Funding
Ones, a China-based provider of industrial digitalisation software, has received RMB300m ($46.5m) in series B funding from investors including telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s SBCVC unit, DealStreetAsia reported today. Source Code Capital, XYC and 5Y Capital also took part in the round, the last of which had joined China Growth Capital in a $6m round for the company in 2018. They both returned for a $10m round in December 2019 alongside Vision Knight Capital.
India-based e-commerce marketplace aggregator 10club has secured $40m in seed capital from investors including US-headquartered peer HeyDay and supply chain services provider PDS International, the Economic Times reported yesterday. Fireside Ventures co-led the round with an unnamed international investor and it also featured Class 5 Global, Secocha Ventures and angel investors Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta.
Bowery Valuation, the US-based operator of a technology-equipped real estate appraisal service, raised $35m on Monday in a series B round featuring financial services firm Capital One’s venture capital arm, Capital One Ventures. Investment bank Goldman Sachs’ Asset Management subsidiary led the round, which included Builders VC, Fika Ventures, Navitas Capital, Camber Creek, Nine Four Ventures, Greenspring Associates and Alpaca VC. Bowery had raised a total of almost $19m as of a $12m series A round in early 2019, from investors including property developers LeFrak and Cushman & Wakefield.
US-based food preparation equipment developer Soft Robotics increased its series B round to $33m yesterday, adding $10m from investors including Tyson Ventures, ABB Technology Ventures and Tekfen Ventures, on behalf of meat processor Tyson Foods, power and automation technology producer ABB and conglomerate Tekfen respectively. The tranche was co-led by Material Impact, Scale Venture Partners and Calibrate Ventures and followed a $23m Tefken-backed first close in January 2020 that brought its total funding to $47.5m.
US-headquartered blood diagnostics technology developer Babson Diagnostics completed a $31m series B round yesterday featuring Siemens Healthineers, a subsidiary of industrial technology and appliance manufacturer Siemens. VC firm Emerald Development Managers led the round, which included water industry consultancy Lago Consulting Group and Prism Ventures and which followed a $13.7m series A in September 2020 led by Siemens Healthineers, where Babson was incubated, and backed by Lago Consulting Group, Prism Ventures and Genesis Merchant Capital.
Zencity, the Israel-based developer of a data software platform for governments, secured $30m yesterday from investors including Salesforce Ventures and M12, which invested on behalf of enterprise software producer Salesforce and software provider Microsoft. The corporates joined TLV Partners, Vertex Ventures Israel and Canaan Partners Israel in the round, all three having backed a $13.5m series A in August 2020 alongside M12, Salesforce Ventures and i3 Equity Partners that took Zencity’s overall funding to $21m.
Kubo Financiero, a Mexico-based online lending platform backed by telecoms firm Telefónica and foreign currency exchange operator Monex, has raised $27.5m from investors including IDB Invest, Blue like an Orange, Mexico Ventures, Bamboo Finance, Dalus Capital and KuE Capital. The company had previously secured $7.5m in a 2016 series A round led by Bamboo Finance that included Telefónica’s Wayra subsidiary, Monex, Endeavor Catalyst, Tanant Capital, Alta Ventures, Capital Invent and Vander Capital Partners.
Worldcoin, the US-based developer of a cryptocurrency accessible by anyone willing to get their retinas scanned by one of the company’s basketball-sized orbs, has received $25m in funding from investors including digital currency exchange Coinbase’s VC arm, Coinbase Ventures, Bllomberg reported yesterday. The startup, still in stealth stage, also counts Andreessen Horowitz, Day One Ventures and Reid Hoffman, founder of professional social network LinkedIn, as investors.
China-based intelligent chip developer AistarTek has closed a seed round led by quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group sized at almost RMB100m ($15.5m), China Money Network reported yesterday. VC firm Jiangmen Ventures led the round, which will help the startup increase headcount and further develop its technology.
Intel Capital, the corporate venturing arm of semiconductor and data technology producer Intel, led a $13m series A round for Augtera Networks, the US-headquartered developer of a network artificial intelligence platform, yesterday. Computing technology provider Dell’s corporate VC unit, Dell Technologies Capital, also invested, as did Bain Capital Ventures and Acrew Capital – the two participants in a $4m seed round for the startup in December 2019.
Singapore-based blockchain analytics software developer Nansen secured $12m yesterday in a series A round featuring Coinbase Ventures and ImToken Ventures – on behalf of digital currency exchange Coinbase and digital wallet provider ImToken –as well as crypto asset trading firm QCP Capital. VC firm Andreessen Horowitz led the round, which included Skyfall Ventures and Mechanism Capital, the two having co-led a $1.2m seed round for Nansen in October 2020 also backed by Fabric Ventures and assorted angel investors.
Virti, the UK-based creator of a cloud software platform for surgical training, has received $10m in series A funding from investors including healthcare provider Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, TechCrunch reported yesterday. VC firm IQ Capital led the round, which also featured VC fund Descenture Capital and which followed an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from Boost VC in 2017 and $2m in seed financing from investors including Cedars-Sinai in April 2019.
Co-op, the US-headquartered creator of a collaboration platform for online merchants, has completed a $5.8m seed round that included e-commerce software provider Shopify. The round was led by Sugar Capital and also featured Bessemer Venture Partners, Indicator Ventures, RiverPark Ventures and angel investors including Roth Martin, Andy Dunn, Nate Checketts, Jai Jung Kim, Sandy Cass, Cory Moelis and Ben Jabbawy.
US-based sexual wellness product maker Maude completed a $5.8m series A round yesterday featuring talent and media agency Endeavor and Fable Investments, the corporate VC arm of cosmetics producer Natura & Co. True Beauty Ventures led the round, which included fellow VC fund True and which came after Maude closed a $3.7m seed round in November 2020 led by Cassius and backed by True, Outbound Ventures, Vice Ventures, Patina Brands, RRE Ventures, Tune House Capital and individuals including Dakota Johnson, Benjamin Millepied, Steven Alan and Cédric Aumonier.
Classified listings operator Info Edge has co-led a $5.2m series A round for India-based online learning platform developer Airblack through corporate venturing subsidiary Info Edge Ventures, DealStreetAsia reported today. The round was co-led by Elevation Capital and included Atelier Ventures, Better Capital and angel investors such as Kunal Shah, Vidit Aatrey, Sanjeev Barnwal, Sujeet Kumar, Utsav Soman and Ashish Gupta. The startup had previously raised $1.5m in seed funding from SAIF Partners in May 2019.
Japan-based semiconductor laser developer Koala Tech received ¥400m ($3.6m) yesterday from investors including electronics producer Sony’s Innovation Fund and chemicals vendor Tanaka Ai. The round was led by Beyond Next Ventures (BNV) and included FFG Venture Business Partners, Shinsei Corporate Investment and SMBC Venture Capital, on behalf of financial services firms Fukuoka Financial Group, Shinsei Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation respectively, as well as QB Capital and TechAccel Ventures. Koala had raised over $920,000 from BNV, QB Capital, raw material manufacturer Japan Material Technologies Corporation and chemical consultancy West Corner Company in July 2019 and $1.4m from Sony Innovation Fund, Tanaka Ai, BNV and QB Capital in March 2020.
Iagon, the Norway-based developer of a blockchain-equipped big data software platform, has secured $3.4m from investors including blockchain marketing firm CinchBlock, blockchain asset services provider Faculty Group, blockchain community Blockchain Israel and blockchain consulting firm Next Chymia Consulting, IHodl reported yesterday. The round was led by LedgerLink Labs and also featured AU21 Capital, Kirin Fund, Coinsgroup, Panony, X21, Genblock Capital, Alphabit, Launchpool, GBV Capital, Trustdao Network, Llamas, BH Investments and various individuals.
Internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund, Gradient Ventures, led a $2.75m seed round for US-based customer onboarding tool developer Arrows yesterday. Jeff Lawson, Justyn Howard, Ryan Barretto, Jason Goldman, Glenn Otis Brown, Jeetu Patel and Mike Park were among the 47 angel investors who also contributed to the round.
GiverLink, the Japan-based operator of an online platform that allows users to find nurses, raised ¥100m ($900,000) in seed funding yesterday from investors including Itochu Technology Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of diversified trading group Itochu. It will channel the capital into recruitment, marketing and product development.
France-based 3D printing technology developer 3Deus Dynamics completed a €700,000 ($850,000) seed round last month backed by silicon alloy producer Elkem Silicones, VC firm 33 Californie and angel investor Gilles Grenier. 3Deus is a portfolio company of regional tech transfer organisation Satt Pulsalys and will use the cash to hire additional staff across its research and development, regulatory and sales teams.
M&A
Investment banking firm JP Morgan agreed yesterday to purchase OpenInvest, a US-based developer of software which manages impact and environmental, social and governance investment, in a deal of undisclosed size that will allow banking firm ABN Amro to exit. OpenInvest had raised a total of $23.8m as of a $10.5m series A round in April 2020 led by VC firm QED Investors that also featured corporate VC unit ABN Amro Ventures, SystemIQ and Resolute Investment Managers. Its earlier investors included Yard Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Wireframe Ventures, SV2 and Abstract Ventures.
Healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente exited Xanitos, a US-based provider of environmental services for hospitals, yesterday, in an acquisition of undisclosed size by investment firm Angeles Equity Partners. Xanitos had raised a total of $32.8m in equity funding and $1.5m in debt financing between 2008 and 2018 according to regulatory filings and had named Kaiser Permanente’s strategic investment arm, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, and Liberty Ventures as investors as of 2011.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu and Thierry Heles.
