Funding
Mythical Games, a US-based blockchain game developer backed by cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin, raised $75m yesterday in a series B round led by growth equity firm WestCap. It also featured 01 Advisors, VaynerFund and existing investors including Galaxy Digital, Javelin Venture Partners, Alumni Ventures and Struck Capital. The company said it has now secured $120m in total, and it received $19m from Javelin Ventures, Avon Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Hashed, Galaxy Digital’s Galaxy EOS VC Fund and Struck Capital in November 2019, following $16m in an OKCoin-backed series A round the previous year.
Oriental Space, a China-based space technology developer spun out of Shangdong Aerospace Technology Institute, closed a RMB400m ($62.6m) angel round yesterday featuring conglomerate Legend Holdings’ Legend Star subsidiary and heavy equipment manufacturer Sanyi Heavy Industry, DealStreetAsia reported. Matrix Partners China and Sequoia Capital China co-led the second tranche, and the participants included ZhenFund, SEE Fund, Turing Ventures, Chengdu Sanjiang Asset Management, Zhongwei Huitong Tiandi Network, Z&H Investment and various individuals.
Advance Venture Partners, the venture capital affiliate of media group Advance Publications, led a $60m series B round for US-based enterprise software provider Morning Consult yesterday at a $1.01bn valuation. The round included Susquehanna Growth Equity, a subsidiary of quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group, as well as investment firm Lupa Systems. It came after Advance Venture Partners and Lupa Systems co-led a $31m series A round in May 2020 valuing the company at $306m.
BukuWarung, an Indonesia-based e-commerce and payment startup backed by internet company GMO, has received $60m in a series A round led by Valar Ventures that included Goodwater Capital and angel investors such as Aldi Haryopratomo and Victor Jacobsson, TechCrunch reported today. Sources told TechCrunch they estimate the round valued the company at $225m to $250m, and it came after an undisclosed sum from investors including Rocketship in February this year. GMO subsidiary GMO Venture Partners was part of an October 2020 round reportedly sized at up to $15m.
Kojin Therapeutics, a US-based startup developing drugs utilising cell state and ferroptosis biology, publicly launched yesterday with $60m in series A funding from investors including pharmaceutical firm AbbVie and Leaps by Bayer, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical and chemicals group Bayer. The round was co-led by Polaris Partners, Newpath Partners and Cathay Health, and also featured real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Eventide Asset Management, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute vehicle Binney Street Capital and unnamed family offices.
US-based online home and auto insurance provider Branch Insurance completed a $50m series B round yesterday featuring mortgage provider Cherry Creek Holdings and insurance firms HSCM Bermuda, American Family and Scor, the last two through American Family Ventures and Scor P&C Ventures respectively. Anthemis Group led the round, which included Acrew Capital, Greycroft Partners, SignalFire, Foundation Capital and Tower IV. Branch had raised $24m in series A funding from investors including HSCM Bermuda, Scor and American Family Ventures in July 2020.
LinkedIn, the professional social network owned by software producer Microsoft, provided an undisclosed amount of series C funding for UK-based online event platform developer Hopin yesterday. The size of the deal was under $50m according to CNBC, and it was secured at the same $5.65bn valuation at which the startup raised $400m from enterprise software provider Salesforce’s investment arm – Salesforce Ventures – IVP, Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst, Coatue, DFJ Growth, Northzone and Tiger Global Management in the round’s March 2021 first close. That tranche boosted its overall funding to $565m.
MaintainX, a US-based workforce management software provider backed by electronics producer TCL, secured $39m yesterday in a series B round led by Bessemer Venture Partners that also featured Amity Ventures, Vulcan Capital, August Capital, Ridge Ventures, OldSlip Group and private investors Daniel Dines and Brandon Deer. The round was announced alongside a previously undisclosed $11m series A, and they came after August Capital and Amity Ventures co-led a $3.8m seed round in early 2019 that included TCL subsidiary TCL Ventures, Ridge Ventures and assorted angel investors.
Australia-based cybersecurity software developer UpGuard has closed a $19m series B-1 round that included IAG Firemark Ventures, the strategic investment arm of insurance firm IAG. The round also featured Pelion Venture Partners, Square Peg Capital and August Capital, and it took the company’s total funding to $45m. UpGuard (then Scriptrock) raised $1.2m in a Valar Ventures-led seed round incorporated into an $8.7m series A featuring ATP Innovations that closed in 2014, and $17m from IAG, Pelion Venture Partners and existing investors including Square Peg Capital in 2016.
US-based livestreamed shopping platform operator ShopShops raised $15m in series B funding from investors including over-the-top media holding company The Chernin Group (TCG) yesterday. LightShed Ventures and Acrew Capital co-led the round, which also featured Hyphen Capital, Gaingels, Union Square Ventures and Forerunner Ventures, the latter two having backed a $6.1m seed round ShopShops closed in 2018 that included Founder Collective, SV Angel, GGV Capital, Third Kind Venture Capital and XRC Labs. It also named TCG as an existing backer this week.
Circulor, a UK-based developer of supply chain tracking technology, completed a $14m series A round today featuring Salesforce Ventures, BHP Ventures, Boeing HorizonX, TotalEnergies Ventures, Volvo Cars Technology Fund and InMotion Ventures, on behalf of enterprise software producer Salesforce, mining company BHP, aerospace manufacturer Boeing, oil and gas producer TotalEnergies and automotive manufacturers Volvo Cars and Jaguar Land Rover. The units joined Westly Group, which led the round, consulting firm SystemIQ, Future Positive Capital, Plug and Play, 24Haymarket and Sky Ocean Ventures. Circulor’s last funding came when InMotion invested an undisclosed sum in December 2020.
Private investor Alan Howard has added $4m to China-based crypto investment platform Kikitrade’s pre-series A round, which includes gaming app developer Animoca Brands, bringing it to $12m, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. Animoca Brands, Dragonfly Capital and Cherubic Ventures co-led the $8m first close in April this year, investing alongside Vulpes, Super Chain Capital, Artesian, Head & Shoulders X, SNZ and angel investor Joseph Lubin.
Telecoms firms Telefónica and Singapore Telecommunications took part in an $11m funding round for Israel-based online cellular network operator Monogoto yesterday through corporate VC units Telefónica Tech Ventures and Singtel Innov8. The round was led by Team8 and included Alter Venture Partners, Triventures and Planven Entrepreneur Ventures.
AllHere, a US-based developer of personalised education technology, received $8m yesterday in a series A round led by VC firm Spero Ventures and backed by telecoms and internet group SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund in addition to Operator Collective, Yard Ventures and existing investors Rethink Education, Gratitude Railroad, Potencia Ventures and Boston Impact Initiative. The latter group had joined telecoms group AT&T and The Impact Seat in a $3.5m seed round in May 2020 that boosted AllHere’s total funding to $4.1m.
Hummingbot, the US-based creator of a crypto trading bot platform, completed an $8m series A round yesterday featuring stablecoin developer Terraform Labs, digital asset trading platform developer AscendEX, blockchain software provider Ava Labs and crypto finance data provider NEM Trading. The round was led by Initialized Capital and included Slow Ventures, Arrington XRP Capital, Borderless Capital, DeFiance Capital and Altonomy. The company had secured $3.5m from Bain Capital Ventures, Ironfire Ventures, SharesPost and Stanford University’s StartX Fund in a 2018 seed round and an undisclosed amount from blockchain technology promoter Algorand Foundation and Borderless Capital in October 2020.
Philippines-based livestreaming app developer Kumu has secured an undisclosed amount of series B funding from investors including digital media company Summit Media, quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and Kickstart Ventures, the corporate VC arm of telecoms firm Globe Telecom, DealStreetAsia reported today. Openspace Ventures, Foxmont Capital Partners, Gobi-Core Philippine Fund, Gentree Fund and Endeavor Catalyst also took part in the round, which followed between $4m and $5m in funding in April 2020 from investors including Summit Media and Kickstart Ventures.
HG Ventures, the VC arm of diversified holding group Heritage Group, led a $6m series B round yesterday for PowerTech Water, the US-based developer of a sustainable water treatment system. The State of Kentucky also contributed to the round, as did Bluegrass Angel Network, and it came after the company secured $590,000 in equity funding from unnamed investors in February this year, according to a regulatory filing.
US-based crypto mining technology provider Luxor Technology Corporation raised $5m yesterday in a series A round led by Bitcoin technology and financial services firm Nydig. The round included Bitcoin miners Blockware Solutions, Celsius Network, DPO, Navier and Supplybit, Bitcoin derivatives exchange Bitnomial, Hodl Capital, Routemaster Capital and undisclosed angel investors. Routemaster led a $100,000 round for the company in December 2020 before Celsius Network, Bitnomial, Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain and unnamed individuals added $725,000 two months later.
Malaysia-based digital health services provider Naluri has completed a $5m funding round featuring pharmaceutical company Duopharma Biotech, laboratory services provider BioMark and Sumitomo Corporation Equity Asia, part of conglomerate Sumitomo, Digital News Asia reported yesterday. Integra Partners, M Venture Partners, Palm Drive Capital, INP Capital, RHL Ventures and KB Investment. The company had received $240,000 in seed capital from BioMark and 500 Durians in 2018, $1.5m in pre-series A funding from Global Founders Capital, Stanford StartX Fund, TH Capital and unnamed private and existing investors in July 2019, and $1.1m from Duopharma, M Venture Partners and RHL Ventures in April 2020.
Poised, the US-based developer of a personalised communications coaching app, received $4.5m yesterday in a seed round that included communication platform developer Slack’s strategic investment vehicle, Slack Fund. VC firm Wing Venture Capital led the round, which was also backed by Next Play Ventures, Hyphen Capital, Concrete Rose Capital and angel investors including Andre Iguodala, Brianne Kimmel, Julia Lipton, Adam Grant and Jack Chou.
ViAqua Therapeutics, the Israel-based creator of an RNA-particle platform designed to improve animal health in aquaculture, closed a $4.3m funding round yesterday featuring seafood producer Thai Union and animal nutrition provider Nutreco. The round included Trendlines Group and its Agriline investment affiliate, S2G Ventures, Visvires New Protein and Technion Israel Institute of Technology. ViAqua had raised undisclosed amounts from Nutreco in July 2018 and Visvires New Protein five months later, at which point Technion Institute of Technology and Trendlines were already investors.
Samsung Next, a corporate venturing subsidiary of consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung, revealed yesterday it has contributed to a $2.8m seed round for Terra, the UK-headquartered developer of a software tool which facilitates data aggregation from wellness and fitness devices. General Catalyst, VentureSouq, Next Ventures, Pioneer Fund and angel investors including James Meekings, Ilkai Gundogan and Dele Alli also took part in the round, which came after the startup graduated from Y Combinator in February this year.
Bloomberg Beta, the big data-focused VC firm sponsored by media group Bloomberg, has led a $1.6m seed round for Nomad Data, the US-based developer of a tool that matches data requests to the most suitable provider. Alumni Ventures, Great Oaks Ventures, Correlation Ventures and DataFrame Ventures also participated in the round, together with unnamed angel investors from the data industry.
Upbond, a Japan-based provider of digitalisation services for small businesses, secured ¥100m ($910,000) today in a in pre-series A round featuring Realize Venture Capital, a subsidiary of logistics consulting and investment firm Realize, as well as marketing and branding group ENG, business design studio Color’s, startup advisory group Minami Aoyama, Insight Partners and angel investors including Yoshihide Arai. The startup had raised $470,000 from Soul Capital and Insight Capital in October 2020.
Better, the Japan-based operator of a probate digitalisation service, has also raised ¥100m ($913,000), from insurance firm Nippon Life’s Nissay Capital unit and VC firm AG Capital alongside debt financing from undisclosed entities. It joined Nissay Capital’s 50M accelerator in June 2019 and closed $455,000 in seed funding from the unit in January 2020.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
