Funding
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Latin America Fund has led a $60m series B round for Tribal, the US-headquartered operator of an online business-to-business payment platform tailored for emerging markets. The round included Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of digital currency exchange Coinbase, as well as Beco Capital, QED Investors, Rising Tide, Circle Ventures, AGE Crypto Investment Fund, Third Prime, Canas Capital and Acuity Ventures.
Julo, the Indonesia-based operator of a peer-to-peer lending service, has raised up to $60m in a series B round led by $30m from payment services firm Credit Saison, DealStreetAsia reported today, citing regulatory filings. The round included MDI Ventures and Central Capital Ventura – on behalf of telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia and financial services firm Bank Central Asia – as well as Accion Quona Inclusion Fund, investment firm Saratoga’s Surya Nuansa Ceria subsidiary, AC Ventures and the Gobi Partners-managed Meranti ASEAN Growth Fund.
Celestial AI, the US-headquartered developer of a hardware and software platform for use in machine learning chipsets, secured $56m on Friday in a series A round led by chemical and industrial group Koch Industries through its Koch Disruptive Technologies vehicle. The round included pharmaceutical firm Merck Group’s M Ventures unit as well as state-owned investment firm Temasek’s Xora Innovation fund, The Engine, Tyche Partners, Imec XPand and Fitz Gate.
BAI Capital, the vehicle for media group Bertelsmann formerly known as Bertelsmann Asia Investments, has co-led a $50m series A round for Taichi Graphics, the China-based operator of an open-source platform for digital content creation and research, DealStreetAsia reported today. The round was co-led with Source Code Capital and GGV Capital with backing from existing investor Sequoia Capital China.
Reliance Health, a Nigeria-headquartered provider of digital health products geared for emerging markets, closed a $40m series B round today that included healthcare services provider M3 and internet group Tencent, which invested through its Tencent Exploration vehicle. Growth equity firm General Atlantic led the round, which also featured Partech, Picus Capital, Asia Africa Investment and Consulting, P1 Ventures, Laerdal Million Lives Fund and Arvantis Social Foundation.
Regent, the US-based developer of an electric seaglider vehicle designed for coastal transportation, completed an $18m financing round on Friday featuring regional airline Mesa Air Group, which has also committed to buying 200 of Regent’s vehicles. Thiel Capital and Jam Fund co-led the round, which was also backed by Toba Capital and Olive Tree Capital and which brought the company’s overall funding to $27m.
Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes has invested an undisclosed amount in Italy-based hydrogen storage technology developer Nemesys in return for a stake sized at about 30%. Paolo Noccioni, president of turbomachinery and process solutions for Baker Hughes’ Nuovo Pignone subsidiary, is taking a board seat at the company in connection with the deal.
Primex Finance, the US-based creator of a decentralised brokerage liquidity protocol for cross-margin trading, received $5.7m in seed capital on Friday from investors including decentralised trust system developer HyperSphere and crypto market makers GSR and Wintermute. The round was co-led by CoinFund and Stratos Technologies and also backed by GoldenTree Asset Management, Ledgerprime and undisclosed angel investors.
Majoo, the Indonesia-headquartered operator of a cloud-based business-to-business services portal, has secured $5m in pre-series A funding from investors including digital payment technology provider Xendit and BRI Ventures, the venture capital arm of financial services firm Bank BRI, DealStreetAsia reported today. Quona Capital’s Quona Accion Inclusion Fund II led the tranche, which also featured AC Ventures and which followed a $4m first close in October 2021 backed by Xendit and BRI Ventures.
Video editing software provider Toch.ai took part in a $5m pre-series A round today for SatSure, an India-based provider of satellite agriculture and infrastructure monitoring software and services. Baring Private Equity India led the round, which included Asian Development Bank’s ADB Ventures vehicle, Flowstate VC, Force Ventures, IndigoEdge Advisors and angel investors Nishchay Goel and Saikiran Krishnamurthy.
Financial services firm Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) paid an undisclosed amount for a 20% stake in Paypa Plane , the Australia-based creator of a bank-grade digital payment platform, today. The investment was made through a strategic partnership focusing on enhancing CBA’s PayTo tool.
Online content production studio RANS Entertainment Indonesia has provided $2.5m in funding for Indonesia-based online podcast platform operator Noice, DealStreetAsia reported today. The platform was formed by Mahaka Radio Integra, a radio-focused subsidiary of entertainment group Mahaka Media.
US-based data intelligence software provider BigID has received an undisclosed amount of funding from workflow management software producer ServiceNow. The investment came 10 months after BigID increased a series D round featuring enterprise software provider Salesforce to $100m at a $1.3bn valuation.
Indonesia-based on-demand groceries provider Bananas raised $1.5m today in a seed round led featuring SMDV, a corporate VC arm of conglomerate Sinar Mas, as well as telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia’s MDI Ventures unit and Arise, a joint venture between MDI Ventures and VC firm Finch Capital. The round was led by another VC firm, East Ventures, and included Y Combinator and unnamed individuals.
Digital transformation services provider Systems Limited invested Rs 150m ($860,000) in Pakistan-based online fashion retailer Jomo Technologies on Friday. The corporate supplied the funding through investment vehicle Systems Ventures.
M&A
Baked goods producer King’s Hawaiian agreed on Friday to acquire portfolio company Shaka Tea, a US-headquartered Hawaiian tea brand, for an undisclosed sum. The company took part in a $2.3m round for Shaka Tea in June 2020 that was led by agribusiness Mahi Pono and also backed by Gingerbread Capital, LDR Ventures, Alison Rose Culinary Ventures, Park Bench Capital and unnamed angel investors.
Public Markets
HeartFlow, a US-based developer of non-invasive technology designed to generate a 3D model of a patient’s heart, has cancelled plans to go public through a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Longview Acquisition Corporation II announced in July 2021. The company has raised about $543m total according to press reports and regulatory filings, from investors including Blue Venture Fund, a vehicle for more than 30 companies within health insurance association Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Additional reporting by Thierry Heles. Image courtesy of Tribal.
