Funding
Simulate, the US-headquartered owner of meatless chicken nugget brand Nuggs, has raised $50m from investors including frozen food producer McCain Foods, Bloomberg reported today. Venture capital firm Seven Seven Six led the round, which valued the company at $250m according to a person familiar with the matter, and it included Nomo Ventures, Imaginary Ventures, Day One Ventures and private investors Chris Sacca and Crystal Sacca. It followed an $11m series A round closed in July 2020 that was led by McCain and backed by media, data and investment group AgFunder, Nomo Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Rainfall Ventures, Greylock Discovery Fund, Maven Ventures, M Ventures and Acme Capital and various individuals.
Grabango, a US-based developer of checkout-free retail systems, has secured $39m in a series B round featuring Unilever Ventures and Honeywell Ventures, subsidiaries of consumer goods producer Unilever and consumer and industrial technology producer Honeywell respectively. Commerce Ventures led the round, which included Founders Fund and Wind Ventures and which pushed its total funding to $57m. Propel Venture Partners, the VC firm funded by financial services firm BBVA, led Grabango’s $12m series A in early 2019, investing with Commerce Ventures, Founders Fund, Ridge Ventures and Abstract Ventures.
Poka, the Canada-based creator of a manufacturing workforce management platform, completed a $25m series B round yesterday featuring SE Ventures, the VC fund backed by energy and automation technology producer Schneider Electric, and Robert Bosch Venture Capital (RBVC), the investment arm of industrial technology producer Robert Bosch. The round was led by 40 North Ventures and included McRock Capital, CDPQ and retailer Leclerc, the latter two having joined SE Ventures and RBVC in a $4.7m round in June 2020. Poka said it has now raised over $45m in total.
Optum Ventures, the corporate VC arm of healthcare services provider Optum, has contributed to a $20m series A round for Medallion, the US-based developer of a back office-management platform for care providers. VC firm Spark Capital led the round, which also featured BoxGroup, Susa Ventures and angel investors including Tom Lee, Joe Montana, Elad Gil, Zach Sims, Daniel Gross, Peter Reinhardt, Nat Friedman and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Nearfield Instruments, a Netherlands-based semiconductor-scanning equipment producer backed by consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung, has secured €17.5m ($23.3m) in series B funding from Invest-NL and Innovation Industries. Samsung subsidiary Samsung Ventures had joined Innovation Industries to invest an undisclosed amount in Nearfield in 2017.
Element, a Germany-based digital insurance provider backed by electronics producer Sony and insurance firms Mitsui Sumitomo and Signal Iduna, received €16m ($19.5m) in funding from Witan Group, Finleap, the Signal Iduna-backed Signals VC, Versorgungswerk der Zahnärztekammer Berlin, Mundi Ventures and private investor Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital yesterday. It had raised a total of $60m as of a $46.5m series A round closed in August 2020 that included all three corporates, financial services firm SBI, Finleap, Signals VC, Versorgungswerk Zahnaerztekammer Berlin, Mundi Ventures, Engel & Völkers Capital and Global Brain.
UK-headquartered transport information provider WhereIsMyTransport completed a $22m series A round yesterday with a $14.5m second tranche co-led by e-commerce and media group Naspers through its Naspers Foundry subsidiary. The second close was co-led with SBI Investment, a vehicle for financial services provider SBI, and Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund, and it followed $7.5m from carmaker Toyota’s trading arm, Toyota Tsusho, in addition to internet technology provider Google, financial services firm Nedbank, Liil Ventures, Global Innovation Fund and Goodwell Investments, in early 2020, to bring the company’s total funding to $12.5m.
Telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia and electronics producer Samsung provided an undisclosed amount for digital healthcare app developer Alodokter yesterday through MDI Ventures and Samsung Ventures respectively. It had raised an undisclosed sum from MDI Ventures in November 2020 following $33m in series C funding from investors including commodities trader Gunung Sewu’s Sequis Life subsidiary, consulting firm IMC Group’s Heritas Capital Management vehicle, electronics and healthcare technology provider Philips and SoftBank Ventures Asia, a vehicle for telecoms and internet group SoftBank, in late 2019 that increased Alodokter’s overall funding to at least $44.5m.
One 97 Communications, the owner of digital payment app Paytm, sold its stake in US-based logistics management software provider LogiNext through the latter’s $39m series B round in January 2020, VCCircle reported yesterday. The corporate had joined e-commerce firm Alibaba to supply $10m series A funding for LogiNext in 2015 and the series B cash was provided by Tiger Global Management and Steadview Capital at a $100m valuation.
Red Sea Farms, a Saudi Arabia-based developer of technology that facilitates produce farming with salt water, raised $10m from investors including Wa’ed, a vehicle for oil and gas provider Saudi Aramco, yesterday. The round also featured Future Investment Initiative Institute, Global Ventures and King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (Kaust), and it came after Kaust Innovation Fund and Research Products Development Company (RPDC) provided $1.9m for the company in May 2019.
Singapore-based autonomous vehicle developer MooVita has received a ‘multimillion-dollar amount’ of series A funding from investors including public transport operator SMRT’s corporate VC unit, SMRT Ventures, DealStreetAsia reported today. Energy and infrastructure investment firm Yinson Holdings also took part in the round, through its Yinson Green Technologies Division.
Japan-based salad bar chain Crisp raised ¥500m ($4.6m) today from VC firm One Capital at a valuation of approximately $38.8m to take its overall funding to more than $9m. Diversified trading group Mitsubishi Corporation had invested $4.5m in the company in February 2020 at a $24.5m valuation.
Heja, the Sweden-based creator of a communication software platform for team sports, has secured €3.4m ($4.1m) in seed capital from investors including Bonnier Ventures, media company Bonnier’s corporate VC unit, EU-Startups reported yesterday. Peak Capital led the round, which was also backed by Luminar Ventures, Inbox Capital, Max Ventures and angel investors Ted Nelson and Mattias Weinhandl. It followed $2.7m in funding from investors including Bonnier Ventures, Luminar Ventures, Max Ventures and Inbox Capital in 2018.
Internet company CyberAgent invested an undisclosed amount in Funova, the Japan-based operator of a personalised gym service called Flatte, today, through corporate venturing vehicle CyberAgent Capital. The company was chosen for education services provider Globis’s G-Startup accelerator in August 2019 and secured an undisclosed amount from multiple angel investors the following month.
Agribusiness Agrocorp, food importer Water Tiger Investments and food and beverage brand operator Ebb & Flow have taken part in a S$2.2m ($1.7m) seed round for Float Foods, the Singapore-headquartered developer of a plant-based egg substitute, AgFunder News reported today. The round was co-led by DSG Consumer Partners and Insignia Ventures Partners and included Apricot Capital, Baksh Capital and Teja Ventures, while Agrocorp invested through its Agrocorp Ventures unit.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu. Image courtesy of Simulate.
