Funding
Internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 provided an undisclosed amount of series D funding for Soda, the Japan-based owner of online sneaker marketplace SnkrDunk, at a ¥38bn ($336m) valuation today. Soda had secured $56.4m in series C funding in July 2021 from SoftBank vehicle SoftBank Ventures Asia and Kream, the online sneaker marketplace run by internet group Naver, as well as Altos Ventures, to take its overall funding to over $80m. Its earlier backers include Colopl Next – part of mobile game developer Colopl – SoftBank Ventures Asia, design studio The Guild, Base Partners and individuals including Yoshio Aihara.
CollegeDekho, the India-based operator of an online higher education admissions platform, has completed a $35m series B round featuring ETS Strategic Capital, a corporate venturing subsidiary of educational test provider ETS, as well as conglomerate Mansour Group’s Man Capital vehicle and inspection and certification provider QIC, Business Standard reported yesterday, citing a company statement. Winter Capital, Disrupt ADQ and Calega also took part in the round, which increased the company’s total funding to $48m, $8m coming in mid-2019 from Man Capital and software development service GirnarSoft, which incubated the company.
YKC Clean Energy Technologies, a China-based provider of electric vehicle charging services, closed a series B3 round of undisclosed size featuring smart device producer Oppo last week. The company had raised $14.5m from warehouse operator GLP’s Hidden Hill Capital fund and video technology provider Jilian Technology in 2018 and an undisclosed amount of series B2 funding from Nio Capital, the venture capital firm formed by carmaker Nio, in September this year. It also named lithium-ion battery developer Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) as a recent investor this week.
Sounding Board, the US-headquartered creator of an online leadership coaching service, completed a $30m series B round yesterday featuring Bloomberg Beta, the VC firm sponsored by media group Bloomberg. VC firm Jazz Venture Partners led the round, which included Canaan and Correlation Partners and which followed a $13.1m series A in January this year that was led by Canaan and backed by Bloomberg Beta, Correlation Ventures, Precursor Ventures and various angel investors. Sounding Board has now raised $44.2m in total.
Power equipment manufacturer Cummins agreed on Tuesday to invest an undisclosed amount in US-based lithium-metal battery developer Sion Power Corporation through a battery cell supply and design agreement. Chemical producer BASF had provided $50m in funding for Sion in 2012, three years after the company signed a joint development agreement with its BASF Future Business subsidiary.
Contract manufacturer Foxconn’s GoldTek Technology subsidiary led a $23.5m series E round for US-based temperature control software provider Ember Technologies yesterday. The Singapore state-owned EDBI also contributed to the round along with undisclosed new and existing private investors. Ember had secured $1.4m in series A financing from unnamed investors in 2015 and boosted its total funding to $8.5m the following year with cash from assorted individuals. It added $16.4m in January 2018, $2.8m in convertible note financing two months later and $20.1m in series D funding in January 2019 – all from undisclosed backers.
Switzerland-based medical imaging software provider Medimaps Group received $20m in funding from investors including Swisscom Ventures, the corporate VC arm of telecoms firm Swisscom, yesterday. Cantonal bank Zürcher Kantonalbank’s Swisscanto Invest vehicle led the round, which also featured Swiss Entrepreneurs Fund and Verve Ventures. The proceeds will support the expansion of Medimaps’ product range.
British Virgin Islands-registered decentralised finance platform developer Structure completed a $20m seed round yesterday featuring Bixin, a provider of storage technology for digital assets. Crypto investment firm Polychain Capital led the round, which included the proceeds from a recent token sale and which valued the startup at $150m. It included Ascensive Assets, while Bixin participated through VC arm Bixin Ventures.
Goalsetter, the US-based provider of a banking and financial education service aimed at children and families, raised $15m in series A funding yesterday from investors including financial technology producer Fiserv, insurers Cuna Mutual Financial Group and Massachusetts Mutual Life and financial services firms Sterling National Bank and Citizens Financial Group. The round was led by VC firm Seae Ventures and also backed by Astia Fund, Fearless Fund and various angel investors. The company had received $3.9m in seed capital from financial services firm PNC Bank, payment services provider Mastercard, Elevate Capital and assorted individuals in January this year.
Food Market Hub, the Malaysia-based provider of a software platform that helps restaurants manage inventory, increased its series A round to $12.5m today with an $8.5m second tranche featuring ride hailing service Gojek’s Go-Ventures unit, power bank rental service MY Rush and quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG), DealStreetAsia reported. The tranche was led by SEA Frontier Fund and included 500 Global, Velocity Ventures, East Ventures and Capital Code. The first $4m was supplied by Go-Ventures and SIG in November 2020.
Spoiler Alert, the US-based developer of a software platform designed to help manage excess consumer goods inventory, received $11m yesterday in a series A round backed by shipping group Maersk Group’s strategic investment arm, Maersk Growth. The round was led by Collaborative Fund and also featured Acre Venture Partners, Valley Oak Investments, The Betsy & Jesse Fink Family Foundation and Spring Point Partners. The company had raised an undisclosed sum from Maersk Growth, Valley Oak and Acre Venture Partners in 2018, following $2.5m in seed funding from Acre Venture Partners, Valley Oak, LaunchCapital, Fresh Source Capital and FTW Ventures three years earlier.
Prosus Ventures, the investment arm of the Prosus internet group set up by media and e-commerce conglomerate Naspers, led a $10m series A round for Brazil-based digital life insurance provider Azos on Tuesday. It was joined by Propel Venture Partners, the VC firm funded by financial services firm BBVA, as well as Kaszek Ventures and Maya Capital, the three having joined unnamed individuals to provide $2.4m for Azos in May this year. It had previously raised almost $70,000 from undisclosed investors in April 2020.
Public relations group Hakuhodo DY took part in a ¥1.1bn ($9.7m) funding round for Japan-based digital sales technology developer Basic today through its Hakuhodo DY Ventures subsidiary. The round was led by One Capital and also backed by I-Nest Capital, both being identified by Basic as existing investors, while unnamed financial institutions supplied debt financing.
Voyager Portal, the US-based operator of a software platform that helps businesses manage their marine supply chain, raised $8.4m in series A funding yesterday from investors including freight forwarder Flexport. VC firm Phaze Ventures led the round, which also featured ScOp Venture Capital and Waybury Capital. It was preceded by a $1.5m seed round backed by Phaze Ventures, ATX Venture Partners, Blue Bear Capital and GreenHawk Capital in August 2019.
Japan-based industrial infrastructure robot developer Ixs secured an undisclosed amount of series B funding today from construction firm Kajima and J&TC Frontier, a joint vehicle for plant engineering group JFE Engineering and leasing and financing services provider Tokyo Century. The company had raised $9.1m in an early 2019 round led by Innovation Network Corporation of Japan and backed by conglomerate Mitsubishi, electronics producer Sony’s Innovation Fund, science park KSP and Yokohama Capital, the VC arm of Bank of Yokohama.
Off, the Singapore and South Korea-based creator of online multiverse platform Myty, has secured $3.5m in seed capital from investors including digital currency exchange Coinbase and consumer electronics producer Samsung, through subsidiaries Coinbase Ventures, and Samsung Next, VentureBeat reported on Tuesday. The round was co-led by Hashed and Collab+Currency and also featured Bitkraft Ventures and Electric Capital.
Blockchain app developer Animoca Brands led a $2.7m seed round on Tuesday for MetaMundo, the US-headquartered developer of a non-fungible token marketplace for metaverse creation. Polygon Studios, a subsidiary of blockchain technology provider Polygon, also invested in the round, as did Hypersphere Ventures, Digital Currency Group, OP Crypto, Metacartel Ventures, Marshland Capital, Own.fund, Ascensive Assets, Sfermion, D1 Ventures, Cryptomeria Capital, Red Beard Ventures and Metacollective.
RegScale, a US-based developer of compliance automation software, was spun off by digital transformation services provider C2 Labs yesterday having raised $1.5m in funding. The capital was supplied by Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, New Dominion Angels and undisclosed strategic investors.
Financial services provider The Co-operative Bank agreed on Tuesday to invest £500,000 ($660,000) in UK-based open banking and accounting software developer BankiFi through a co-development partnership. Bankifi had received an undisclosed amount of funding from building society Nationwide in September 2019 and added $3m from VC firm Praetura Ventures and Greater Manchester Combined Authority in September this year.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu. Photo courtesy of David Chaperro via Unsplash.
