Funding
Pavilion Capital, a subsidiary of Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek, provided $10m in funding yesterday for Standigm, a South Korea-based developer of drug discovery technology. It came after Standigm received an undisclosed amount from chemical and life sciences technology provider SK Chemicals last week, and four months after the company raised $44.5m from investors including SK Chemicals parent SK Holdings and Kakao Ventures, the investment arm of internet group Kakao, to boost its overall funding to more than $67m.
Toqio, the UK-headquartered creator of a technology platform for financial software development, has raised €8m ($9.4m) in seed capital from investors including Six FinTech Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of financial markets technology provider Six Group, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Venture capital fund Seaya Ventures and equity crowdfunding platform Speedinvest co-led the round.
Zerion, the US-based developer of an investing interface for decentralised finance provision, secured $8.2m in series A funding yesterday from investors including crypto wallet provider Blockchain.com’s corporate VC unit, Blockchain.com Ventures. The round was led by VC firm Mosaic Ventures and also featured Placeholder, DCG, Lightspeed Venture Partners and assorted individuals. Placeholder had already led Zerion’s $2m seed round in December 2019, investing alongside Blockchain.com Ventures and Gnosis, the developer of a decentralised crypto trading platform.
Concrete contractors Baker Concrete and Lithko Contracting provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Pikus 3D, a US-based producer of 3D concrete printing technology, last month, the company revealed yesterday. Pikus had not revealed details of any financing prior to the investments.
Info Edge Ventures, the corporate VC subsidiary of classified listings operator Info Edge, has co-led a $3m pre-series A round for Skylark Drones, an India-based developer of drone data analytics software, YourStory reported on Monday. The round was co-led by VC fund IAN Fund and included agribusiness Fowler Westrup, conglomerate Vimson Group, technology park IKP, Redstart Labs and the founders of VC fund AdvantEdge. It had reportedly raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from unnamed investors in 2018.
Online automotive retailer Carsome has invested an undisclosed amount in Indonesia-based online motorcycle auction service Universal Collection, Business Today reported yesterday. The move is reportedly expected to double the size of the Malaysia-based corporate’s automotive transactions in Indonesia.
Trident, the Japan-based owner of Magic Pod, a testing automation software platform for artificial intelligence technology, secured ¥300m ($2.7m) today from media group Gree’s Strive fund and angel investor network Angel Bridge. The round came in the wake of $470,000 in funding from software verification services firm Veriserve and VC fund Incubate Fund in April 2020.
Yojo Technologies, the Japan-based operator of a female-focused online pharmacy, received ¥250m ($2.3m) in funding today from investors including Globis Capital Partners, a subsidiary of education services provider Globis. The round was also backed by VC firm Anri and it boosted the company’s overall equity and debt financing to about $3.5m.
Dirigio, the Japan-based operator of restaurant digitalisation app Picks, raised ¥240m ($2.2m) in series A funding today from mobile game producer KLab’s Anobaka unit, e-gifting platform developer Giftee and VC firm East Ventures. The company had received $630,000 in a March 2019 seed round that included Anobaka predecessor KLab Venture Partners, iSGS Investment Works, Japan Angel Fund and various angel investors.
Omnisient, the South Africa-based developer of a secure data software platform, has completed a $1.4m funding round that included IT services firm Technova, consulting firm Tahseen Consulting and financial services firms Nedbank and Investec, VentureBurn reported today. The round also featured Grand Bay Ventures, Kepple Africa Ventures and Compass Venture Capital, the last of which had joined Nedbank and Investec in a March 2020 pre-series A round for Omnisient sized below $1.3m.
StepEx, a UK-based provider of student loans tied to future earnings instead of debt, has secured about €1.2m ($1.4m) in a pre-seed round that included BBVA Anthemis Venture Partnership, the venture creation studio formed by financial services firm BBVA and VC firm Anthemis Group, EU-Startups reported on Monday. The round also featured Triple Point Ventures and angel investors including Chris Adelsbach, and it comes after roughly $370,000 of seed funding, according to EU-Startups.
Internet company United supplied an undisclosed amount of funding today for Life Lab, the Japan-based operator of an online recruitment platform for the agricultural sector. The corporate intends to offer its online expertise to help Life Lab expand in its home country.
George and Shaun (G&S), the Japan-based developer of artificial intelligence-equipped dementia detection software Cognivida and location monitoring service Biblle, raised ¥70m ($630,000) from telecommunications group NTT West today. The company is set to collaborate with NTT West subsidiary NTT Paravita on AI technology that will estimate cognitive function.
Sengoku Gaming, an esports subsidiary of Japan-headquartered electric utility Kyushu Electric Power’s QTnet unit, received an undisclosed amount of funding today from artificial intelligence technology and livestreaming services provider Kimura Information Technology. The spinoff manages an esports team and provides esports tournament management software, and it will use the cash to develop new services.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
