Funding
Philippines-based business-to-business product marketplace GrowSari has raised an amount likely to be about $16m in series B funding from investors including internet group Tencent, payment services firm Credit Saison’s investment arm, Saison Capital, and Robinsons Retail Holdings and JG Digital Equity Ventures – both subsidiaries of conglomerate JG Summit – TechCrunch reported today. ICCP SBI Venture Partners, a joint venture between SBI and ICCP Venture Partners, also took part, as did Pavilion Capital, International Finance Corporation and Wavemaker Partners. The company had secured a total of $14m across seed and series A rounds, according to The Ken, and has now received $30m in total. It was named a portfolio company of JG Digital Equity Ventures at its 2019 launch.
Renewable energy producer Greenvolt has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount for a stake of up to 29.3% in Spain-based solar power system installer Perfecta Energía, Eco News reported on Friday. Impact investment fund Creas had led a $3.9m funding round for Perfecta that was announced early last week.
Caura, the UK-based operator of a vehicle management service, received $4.2m today from investors including automotive manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures unit. Multi-family office TwinFocus Capital Partners led the round, which also featured Road Ventures, Pareto Holdings, Quiet Capital and angel investors including Jon Oringer, Antony Sheriff, Rob Wilmot and executives from tech companies Apple and Google. It had previously raised a total of $1.8m from undisclosed individuals as of September 2020.
Big-box retailer Walmart has provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based on-demand drone delivery network DroneUp having partnered the company in 2020 to send covid-19 tests. The company closed $6.7m in debt financing in April this year having previously raised a total of more than $6.5m in debt financing from undisclosed investors between 2017 and July 2020 and according to regulatory filings.
MFast, a Vietnam-based digital financial services app spun off by payment technology provider DigiPay, has secured $1.5m in seed funding, Vietnam Investment Review reported today. Venture capital firm Do Ventures led the round, which was also backed by Jafco Asia, a vehicle for Japan-headquartered VC firm Jafco.
Health and fitness brand Beachbody Company Group has invested an undisclosed amount in Feed Media Group, the US-based operator of music-focused commerce services provider Feed.fm. The company had raised $1.1m from unnamed investors in 2013, according to a securities filing, adding $1.2m in a 2014 round led by KEC Ventures and backed by Tuesday Capital (then CrunchFund), Allegro Venture Partners, Core Ventures Group, Streamlined Ventures and undisclosed others. Unnamed investors supplied a further $2.3m in January 2019.
Online payment portal RazorPay has co-led a $1m pre-series A round for MSMEx, an India-based provider of growth assistance for micro, small and medium-sized businesses, the Economic Times reported on Friday. The round was co-led by TNF Investments and also featured angel investors Badri Pillapakkam, Krishna Kumar, Manoj Sharma and Heetesh Veera. The startup will put the funding into technology development and business growth.
Ukraine-based digital orthopaedics technology developer ComeBack Mobility has raised a total of $1m in pre-seed and seed funding from investors including pharmaceutical companies Fison and Farmak, Crunchbase News reported on Friday. The corporates were joined by angel investors including Peter Chernyshov and Farmak’s contribution came after its Sector X accelerator invested an undisclosed amount in ComeBack Mobility in December 2020.
Brazil-based online fashion marketplace Shafa.com.br has received an undisclosed amount of funding from e-commerce company Rozetka-EVO, representatives of the latter have told AIN.UA. Shafa.com.br was spun off by Ukraine-headquartered Shafa after it was acquired by EVO prior to its merger with counterpart Rozetka.
Healthcare provider University of Vermont Health Network has provided €500,000 ($600,000) in funding for Ireland-based post-surgical underwear producer Theya Healthcare, Silicon Republic reported on Friday. The company had previously raised $750,000 from Enterprise Ireland and unnamed angel investors in April 2019.
