanu raised an undisclosed sum from Hulic Startup, an investment vehicle for real estate developer Hulic, today. The company’s offering revolves around specialised cabins in the woods which function as second homes for users.
M&A
Financial technology provider Banking Circle Group paid an undisclosed amount to acquire SEPAexpress, a Germany-based developer of digital business payment technology, yesterday, enabling e-commerce services provider Ixolit to exit. The company had received a mid-six digit euro amount (€100,000 = $110,000) from Ixolit in 2016 before adding an undisclosed sum from BaseTech Ventures the following year.
Public Markets
Lunit, a South Korea-based provider of artificial intelligence-equipped medical imaging software, has received preliminary approval for an initial public offering on the Korea Exchange’s Kosdaq market that would allow telecoms and internet group SoftBank, laboratory operator NSG Biolabs and internet groups Naver and Kakao to exit. Its overall funding stood at over $135m as of a $61m round in November 2021.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu. Image courtesy of Lunit.
