Funding
Uniphore, a US-based conversational automation technology provider backed by networking technology producer Cisco, energy supplier National Grid and conglomerate Sistema, raised $400m yesterday in a series E round led by New Enterprise Associates and backed by new and existing investors, with only March Capital named. The round valued the company at $2.5bn and it follows a $140m series D in March 2021 that increased its overall funding to $210m.
Flutterwave, a US-headquartered e-commerce and payment software provider focusing on African customers, completed a $250m series D round yesterday featuring enterprise software producer Salesforce’s corporate venturing unit, Salesforce Ventures, at a valuation topping $3bn. B Capital Group led the round, which included Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, Lux Capital, Glynn Capital, Avenir Growth, Tiger Global Management and Green Visor Capital.
US-based automotive electronics technology producer CelLink closed a $250m series D round yesterday featuring automotive component producer Lear, consumer product manufacturer 3M, carmaker BMW and industrial technology provider Robert Bosch, the last three through 3M Ventures, BMW i Ventures and Robert Bosch Venture Capital. The round was led by Whale Rock Capital and included investment and financial services group Fidelity, D1 Capital Partners, Park West Asset Management, Standard Investments, Atreides Management, Fontinalis Partners, Franklin Templeton, Tinicum Venture Partners and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price.
Kallyope, a US-based developer of therapeutics targeting the gut-brain axis, secured $236m on Tuesday in a series D round backed by genomics technology producer Illumina’s investment arm, Illumina Ventures, and Alexandria Venture Investments, part of real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The round was co-led by Mubadala Investment Company and The Column Group and included Casdin Capital, Euclidean Capital, Lux Capital, Polaris Partners, Two Sigma Ventures, StepStone Group, DNS Capital, Hartford Healthcare Endowment, Parkwood, Tao Capital and Bill Gates.
Genesis, the US-headquartered creator of an app development software platform for financial market organisations, received $200m in financing yesterday from investors including GV and Salesforce Ventures, on behalf of internet and technology group Alphabet and enterprise software provider Salesforce respectively. Investment firm Tiger Global Management led the round, which also featured Illuminate Financial, Accel, Insight Partners and Tribeca Early Stage Partners.
Oil and gas supplier Saudi Aramco’s P7 Ventures vehicle took part in China-based spend management platform developer Fenbeitong’s $140m series C-plus round yesterday. Investment firm DST Global led the round at a valuation of at least $1bn and was also joined by Hillhouse Capital, Ribbit Capital, Stau, Glade Brook, BitRock Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Whale Rock Capital and Emergence.
Recruitment firm Seek led a A$181m ($130m) funding round for Australia-based employee management software provider Employment Hero yesterday at a valuation of nearly $900m. OneVentures and AirTree Ventures also contributed to the round, which came seven months after the company’s $103m series E.
US-based rare disease drug developer Star Therapeutics spun off antibody therapy developer Electra Therapeutics, yesterday with $84m from a series B round co-led by Westlake Village BioPartners and OrbiMed and backed by Redmile Group, Cormorant Asset Management, Cowen Healthcare Investments, RA Capital Management and New Leaf Venture Partners. Star itself emerged from stealth the same day having raised a total of $100m from the same consortium.
Check, the US-based developer of a software platform which enables companies to embed payroll tools in their products, secured $75m yesterday in a series C round led by payment technology provider Stripe. The round valued the startup at $725m according to Forbes and it also featured existing investors Bedrock Capital, Thrive Capital and Index Ventures.
UK-headquartered capital markets software provider ShareGain received $64m in series B funding on Tuesday from investors including financial services firm Citi and Optiver Principal Strategic Investments, a vehicle for market maker Optiver. Growth equity firm WestCap led the round, which was also backed by EJF Capital, Maverick Ventures Israel, Blumberg Capital, SixThirty, Rhodium and the Kessler family office.
Health services provider Optum participated in a $58m series B round for Equip, a US-based provider of virtual treatments for eating disorders, through investment arm Optum Ventures yesterday. The round was led by investment firm The Chernin Group and included digital content provider Katie Couric Media, financial services and investment group Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital subsidiary, Tiger Global Management, General Catalyst, .406 Ventures and private investor Alex Morgan.
Antora Energy, the US-based developer of an energy storage system designed for use in heavy industry, secured over $50m yesterday from investors including Shell Ventures and BHP Ventures, subsidiaries of oil and gas supplier Shell and mining company BHP respectively. The corporates participated alongside Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Grok Ventures, Trust Ventures, Overture VC, Impact Science Ventures and existing backer Fifty Years VC.
Aerospace manufacturer Airbus co-led Belgium-headquartered satellite producer Aerospacelab’s €40m ($45.5m) series B round yesterday through corporate venturing unit Airbus Ventures. The round was co-led with private equity firm Xange and included BNP Paribas Private Equity, a vehicle for financial services firm BNP Paribas, as well as SRIW, Noshaq, Sambrinvest, Belaero and private investors Octave and Miroslaw Klaba.
US-based connected car software provider Motorq received $40m in series B funding yesterday from investors including insurance group CSAA’s Avanta Ventures vehicle. Growth equity firm Insight Partners led the round, which was also backed by Story Ventures, FM Capital and Monta Vista Capital.
3Box Labs, the US-headquartered developer of decentralised data network Ceramic, secured $30m yesterday in a series A round featuring decentralised software developer Edge & Node, crypto trading firm Jump Trading’s Jump Crypto subsidiary, blockchain game producers Dapper Labs and Animoca Brands, blockchain software providers StreamingFast and ConsenSys, analytics firm BlockScience, research hub Protocol Labs and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (through Coinbase Ventures). The round was co-led by Multicoin and Union Square Ventures and included Placeholder, Reciprocal Ventures, CoinFund, Figment, Hashed, Metacartel Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Variant Fund, The LAO, Dialectic, Zee Prime, P2P Capital, DaoSquare, Polymorphic Capital, Redbeard Ventures, Collab+Currency, Not Boring Capital, Gaingels, Distributed Global, Bitscale, Northzone, Venrock, Fenbushi Capital, Amplify Partners, Page One Ventures, The Fintech Fund, Warburg Serres, 6th Man Ventures, Underscore and more than 40 individuals.
Pop-up retail services provider Haveli took part in a $30m series B round yesterday for Raydiant, the US-based developer of an experience management software platform for brick-and-mortar retailers. 8VC and Atomic Ventures co-led the round, which was also backed by Lerer Hippeau, Gaingels, Illuminate Ventures, XRC Labs and private investor Mark Wahlberg.
A subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Grand Pharmaceutical agreed yesterday to invest €25m ($28.5m) in Germany-based radiotherapeutics and cancer diagnostics technology developer ITM Isotope Technologies Munich. The deal comes under two months since the companies formed a licensing agreement for three ITM Isotope product candidates in Greater China.
Telecoms firm Swisscom has led a $20.6m financing round for Neo Medical, a Switzerland-based developer of controlled-fixation technology for use in spinal surgery, the latter revealed today. The corporate invested through its Swisscom Ventures unit and the deal came in the wake of $10m in funding from medical device maker Orthofix Medical in September 2020.
Epitel, the US-based creator of a wearable electroencephalogram monitor designed to detect seizures, completed a $12.5m series A round yesterday that included glucose monitoring system producer Dexcom and OSF Ventures, the investment arm of healthcare services provider OSF. The round was co-led by Catalyst Health Ventures and Genoa Ventures and also backed by Wavemaker 360, MedMountain Ventures and Salt Lake City Angels.
Spain-headquartered blockchain gaming hub developer Banger Games received €10m ($11.4m) in funding yesterday from investors including crypto trading firm GSR, decentralised contract software provider Avalanche and Poolz Ventures, on behalf of decentralised fundraising launchpad developer Poolz. They were joined in the round by Shima Capital, Flori Ventures, G20, LucidBlue Ventures, Belobaba Fund, Squares Capital, CSP DAO, Halvings Capital, OIG Capital, BigCoin Capital, crypto communities including Neo Tokyo, individuals such as Jaynti Kanani and unnamed decentralised autonomous organisations.
Financial services group Citi invested an undisclosed amount in Simon Markets, the US-based operator of an online marketplace for alternative, risk-managed investment options, on Tuesday. Simon was incubated within investment banking firm Goldman Sachs and jointly owned with financial services firms Barclays, Credit Suisse, HSBC, JP Morgan, Prudential and Wells Fargo before WestCap led its $100m series B round in July 2021.
Voilà, the US-headquartered operator of an artificial intelligence-equipped social commerce platform, secured $6m in series A funding yesterday from investors including Fosun RZ Capital, a corporate VC subsidiary of conglomerate Fosun. VC firm Sinovation Ventures led the round, which also featured Artesian and SOSV.
Internet group Naver has co-led a seed round of undisclosed size for South Korea-based e-commerce aggregator New Vessel with VC firms CKD Venture Capital and Wooshin Venture Investment, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. Lighthouse Combined Investment and S&C Networks filled out the round.
Solanalysis, a US-based provider of data analytics for non-fungible tokens on the Solana blockchain, raised $4.5m in a seed round that, according to BlockFi, included Solana’s investment vehicle, Solana Capital, as well as cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s VC arm, Coinbase Ventures, The Block reported on Tuesday. Dragonfly and Pantera Capital co-led the round, which also featured Jump Capital, NFX, Galaxy Digital, Shima Capital, Sfermion, 6th Man Ventures, Soma Capital, Social Capital and Folius Ventures.
Media group Bertelsmann’s Arvato Financial Solutions subsidiary invested an undisclosed amount in Switzerland-based cargo tracking technology producer Nexxiot yesterday. Nexxiot had raised a total of about $75m as of June 2021 when it secured $25m from investment firm QVIDTVM.
Morocco-based trucking management software developer Freterium received $4m in seed capital from investors including freight forwarder Flexport today. The round was led by VC firm Partech and also backed by CDG Invest, Y Combinator, Swiss Founders Fund, Outlierz Ventures and unnamed angel investors.
Singapore-based game free-to-earn gaming platform developer Ethlas raised $2.7m in seed funding yesterday from investors including Genesis Fund, which invested on behalf of digital currency broker Genesis. The round also featured Sequoia Capital India, Yield Guild Games Southeast Asia, Global Blockchain Innovative Capital, Venturra Capital, Play It Forward DAO, Blockchain Space, Deus Ex DAO, Hustle Fund and unnamed individuals.
Classified listings operator Info Edge led a funding round of undisclosed size for India-based employee data software startup Tartan on Tuesday through its Info Edge Ventures vehicle. The corporate was joined by education provider Manipal Group, 500 Startups, Titan Capital, Varanium Capital Advisors, EMVC, Yatra Angel Network and the founders of online investment platform Groww.
Info Edge has also provided Rs 111m ($1.5m) in funding for Juno Learning, the India-based operator of an online platform which teaches professional skills, according to a regulatory filing. The investment gave the corporate a 25% stake in Juno.
India-headquartered zinc-carbon battery developer Offgrid Energy has secured an undisclosed amount from oil and gas supplier Shell, Ankur Capital and APVC, Inc42 reported on Tuesday. The company had previously received an undisclosed amount of seed financing from Shell.
M&A
Biotech company Equillium bought US-based immuno-inflammatory disease drug developer Bioniz Therapeutics yesterday for approximately 6 million shares, equating to about $25m at time of writing. Bioniz had raised $14.3m as of a $13m series A round in 2016 co-led by pharmaceutical firm Takeda’s corporate VC unit, Takeda Ventures, and David Pyott that included Cota Capital and Joe Kiani.
Music streaming service Spotify purchased Podsights, the US-based provider of a podcast advertising measurement service, for an undisclosed sum yesterday, allowing media conglomerate Bertelsmann’s BDMI subsidiary and media holding group Graham Holdings to exit. BDMI joined Greycroft, Betaworks Ventures, Rooks Nest Ventures and various individuals to invest $1.5m in Podsights in January 2020 before it added $4m in a March 2021 round led by Newark Venture Partners and backed by BDMI, Graham Holdings, Greycroft, Betaworks, Rooks Nest successor Supernode Global and Aglaé Ventures.
