Funding
JustFit, the China-based operator of a business-to-business electronics marketplace, raised over RMB300m ($46.3m) in series B-plus funding yesterday from investors including artificial intelligence technology producer SenseTime, DealStreetAsia reported. Venture capital firm Shenzhen Capital Group led the round, which was also backed by Oriza FoF, Gongshu Guotou Investment, Xiang He Capital, Vision Plus Capital and Qingsong Fund. The last three had reportedly provided approximately $30.5m in series B funding for JustFit in December 2020.
Deepbrain, a South Korea-based artificial intelligence technology developer backed by steelmaker Posco, has secured $44m in a series B round led by Korea Development Bank, valuing it at $180m post-money, VentureBeat reported on Monday. Formerly known as MoneyBrain, the company had raised about $1.8m from unnamed investors in 2017, $4.3m from Posco subsidiary Posco Capital and KB Investment in November 2019 and $1.7m from IDG Capital Korea Partners in January 2020.
FireHydrant, a US-based provider of technology that helps ensure software reliability, closed a $23m series B round yesterday featuring Salesforce Ventures, the strategic investment arm of enterprise software producer Salesforce. The round was led by VC firm Harmony Partners and included Menlo Ventures and Work-Bench, the two having combined in May 2020 to provide $8m in series A funding for the company. It had received $1.5m in seed financing from Work-Bench in April 2019.
US-based ophthalmic therapy developer Visus Therapeutics completed a $20m equity financing round yesterday that included Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, a corporate venturing subsidiary of pharmaceutical group Johnson & Johnson. The round was led by LSP and also featured Sage Partners, and it followed a $36m series A featuring Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, RTW Investments and Wille in March this year.
Singapore-based logistics analytics software provider Parcel Perform has received $20m in series A funding from investors including SoftBank Ventures Asia, a corporate VC vehicle for internet and telecoms group SoftBank, The Business Times reported today. Investment firm Cambridge Capital led the round, which also featured Wavemaker Group and Investible. The company had raised $1.1m in a 2018 seed round led by Wavemaker and backed by new and existing investors including 500 Durians, while Investible was also named as an existing backer in the series A round.
Japan-based virtual reality game developer Thirdverse yesterday disclosed a total of $20m in series A and B funding from blockchain-powered game publisher Animoca Brands and telecoms firm KDDI’s Open Innovation Fund, as well as Incubate Fund, Jafco, Presence Capital and Hiro Kunimitsu, CEO of mobile game publisher Gumi. The company had raised $8.5m from Jafco, Presence Capital, Sisu Ventures and Incubate Fund in October 2020 (placing its series B round at approximately $11.5m), having secured an undisclosed amount from Gumi and financial services firm Mizuho Bank’s Mizuho Capital unit in 2016.
SIG China, a VC subsidiary of quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group, has co-led a series A round of undisclosed size for Jishi Design, a China-based provider of user interface design software, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday, citing a company statement. The round was co-led with VC firm Source Code Capital and included Bluerun Ventures and Eminence Ventures, the two investors that had co-led a $10m round for Jishi in May 2021, according to DealStreetAsia.
Antway, the Japan-based operator of homemade food delivery service Tsukurioki, secured ¥1.5bn ($13.6m) yesterday from KDDI Open Innovation Fund 3, Nissay Capital and SMBC Venture Capital, on behalf of telecommunications group KDDI, insurer Nippon Life and financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, in addition to Dream Incubator’s Dimension fund and Jafco. Undisclosed financial institutions provided debt financing as part of the round, which followed $470,000 from Nissay Capital in 2019.
US-based insurance underwriting technology startup Breeze raised $10m in series A funding yesterday from investors including financial services firm Northwestern Mutual’s VC subsidiary, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures. VC fund Link Ventures led the round, and it was also backed by Silicon Valley Bank, M25, Fiat Ventures and Invest Nebraska.
Pathstream, the US-based operator of a digital skills education scheme, received an undisclosed amount of funding from investors including financial services firm Citi yesterday. Strada Education Network and New Markets Venture Partners also took part in the round, as did Hereditas Capital Management, Entangled Ventures and Rethink Education, all three having joined TDM Partners and Bisk Ventures in Pathstream’s $12m series A round in August 2019, which reportedly increased its overall funding to $13m.
Hmcomm, a Japan-based developer of artificial intelligence-infused voice recognition technology, raised ¥420m ($3.8m) yesterday in a series C round featuring industrial services provider Kyowa Group, leasing services firm Fuyo General Lease and J&TC Frontier, a joint venture between engineering services provider JFE Engineering and leasing and financing provider Tokyo Century. It included debt financing from unnamed institutional firms and followed a $4.9m series C round in late 2019.
Smart119, the Japan-based developer of an emergency medical support system, received approximately ¥368m ($3.3m) yesterday from investors including Nissay Capital, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, Sony Innovation Fund and Pksha Sparx Algorithm Fund, on behalf of insurers Nippon Life and MS&AD Insurance Group, electronics producer Sony and data analytics software provider Pksha. The round also featured Delight Ventures, DNX Ventures and One Capital.
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Deepcore fund joined Anri and Plug and Play Ventures yesterday to invest ¥150m ($1.4m) in Digzyme, the Japan-based developer of a bioinformatics production process. The company had previously received $280,000 in funding from Anri and corporate services provider ReBoost in May 2020.
M&A
Medical imaging equipment producer Nanox agreed yesterday to acquire Zebra Medical Vision, a US-based medical imaging technology developer backed by healthcare provider Intermountain Healthcare, pharmaceutical group Johnson & Johnson and chipmaker Nvidia, for $100m upfront and up to $100m in milestone payments. Zebra Medical had raised a total of at least $50m as of a $30m series C round in 2018 led by aMoon and backed by corporate venturing unit Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Intermountain and existing investors Nvidia, Khosla Ventures, OurCrowd and Dolby Family Ventures.
Nanox has also agreed to pay $21m in shares and $9m in cash for US-based radiology services provider USARad and its affiliate, radiologist marketplace Medical Diagnostics Web. USARad had secured an amount indicated by a securities filing to be at least $3m in 2015 from industrial technology and appliance producer Siemens’ venture capital unit, Omphalos Venture Partners and Excelerate Health Ventures, following $1m in debt financing from unnamed investors earlier the same year.
Kornit Digital, a provider of digital textile production technology, bought the assets of Voxel8, a US-based textile manufacturing technology developer backed by health and nutrition product maker Royal DSM, design software provider Autodesk and computing technology producer HP, for an undisclosed amount yesterday. The company, co-founded by Harvard University professor Dr Jennifer Lewis, raised an undisclosed amount of series B funding from DSM subsidiary DSM Venturing, HP vehicle HP Tech Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures and Arch Venture Partners in October 2019. The last two had joined Autodesk’s Spark Investment Fund and In-Q-Tel in a $12m series A in 2015, the year after it secured an undisclosed amount from Braemar.
Specialty chemicals producer Evonik has acquired portfolio company JeNaCell, a Germany-based nanocellulose developer, for an undisclosed amount. The company secured an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Evonik subsidiary Evonik Venture Capital, financial services firm Sparkasse Jena-Saale-Holzland, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Stift and BM-T Beteiligungsmanagement Thüringen in 2015, following just over $900,000 in seed funding from HTGF and Stift in 2012.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu and Thierry Heles.
