Funding
US-based recruitment technology developer Paradox secured $200m in series C funding yesterday from investors including job listings portal Indeed, law firm DLA Piper, customer engagement software provider Twilio and enterprise human resources platform Workday, the last three through DLA Piper Venture Fund, Workday Ventures and Twilio Ventures respectively. Growth equity group Stripes, venture capital firm Sapphire and private equity firm Thoma Bravo co-led the round, which valued the company at $1.5bn. They were joined by Willoughby Capital, Blue Cloud Ventures, Geodesic Capital, Principia Growth and Brighton Park Capital.
Japan-based tourism software-as-a-service technology provider Asoview raised ¥3bn ($26.2m) last Thursday in series E funding from 31Ventures Global Brain Growth I Project – a joint fund between real estate developer Mitsui Fudosan and venture capital firm Global Brain – and financial services and investment group Fidelity International, bringing its total funding to roughly ¥5.5bn ($48m).
Japan-based remote intensive care unit support service T-ICU received ¥570m ($5m) today from employment agency Pasona Group, financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital unit and VC firm Beyond Next Ventures.
Japan-based hospitality industry’s digitalisation technology developer Cuicin secured an undisclosed amount of funding today from financial services provider Yamaguchi Financial Group’s Yamaguchi Bank, Momiji Bank, Kitakyushu Bank and Yamaguchi Capital units.
Funds
China-based electronic components manufacturer BOE Technology (Jingdongfang) agreed today to commit RMB300m ($47.1m) as a limited partner to Beijing State-owned Capital Operation and Management Company’s Beijing Jingguoguan Equity Investment Fund, which has a target size of RMB10bn ($1.6bn) and which focuses on technologies including manufacturing, medical, healthcare, energy, environment and services.
Public Markets
Gorilla Technology Group, a Taiwan-based artificial intelligence (AI)-equipped image analysis technology developer backed by computer equipment manufacturer Acer, software provider Asteria, storage technology developer Dell EMC and smartphone producer HTC, has agreed to a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Global SPAC Partners at a $708m pro forma valuation. The company had most recently closed a $15m series D round backed by financial services and investment group SBI Group in late 2018, three years after a series C of undisclosed size featuring Telstra Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of telecommunications firm Telstra.
Triller, a US-based video clip sharing platform backed by internet-of-things technology producer Carnegie Technologies, has agreed to float through a reverse takeover with Nasdaq-listed SPAC SeaChange International. The combined entity, TrillerVerz Corp, will have a valuation of $5bn and the deal is set to close early next year. The company had last collected $28m in a late 2019 series B round featuring investment firm Proxima Media.
M&A
Enterprise education platform operator Skillsoft has acquired Codecademy, a US-based online coding education provider backed by internet group Prosus and publisher O’Reilly’s respective corporate venturing arms Prosus Ventures (formerly Naspers Ventures) and O’Reilly AlphaTech, for about $525m in cash and stock. The company had raised more than $82m as of a $40m series D round closed in February this year.
