Funding
Real estate investment manager Invesco Real Estate led a $40m financing round on Tuesday for Mynd, the US-based operator of a software platform for real estate investment and management. Mynd closed a $41.5m series C round in June 2020 led by financial services firm Wells Fargo and backed by existing investors Canaan, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Jackson Square Ventures, boosting its overall funding to $77m.
Feiyu.Live, the China-based owner of a video commerce offering for second-hand luxury goods, has secured almost $30m in series B funding from investors including Legend Capital, the venture capital firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. N5 Capital co-led the round with an undisclosed dollar-denominated fund and it also featured Matrix Partners China and Chenhui Venture Partners. Feiyu had received tens of millions of dollars in a February 2020 series A round co-led by N5 Capital and Matrix Partners China and backed by Legend Capital and Chenhui Venture Partners.
Investment firm Morgan Stanley’s Private Equity Asia subsidiary led a series B2 round in the multimillion-dollar range for VSPN, the China-based esports tournament promoter backed by property development conglomerate Nan Fung, on Tuesday, Esports Observer reported. Nan Fung, Guotai Junan International and Prospect Avenue Capital had provided $60m in series B-plus funding for the company in January this year. Internet group Tencent invested an undisclosed sum in VSPN in 2018 and led a series B round sized at nearly $100m in October 2020, investing with online video platform Kuaishou, quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and Tiantu Capital.
China-based dental care product manufacturer BOP has raised RMB160m ($25.1m) in series B funding from investors including Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), a corporate venturing vehicle for media group Bertelsmann, DealStreetAsia reported on Tuesday. DCM led the round, which also featured Lightspeed China Partners and Beyond Ventures, and which came after BAI and Beyond Ventures had provided $1.6m in pre-series A funding for BOP in 2020 according to DealStreetAsia.
China-headquartered big data services provider Union Big Data has received $25m in a series C round that included lightning protection equipment maker Sichuan Zhongguang Lightning Protection Technologies, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. CSC Group, JG Investment, Fujian Dingbao Investment and Chengchuan Capital also participated in the round.
Clir Renewables, a Canada-based developer of renewable energy optimisation technology, completed a C$27m ($22.4m) series B round on Tuesday featuring insurance firm Tokio Marine. The round was co-led by Longbow Capital and ArcTern Ventures and it also featured Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, BDC Capital and Active Impact Investments. Clir secured $1.5m in seed funding from unnamed investors in 2018 before ArcTern Ventures led its $5.4m series A round in September 2019. Private equity firm Fulmer & Company invested an undisclosed sum nine months later.
France-based wireless flow accelerator developer FineHeart closed a €15m ($18.3m) series B round on Tuesday featuring aeronautical manufacturer Lauak. It was joined by technology holding company Doliam, Verve Ventures, Irdi, Aquiti, Galia, Broadview Ventures and M Capital, the last five of which had combined to provide $7.2m in series A funding for FineHeart in 2016.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs has led a series B round of undisclosed size for China-based medical device developer Puyi (Shanghai) Biotechnology through its Asset Management subsidiary, the company revealed on Tuesday. Legend Capital, the VC firm established by conglomerate Legend Holdings, had joined Northern Light Venture Capital to provide an undisclosed amount of series A funding for Puyi in 2018 before investment firm Zhenghe Huitong added an eight-figure yuan amount (RMB10m = $1.46m) in July 2019.
China-based genetic testing and diagnostics service provider Genskey secured RMB100m ($15.7m) on Tuesday in a series C-plus round featuring insurance firm Taikang’s Asset Management subsidiary, DealStreetAsia reported, citing a company statement. Oriza Holdings’ Oriza Seed subsidiary also took part in the round, which followed an eight-digit dollar investment by Citic PE, according to DealStreetAsia. Huagai Capital had led a $34.4m round for the company in November 2020 that included Legend Capital, Apricot Capital and YuanBio Venture Capital, taking its overall funding to over $55m.
China-headquartered wireless chip developer YiChip has raised $15m in a funding round led by consumer electronics manufacturer Xiaomi through its Changjiang Industry Fund, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. VC firm Koala Fund also contributed to the round.
Pharmaceutical firm Takeda’s investment arm, Takeda Ventures, co-led a £9.1m ($12.9m) seed round for UK-based RNA therapeutics developer Transine Therapeutics with Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF) yesterday. Takeda Ventures senior partner Rob Woodman has taken a board seat at the startup in connection with the round, as has Christian Jung, a partner at DDF.
US-based cancer immunotherapy developer Kineta completed a $10m financing round on Tuesday led by automotive component manufacturer Cheongbo Industrial. Clinical research firm MPI Research invested an undisclosed amount in Kineta in 2014 to take its total funding to $46m, adding $30.3m over the course of 2017 according to securities filings. It raised a further $8.8m from unnamed investors in 2018 and $4.7m in February 2020 before closing a $5m round led by Schlaepfer Family Foundation three months later. Its other investors include Keiretsu Capital, RLB Holdings, M&M Financial, Iacocca Foundation and Wellcome Trust.
Digital payment technology producer Mogo agreed on Tuesday to buy 2% of Canada-based cryptocurrency platform developer Coinsquare’s outstanding shares for an undisclosed amount, and has the option to acquire another 3.4% in the next 120 days. Mogo had agreed to invest $56.4m in the company in February this year in return for a 19.9% stake, following $8.3m in series A funding from an undisclosed asset manager in 2017 and $23.8m in a 2018 round led by financial services firm Canaccord Genuity and backed by Bitcoin miner Riot Blockchain.
Lithium Finance, the US-based creator of an illiquid asset assessment platform, received $5m in funding on Tuesday from investors including quantitative crypto trading firm Alameda Research and crypto trading platform operators Huobi Group, which took part through subsidiary Huobi Ventures’ Blockchain Fund, and OKEx, which invested through Blockdream Ventures. The round was co-led by Hashed, the crypto VC affiliate of auto parts producer Wanxiang, and Pantera Capital, and it also featured crypto-powered digital bank Genesis Block, NGC and LongHash.
Sweden-based methanol production facility developer Liquid Wind closed a €4m ($4.9m) series A round on Tuesday backed by Siemens Energy, a subsidiary of industrial technology and appliance producer Siemens, as well as industrial technology manufacturer Alfa Laval, carbon capture and storage technology developer Carbon Clean, catalysis equipment maker Haldor Topsoe and energy utility Uniper. The corporates were joined by investment fund Falkor and the round followed a $250,000 crowdfunding campaign that closed in July 2019.
Payment services firm Visa invested an undisclosed amount in US-headquartered digital authentication services provider LoginID on Tuesday. It had raised $6m in seed funding from biometric identification service Asli RI, FJ Labs, Leonis Investment and angel investors including Will Wang Graylin, George Wallner and Damien Balsan in March this year.
CoCooking, the Japan-based operator of food sharing service Tabete, received ¥150m ($1.4m) in series A funding today from investment firm PE&HR’s Social Entrepreneur 3 fund, open innovation vehicle Taliki Fund, angel investors Tsuneo “Neo” Nagai, Tamotsu Fukushima and Kenji Sakiyama, and three unnamed corporates. It last raised money in November 2020 when DD Holdings Venture Capital and Kemuri Ventures – respective subsidiaries of restaurant operators DD Holdings and En-Rest – invested an undislcosed amount.
US-based insect control product developer Impetus Agriculture has raised $1m in a seed round co-led by BioGenerator and Yield Lab that included Allen Angel Capital Education Fund, St Louis Arch Angels, Centennial Investors and Missouri Technology Corp, St Louis Business Journal has reported. It has reportedly raised $2.3m in total and was co-founded by BioGenerator, Yield Lab and seed supplier KWS’s corporate venturing arm, which remains its majority shareholder.
India-based bicycle rental service MyByk has secured $1m in a pre-series A round that included bicycle manufacturer Avon Cycles, YourStory reported yesterday. Angel investor Sanjay Baweja also contributed to the round, which will fund marketing activities, the addition of electric pedal-assist bicycles to the startup’s fleet, the growth of its executive team and an expansion into new Indian markets.
Energy utility Tokyo Gas invested in Japan-based sleep analysis technology developer EcoNavista today. The company, a spinout of Osaka City University, announced earlier this week it had raised a similarly undisclosed sum from consumer electronics manufacturer Sony’s Innovation Fund. It had secured undisclosed amounts from Tokyo Gas in 2018 and real estate brokerage Hulic in February 2020.
Finland-headquartered mobility software developer eMabler received €630,000 ($770,000) from investors including Sofokus Ventures, the VC arm of digital agency Sofokus, on Tuesday. Investment firm Nidoco also took part in the round, as did government agency Business Finland and undisclosed angel investors.
Harti, the Japan-headquartered operator of a service which helps contemporary artists sell work using non-fungible tokens, raised an undisclosed amount from event organisation service Tanseisha today. The investment was made through a business partnership through which Tanseisha will supply its expertise in physical space management.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
