Funding
Replicant, a US-based provider of contact centre automation software, completed a $78m series B round on Tuesday featuring Salesforce Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of enterprise software producer Salesforce. Growth equity firm Stripes led the round, which included IronGrey, Omega Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Replicant’s founding investor, venture studio Atomic.
Pharmaceutical company Huadong Medicine led US-based hydroxyl dendrime drug developer Ashvattha Therapeutics’ $69m series B round yesterday through its Huadong Medicine Investment Holding vehicle. The corporate has also struck a licensing deal with Huadong, which was joined in the round by existing backers Natural Capital, Plum Alley and Tribe Capital as well as undisclosed private investors.
Diversified conglomerate Masan’s Sherpa Company subsidiary provided $65m in series C funding today for Trusting Social, the Singapore-headquartered creator of an artificial intelligence-equipped credit scoring system. Sequoia Capital, 500 Startups and Beenext had supplied $25m for the company in 2019 before joining Tanglin Venture Partners to add $19m in a mid-2020 series B round.
Strider Technologies, a US-based provider of intellectual property protection software, completed a $45m series B round yesterday that included Koch Disruptive Technologies, a corporate VC subsidiary of industrial and chemical group Koch Industries. Growth equity firm Valor Equity Partners led the round, which was also backed by DataTribe and One9 Ventures.
US-based depression and anxiety care provider Concert Health raised $42m in series B financing from investors including health systems CommonSpirit Health and Advent Health yesterday. The round was led by Define Ventures while Healthy Ventures, Vertical Venture Partners and Townhall Ventures also participated.
UK-headquartered decentralised finance app developer Argent secured $40m today in a series B round featuring Jump Crypto, a subsidiary of trading firm Jump Trading, in addition to blockchain security technology provider Starkware and blockchain game publisher Animoca Brands. The round was co-led by Fabric Ventures and Metaplanet and it included Paradigm, Index Ventures and Creandum.
China-based electrolyte battery material provider LionGo has received almost RMB200m ($30.2m) in series A financing from investors including power electronics developer JN Tech, DealStreetAsia reported today. Oceanpine Capital led the round, which also featured Chinese Academy of Sciences’ CAS FOF vehicle, JZ Capital and unnamed other investors.
Financial services provider USAA led US-headquartered data privacy software developer Enveil’s $25m series B round yesterday. The round included Capital One Ventures and Bloomberg Beta – on behalf of financial services firm Capital One and media group Bloomberg – as well as payment services provider Mastercard, C5 Capital, DataTribe, In-Q-Tel, Cyber Mentor Fund, GC&H Investments and 1843 Capital.
US-based decentralised investment bank developer Ondo Finance secured $20m yesterday in a series A round backed by Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, in addition to market makers Flow Traders and Wintermute. VC firm Founders Fund led the round, which also featured GoldenTree Asset Management, Steel Perlot and Tiger Global Management.
Doppler, the US-headquartered creator of a software platform which helps developers manage secrets across multiple clouds, raised $20m in series A funding on Tuesday from investors including GV, the subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet formerly known as Google Ventures. The round was led by VC firm CRV and included Sequoia Capital and Y Combinator.
Japan-based artificial intelligence technology developer AIQ added ¥300m in equity (from Mizuho Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm Mizuho Bank) and debt financing (from Mizuho Bank and peers Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Bank of Yokohama) to its latest round today, increasing it to ¥1.9bn ($14.5m). The first tranche closed last month and included Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital vehicle, textile producer Toyoshima’s Fashion & Technology Fund 2, IT services firm TIS, JIC Venture Growth Investments and Resona Bank.
Canada-based vehicle charging system provider Swtch Energy completed a $13m round yesterday that included a $10m equity portion featuring solar system installer Elemental Energy. The equity part of the round was led by Aligned Climate Capital and included Landmark Management, IBI Group, Active Impact Investments and Pacific Reach while Silicon Valley Bank provided a $3m credit facility.
Japan-based online real estate portal Sumutasu has received $8.2m in equity funding and $1.6m in debt financing through a series B round featuring Carta Ventures, a corporate VC subsidiary of equity management software producer Carta. The equity portion was co-led by World Innovation Lab and Mobile Internet Capital with backing from Mercuria Investment and Kiraboshi Capital while Japan Finance Corporation led the debt portion.
Japan-based industrial robot developer Linkwiz raised ¥600m ($4.6m) today in a funding round featuring Biprogy, the IT services group formerly known as Nihon Unisys, which invested through its Emellience Partners vehicle. It was joined by Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Tohoku University Venture Partners, which invested on behalf of financial services group Mitsubishi UFJ and Tohoku University respectively.
Ryse Health, the US-based creator of a diabetes care management app, has secured $3.4m in seed capital from investors including health insurance firm CareFirst and healthcare provider LifeBridge Health, Technical.ly has reported. VC firm W Health Ventures put up $2m to lead the round.
Drug producer Rohto Pharmaceutical invested an undisclosed amount in Taiwan-headquartered glucose monitoring system developer iXensor on Tuesday through a strategic partnership agreement. The latter company had previously raised $5m from unnamed investors in 2013.
Japan-based electric vehicle manufacturer EV Motors Japan raised ¥326m ($2.5m) in series B funding today from investors including trading group Sumitomo, banking firm Fukuoka Financial Group’s FFG Venture 2 unit and Hibishin Capital, a joint vehicle for financial services firms Fukuokahibiki Shinkin Bank and Shinkin Central Bank. They were joined by Energy Environment Investment’s EEI4 Innovation & Impact Fund, and the round took the company’s overall funding to approximately $4.8m.
Japan-based pharmacy chain operator Good Aid secured ¥300m ($2.3m) in series C funding today from investors including rail operator Kintetsu Railway’s Kintetsu Venture Partners unit and its peer, Nagoya Railroad. The corporates participated in the round alongside undisclosed VC firms and private investors.
E-commerce firm Alibaba’s eWTP Technology and Innovation Fund has co-led a $2.1m seed round for BintanGO, an Indonesia-based provider of online content creations tools, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round was co-led with Investible and included marketing agency United Creative, Farquhar VC, Plug and Play, Aksara Ventures, Redbadge Pacific, Moonshot Ventures and Mulia Sky Capital.
India-based video analytics software developer Staqu received Rs 110m ($1.4m) in pre-series A funding from investors including cash logistics provider SIS on Tuesday. SIS acquired a 7.7% stake in the company through the deal, according to a regulatory filing, and the round also featured VC firm Mount Judi Ventures while Indian Angel Network exited through the transaction.
Nucleic acid purification and assay technology producer Zymo Research supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Singapore-based genetic testing technology developer Star Array yesterday. The capital was invested through a strategic partnership which will involve Zymo leveraging Star Array’s expertise in the research and diagnostic spaces.
Rainmatter, the incubator and VC fund launched by online share trading service Zerodha, provided Rs 30m ($390,000) in seed financing for Actlogica, a India-based developer of digital investment management technology, YourStory reported yesterday. Actlogica’s first two products are wealth management software platform FinFlo Enterprise and mutual fund analysis and reporting software platform Investa.
M&A
Wealth management services provider Kristal.AI purchased Globalise, the India-based operator of an online investment platform focusing on stocks and shares, for an undisclosed sum yesterday, allowing payment services provider Credit Saison to exit. The corporate co-led a seed round of undisclosed size for Globalise in November 2021 with Whiteboard Capital investing together with Himanshu Kohli, Rohit Jain, Rishi Khanna and Arjun Lamba.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
