Funding
UK-based cloud kitchen operator Taster has received $37m in funding from investors including e-commerce firm Rakuten, Sifted reported today. Venture capital firm Octopus Ventures led the series B round, which also featured Battery Ventures, Latitude and Heartcore. The company had raised $8m from Battery Ventures and existing investors Heartcore, LocalGlobe (Latitude’s sister fund), GFC and private investor Marc Ménasé in June 2019, and TechCrunch reported GFC and Founders Future both backed the latest round.
Insurance group Clal and investment manager Altshuler Shaham co-led a $31m series C round for Israel-based electric powertrain producer IRP Systems yesterday that included Samsung Ventures, a subsidiary of electronics manufacturer Samsung, as well as vehicle exporter Carasso Motors and investment holding group Shlomo Group. The company said it has now raised $57m in total, including $17m in a May 2020 series B round led by Fosun RZ Capital – part of conglomerate Fosun – and backed by automotive distributor Champion Motors.
Sobot Technologies, a China-based customer service software provider backed by cloud services provider Yonyou, has raised RMB200m ($30.8m) in a series C-plus round led by GL Ventures, the VC arm of hedge fund manager Hillhouse Capital, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. The round included Yunqi Partners, which had co-led Sobot’s $29.5m series C round with Yonyou in May 2020. Its earlier investors included Yunqi Partners, ZhenFund and IDG Capital.
RapidDeploy, the US-headquartered developer of a computer-aided dispatch and analytics platform, closed a $29m series B round today featuring Ericsson Ventures and Samsung Next Ventures, which invested on behalf of communications equipment maker Ericsson and electronics producer Samsung respectively. VC firm Morpheus Ventures led the round, which included GreatPoint Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, Clearvision Ventures and Tau Ventures. It came in the wake of $12m in series A funding from Samsung Next and GreatPoint Ventures in early 2019.
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank has led a $28m series B round for Indonesia-based social commerce platform developer Super through corporate venturing unit SoftBank Ventures Asia, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. Amasia, Insignia Ventures Partners, Y Combinator Continuity Fund and TNB Aura also took part, as did private investor Stephen Pagliuca and partners of DST Global. The company has reportedly now received $36m in total, including $7m in a 2018 series A round led by Amasia and backed by Y Combinator, B Capital Group, Insignia and Alpha JWC Ventures, and an undisclosed amount from entertainment agency Roc Nation’s Arrive unit in February 2020.
Yousician, the Finland-based developer of an online platform that helps users learn musical instruments, has secured $28m in a series B round featuring e-commerce and cloud services group Amazon’s Alexa Fund, TechCrunch reported yesterday. VC firm True Ventures led the round, which included MPL Ventures and private investors Mark Pincus, Jason Calacanis, David Helgason, Rolf Schrömgens, Moaffak Ahmed and Bryan Meehan. Formerly known as Overlin, Yousician had raised $1.4m from True Ventures in 2012 and its total funding stands at $35m, according to TechCrunch.
US-based anti-inflammatory therapeutics developer ReAlta Life Sciences completed a $20m series A3 round today led by Russia-headquartered pharmaceutical company Marathon Pharma that included unnamed new and existing investors. The company had previously closed a $14m series A2 round in April 2020 featuring Marathon and Children’s Research Holdings to take its overall series A financing to $26m.
Barkyn, the Portugal-based operator of a subscription service for pet products that counts web services provider 7Graus as an investor, has added €3m from VC fund Five Seasons Ventures to a series A round now totalling €8m ($10.7m), Private Equity Wire reported yesterday. Indico Capital Partners and All Iron Ventures co-led the June 2020 first tranche, which also featured Portugal Ventures. It came after Indico Capital Partners led Barkyn’s $1.9m seed round in April 2019, investing with 7Graus, All Iron Ventures and Shilling Capital Partners.
Baufi24 Baufinanzierung, the Germany-based operator of an online comparison platform for financial products, raised €6.7m ($8.1m) in series A funding on Tuesday from insurance firm Helvetia’s investment arm, Helvetia Venture Fund, as well as VC firm Btov Partners. The funding has been earmarked for domestic expansion and the strengthening of Baufi24’s smart technology.
MDI Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia, has led a series B1 round of undisclosed size for Indonesia-based customer retention platform developer Tada, e27 reported today. Telecoms company Telkomsel’s TMI unit, Finch Capital and Sovereign’s Capital also took part in the round. The company (then called Gift Card Indonesia) raised $2m in a 2015 series A round featuring SMDV and Lippo Digital Ventures – investing on behalf of conglomerates Sinar Mas and Lippo – Sovereign’s Capital and RMK Ventures, and added an undisclosed amount of series B funding from Finch Capital, Sovereign’s Capital and unnamed existing backers in 2018.
Social media talent manager Night Media took part in a $5m pre-series A round for US-headquartered Bitcoin rewards platform developer Lolli last month. Seven Seven Six, Serena Ventures and private investors Casey Neistat, Phil Defranco, Cody Ko, Noel Miller, Ian Borthwick, and Gabriel Leydon also backed the round, which came after $3m in seed funding from Founders Fund vehicle Pathfinder, Sound Ventures, Craft Ventures, Company Ventures, Chapter One Ventures, FJ Labs, Version One, Bain Capital Ventures, Digital Currency Group (DCG) and various individuals in May 2020. Bain Capital Ventures, DCG, Version One, Forerunner Ventures, 3K VC, SV Angel, FJ Labs and assorted angel investors had supplied $2.25m for Lolli in 2018.
MD Ally, a US-based emergency telehealth platform developer backed by media group Hearst, received $3.5m yesterday in a seed round led by General Catalyst that included fellow VC firm Seae Ventures. The company had previously raised about $1m in a May 2020 seed round led by Red and Blue Ventures that also featured HearstLab, Hearst’s women-focused VC fund and accelerator.
Wunderite, the US-based creator of a customer-facing online platform for insurance brokers, raised $3m in seed capital yesterday from investors including insurance agencies Trustco and Heffernan Insurance Brokers. VC firm Spark Capital led the round, which also featured BrokerTech Ventures, Boston Seed and angel investors including John Wepler, Scott Addis, Brian Hetherington, Ty Harris and Andrew Krantz. The company participated in the Techstars Boston accelerator in January 2020.
Tradezeal Online, a subsidiary of business-to-business marketplace operator IndiaMart InterMesh, has agreed to pay Rs 182m ($2.4m) for a 26% stake in Shipway Technology, an India-based provider of customer-facing shipping software, VCCircle reported yesterday. It has also bought $180,000 of shares in India-based freight services platform developer Truckhall from IIM Calcutta Innovation Park at a $6m valuation, increasing its stake to 25%.
M&A
Additive electronics manufacturer Nano Dimension agreed on Tuesday to buy Israel-based 3D microprinting system developer NanoFabrica in a cash-and-share deal set to be sized between $54.9m and $59.4m, allowing software provider Microsoft to exit. Microsoft subsidiary M12 co-led a $4m round for the company in May 2020 with NextLeap Ventures, and its other existing investors include i3 Equity Partners.
Business intelligence provider Near agreed yesterday to acquire UM, the data insights technology provider formerly known as UberMedia, for an undisclosed amount, allowing media company Hubert Burda and mass media group Comcast to exit. Hubert Burda vehicle DLD Ventures invested $5.6m in UM in 2011, following $17.5m from Accel, Revolution Ventures and Index Ventures earlier in the year and $3.5m from Index Ventures, SV Angel, First Round, Betaworks and various individuals in 2010. Blue Chip Ventures and private investor Gordon Crawford added $8m in 2014 but Comcast unit Comcast Ventures has not disclosed when it invested.
DynamicAction, a US-based provider of internal retail data analytics, was purchased by retail intelligence provider Edited for an undisclosed amount yesterday, providing exits for consulting firm Accenture and public relations group WPP. It had raised $15m from Accenture and West Coast Capital in 2016, at which point it identified WPP, Frog Capital and ePlanet Capital as existing investors.
