Funding
US-based cancer drug developer Ensem Therapeutics completed a $67m series A round yesterday featuring diversified conglomerate Mitsui, which took part through its Mitsui & Co Global Investment unit. Venture capital firm GGV Capital led the round, which included Pavilion Capital, Cenova Capital and CBC Group, the healthcare investment firm that incubated the startup.
Germany-based digital preventive healthcare provider Avi Medical received €50m ($54.5m) in funding yesterday from investors including consumer product distributor Vorwerk’s corporate VC unit, Vorwerk Ventures. The round was led by Balderton and also featured Heal Capital, Addition, Picus Capital, Eurazeo, 3VC and private investors Daniel Dines and Adrian Auon.
Financial services firm Bank of Montreal co-led a $53m series B round yesterday for Ellevest, the US-based operator of a digital financial services offering for women, with Contour Venture Partners. The round included Salesforce Ventures, PayPal Ventures and Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America – on behalf of enterprise software producer Salesforce, digital payment processor PayPal and insurer Allianz – as well as Halogen Ventures, Cleo Capital, New York Ventures of Empire State Development, Stardust Equity, The Venture Collective, Envestnet, Gaingels, Pivotal Ventures, Astia Venture Fund, Khosla Ventures, Morningstar, AME Cloud Ventures and angel investors such as Elaine Wynn.
US-headquartered environmental commodities trader ClimeCo secured over $50m in funding yesterday from investors including conglomerate The Heritage Group. Private equity firm Warburg Pincus led the round, which followed an undisclosed amount from Heritage Group in early 2021, the company said.
China-based RNA therapeutics developer Rona Therapeutics closed a $33m series A round yesterday featuring Lilly Asia Ventures, a vehicle for pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly. The round was also backed by financial services firm China Merchants Bank’s CMB International subsidiary, Platanus, Fontus Capital and Lanting Capital.
US-based smart trucking software developer SmartHop received $30m yesterday in a series B round backed by RyderVentures, the investment arm of trucking services firm Ryder. VC firm Sozo Ventures led the round, which included Union Square Ventures, Greycroft, Equal Ventures, Las Olas VC, The Fund, Alumni Ventures and private investors Robby Nathan, Jett McCandles, Andrew Leto, Craig Fuller and Jason Duboe.
Koch Strategic Platforms, a subsidiary of chemicals and industrial group Koch, provided $30m in funding for US-headquartered solid-state battery technology developer Blue Current yesterday. The investment will support work on a megawatt-scale factory Blue Current plans to build in the state of California.
US-based patient management software developer Eon raised $16m from investors including healthcare provider UCHealth’s Care Innovation Center and University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, which took part through its CU Healthcare Innovation Fund. Growth equity firm Integrity Growth Partners led the round, which also featured VC studio 25Madison’s 25m Health fund.
Nealle, the Japan-based developer of carpark management software platform Park Direct, secured ¥1.94bn ($15.7m) yesterday from investors including industrial manufacturer ShinMaywa Industries and web consulting service Kozocom. They joined Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, SBI Investment, Shizuoka Capital and Yokohama Capital – subsidiaries of financial services providers Mitsubishi UFJ, SBI, Shizuoka Bank and Bank of Yokohama – as well as Sparx Group’s Mirai Creation Fund 3, which is backed by carmaker Toyota. The company’s overall funding stands at approximately $18.6m.
Cardiovascular technology producer Cordis co-led US-headquartered mechanical thrombectomy technology developer Endovascular Engineering’s $15m series A-1 round on Tuesday. The round was co-led with healthcare investment firm Santé Ventures and the company’s existing backers include private equity group Inventure Group.
UK-based carbon capture and storage technology developer Brilliant Planet completed a $12m series A round yesterday co-led by carmaker Toyota through its Toyota Ventures subsidiary. VC firm Union Square Ventures co-led the round while Future Positive Capital, AiiM Partners, S2G Ventures, Hatch and Pegasus Tech Ventures also contributed capital.
US-based airborne imaging technology developer Overwatch Imaging completed an $11.2m funding round yesterday that included weapons manufacturer L3Harris and firefighting aircraft producer Bridger Aerospace. The round was co-led by Squadra Ventures and Shield Capital and also backed by Portland Seed Fund.
Rabo, the Japan-based developer of cat monitoring system Catlog, received ¥1.32bn ($10.7m) in series B funding yesterday from investors including hygiene and cleaning product maker Unicharm, internet company Digital Garage’s DG Ventures unit and social mobile game publisher Gree’s Strive fund. They were joined by Power Partners, Headline Asia and XTech Ventures, and the round boosted Rabo’s total funding to $17.5m.
Insurance provider SBLI and financial services group Western & Southern took part in online life insurance provider Afficiency’s $7m series A round on Tuesday. VC firm IA Capital Group led the round, which was also backed by Impression Ventures.
US-based industry classification software developer Relativity6 secured $5.25m in seed capital from investors including automotive insurance provider State Auto’s Labs Fund on Tuesday. Fin Capital led the round, which also featured Vectr Ventures, Cortado Ventures, Angel Ventures and undisclosed individuals.
Japan-based business contract services provider Hubble raised ¥650m ($5.2m) today in a series A round that included enterprise software producer Salesforce’s corporate venturing subsidiary, Salesforce Ventures, and accounting technology provider Money Forward. The round was led by DNX Ventures and also backed by Archetype Ventures.
Parallel Finance, the developer of a lending and staking platform for the Polkadot blockchain, was valued at $500m in a $5m funding round featuring digital currency exchange Coinbase and blockchain technology producer StarkWare on Tuesday, CoinDesk reported. The corporates invested alongside VC firm Section 32, and the round is expected to precede a series B sized at up to $60m.
CoinSmart Financial, the operator of a digital asset trading platform, agreed on Tuesday to provide an undisclosed amount of funding for UK-headquartered non-fungible token marketplace Curate. The first tranche is set to be supplied by the end of this month and the investment will be made through a strategic partnership.
US-based toolmaking technology developer Atomic Industries has secured $3.2m from investors including Toyota Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of automotive manufacturer Toyota, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. VC firms Point72 Ventures and 8VC were also among the participants in the round.
Digital transformation services provider Mindtree supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based healthcare consulting firm Cope Health Solutions on Tuesday. Mindtree also plans to use Cope’s expertise to expand its value-based healthcare, population health management and connected health services.
Caitech, the Japan-based owner of an online recruitment platform for elderly carers dubbed Kaisuke, received ¥370m ($3m) yesterday from investors including office supplies manufacturer Plus Corporation. The round also featured Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, SMBC Venture Capital and Hataraku Fund, on behalf of financial services firms Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Shinsei Financial Group’s Shinsei Corporate Investment vehicle respectively, in addition to unnamed individuals.
Accenture invested an undisclosed amount in Good Chemistry Company, a Canada-based developer of software designed to run computational chemistry simulation more quickly, on Tuesday through corporate venturing vehicle Accenture Ventures on Tuesday. The unit then provided an undisclosed sum for US-headquartered data analytics startup Titan Space Technologies the following day.
Polyglots, the Japan-based operator of an online English language learning platform called MyRecipe, completed a ¥100m ($810,000) funding round featuring adult education provider Insource today. Mizuho Capital, the VC subsidiary of financial services firm Mizuho Bank, also contributed.
Japan-based drone navigation software developer TrueBizon raised ¥96m ($780,000) yesterday in a pre-series A round featuring media group Kips, real estate developer Hirota Shoji and NCB Capital, a joint vehicle for financial services firm Nishi-Nippon City Bank, Development Bank of Japan, Regional Economy Vitalisation Corporation of Japan and Dogan Advisors. The figure includes money secured on crowdsourcing platform Fundinno in the last fiscal year.
Nat, the Japan-based operator of a 3D scanning app for the construction industry called Scanat, received ¥80m ($650,000) in funding yesterday from investors including mobile game publisher KLab’s Anobaka unit and internet company United. The round was filled out by VC firm East Ventures.
PhytoChem Products, the Japan-based developer of an ion-exchange process utilising rice bran, secured ¥37.7m ($300,000) from diversified chemicals producer Watanabe Chemical and an unnamed other company today. The company, which was spun out of Tohoku University, had previously received $190,000 in a late 2020 series A round featuring financial services firm Mizuho Bank’s Mizuho Capital subsidiary.
M&A
Bioventus, a provider of products that aid healing, has exercised a call option to purchase portfolio company CartiHeal, an Israel-based cartilage repair system developer, in a transaction involving it paying $315m for the shares it does not already own. The deal could be boosted by $135m in sales-related milestone payments and it follows a $15m investment by Bioventus in mid-2020. CartiHeal had raised a total of $56m as of 2018, from Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, part of medical product manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Innovation, as well as Bioventus, aMoon, Elron, Peregrine Ventures, Accelmed and Access Medical Ventures.
