Funding
Australia-based digital debt collection agency InDebted has raised A$25m ($18.4m) in a series B round featuring MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, a subsidiary of insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual, as well as Reinventure, the venture capital firm backed by banking firm Westpac, Australian Financial Review reported today. Investment firm Perennial Value Management led the round, which included Carthona Capital and private investor Jason Lenga. The company had received $9.2m in series A financing from MassMutual Ventures, Reinventure and Carthona Capital in March 2020 to take its total funding to $10m.
Germany-headquartered digital therapeutics developer Dopavision has completed a €12m ($14.2m) series A round that included digital drug developer Ababax Health and pharmaceutical firms Novartis and Boehringer Ingelheim. The round was led by VC firm Seventure Partners while Boehringer Ingelheim took part through its Venture Fund. It came after Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Flying Health and Ralf Meister supplied $1.3m in seed funding for Dopavision in mid-2019.
Quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group has led a $10.2m series A round for Otipy, the India-based operator of an online platform where users can buy fresh produce sourced directly from farmers, the Economic Times reported on Monday. Omidyar Network India, Inflection Point Ventures, Pravega Ventures and Factor(e) Ventures also took part in the round, which included $2m in venture debt from InnoVen Capital. The startup had raised $1m in seed funding from Inflection Point Ventures in August 2020.
Esusu, a US-based developer of rent reporting and data software, secured $10m on Friday in a series A round led by Motley Fool Ventures, the investment arm of financial information provider The Motley Fool. The corporate was joined by Serena Ventures, The Equity Alliance, Predictive VC, Concrete Rose Capital, Impact America Fund, Global Impact Fund, Next Play Ventures, Zeal Capital Partners and undisclosed angel investors. Esusu received $1.6m in seed funding from Acumen Fund, Sinai Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Katapult Accelerator, Plug and Play Tech Center, Global Good Fund, Temerity Capital Partners and unnamed angel investors in August 2019, adding $2.3m from Impact America Fund, Zeal Capital and Next Play a year later.
Lingble, a Japan-based developer of customer engagement technology for online merchants, raised $8.5m on Friday from a returning investor, textile trading firm Yagi & Co, as well as management consulting group Innovation, IT services firm SCSK Corporation, market research provider GII, antique and precious mental vendor Valuence, luxury goods importer British Luxury Brand Group, crowdfunding platform Makuake and CVC and entrepreneur support group FindStar. Lingble had secured an undisclosed amount from Valuence vehicle Valuence Ventures as of April this year.
Fujitsu Ventures has invested an undisclosed amount in Singapore-based commodity trading platform operator Digital Commodity Exchange on behalf of its parent company, IT services firm Fujitsu. Digital Commodity Exchange was formed in 2020 as a holding company for markets such as ride trading exchange Rice Exchange, and will work with Fujitsu on a fertiliser exchange product through a strategic partnership agreement.
Nym Technologies, a Switzerland-based crypto security technology developer backed by cryptocurrency exchange operator Binance, has received $6m in a series A round led by crypto-focused investment firm Polychain Capital, TechCrunch reported on Friday. Eden Block, Greenfield One, Maven11, Tioga and 1kx also contributed to the round, which came after Binance subsidiary Binance Labs, Neo Global Capital, Lemniscap and Eden Block participated in a $2.5m token sale for the company in May 2019.
Conglomerate CPF Group has co-led a $4.6m series A round for Kamereo, the Vietnam-based operator of a business-to-business e-commerce platform for the food and beverage industry, Tech in Asia reported today. The round was co-led by Quest Ventures and Genesia Ventures, and the funding will be allocated to recruitment and the launch of a one-stop procurement service for its customers.
US-based decentralised exchange technology provider Shipyard Software has secured $4m in equity financing from investors including blockchain software provider Quantstamp and crypto trading software provider 0x Labs for its first exchange, Clipper. Polychain Capital led the round, which also featured 1inch, DeFi Alliance, MetaCartel DAO, Robot Ventures, FJLabs and angel investor Naval Ravikant. The funding was secured alongside $17m in liquidity finance for Clipper from Polychain, Nascent, Three Arrows Capital, Electric Capital, LD Capital, IOSG and unnamed individuals.
Diversified conglomerate Fosun has participated in a pre-series A round for Indonesia-based social commerce tool developer Desty that has closed at over $3m, DealStreetAsia reported today. The corporate invested through subsidiary Fosun RZ Capital, joining VC firm 5Y Capital, which led the round, as well as East Ventures, January Capital and InCapital, two people aware of the development told DealStreetAsia.
Citibeats, a Spain-headquartered developer of socially-focused data analytics technology, received €2m ($2.4m) on Friday in a bridge round featuring insurance firm Previsora General Mutualidad de Previsión Social as well as telecommunications firm NTT’s digital consulting subsidiary, Everis Group, which invested through its FiTalent unit. It included Inter-American Development Bank Group’s IDB Labs unit, Corporacion Andina de Fomento and Estinvest, and came after telecoms firm Telefónica’s Wayra Deutschland subsidiary led a $1.7m round for Citibeats in December 2019 that included Everis, financial services firm Bankinter, H&S Investment, IDB Labs and unnamed angel investors.
Receptionist, a Japan-based customer service software developer backed by marketing group Opt and enterprise software producer Salesforce, raised an undisclosed amount from VC firm Global Brain today. Corporate VC units Salesforce Ventures and Opt Ventures (now known as Bonds Investment Group), provided an undisclosed amount for the company in March 2020 following earlier funding from investors including Salesforce Ventures, Daiwa Corporate Investment and Tsuneishi Capital Partners.
M&A
Telecoms and cybersecurity software producer Enea has agreed to purchase Ireland-based mobile security technology developer AdaptiveMobile Security for €45m ($53.1m), allowing semiconductor and data technology provider Intel to exit. Intel’s corporate venturing arm, Intel Capital, led a $5.5m round for the company in 2006 that included Enterprise Ireland and an unnamed angel investor, before joining Doughty Hanson and Noor Financial Investment Company in a $14m round the following year.
Digital reality technology provider Hexagon acquired Immersal, a Finland-based augmented reality software developer that counts mobile game publisher Gumi and educational technology producer Polkuni as investors, on Friday, for an undisclosed amount. Sisu Game Ventures and Kasvumoottori Growth Engine had invested $1m in Immersal in mid-2019, adding to $710,000 in earlier funding from Polkumi, Gumi vehicle Gumi Ventures, Presence Capital, Reaktor and angel investors Bruce J. Oreck, Inka Mero, Torsti Tenhunen and Pasi Joronen.
Automattic, the operator of blogging platform WordPress, agreed on Friday to buy US-headquartered podcast platform developer Pocket Casts in a deal of undisclosed size that will provide an exit for media group BBC. Pocket Casts raised an undisclosed sum from BBC in March 2020 and is set to integrate with the WordPress platform once the acquisition closes.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
