Funding
Reinsurance firm Munich Re led US-based fertility treatment finance provider Future Family’s $25m series B round through corporate venturing unit Munich Re Ventures yesterday. It was joined by MS&AD Ventures, a subsidiary of insurance group MS&AD, as well as financial services group Orix, Triventures, Aspect Ventures, Mindset Ventures, At.inc/ and OurCrowd.
Black Crow AI, a US-based developer of no-code machine learning technology, secured $25m last month in a series A round featuring technology conference Web Summit’s Amaranthine fund and Bloomberg Beta, the venture capital firm sponsored by media group Bloomberg. The round was led by Imaginary Ventures and also backed by Left Lane, Good Friends, Interplay, Red Antler, Primary Venture Partners, Interlock Partners, Vast Ventures and individuals including Bill Ackman.
Israel-headquartered digital twin software developer vHive received $25m yesterday in a series B round featuring Telekom Innovation Pool, an investment vehicle for telecommunications firm Deutsche Telekom. Growth equity firm PSG led the round, which was also backed by Octopus Ventures, the latter having joined Telekom Innovation Pool and StageOne Ventures in a $9.5m series A round that closed in late 2020, bringing vHive’s overall funding to $11.5m.
Telecoms firm Swisscom’s corporate VC arm, Swisscom Ventures, took part in the $20m first close of Switzerland-based cell imaging and analysis technology developer Nanolive’s series C-1 round yesterday. The tranche was co-led by VC firm Taiwania Capital and an unnamed life science investor with backing from unnamed existing investors.
Malaysia-headquartered online investment platform developer Gotrade secured $15.5m in series A funding from investors including financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group yesterday. Private equity firm Velocity Capital’s Fintech Ventures fund led the round, which also featured BeeNext, Kibo Ventures, Picus Capital, LocalGlobe, Social Leverage and Raptor Group.
Cryptocurrency research firm Delphi Digital co-led a $14m seed round for game financing platform developer Polemos with Framework Ventures yesterday at a $100m post-money valuation. Trading firm Jump Trading’s Jump Crypto vehicle also took part, as did crypto financial services provider Matrixport, decentralised payment technology developer PL^Gnet, decentralised market maker Tokamak, proprietary trading firm AlphaGrep, decentralised exchange aggregator 1inch Network, video game developer Illuvium, crypto exchange FMFW.io, digital collectibles marketplace Ex Populus, stablecoin developer Fei Protocol, blockchain marketplace Centrality, crypto finance utility developer CryptoBuddy, crypto trading advice service Cultivate Crypto, marketing agency Third Hemisphere, Proof Systems, Goldentree Asset Management, IOSG Ventures, QSP Capital, Max Stealth, D64 Ventures, Hutt Capital, LD Capital, Coti Ventures, Andromeda Capital, DeFi Capital, Raised In Space, Sentor Investments, Mozaik Capital, Sandbar Investments, RoCa, Deuk Capital, Qi Capital, Magnet Capital, Sky Alpha, Mirana Ventures, MyAsiaVC and Liq.vc.
RenoFi, a US-based provider of home renovation financing, raised $14m in series A funding yesterday from investors including mutual insurer Cuna Mutual Group’s VC arm, CMFG Ventures. The round was led by VC firm Canaan and also backed by Nyca Partners.
TXP Medical, the Japan-based operator of an online platform for emergency medical data called Next Stage ER, secured ¥1.5bn ($12.2m) today in a series B round that included diversified trading group Itochu. The corporate was joined by University of Tokyo’s Edge Capital Partners unit.
Diversified conglomerate Mitsui led a series B round for US-headquartered clinical trial software developer ProofPilot yesterday sized at over $12m. Data science technology provider Excelra also contributed to the round, along with Sopris Capital and First Trust Capital Partners.
India-headquartered instant mobile game studio Bombay Play has received $7m in funding from investors including instant game developer Playco and esports gaming platform developer Winzo, it told VentureBeat yesterday. Kalaari Capital led the round, with Lumikai Fund, Leo Capital, AdvantEdge VC and AMEA Ventures also participating.
Singapore-based crypto staking platform developer RockX secured $6m today in a series A round featuring digital asset services provider Amber Group, crypto financial services provider Matrixport and cryptocurrency developer Megastake at a valuation of about $30m, Forkast reported. They were joined by Primitive Ventures, FBG Capital, Draper Dragon, IMO Ventures and Alpha CW.
Decentralised exchange operator Trisolaris Dao completed a funding round backed by Jump Crypto, a subsidiary of proprietary trading firm Jump Capital, yesterday that it told CoinDesk was sized at $4.5m. Electric Capital led the round, also investing with Dragonfly Capital, Leminscap, Ethereal Ventures and unnamed angel investors.
Canada-based gynaecological prosthetic developer Cosm Medical has raised C$4.7m ($3.8m) in seed funding from investors including telecoms firm Telus’s Pollinator Fund, BetaKit reported yesterday. The round was led by Fusion Fund and also featured iGan Partners, MaRS IAF, Archangel Fund and undisclosed individuals.
Shipping firm Maersk has participated in a £2.55m ($3.3m) pre-seed round for Again, a UK-based developer of automated micro-cleaning technology, through investment vehicle Maersk Growth, UKTN reported yesterday. Impact investment fund Eka Ventures led the round.
Hikma Ventures, the investment arm of pharmaceutical firm Hikma, led a $2.1m seed round yesterday for O7 Therapy, the Egypt-based developer of an online portal for mental health treatment services. C-Ventures and Lotus Ventures also took part, as did unnamed angel investors.
Pridze, the Japan-based operator of online documentation and information sharing platform Flouu, received an undisclosed amount of funding from insurer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group today. The corporate supplied the funding through strategic investment vehicle Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital.
M&A
Cryptocurrency financial services provider Galaxy Digital Holdings has renegotiated the terms of its $1.2bn cash-and-stock acquisition of BitGo, a US-based digital asset wallet developer backed by Bitcoin mining technology provider BitFury and trading firm DRW, originally agreed in May 2021. The revised terms mean BitGo’s shareholders will acquire 44.8 million shares in Galaxy instead of 33.8 million, representing a 12% stake, up from 10%.
Medical test provider Castle Biosciences agreed yesterday to purchase AltheaDx, a US-based molecular diagnostics technology developer backed by pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec, for $32.5m in cash, $32.5m in shares and up to $75m in milestone payments. The company’s total funding stood at $68m as of a 2017 series D round and its investors include corporate VC unit WuXi Healthcare Ventures, Ally Bridge and Alma Life Sciences.
Conversational messaging software provider Gupshup has bought Singapore-based, financial services-focused peer Active.ai for an undisclosed sum, allowing financial services firm Banco Sabadell and online lending platform developer CreditEase to exit, VCCircle reported today. Sabadell’s InnoCell unit joined Kalaari Capital, Chiratae Ventures and Vertex Ventures to invest $3m in the company in 2019, taking a round also backed by CreditEase and Dream Incubator to $11.3m and its overall funding to $14.3m.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
