Funding
US-based data protection software developer Baffle received $20m yesterday in a series B round featuring National Grid Partners, the strategic investment arm of energy provider National Grid. Venture capital firm Celesta Capital led the round, which included Lytical Ventures, Nepenthe Capital, True Ventures, Greenspring Associates, Clearvision Ventures, Engineering Capital and Triphammer Ventures. It had raised a total of $9m as of a $6m series A round in 2018 led by Envision Ventures that included ServiceNow Ventures, the investment arm of enterprise software producer ServiceNow, as well as Thomvest Ventures, Industry Ventures, True Ventures and existing backer Engineering Capital.
Japan-based electric kickboard rental service Luup increased its series B round to ¥2bn ($18.3m) today, having added cash from property developer Mori Trust, internet company Digital Garage’s DG Incubation unit (through its Open Network Lab-ESG1/Earthshot fund), navigation technology provider Zenrin’s Future Partners fund (through ZFP1), construction firm Daito Trust Construction and TBS Innovation Partners, a subsidiary of broadcaster TBS. It had received an undisclosed sum from financial services firm Juroku Bank’s Nobunaga Capital Village last month following a $6.9m close in May this year.
Hashed, the crypto-focused investment affiliate of automotive component producer Wanxiang, has led a $6.6m seed round for Krystal, the US-headquartered operator of an online platform that offers a range of decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols, The Block has reported. Digital currency exchange Crypto.com, DeFi platform developer Coin98, BlockTower, Signum Capital, Arrington Capital and DeFi Alliance also contributed to the round along with undisclosed others.
Japan-based remote pet care service TYL raised ¥560m ($5.1m) in series A funding today from investors including Nagoya TV Ventures and Asahi Media Lab Ventures, respective corporate venturing subsidiaries of broadcaster Nagoya TV and newspaper publisher Asahi Shimbun. The round included debt financing from Mizuho Bank and the figure represents the overall amount raised by the company since the start of 2020.
The Hawthorne Collective, the investment vehicle launched by lawn and garden product maker Scotts Miracle-Gro last week, bought a warrant to acquire $3.2m in series A units in US-based cannabis research organisation Dewey Scientific yesterday. The company was spun out of Washington State University and had raised $1.25m from undisclosed angel investors in October 2019.
Buildable, the Canada-headquartered creator of a low-code development system, closed a $3m funding round led by Ripple Ventures, the investment arm of cross-border financing platform developer Ripple, in June this year, BetaKit reported yesterday. Golden Ventures and Village Global also participated in the round along with angel investors Richard and Michael Hyatt, and it represents Buildable’s first external financing.
Canada-based telemedicine technology developer Oro Health has completed a C$3m ($2.4m) seed round that included primary care technology producer MCI Onehealth. The round consisted of a mixture of equity and debt financing, and also featured angel investor network TGIC2 and Desjardins Capital, the VC branch of financial services cooperative Desjardins Group.
Tire producer Goodyear co-led a funding round of undisclosed size yesterday for AmpUp, a US-based developer of electric vehicle charging software, through strategic investment subsidiary Goodyear Ventures. The round was co-led with Foothill Ventures and TechNexus Venture Collaborative and it followed an undisclosed amount of series B funding from carmakers SAIC Motor and Hyundai Motor Company and VC firm Forest Ventures in April 2020, and $1m from commercial solar power contractor iSun in March this year.
KnowHows, the Japan-based operator of an online business management community platform, disclosed today it raised an undisclosed amount from marketing, consulting and investment group Comrades Incubate last month. The company had already received $820,000 from unnamed investors in March 2020.
Philippines-based e-commerce services startup Etaily has secured $1.6m in a seed round co-led by Ayala Ventures, the VC arm of conglomerate Ayala Corporation, with freight forwarder Magsaysay Shipping & Logistics and VC fund Foxmont Capital Partners, Tech in Asia reported today. They were joined by Anthony Oundjian, a managing director at consulting firm Boston Consulting Group.
Piala Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in F-Code, a Japan-based developer of marketing automation software, through corporate VC subsidiary Piala Ventures. F-Code had raised $2.5m in 2018 from information services provider MyNavi, e-commerce data provider Aucfan, unnamed individuals and Japan Finance Corporation, which provided debt financing. That tranche closed the company’s series A round at $4.7m, the earlier cash coming from unnamed individuals earlier the same year.
Human resources provider Pasona Group supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for Japan-based cybersecurity technology developer BankGuard yesterday. BankGuard had participated in Startupbootcamp’s Singapore Fintech accelerator in 2015.
M&A
Sales enablement software producer Seismic purchased US-based sales training and coaching tool developer Lessonly for an undisclosed amount yesterday, allowing insurance firm Axa and customer service software provider Zendesk to exit. Axa subsidiary Axa Venture Partners had led Lessnonly’s $15m series C round in April 2020, investing alongside Zendesk, The Yard Ventures and existing backers Allos Ventures, Atlas Peak Capital and Rethink Education, taking the company’s total funding to just over $29m.
Investment group Altor’s Fund V agreed yesterday to acquire a majority stake in Raw Fury, a Sweden-based console and PC game publisher backed by video game publisher Nordisk Film Games, for an undisclosed amount. Nordisk Film had provided $5.5m in series A funding for Raw Fury in August 2018, five months after it raised $125,000 in seed financing from angel investor Craig Fletcher. The company had secured $600,000 in seed capital from individuals including Karl Magnus Troedsson, David Helgason and Rikard Lindström the previous year.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
