Funds
Imbiba, a UK-based venture capital firm targeting lifestyle and entertainment investments, reached the £70m ($86m) first close of a £90m fund with backing from limited partners including Asahi UK, part of beverage producer Asahi Group. British Business Bank’s Enterprise Capital Funds scheme also contributed to the close.
India-based VC firm Z3Partners has raised roughly $67m for the final close of its Z3 Partners Tech Fund, having secured capital from insurer HDFC Life as well as family offices and financial institutions including Small Industries Development Bank of India.
Fubon Life Insurance, the insurance subsidiary of Taiwan-headquartered financial services group Fubon Financial, has put up about NT$1.2bn ($39.5m) for VC firm AppWorks’ fourth fund, Nikkei Asia has reported. The fund is targeting a $360m close by mid-2023, its executive team said.
Public markets
Structure Therapeutics, the Cayman Islands-registered, China-founded computational therapeutics developer drug developer formerly known as ShouTi, has filed to raise up to $100m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It is backed by corporates Eli Lilly, WuXi AppTec and Schrodinger and had received $158m in funding as of a $100m series B round in late 2021.
M&A
Blockchain analytics services provider Crypto Slam has merged with Forkast.News, a China-based crypto news portal that raised $1.7m from investors including e-commerce group Alibaba and blockchain game publisher Animoca Brands in mid-2021. They are forming a Web3 data and news aggregator called Forkast Labs.
Air hygiene technology producer AeroClean Technologies has completed a merger with Molekule, a US-based air purifier provider that counts networking technology producer Inventec Appliances and contract manufacturer Foxconn as investors. Molekule had raised over $97m as of September 2021, adding $22.2m in June 2022 according to a securities filing.
Funding
| Company | Company description | Sector | Country | Round | Round size($m) | Deal date | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cofco Fortune | Food processing and logistics subsidiary of Chinese state-owned agricultural group Cofco | Services | China | N/A | 800 | 17/01/2023 | Cosco Shipping |
| Interconnected Semiconductor Technology | Printed circuit board manufacturer | IT | China | N/A | 136 | 16/01/2023 | Avary Holding |
| Sublime Systems | Developer of low-carbon cement production technology | Industrial | US | N/A | 40 | 17/01/2023 | Siam Cement Group; Lowercarbon Capital, Energy Impact Partners, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (The Engine) |
| Interstellar Technologies | Rocket and satellite developer | Industrial | Japan | D | 30 | 17/01/2023 | Nisso Corp (Nisso Kosan), CyberAgent, Satudora Holdings, Sunco Industries, Inclusive, OnsenDojo, RDS, IMV, Kadokawa, Hagiwara Construction Industry; SBI (SBI Investments), Seven Stars Capital, De Aardappeleters, Reiichi Sasaki, Norimasa Yamamoto, Kazunori Asada, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Teruyasu Nishino, Makoto Fujita, Masaki Yamamoto, Mizuki Nakajima, Anna Nakajima, Tomoya Nakano |
| Locad | Logistics automation platform developer | Services | Singapore | A | 11 | 16/01/2023 | Kuehne & Nagel and Temasek (Reefknot Investments) (lead), JG Summit; Sequoia India and Southeast Asia (Surge), Febe Ventures, Antler, Access Ventures, WTI |
| Mumbai Oncocare Centre | Cancer and hemaetology care provider | Healthcare | India | A | 10 | 15/01/2023 | Tata Group (Tata Capital Healthcare Fund) |
| Multus Biotechnology | Cultivated meat developer | Consumer | UK | A | 9.5 | 16/01/2023 | Asahi Kasei; Mandi Ventures (lead), SOSV, Big Idea Ventures, SynBioVen; Innovate UK (EIC Accelerator) ($2.5m grant) |
| Ferrum Health | Healthcare AI platform | Healthcare | US | N/A | 6 | 12/01/2023 | Singtel (Singtel Innov8) (co-lead); Urban Innovation Fund (co-lead), Cercano Management (co-lead) |
| Bunzz | Decentralised application development platform | IT | Singapore | Seed | 4.7 | 17/01/2023 | Coincheck Labs, Digital Garage (DG Daiwa Ventures), GMO (GMO Web3), Gree (Gree Ventures), Ceres; Arriba Studio, GMJP, Hyperithm, Kotaro Tamura, Kazutaka Mori, Mint, Spiral Ventures, 01Booster Capital |
| Bloomfield Robotics | Agricultural robotics technology developer | Industrial | US | A | 4.4 | 16/01/2023 | Kubota (lead), Oeneo Group |
| FilSwan | Cross-chain Web3 infrastructure provider | Financial | Canada | N/A | 3 | 16/01/2023 | Binance (Binance Labs) (co-lead), Protocol Labs, Filecoin Foundation, Chainlink; SNZ Holdings (co-lead), Waterdrip Capital, FBG Capital, Unicorn Hunter Ventures, Chain Capital, LD Capital, Cabin VC, Betterverse Dao, DAO Kondr VC |
| Gigged.AI | Technology talent sourcing platform | Services | UK | Seed | 2 | 16/01/2023 | Nile HQ; Par Equity (lead), Techstart Ventures, John Brodie, Nick Jones, Stewart Siegal, Grant Fraser, Mark Robinson, Warwick Beresford-Jones |
| StrategIT | Developer of enterprise software linkage platform | IT | Japan | N/A | 1.9 | 17/01/2023 | Heroz |
| Greeneye Technology System | Precise pesticide spraying technology developer | Industrial | Israel | N/A | N/A | 10/01/2023 | NuWay-K&H Cooperative |
| Man-Machine Synergy Effectors | Robotics technology developer | Industrial | Japan | B2 | N/A | 17/01/2023 | Shiga Bank, Shiga Bank (Shigagin Lease Capital); Quantum Leaps Capital Partners |
| Zick Learn | Enterprise learning platform developer | Services | Ireland | Pre-seed | N/A | 16/01/2023 | Zanichelli (Zanichelli Venture) |
| Lekatech | Mining electrification technology developer | Industrial | Finland | N/A | N/A | 13/01/2023 | Normet |
| Surplus | Food waste prevention service | Consumer | India | Seed | N/A | 16/01/2023 | Salam Pacific Indonesia Lines (Salam Pacific Indonesia Lines Ventures) |
| Eagle Genomics | Bioscience information discovery platform | Healthcare | UK | N/A | N/A | 16/01/2023 | Omron (Omron Ventures) |
