China-based digital energy service provide NewLink Group closed a series E round sized at ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’ yesterday wihth an undisclosed amount from CR Capital Management, a subsidiary of conglomerate China Resources. It had raised $608m for the round as of August 2021, from Nio Capital, the venture capital firm formed by electric carmaker Nio, as well as China Merchants Capital, China International Capital Corporation’s CICC Capital unit, China Merchants Bank’s CMB International subsidiary, Joy Capital, Bain Capital and Hongtai Aplus.
Enable Injections, a US-based developer of wearable drug delivery systems, secured $215m yesterday in a series C round featuring healthcare provider Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Alternative investment management firm Magnetar Capital led the round, which included Woody Creek Capital Partners, Squarepoint Capital, GCM Grosvenor, CincyTech, Cintrifuse and Ohio Innovation Fund.
UK-based rapid delivery services provider Zapp has hauled in $200m in funding from investors including consumer product distributor Vorwerk’s corporate venturing unit, Vorwerk Ventures, Bloomberg reported today. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, which was filled out by Atomico, Burda, 468 Capital, Broadlight Capital and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton.
Internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s Vision Fund led a $200m series E round for US-based digital pharmacy platform Alto Pharmacy yesterday. The vehicle had previously led Alto’s $250m series D round in early 2020 at a valuation in excess of $1bn.
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 has led a $130m series B round for Esusu, a US-based developer of rent reporting and data software, at a $1bn valuation, TechCrunch reported yesterday. SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund also took part in the round, alongside Jones Feliciano Family Office, Lauder Zinterhofer Family Office, Schusterman Foundation, Related Companies and Wilshire Lane Capital.
CoinTracker, the US-based developer of a software platform for cryptocurrency tax and portfolio tracking, received $100m yesterday in a series A round featuring Intuit Ventures, Coinbase Ventures and Kraken Ventures, on behalf of financial software provider Intuit and cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Kraken. VC firm Accel led the round and was also joined by General Catalyst, Initialized Capital, Y Combinator, 776 Ventures and assorted private investors.
BasicBlock, a US-based developer of financial technology for the trucking industry, raised $78m yesterday in an equity and debt round that included financial services provider Nelnet. The round also featured Autotech Ventures, Emergent Ventures, Clear Haven Capital Management, SaaS Ventures, TNT Ventures and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.
BenchSci, a Canada-based developer of drug discovery analysis software, has attracted C$63m ($49.5m) in series C funding from investors including internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund, Gradient Ventures, BetaKit has reported. The round was co-led by Inovia Capital and TCV and also featured investment and financial services group Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital unit as well as Northleaf Capital Partners and Golden Ventures.
US-based retail software provider Leap received $50m yesterday in a series B round featuring financial services firm Northern Trust and property developer Simon Property Group. The round was led by BAM Elevate with additional backing from Harbor Spring Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Costanoa Ventures and Equal Ventures.
US-based immuno-oncology treatment developer Simcha Therapeutics completed a $40m series B round yesterday led by SR One Capital Management, the investment firm funded by pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline. The round was filled out by BVF Partners, Rock Springs Capital, ArrowMark Partners, Logo Capital and Samsara BioCapital.
US-based complex disease treatment developer TenSixteenBio publicly launched yesterday with $40m in funding from investors including GV, a corporate venturing vehicle for internet and technology group Alphabet. It was joined in the round by investment firm Foresite Capital.
US-headquartered cybersecurity software provider Censys closed a $35m series B round yesterday led by chipmaker Intel’s corporate venturing unit, Intel Capital. The round included internet and technology group Alphabet’s GV subsidiary and Decibel, the independent VC partner of networking technology provider Cisco, as well as Greylock Partners.
China-based RNA technology developer Ractigen Therapeutics completed a $30m series A-plus round yesteray that included pharmaceutical firm Eisai. The government-owned State Development & Investment Corp’s SDIC Venture Capital vehicle led the round, which was also backed by CSSD Capital, Xianghe Capital and LC Ventures.
ReCarbon, a US-based provider of greenhouse gas reuse technology, raised $25m yesterday in a series B-1 round backed by steel producer Posco and energy, retail and construction group GS Holdings Corporation. It followed $7m in series B funding from Doosan Mecatec, a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate Doosan, in 2019.
Parsyl, a US-based supply chain insurance provider, secured $25m yesterday in a series B round featuring logistics provider Lineage Logistics and freight forwarder Flexport, through corporate venturing units Linease Ventures and Flexport Ventures respectively. Hudson Structured Capital Management led the round through its HSCM Ventures unit and was also joined by GLP Capital Partners, Luna and unnamed executives from the insurance and perishable foods industries.
Agrolend, the Brazil-based operator of an online lending platform for small farmers, has received R$120m ($22.1m) in funding from investors including agribusiness Continental Grain Company, Índices Bovespa has reported. Valor Capital Group led the round, which included SP Ventures, Provence Ventures and Barn Invest.
TickSmith, a Canada-based provider of enterprise data tools, secured $20m in series A funding yesterday from investors including derivatives exchange CME Group and software provider Databricks, through CME Ventures and Databricks Ventures respectively. Investissement Quebéc led the round, which was also backed by both Anges Québec and Anges Quebéc Capital as well as Illuminate Financial Management and Fonds de Solidarité FTQ.
US-based instant payment services provider Interchecks raised $16m in series B funding from investors including payment processing provider Nuvei yesterday. Senator Investment Group and Standard Investments co-led the round, which also featured Bettor Capital, Shift4 Ventures and Commerce Ventures.
Tabas, the Brazil-based operator of an online short-term apartment rental platform, has received R$80m ($14.7m) in an equity and debt round led by apartment rental service Blueground, Brazil Journal has reported. Echo Capital filled out the round alongside private investor Nelson Queiroz Tanure.
Health insurance association Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Blue Venture Fund led a $14m series A round for First Dollar, the US-based operator of a digital health benefits platform, yesterday. It was joined by Next Coast Ventures, Meridian Street Capital and assorted angel investors.
Financial services firm ABN Amro’s corporate venturing subsidiary, ABN Amro Ventures, took part in a $12m series A round for UK-based peer-to-peer bicycle insurance platform Laka on Wednesday. Autotech Ventures led the round and was also joined by Ponooc.
Colizeum, a Switzerland-based provider of software for blockchain-based game developers, received $8.4m on Wednesday in a funding round co-led by cryptocurrency futures and options exchange Deribit. It was co-led with SevenX Ventures, Axia8, GenBlock Capital and LD Capital and also featured gaming guild Good Games Guild, cryptocurrency technology developer Pluto Digital, crypto consultancy Momentum 6, TPS Capital, DWeb3, X21 Digital, Basics Capital, Tokenomik, AU21 Capital, CRT Capital and Profluent Ventures.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit co-led a $6m seed round for MyContainer, the Estonia-based creator of a cryptocurrency staking platform, on Wednesday. The round was co-led by Mapleblock and Shima Capital and filled out by unnamed angel investors.
Textile producer Ilshin Holdings has taken part in a $5.2m series A round for Singapore-based battery recycling technology developer Green Li-ion, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. Energy Revolution Ventures led the round, which included MB Energy Partners, Entrepreneur First and SOSV.
TRLab, the US-headquartered operator of a non-fungible token-based art platform, completed a $4.2m funding round yesrerday featuring blockchain gaming technology developer Animoca Brands, art gallery Pace Gallery and its Web3 affiliate, Pace Verso. They were joined by node validator StableNode, MetaPurse, WhaleShak, BAI Capital, Digital Renaissance Foundation, Ince Capital, Kenetic, Plutus Capital, Willoughby Capital and private investors Marc Bhargava, Gabby Dizon, Sabrina Hahn, Andrew Steinwold, Adam Lindemann, Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, Svetlana Kuzmicheva-Uspenskaya, Olivia Wang and Jennifer Zeng.
Teleport, a logistics subsidiary of air carrier AirAsia, provided an undisclosed amount of convertible note financing for Indonesia-based freight services marketplace Kargo Technologies yesterday. The company secured $31m in series A funding from investors including beverage bottler Coca-Cola Amatil in 2020 to take its overall funding to $38.6m.
ImpactMarket, the Portugal-based creator of a decentralised protocol for alleviating poverty through the blockchain, disclosed on Wednesday it has raised $1.6m across pre-seed and seed rounds from investors including mobile payment app developer Valora and Celo Foundation, which oversees mobile crypto payment platform Celo. Its other backers include Flori Ventures, Eutopia Foundation, Davoa Capital and private investors Diogo Mónica, Marek Olszewski and Albert Wenger.
Partyou, the Brazil-based creator of a financial management app for student associations, has received R$10m ($1.8m) from investors including financial services firm Banco Bradesco’s corporate venturing unit, Inovabra Ventures. The fund invested in the round alongside Asterisk Partners.
Gaming guild Overwolf has participated in a NOK6m ($670,000) funding round for Norway-based in-game 3D objects technology developer Sloyd, Shifter has reported. Skyfall Ventures led the round with additional backing from Fresh Fund.
Banking app developer Vesti Technologies secured $500,000 in funding from investors including enterprise software producer Prunedge Technologies and marketing software provider GB Digitals. They were joined by Terramax Ventures, Midlothian Angel Network, Oxygen Group and Microtraction.
Funds
Steel producer United States Steel provided an undisclosed amount of capital for US-based robotics and artificial intelligence-focused venture studio Carnegie Foundry on Wednesday. The transaction was part of a strategic investment partnership to promote industrial automation through AI and advanced robotics.
Additional reporting by Thierry Heles.
