Funding
US-based autonomous driving system developer Haomo.AI has secured almost RMB1bn ($157m) in a series A round that included mobile commerce and local services platform developer Meituan and Qualcomm Ventures, the investment arm of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, as well as conglomerate Shoucheng Group’s Shoucheng Holdings subsidiary. They were joined in the round by JZ Capital and GL Ventures, a vehicle for hedge fund manager Hillhouse Capital.
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank has led a $127m funding round for Brazil-based digital health plan provider Alice through its Latin America Fund. Globo Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of media company Grupo Globo, also took part in the round, as did Kaszek, ThornTree Capital Partners, Allen & Company, G Squared and StepStone Group.
US-based liver disease drug developer Ambys Medicines has closed its series A round at $107m having added $47m from pharmaceutical firm Takeda and Alexandria Venture Investments, on behalf of real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, as well as Third Rock Ventures, Schroders Capital, Laurion Capital and Smilegate Investment. The first $60m was provided by Takeda and Third Rock Ventures in 2018.
Multichain, the Singapore-based cross chain protocol developer formerly known as Anyswap, has received $60m in a financing round led by digital currency exchange Binance’s investment arm, Binance Labs. The round included HashKey, the blockchain investment affiliate of automotive component producer Wanxiang, as well as Sequoia China, IDG Capital, Three Arrows Capital, DeFiance Capital, Circle Ventures, Tron Foundation, Hypersphere Ventures, Magic Ventures and Primitive Ventures. It valued the company at $1.2bn.
Exuma Biotech, a US-based developer of gene and cellular therapies for liquid and solid tumours, has secured $41m in series B2 financing from investors including insurance firm Americo Life and unnamed existing backers. The company said it has now raised $107m altogether and its earlier investors include MSD Partners, F1 BioVentures, the Peking University-owned Sinobioway Group and SunTerra Capital.
Prosus, the internet group formed by e-commerce and media company Naspers, has co-led a $40m series B round for Captain Fresh, the India-based operator of an online seafood marketplace, through venture capital subsidiary Prosus Ventures, the Economic Times has reported. The round was co-led by Tiger Global Management and included existing backers Accel India, Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital and Incubate Fund.
Carats & Cake, the US-based creator of an integrated marketing and point-of-sale financing system, has raised $19.3m from investors including GMO VenturePartners, the corporate venturing vehicle for internet company GMO. The round was co-led by Acrew Capital and Founders Fund and it also featured 1Sharpe Ventures, Moore Specialty Credit, Correlation Ventures, Socially Financed and private investors including Zach Nelson, Peter Lynch, Jonathan Weiner and Oskar Lewnowski.
Singapore-based digital asset exchange SDAX Financial has secured S$24m ($17.5m) for the first close of its series B round, in a tranche co-led by port operator PSA International and conglomerate Straits Trading. They invested together with New Horizon Global.
Piramal Pharma Solutions, a subsidiary of conglomerate Piramal Group, has invested Rs 102m ($13.4m) in India-based contract drug development and manufacturing organisation Yapan Bio, the Economic Times has reported. The transaction gave the corporate a 27.8% stake in Yapan.
Aerospace component manufacturer Latécoère has provided an undisclosed amount of series A financing for Caeli Nova, the UK-based developer of an in-flight emergency oxygenation system. The company has not revealed how much it has so far raised for the round, which is being led by digital health technology provider Ornament Health.
Digital commerce company Good Glamm Group has led a Rs 1bn ($13.2m) series B round for India-based feminine hygiene brand Sirona, VCCircle has reported. Part of the capital went to a secondary investment which enabled some existing and individual investors to exit.
Financial services firm HSBC has participated in a $10m series A3 round for SupplyShift, the US-based operator of an online platform which helps businesses create and access sustainable supply chains. Buoyant Ventures led the round, which also featured Impact Engine, AiiM Partners, Working Capital, Valuestream Ventures and Supply Chain Ventures.
Singapore-based container haulage platform developer Haulio has received $5.75m in series A funding from investors including ComfortDelGro Ventures and PSA UnboXed, which invested on behalf of public transport provider ComfortDelGro and port operator PSA respectively, DealStreetAsia has reported, citing a regulatory filing. Heliconia Capital Management invested $3m to lead the round, which included logistics firm Imperial Logistics, the Shinhan Financial Group-backed FuturePlay-Shinhan TechInnovation Fund 2 and Chunghwa PChome Fund I, which is jointly managed by telecoms firm Chunghwa Telecom and e-commerce company PChome.
Denmark-headquartered blockchain game studio Dynasty Studios has emerged from stealth with $5m in funding from investors including blockchain entertainment provider Dapper Labs. The round was led by Framework Ventures and also featured CoinFund, Wood Investment Partners and angel investors Timo Schlaefer and Stefano Schiavi.
Solscan, the Singapore-based creator of a block explorer tool for the Solana blockchain, has secured $4m in a seed round featuring Solana Ventures, the strategic investment arm of Solana creator Solana Labs, and Alameda Ventures, the VC subsidiary of quantitative trading firm Alameda Research. The round was co-led by Multicoin Capital and Electric Capital and included Jump Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Signum Capital and Coingecko.
Financial services firm Kotak Mahindra Bank’s online share trading subsidiary, Kotak Securities, has paid Rs 30m ($400,000) for a 7.5% stake in Entroq Technologies, the India-based operator of mobile news aggregator FlipItNews, through its Startup Engagement and Investments scheme. Entroq, which also runs social media platform Circle, had received $2.5m in seed funding from unnamed investors in June this year.
Arise, the investment partnership formed by telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia’s MDI Ventures unit and VC firm Finch Capital, has led a seed round of undisclosed size for AgriAku, the Indonesia-based developer of an agricultural product and services marketplace, e27 has reported. MDI Ventures itself also took part, as did Wright Partners.
M&A
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has exited Staked, the US-headquartered creator of a non-custodial staking platform for investors, in an acquisition of undisclosed size by digital asset platform developer Kraken. The corporate’s Coinbase Ventures unit took part in Staked’s $4.5m seed round in early 2019 alongside Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group, Winklevoss Capital, Global Brain, Fabric Ventures and Blocktree Capital.
Digital financial services provider Monese has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire Trezeo, a UK-based provider of products and services for independent workers that graduated from financial services firm Barclays’ Techstars Barclays London Accelerator. It was part of the accelerator’s 2019 class having raised $520,000 in a 2018 crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs.
Audax Private Equity has purchased a majority stake in Integrate, a US-based demand marketing software provider that counts mass media groups Comcast and Liberty Global as investors, for an undisclosed sum. Integrate closed its last round, a 2018 series B led by Foundry Group Next and backed by Liberty Global vehicle LGI Ventures, Iron Gate Capital, Forte Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group and High Alpha, at $25.6m according to a securities filing, bringing its overall funding to about $60m.
Public Markets
US-based mobility software provider Via has confidentially filed to float in an initial public offering that would represent an exit for chemical and industrial group Koch, oil and gas supplier Shell, property manager Mori Building, carmaker Daimler and media group Hearst. Via had secured $130m last month in a series G round led by Janus Henderson Investors and backed by Koch subsidiary Koch Disruptive Technologies, diversified holding group Exor, BlackRock and Ion Crossover Partners at a $3.3bn valuation, hiking its overall funding to $517m.
Cohesity, a US-based data management software producer backed by internet and technology group Alphabet, enterprise technology provider Hewlett Packard Enterprise, mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, networking technology provider Cisco and telecoms and internet group SoftBank, has also filed confidentially for an initial public offering. The company’s total funding stood at $660m as of a $250m series E round in April 2020 valuing it at $2.5bn.
Funds
China-headquartered VC firm Glory Ventures has secured backing from chipmakers Maxscend Microelectronics and SG Micro Corp, electronics producer Universal Scientific Industrial and rail transit software provider UniTTEC for the RMB1.2bn ($188m) first close of its fourth reniminbi-denominated fund, DealStreetAsia has reported, citing an announcement on WeChat. The vehicle has a RMB1.5bn target for its final close.
US-based VC firm Crossbeam Venture Partners has closed its Crossbeam II fund at $70m with capital coming from limited partners including equity management platform developer Carta and insurance and financial services holding company Group 1001. Its LPs also include Eldridge, Moelis Asset Management and Social Leverage.
Photo courtesy of ViaVan Technologies B.V.
