Funding
Air carriers Mesa Air Group and United Airlines co-led a $35m series A round for Sweden-headquartered electric aircraft developer Heart Aerospace yesterday, the latter through corporate venture capital vehicle United Airlines Ventures. The round was co-led with Breakthrough Energy Ventures and also featured EQT Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital, both of which had participated in the company’s $2.1m seed round in May 2019 as part of a 19-strong consortium that included Norrsken Foundation.
Online services provider Movile invested R$170m ($34m) in Brazil-based business-to-business finance provider Zoop last month through a primary and secondary share purchase, Istoe Dinheiro reported. The selling shareholders in the deal include Darwin Capital and the transaction followed a $10.6m round in October 2020 featuring Movile and Qualcomm Ventures, a subsidiary of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm, as well as Avalancha Ventures and Darwin Capital. Movile had supplied $18.3m for Zoop in 2018 following earlier funding from Qualcomm Ventures, Darwin Capital, Riverwood Capital and Avalancha Ventures.
Netherlands-based cancer immunotherapy developer ISA Pharmaceuticals completed a €26m ($30.7m) funding round yesterday that included biopharmaceutical company Regeneron. The state-backed Invest-NL also participated in the round, as did undisclosed existing investors. ISA had raised a total of $26m as of a $10.4m round in 2013 featuring unnamed existing investors. Regeneron, by then also an existing investor, had provided an undisclosed amount of equity funding for the company through a June 2020 collaboration agreement, following a $22m loan from European Investment Bank in October 2019.
Singapore-headquartered plant-based chicken brand Next Gen Foods increased its seed round to $30m yesterday, adding $20m from beverage producer Yeo Hiap Seng, GGV Capital, Bits x Bites, Temasek, K3 Ventures and angel investors including Chris Yeh and Dele Alli. The first tranche closed in February this year and included Temasek, K3 Ventures, supermarket chain Metro’s NX Foods subsidiary, Febe Ventures, Blue Horizon and Singapore Economic Development Board‘s New Ventures vehicle.
NoTraffic, the Israel-based creator of an artificial intelligence system for traffic lights, has secured $17.5m in series A funding from investors including insurance group Menora Mivtachim, TechCrunch reported yesterday. VC fund Nielsen Ventures led the round, which also featured Vektor Partners, Grove Ventures, Meitav Dash, Lool Ventures, Next Gear Ventures and North First Ventures. The company had closed a $3m seed round led by Lool Ventures and backed by Next Gear, North First and unnamed individuals in 2018.
Japan-based peer-to-peer lending platform developer Funds added an undisclosed amount from FFG Venture Business Partners, a subsidiary of financial services firm Fukuoka Financial Group, to close its series C round at ¥2.23bn ($20.2m) yesterday. The $18.5m first tranche closed in April this year and included online marketplace Mercari as well as Itochu Technology Ventures, Japan Post Capital, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Mizuho Capital, representing diversified trading firm Itochu, postal service Japan Post and banking firms Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Bank respectively
Mouro Capital, the VC firm formed by financial services firm Santander, has led a $16m series A round for Mexico-headquartered digital freight forwarder Nowports that included Foundation Capital and existing investors including InvestoVC, Broadhaven Ventures, Monashees, Base10 Partners and Y Combinator. The last four all took part in a $5.3m seed round in June 2019 alongside Soma Capital, Partech, Tekton Ventures and angel investor Paul Buchheit, and Nowports said it has now raised $24m in total.
Internet group Tencent provided $5m for OnlinePajak, the Indonesia-based developer of an online tax compliance platform, as part of a $12m funding round last week, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday, citing a regulatory filing. Altos Ventures provided $5m while Warburg Pincus supplied the other $2m. The company had raised between $3m and $5m in a 2017 series A round led by Alpha JWC Ventures and backed by Sequoia Capital, before Warburg Pincus led its $25m series B the following year, investing with Alpha JWC, Sequoia Capital India, Global Innovation Fund, Primedge and Endeavor Catalyst.
Axuall, the US-based creator of an online professional identity network for the healthcare industry, completed a $10.4m series A round yesterday featuring healthcare providers MedStar Health, Epsilon Health, Intermountain Healthcare and University Hospitals, the last two through their Intermountain Ventures and University Hospitals Ventures units. The round was led by Flare Capital Partners and included AV8 Ventures, a VC firm backed by insurer Allianz, as well as InHealth Ventures, JumpStart, M25 Ventures and North Coast Ventures. It followed $3m in seed funding from JumpStart, M25, North Coast Angel Fund, Kettledrum Ventures, Zapis Capital Group and Drummond Road Capital in September 2019.
Superfluid, a developer of digital asset streaming technology, closed a $9m seed round yesterday that included digital asset research provider Delphi Digital. It also featured DeFiance Capital, MetaCartel Ventures, MMC Ventures, Fabric Ventures, The LAO, DeFi Alliance, WhiteStar Capital, Roble Venture Capital, Tiny.vc, Divergence Ventures, BR Capital, Angel DAO, Stable Node, BeToken Capital, Supernova Fund, ID Theory, Happiness Capital, GmoneyNFT and assorted angel investors.
Online marketplace Mercado Libre has led a R$35m ($6.7m) funding round for Nexodata, the Brazil-based operator of a digital medication prescription platform, through its Meli Fund, Brazil Journal has reported. Healthcare provider Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Floating Point and FIR Capital also took part, as did the family office of Guilherme Benchimol. The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount from Arpex Capital, LTS, GK Ventures and private investors Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira.
Brazil-based tutoring centre operator Alicerce Educação has secured $5m in seed extension funding from investors including telecommunications firm Telefónica’s Wayra subsidiary, Lavca reported last month, citing Valor Econômico. Valor Capital Group and Canary also took part in the extension, having co-led a $4.9m tranche of the round in October 2019. Wayra added an undisclosed amount in November 2020.
Saudi Arabia-based flexible staff provider Sabbar received $4m yesterday in a pre-series A round led by STV, the VC firm backed by telecoms firm Saudi Telecom. The round included Derayah VC and Seedra Ventures, and it came in the wake of a $1.5m seed round led by VentureSouq in December 2019 that also featured Derayah VC, 500 Startups and Super Angels.
Japan-based coffee subscription service PostCoffee secured ¥150m ($1.4m) yesterday from investors including diversified trading group Hario Trading and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, a corporate venturing subsidiary of insurer Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance. The corporates were joined in the round by incubator and VC fund Samurai Incubate, and it followed $470,000 from publisher Asahi Media (through Asahi Media Lab Ventures), Incubate Fund and Studies in late 2019 and an undisclosed sum from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, Ceres, Incubate Fund and retailer Marui’s D2C&Co unit in December 2020.
Elevation Space, a Japan-based small satellite developer spun out of Tohoku University, raised ¥30m ($270,000) yesterday in a pre-seed round featuring Makoto Capital, a vehicle for consulting firm Makoto, in addition to cold heading and forming machinery producer Nakashimada Engineering, real estate developer Hinoki, recruitment and IT services group Enrise Corporation and four angel investors. The round took the startup’s overall funding to approximately $360,000 including grants.
M&A
Communications technology producer Motorola Solutions agreed yesterday to buy Openpath Security, a US-based provider of mobile access control software, in a deal of undisclosed size that will allow property developers Sentre and Lincoln Property Company, identity authentication technology producer Okta and security equipment maker Allegion to exit. The company had raised a total of $63m as of a $36m series C round in July 2020 led by Greycroft and backed by corporate VC units Okta Ventures, LPC Ventures and Allegion Ventures as well as Sentre and unnamed existing investors. Its earlier backers include Emergence Capital, Upfront Ventures, Sorenson Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Fika Ventures.
Airline software provider Sita paid an undisclosed sum yesterday to acquire Safety Line, a France-based aviation safety and efficiency technology developer backed by airport operator Groupe ADP and aerospace manufacturer Safran. Safety Line had secured $3.4m in funding from Safran subsidiary Safran Corporate Ventures, Groupe ADP and public investment bank BPIfrance’s Ecotechnologies Fund in 2017.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
