Funding
US-based consumer-focused healthcare platform operator Transcarent has raised $58m in a series B round featuring Leaps by Bayer and Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, respective vehicles for pharmaceutical group Bayer and Merck, and co-led by 7wire Ventures and General Catalyst. The round also attracted Kleiner Perkins, GreatPoint Ventures, Threshold Ventures, Alta Partners and Jove Equity Partners. Transcarent has now raised $98m altogether, it said, identifying Alta and Jove as returning backers.
Heartseed, a Japan-based myocardial regenerative medicine developer spun out of the Keio University’s School of Medicine and which is affiliated with University of Tokyo, has secured ¥4bn ($37m) in series C funding from financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Investment unit and investment firm Medical Incubator Japan, financial services firm SBI Group, insurer Nippon Life’s Nissay Capital subsidiary, banking group Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital vehicle, medical supplies vendor Medipal Holdings and organic and speciality chemicals producer Itochu Chemical Frontier. The round also included Keio University’s Innovation Initiative and University of Tokyo’s Innovation Platform. Its overall funding now stands at ¥8.2bn ($75m) since it was founded in 2015. Heartseed raised $25.8m in series B funding in 2019.
Agribusiness Continental Grain has returned to back a $25m series C round for US-based agricultural insights company Sentera. The round was co-led by S2G Ventures and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, with further participation from Akroyd, KuE Capital, iSelect Fund and Middleland Capital. Continental Grain previously contributed to a $14m series A round in 2018, when S2G Ventures and Middleland Capital also invested. Sentera does not appear to have disclosed details about its series B round.
India-based online payment platform developer MobiKwik has received $20m in series G funding from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), according to Entrackr, following a $5m commitment from pharmaceutical firm Dosch Pharmaceuticals as well as Negen Capital Services, Leposhe Trading Enterprises, Sundar Ram Enterprise and assorted angel investors in April this year. Mauryan First, Orios Select Fund and assorted private investors had injected $7.2m in funding the previous month. Hindustan Media Ventures, the subsidiary of media company HT Group, led a $7m round in December 2020, having supplied $5.5m in series E funding a month earlier. Family office Pratithi participated in the December 2020 round, and MobiKwik had obtained a total of $190m as of March 2020. Its shareholders also include corporate investors Cisco, GMO, American Express, MediaTek, Net1, New Delhi Television and Bajaj Finance.
China-based smart chips developer Corigine, also known as Xinqiyuan, has closed a pre-series A3 round worth “tens of millions of dollars” and backed by quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and SBCVC, a vehicle for telecoms group SoftBank. The round also included fabless manufacturing company Amlogic as well as Spinnotec and Yimei Capital. SVCVC previously led a pre-series A2 round with CTC Capital in February this year, the report said, although further details could not be ascertained.
China-based biotech developer Gene Point has secured $19m in a series C round co-led by agriculture group New Hope and backed by Legend Star, a vehicle for conglomerate Legend Holdings, and agriculture group New Hope, according to DealStreetAsia. The round was co-led by Northern Light Venture Capital and also included DYEE Capital. Details about Gene Point’s earlier financing could not be confirmed.
US-based open source product analytics company PostHog has attracted $15m in series B financing led by Y Combinator (YC)’s Continuity Fund, with participation from GV, an investment vehicle for conglomerate Alphabet. The company has now raised more than $27m, it said. Ali Rowghani, Managing Partner at YC Continuity, will join the PostHog board. GV previously led a $9m series A round in July 2019, with participation from YC Continuity and private investor Jason Warner. The company had secured $3m in a seed round backed by angel investors four months earlier.
Intrepid Group, a Singapore-based e-commerce services provider backed by diversified conglomerate Sunway Group, has collected $11m in a series B round led by Mirabaud Asset Management, with participation from Vulpes Investment Management and Thakral as well as unnamed others, according to Tech in Asia. Sunway’s corporate venture capital arm Sun SEA Capital and Thakral had co-led a pre-series B round in September 2020. Intrepid previously picked up an undisclosed sum in a 2019 series A round led by Kairous Capital, also with participation from Sun SEA Capital and from 500 Startups Vietnam.
Japan-based voice chat-equipped game app Parallel has secured ¥1.2bn ($10.9m) in a series B round from KDDI Open Innovation Fund and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, respective subsidiaries of telecommunications firm KDDI and financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ, as well as venture capital firms Anri, Jafco and W Ventures.
Stake Technologies, the Singapore-based owner of public blockchain Plasma Network backed by cryptocurrency exchange service providers Binance and Okex, has raised ¥1.1bn ($10m) in a round led by Fenbushi Capital and backed by fellow VC firms Hypersphere Ventures, Gumi Cryptos Capital, TRG Capital, AU21 Capital, Digital Strategies, Sub0 Capital, SNZ Holdings, Altonomy and East Ventures and several angel investors. The round included a grant from the Web3 Foundation. Binance led a $2.4m round through subsidiary Binance Labs in February 2021, when it was joined by auto component producer Wanxiang’s HashKey Capital vehicle, LongHash, Digital Finance Group and Paka Ventures.
China-based gene therapy developer Exegenesis Bio has raised an eight-figure sum in series B-plus-plus funding led by GL Ventures, with contributions from Lake Blue Capital, Temasek, CPE, Lyfe Capital and Biotrack Capital, according to DealStreetAsia. Exegenesis previously revealed more than $10m worth of funding in 2019 from Legend Star, K2VC and Kaitai Capital.
Net Protections, a Japan-based payment automation service operator backed by payment services firm JCB, marketing group Hakuhodo DY Holdings, leasing services firm Ricoh Leasing and business development services firm Infcurion, has secured ¥1bn ($9.1m) from growth equity firm Pavilion Capital. Funds managed by private equity firm Advantage Partners have sold shares in Net Protections to Pavilion Capital for another $9.1m. Business development services firm Infcurion previously invested an undisclosed amount in Net Protections in April this year.
Pathrise, a US-based career advice and mentoring services provider for students backed by online higher education marketplace operator Quero Education, secured $5.5m in series A funding last month led by Learn Capital, with participation from Western Technology Investment (WTI) and Day One Ventures. The company additionally secured $3.5m in venture debt. Pathrise secured $1.2m in seed funding from Quero Education, WTI, GoAhead Ventures, Long Venture Partners, LetsVenture and angel investor Kutlu Kazanci in 2018.
Finland-based adaptive eyeglasses developer Pixieray has secured $4.4m in seed funding from investors including e-commerce and internet group Amazon’s Alexa Fund, according to Venturebeat. The round also featured Maki.vc, First Fellow, FirstMinute Capital, Bragiel Brothers and angel investors David Helgason, Ilkka Paananen and John Lindfors.
UK-based online tutoring platform Scoodle has pocketed $2m in seed capital from Google, the internet subsidiary of technology group Alphabet, angel syndicate IFG and investment firm DA One. Google’s commitment follows a $760,000 pre-seed round in January 2020 that featured several of the internet technology developer’s staff as well as , online gaming website Miniclip, Tiny VC, University of Oxford and unnamed others.
Indonesia-based online medical services platform Alodokter has secured an undisclosed amount from MDI Ventures, a subsidiary of telecoms group Telkom Indonesia, and consumer electronics producer Samsung’s investment arm Samsung Ventures. It follows a series C extension of undisclosed size also provided by MDI Ventures in November 2020, which built on a $33m first tranche in 2019 led by Sequis Life, the life insurance subsidiary of commodities trading group Gunung Sewu. The initial series C tranche also included electronics and healthcare technology producer Philips, SoftBank Ventures Asia, a corporate venturing vehicle for telecommunications and internet group SoftBank, and Heritas Capital Management, an investment vehicle for maritime consulting firm IMC Group. The round was filled out by fund manager Hera Capital, venture capital firms Dayli Partners and Golden Gate Ventures and undisclosed additional investors.
Ashirase, a Japan-based developer of a navigation system for visually impaired users, has been launched by carmaker Honda Motor’s business incubation scheme Ignition, having also received ¥50m ($455,000) in seed funding from Honda and Real Tech Fund.
Conglomerate Sojitz has provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Green Earth Institute, a Japan-based developer of chemicals manufacturing technology derived from biomass raw materials.
China-based juice maker Hope Water has pocketed an undisclosed amount of series A capital investors including big data analytics provider Datcent, according to DealStreetAsia. The round was led by BA Capital and also included Buer Capital and China Growth Capital.
Digital greeting cards provider Punchbowl has invested an undisclosed amount in Qeepsake, a US-based platform that allows families to capture and share memories. Matt Douglas, chief executive and founder of Punchbowl, will join Qeepsake’s board of directors as an advisor and observer.
Punchbowl has also invested an undisclosed amount in US-based breastfeeding and baby feeding support platform PumpSpotting. Douglas has been appointed a director on PumpSpotting’s board.
India-based social networking platform Wylo has received an undisclosed amount from community-driven fitness company Fittr in exchange for a minority stake of unspecified size, according to YourStory.
Mergers and acquistions
Graphics card manufacturer Nvidia is buying an existing portfolio company, US-based vehicle mapping technology developer DeepMap, for an undisclosed amount, according to TechCrunch. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. The acquisition will also offer an exit to Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the investment arm of industrial group Robert Bosch. DeepMap secured at least $60m in series B financing by late 2018, when both Nvidia and Bosch invested in a round led by Generation Investment Management. DeepMap’s $25m series A round in 2017 had been led by Accel and also featured Andreessen Horowitz and GSR Ventures. The latter two had already supplied $7m in seed funding.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
