Funding
US-headquartered content personalisation software producer Movable Ink raised $55m yesterday in a series D round featuring semiconductor and data technology provider Intel’s corporate venture capital vehicle, Intel Capital. The round was led by Silver Lake Waterman and also backed by Contour Venture Partners, the same three investors having combined in a $30m series C round in August 2020 that pushed Movable Ink’s overall funding to over $42m.
Brimstone, a US-based provider of cement it claims is carbon negative, secured $55m in series A financing yesterday from investors including e-commerce firm Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund. The round was co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and DCVC while Fifth Wall’s Climate Fund, Tech Collaborative Fund, AccelR8, Impact Science Ventures, S2G Ventures, Gatemore Capital Management, Osage University Partners and SystemIQ also took part.
Pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co has provided an undisclosed amount of series C funding for India-based medical imaging software developer Qure, Tech in Asia reported today. It will be added to a $40m first close co-led by pharmaceutical firm Novo and HealthQuad last month that included MassMutual Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life.
India-based unmanned aerial vehicle producer IdeaForge has completed a $20m series B round backed by IT services provider Infosys and mobile semiconductor producer Qualcomm, YourStory reported yesterday. Investment manager Florintree led the round, which also featured financial services firm Exim Bank of India, Celesta Capital and Infina.
Domestic robot producer iRobot has taken part in US-based computer vision technology developer Synthesis AI’s $17m series A round, which closed yesterday. The round was led by 468 Capital and included Sorenson Ventures, Strawberry Creek Ventures, Bee Partners, PJC, Boom Capital and Kubera Venture Capital, while the corporate invested through its iRobot Ventures unit.
GV, the subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet formerly known as Google Ventures, led a $14m series A round yesterday for Deepset, the developer of a software platform for creating natural language processing products. Harpoon Ventures, System.One, Lunar Ventures and Acequia Capital also invested, together with undisclosed individuals.
Next Earth, the operator of an online platform where users can buy metaverse real estate aligned to the real world, provided $12.5m in funding for metaverse project incubator, integrator and development hub Limitless yesterday. Limitless will now introduce a metaverse-as-a-service offering and has formed a VC fund called Limitless Capital with a $260m target for its close.
Our Happy Company, the Singapore-headquartered operator of non-fungible token platform OurSong, received $7.5m yesterday in a seed round co-led by blockchain game publisher Animoca Brands. The round was co-led with Infinity Ventures Crypto and also backed by Circle Ventures on behalf of cryptocurrency services provider Circle, in addition to trading firm Jump Trading, metaverse commerce facilitator Highstreet, consumer electronics manufacturer HTC, Cherubic Ventures, FBG Capital and North Island Ventures.
ModusBox, a US-based provider of financial services integration technology, completed a $7.5m series A round yesterday co-led by financial services firm Choice Bank. Impact investment fund Patamar Capital co-led the round, which included BankTech Ventures and American Capital Partners.
US-headquartered agricultural planning software producer Verge raised $7.5m yesterday in a series A round led by motorised vehicle manufacturer Yamaha Motor’s strategic investment arm, Yamaha Motor Ventures. The round also featured Fall Line Capital, SP Ventures and GrainInnovate, the fund formed by alternative investment manager Artesian and the Australian government’s Grains Research and Development Corporation.
Homebuilder Lennar’s open innovation subsidiary, LenX, led a $7m series A round for US-based home equity access provider HomePace disclosed when it emerged from stealth on Wednesday. The corporate was joined in the round by Bling Capital, NextView Ventures and Ride Ventures, all of which were billed as existing investors.
Mass media and entertainment group CJ ENM is investing an undisclosed amount in US-headquartered metaverse entertainment studio Hyperreal Digital, Variety reported yesterday. The deal came five months after Hyperreal secured $7m in series A funding from video game publisher Pearl Abyss, marketing agency Zash Global Media, David Levy, Robert Wolf and Ryan Schinman.
FarmJunction Marketing, the India-based operator of online agricultural vehicle marketplace Tractor Junction, raised $5.7m yesterday in a funding round co-led by classified listings group Info Edge’s corporate VC unit, InfoEdge Ventures. VC firm Omnivore co-led the round, which was also backed by investment firm AgFunder’s Grow Impact Fund, Rockstart AgriFood Fund and individuals including Vikram Chopra, Mehul Agrawal, Vellayan Subbiah, Arun Venkatachalam and Sanjiv Rangrass.
HV Capital, the VC firm backed by publisher Holtzbrinck, has led Germany-based mobile news aggregator Informed’s €5m ($5.4m) seed round. The round also featured VC firm 468 Capital.
Nigeria-headquartered online freight management service OnePort 365 has secured $5m in a seed round led by Mobility 54, the VC fund formed by carmaker Toyota’s trading subsidiary, Toyota Tsusho, and automotive distributor CFAO Group, TechCrunch reported yesterday. It was joined by freight forwarder Flexport and ODX Flexport, the accelerator it launched with talent hub On Deck, in addition to financial services provider SBI (through subsidiary SBI Investment, Samurai Incubate, a Singaporean syndicate fund and undisclosed other individuals.
Go-Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for on-demand ride and e-commerce group GoTo, is set to lead a seed round for Indonesia-based construction materials marketplace Juragan Material sized at about $4m, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday, citing sources privy to the development. The startup also offers pricing information on raw materials and building industry products.
Pakistan-based warehousing and product distribution services provider Oware received $3.3m yesterday in a pre-seed round featuring Flexport Fund, the strategic investment arm of freight forwarder Flexport. The corporate took part together with Ratio Ventures, Seedstars International Ventures, The Osiris Group, Swiss Founders Fund, Reflect Ventures, +92 Ventures, Walled City Co and unnamed individuals.
Frame Fertility, the US-based operator of an online platform which helps detect fertility risk and guide care, emerged from stealth on Wednesday with $2.8m in seed funding from investors including health insurance provider CareFirst’s Healthworx vehicle. VC firm Looking Glass Capital led the round, which was also backed by Flare Capital Partners, Great Oaks Venture Capital and Brand Foundry Ventures.
Terra Economics and Analytics Lab (Teal), an India-based developer of property record management software, has secured $2m in a pre-series A round featuring classified listings group Info Edge, Inc42 reported yesterday. The round was led by Omidyar Network India.
Internet company Jabbar Internet Group participated in a $1.4m bridge round for Jordan-based sales automation software developer Repzo yesterday. Arab Palestinian Investment Company, Ahli Fintech, Arzan VC, Shorooq Partners and Adamtech Ventures filled out the round with undisclosed angel investors.
Data analytics technology provider Boxnet has invested R$5m ($1.1m) in Brazil-headquartered marketing data software developer Keep.i, Startupi has reported. The companies also plan to collaborate on product development.
Digital currency exchange KuCoin provided $1m in funding for SakuraVerse, the Seychelles-registered creator of a metaverse game development platform, on Wednesday. The investment was made through corporate venturing unit KuCoin Ventures’ $100m Creators Fund.
India-based fresh pet food brand Pawfectly Made raised $1m from online meat retailer Licious on Wednesday. Licious will also offer strategic expertise to the startup and views the deal as a path to expanding its existing product offering.
Blockchain technology provider Solana invested $500,000 in YGG SEA, a Southeast Asia-focused decentralised autonomous organisation offshoot of play-to-earn gaming guild Yield Guild Games, through corporate venturing vehicle Solana Ventures yesterday. The corporate will also help YGG SEA managers come up with frameworks for training people to develop projects on the Solana blockchain.
M&A
Ride hailing service Swvl agreed yesterday to buy Zeelo, a UK-based coach travel service backed by automotive manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures unit, for $100m according to the Financial Times. InMotion took part in a $12m round for Zeelo in August 2021 that was led by fellow existing investor ETF Partners and backed by various individuals, taking the company’s overall funding to over $19m.
Kidney care provider Somatus paid an undisclosed amount to purchase US-based healthcare analytics technology producer Lumiata yesterday. Lumiata had raised a total of $45m as of a $14m series B round in January 2021 co-led by AllegisNL Capital – a joint venture for insurer Nippon Life and VC firm Allegis Capital – and Defy.vc with backing from Blue Venture Fund, the VC vehicle for a coalition of BlueCross BlueShield health insurers, in addition to Khosla Ventures.
US-based code review software developer PullRequest was bought by ethical hacking services provider HackerOne for an undisclosed sum yesterday following over $10m in funding from investors including internet technology provider Google’s Gradient Ventures fund and Slack Fund, a vehicle for communications app developer Slack. Gradient Ventures led a $2.3m seed round in 2017 that included Slack Fund, FundersClub, Liquid2 Ventures, Y Combinator, Fika Ventures, Lynett Capital and Defy Partners before joining the last four in an $8m series A the following year.
