Funding
US-based crypto index fund manager Bitwise Asset Management closed a $70m series B round yesterday featuring Coinbase Ventures, the venture capital arm of cryptocurrency exchange operator Coinbase. Electric Capital and private investor Elad Gil co-led the round, which included Third Point, Willoughby Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Vetamer Capital, Highland Capital Partners, Khosla Ventures, Blockchain Capital, Castle Island Ventures and assorted individuals, valuing it above $500m. The company had secured $10.5m in a Highlight Capital-led series A round in May 2019, following $4m in seed funds from Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Blockchain Capital and individuals including Gil in 2017.
US-headquartered luxury, fashion and home product wholesaler Joor secured $46m yesterday in a series D round that included diversified trading group Itochu. Investment bank Macquarie Capital’s Principal Finance subsidiary led the round, which also featured Battery Ventures and Canaan Partners, increasing Joor’s overall funding to $81m. Itochu led a $16m series C round for the company in early 2019 that included existing investors Canaan and Battery Ventures. Its earlier backers include media group Advance Publications, Lerer Hippeau, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Landis Capital and Forerunner Ventures.
Lingokids, the Spain-based developer of an online early learning platform, received $40m in series C funding from investors including toy producer Ravensburger yesterday. The round, which was led by an unnamed investor and also backed by GP Bullhound, lifted the company’s total funding to $63m. Ravensburger led a $10m series B round for the company in October 2020, and its earlier investors include Sho-Zemi Innovation Ventures and Sabadell Venture Capital, subsidiaries of education provider Sho-Zem and financial services firm Banco Sabadell.
Canada-based cannabinoid pharmaceutical producer Brains Bioceutical Corp closed a $31.9 funding round today led by DSM Venturing, the corporate venturing arm of health and nutrition product supplier Royal DSM, that included unnamed existing investors. The company had previously closed a $30m round featuring investment banking firm Canaccord Genuity and an undisclosed European medical cannabis provider in December 2019.
Japan-headquartered robotics technology developer Telexistence completed a $20m series A-2 round yesterday led by Monoful, a subsidiary of logistics provider Global Logistic Properties. The round included Airbus Ventures, the investment arm of aerospace manufacturer Airbus, as well as telecommunications firm KDDI, internet and telecoms group SoftBank’s Deepcore fund and University of Tokyo Innovation Platform (UTokyo IPC). The company said it has raised $41m in total, an undisclosed amount coming from Monoful, KDDI’s Open Innovation Fund, Airbus Ventures, travel agency JTB, syringe producer Maeda, UTokyo IPC, Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Capital and Japan Science and Technology Agency in 2018.
Emergency medical services provider Global Medical Response led a $20m funding round for US-based public safety technology developer Carbyne yesterday that also featured Hanaco Ventures, Intercap and Elsted Capital. The company (then known as Reporty) raised $1.8m from investors including former politician Ehud Barak in 2015, $5.15m from unnamed investors the following year and $15m in series B funding from Elsted Capital Partners and Founders Fund in 2017 at a $100m valuation, before adding $25m in a January 2021 series B round co-led by Hanaco and Elsted Capital that included Founders Fund, FinTLV and private investor David Petraeus.
China-based small molecule drug developer Nutshell Therapeutics has closed a $20m series A round that included Baidu Ventures, an early-stage investment subsidiary of internet group Baidu, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday, citing a company statement. VC firm Matrix Partners China led the round, which also featured Source Code Capital, Kunlun Fund and Northern Light Venture Capital. The company had reportedly secured undisclosed amounts in a 2019 pre-series A round led by Fosun Pharma, a subsidiary of conglomerate Fosun, and a late 2020 round featuring Optimas Capital and Tengye Ventures. DealStreetAsia named Baidu Ventures and Northern Light Venture Capital as existing investors.
China-headquartered blockchain infrastructure technology developer Rocket Protocol has rebranded to Rangers Protocol having raised an undisclosed amount from investors including quantitative crypto trader Alameda Research and Huobi Ventures, the corporate VC arm of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi (through its Blockchain Fund), Coin Telegraph reported on Monday. Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, AU21 Capital, Hashkey Capital, SevenX Ventures, SNZ, Spark Digital Capital, Incuba Alpha Holdings and Consensus Lab also took part in the round, which valued the company at $63m.
Sempre Health, a US-headquartered provider of behaviour-based healthcare pricing software, completed a $15m series B round yesterday led by Blue Venture Fund, the investment partnership formed by some 35 Blue Cross Blue Shield health insurers. The round also featured UPMC Enterprises, a subsidiary of healthcare provider UPMC, as well as Rethink Impact, LifeForce Capital and Industry Ventures, all three having contributed to Sempre’s $8m series A round in 2018.
E-commerce company DialCom24 has led a €12m ($14.5m) series A round for Booste, the Poland-headquartered operator of an online revenue-based financing platform, UKTN reported yesterday. The funding has been earmarked for platform development and hiring as Booste prepares to enter the UK and United States.
Retail group Rewe Group and technology investment firm Viola Growth provided an amount reported by TechCrunch to be $10m today for Israel-based frictionless checkout technology developer Trigo. It had raised a total of $94m as of a $60m series B round in December 2020 led by VC firm 83North that included supermarket chain Tesco and existing investors including Vertex Ventures Israel, Hetz Ventures, Red Dot Capital Partners and Morrag Investments.
Serenity Kids, a US-based infant food brand backed by online organic products retailer Thrive Market, secured $7m today in a series A round led by CircleUp Growth Partners that included Wild Ventures and a range of private investors. Wild Ventures led a $1.5m round for the company in July 2019 that also featured Thrive Market and assorted individuals before returning for a $3m round in December 2020 alongside various angel investors.
VC firm Fortino Capital yesterday led a $4m extension to a seed round for Kaizo, the Netherlands-based developer of an employee performance management platform, that now totals $7m. Internet technology provider Google led the $3m first close in March 2020 through artificial intelligence fund Gradient Ventures, participating alongside investment firm Partech and unnamed individuals.
Umee, the US-headquartered creator of a cross chain decentralised finance protocol, received $6.3m yesterday in a seed round featuring digital currency exchange Coinbase, blockchain technology provider Tendermint, quantitative crypto trading firm Alameda Research and Ideo Colab, a vehicle for design agency Ideo. The round was led by blockchain investment firm Polychain Capital and included Brian Kelly Capital Management, CMS Holdings, Argonautic Ventures and Ethereal Ventures.
Premium audio and video technology provider Poly supplied $4m in funding yesterday for Clipr, the US-based creator of an artificial intelligence and machine learning-equipped video analytics software platform. The company had previously received $175,000 from TBD Angels in November 2020, and the Poly funding was provided through a strategic partnership agreement.
Aevice Health, the Singapore-based developer of a wearable respiratory monitor, has raised S$2.8m ($2.1m) in a pre-series A round backed by pharmaceutical wholesaler Toho Holdings, e27 reported yesterday. The corporate was joined by Pureland Group, Silicon Solutions Partners, AIP Ventures and Seeds Capital, and the round came after the company was spun out of Nanyang Technological University in 2016.
US-based cannabidiol (CBD) brand House of Wise has secured $2m in seed capital from investors including women’s podcast network Dear Media, WWD reported yesterday. The round was led by VC firm Sugar Capital and also featured Selva Ventures, Max Ventures and angel investors Baron Davis, Jack McCue and Kat Cole.
Payment services firm Credit Saison and internet company GMO have participated in a seed round in the seven-figure dollar range for Finantier, the Singapore-based operator of an open finance platform, BVC News reported today. Global Founders Capital and East Ventures co-led the round, which included AC Ventures, Y Combinator, Genesia Ventures, Two Tradition Capital, Future Form, Partech Companions and Taurus Ventures, while Saison and GMO invested through Saison Capital and GMO VenturePartners respectively.
