Funding
Celsius, the developer of a cryptocurrency yield-earning platform, supplied $54m in funding on Tuesday for Core Scientific, a US-based company that provides what it claims is a carbon-neutral blockchain infrastructure. Core Scientific had previously received $1m in equity funding in March 2018, according to a regulatory filing.
Germany-based autoimmune disease drug developer Topas Therapeutics added €18m on Tuesday from investors including pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim to a series B round now totalling €40m ($47.1m). The corporate’s Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) joined fellow existing investors BioMedPartners, European Molecular Biology Laboratory’s EMBL Ventures unit, Epidarex Capital, Evotec, Gimv and Vesalius Biocapital in the extension, which followed a $25.9m first close in October 2020. BIVF, Epidarex Capital, EMBL Ventures, Gimv and drug discovery company Evotec had supplied $20.8m in series A funding in 2017.
Software producer Microsoft and mobile chipmaker Qualcomm co-led a $30m series C round for US-based warehouse robotics technology developer InVia Robotics yesterday through investment vehicles M12 and Qualcomm Ventures. The round included electronics producer Hitachi’s corporate venturing unit, Hitachi Ventures, as well as Point 72 Ventures, Upfront Ventures and Embark Ventures. InVia completed a $9m series A round in February 2018 led by Upfront and backed by Embark, before both returned six months later for a $20m series B led by Point72.
Functionize, the US-based developer of an automated software testing platform, added an undisclosed amount to its $16m series A round yesterday, in an extension led by IT services firm Wipro through its Wipro Ventures unit. The $16m came from venture capital firm Canvas Ventures in March 2019 and followed a seed round that reportedly took place the previous year and was sized at $2.5m.
Lumanu, a US-based digital workplace tool developer backed by financial services firm Northwestern Mutual and sausage producer Johnsonville, raised $12m yesterday in a series A round led by VC firm Origin Ventures that included Alumni Venture Group, Gaingels and 500 Startups. The company secured $1m in a 2018 seed round led by Northwestern Mutual and backed by its VC affiliate Cream City Venture Capital as well as 500 Startups, Gener8tor, Rightside Capital and angel investor Peter Sachse. It closed $2m from Northwestern Mutual, Johnsonville, Capital Midwest Fund, Sachse Family Fund and private investor Martine Reardon in November 2019.
Notch, a Canada-based developer of technology that digitises the food supply chain for restaurants, completed a $10m financing round on Tuesday featuring Plexo Capital, a VC fund spun off by internet and technology group Alphabet. The round was co-led by Accomplice and BDC and also featured Math Venture Partners, Golden Ventures, The Yield Lab, Garage Capital and various angel investors. The company (then called ChefHero) had raised $9.8m in a 2018 series A round led by Accomplice and backed by Golden Ventures, Precursor Ventures and Math Venture Partners.
Info Edge Ventures, the investment arm of classified listings operator Info Edge, has co-led a $6m series A round for Zingbus, the India-based operator of an online bus ticket booking platform, VCCircle reported on Tuesday. The round was co-led with Founders Fund vehicle Anim Fund, Funders Club, Pioneer Fund, Locus Ventures and Liquid 2 Ventures, and it included Advantedge Technology Fund, 9Unicorns and Venture Catalyst. It followed an undisclosed sum in a February 2020 round co-led by Advantedge and Smile Group and backed by unnamed individuals, an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding from Venture Catalysts, Titan Capital, Better Capital, 9Unicorns, AdvantEdge, Smile and MG Group a year later, and $125,000 from Y Combinator in March 2021.
Councilbox, the Spain-based creator of a legally secure software platform that manages online meetings, has closed a €5m ($5.9m) series A round that included telecommunications firm Telefónica’s open innovation subsidiary, Wayra, and financial services firm Abanca. The round was led by VC firm Adara Ventures and the proceeds will be used to expand the company’s commercial, customer service and product development teams.
Patchwork Health, the UK-based creator of a scheduling software tool for hospitals, has received £3.5m ($4.9m) from BMJ New Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for medical publisher BMJ, and VC firm Praetura Ventures, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Praetura Ventures put up $2.5m to lead a $3.9m round for the company in January 2020 that also featured BMJ and undisclosed individuals. Its existing backers include VC fund Public, which invested in 2018.
Hedgehog, the US-headquartered creator of a decentralised platform for prediction markets, completed a $3.5m seed round on Tuesday featuring quantitative trading firm Alameda Research and proprietary trading firm MGNR. They were joined by Republic Labs, Reciprocal Ventures, Manna and Divergence Ventures, while Solana Foundation supplied grant funding.
India-based social gaming platform developer EloElo secured $2.1 million in pre-series A funding on Tuesday from investors including talent manager Exceed Entertainment, YourStory reported. VC firm Waterbridge Ventures and the gaming and digital media-focused Lumikai Fund co-led the round, which also featured VC firm Better Capital.
Julaya, the Ivory Coast-headquartered developer of a digital payment platform, has raised $2m in a pre-series A round that included Orange Ventures and MFS Africa Frontiers, on behalf of telecoms firm Orange and financial technology aggregator MFS Africa, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. The round included Saviu Ventures, Launch Africa, 50 Partners Capital and undisclosed individuals, and came after from unnamed angel investors invested $250,000 in Julaya in 2018 and provided $500,000 in seed capital the following year.
Video software developer Hedge has invested an undisclosed amount in US-headquartered Colourlab, the US-based creator of an intelligent colour grading software tool. The transaction was disclosed yesterday when Hedge revealed it has completed a $3m seed round led by Steve Bayes and backed by undisclosed other angel investors.
Digital bank Jupiter has led a $330,000 pre-seed round for Pencilton, the India-based developer of a financial services app tailored for teenage users, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday. It was filled out by angel investors Nilesh Patel, Prashant Singh, Ashish Sharma, Abhishek Goyal, Himanshu Sharma, Kunal Sinha, Vignesh Ramanujam and Tirumalareddy Karri.
