Funding
UK-headquartered consumer electronics startup Nothing raised $70m yesterday in a series B round that included blockchain game developer Animoca Brands and GV, the corporate venture capital arm of internet and technology group Alphabet formerly known as Google Ventures. The round was co-led by EQT Ventures and C Ventures with additional backing from Future Shape and Gaorong Capital.
Investment firm Tiger Global Management has led a $20m extension to Singapore-based higher education management service Cialfo’s series B round to expand it to $60m, Tech in Asia reported today. Seek Investments, a vehicle for recruitment firm Seek, co-led the round’s first tranche with Square Peg in January this year, investing with information and communications technology provider SIG Global, DLF Ventures, January Capital and Lim Teck Lee. The second close reportedly valued it at $230m.
Loco, the India-based operator of an online game streaming platform, received $42m in series A funding today from investors including video game publisher Krafton. The round also featured Hashed, Makers Fund, Catamaran Ventures, Lumikai, Korea Investment Partners and Hiro Capital, and the cash was raised at a $145m valuation, two sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.
US-headquartered online music streaming service Trebel has raised $25m in a series B round led by media group MNC Media, Lavca has reported. The company’s other backers include private investors Adrián Sada Cueva, Óscar de la Garza Clariond, Alejandro Grisi, Thaddeus Young and Chris Burch, according to Forbes Mexico.
Singapore-based insurance technology provider Igloo has secured $19m in series B funding from investors including telecommunications firm Singapore Telecommunications’ corporate VC unit, Singtel Innov8, DealStreetAsia reported today. Private equity firm Cathay Capital’s VC affiliate, Cathay Innovation, led the round, which was also backed by ACA Partners, Openspace and Partech Ventures.
Freight forwarder Flexport has co-led a $17.6m series A round for Silq, a US-based provider of supply chain data software, through strategic investment vehicle Flexport Ventures, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round was co-led with investment and financial services group Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital unit and backed by RTP Seed, Forum Ventures and undisclosed individuals.
Argentina-based bioreactor developer Stämm Biotech has received $17m in series A funding from investors including software development and consulting service Teramips Technologies and systems integrator Trillian. The round was led by Varana Capital and also featured Draper Associates, SOSV’s IndieBio fund, Decarbonization Consortium, New Abundance, Grid Exponential, VistaEnergy, Cygnus Draper, Serenity Traders and Dragones VC.
Legend Capital, the VC firm spun off by conglomerate Legend Holdings, led a RMB100m ($15.8m) series A round for cybersecurity software provider XDR SEC today, DealStreetAsia reported. The round included Ultrapower Fund, a vehicle for internet company Ultrapower, as well as existing backer Sequoia Capital China.
Keyfunc, a China-based developer of tax and financial digitalisation software, has secured almost RMB100m ($15.8m) in series A funding from investors including integrated circuits producer Xinchao Group and enterprise software provider Yongyou, DealStreetAsia reported today. The round was led by an unnamed internet company and also backed by Gobi Partners China.
Mexico-headquartered biodigester technology developer Sistema.bio has raised over $15.5m in series B equity, stock and debt financing from investors including Axa IM Alts, a vehicle for insurance firm Axa’s Axa IM Impact Investing vehicle, and Engie RDE, a subsidiary of energy utility Engie, Contxto reported last month. KawiSafi Ventures led the round, which was also backed by EU ElectriFI fund, Chroma Impact, Blink CV and Co Capital, while Triodos Bank supplied the debt portion.
Consulting firm The Medici Group took part in a $12.5m series A round yesterday for Upstream, the US-based developer of a no-code software platform enabling users to set up their own decentralised autonomous organisation. Boldstart Ventures led the round, which included Ibex Investors, Tiger Global Management, Vayner Fund, Fenbushi Capital, Panoramic Ventures, Alpaca VC, Human Ventures, Blumberg Capital and unnamed others.
China-based enterprise software developer ZKnow closed a RMB70m ($11.1m) funding round on Tuesday featuring Baidu Ventures, a corporate VC subsidiary of internet company Baidu, DealStreetAsia reported. Matrix Partners China and Blue Lake Capital co-led the round, which was also backed by An’s Information.
Brazil-based agricultural product marketplace Grão Direto has received R$40m ($8m) from investors including chemical and pharmaceutical firm Bayer and agribusinesses Amaggi, ADM, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus Company, Valor International has reported. Credit finance provider Rendimento Group’s Barn subsidiary also took part in the round, as did Lanx Capital.
Semiconductor and data technology provider Intel participated in a $7m seed round for US-based machine learning and analytics tool developer Ponder yesterday through subsidiary Intel Capital. The round was led by VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners and also backed by 8VC and The House Fund.
China-headquartered role-playing game developer Ascenders raised $6.4m from investors including metaverse gaming platform developer GuildFi, research firm Forward Analytics, blockchain voting system developer LayerX and non-fungible token marketplace Mintable on Tuesday. The round was co-led by Paramount Capital, Three Arrows Capital, Sino Global Capital and Merit Circle and also backed by DeFiance Capital, Blizzard Fund, Colony Lab, Momentum 6, Avocado Guild, Zee Prime, Snack Club and unnamed others.
US-based hybrid resin modifier developer Mito Material Solutions secured $4.6m in seed funding from specialty chemicals producer Ingevity and undisclosed existing investors in late January, it revealed on Tuesday. Dipalo Ventures and Clean Energy Trust had led a $1m earlier seed round for Mito in August 2020 that included conglomerate Heritage Group’s HG Ventures fund, CavAngels, Elevate Ventures, VisionTech Angels and Cortado Ventures.
Cega Finance, the Singapore-based creator of an exotic structured products protocol for decentralised finance, received $4.3m on Tuesday in a seed round featuring quantitative trading firm Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures and Solana Ventures, which invested on behalf of digital currency exchange Coinbase and blockchain developer Solana. The round was led by Dragonfly Capital Partners and included Pantera Capital.
Law firms Latham & Watkins and Clifford Chance were among the investors that provided $4.3m in funding for Reynen Court, a Netherlands-based provider of legal software management technology, on Tuesday. It was joined in the round by Bryce Catalyst, Forefront Venture Partners and VC Ventech.
Blockchain entertainment app developer Animoca Brands and Polygon Studios, a subsidiary of blockchain technology provider Polygon, co-led a $4m funding round for UNXD, the operator of a fashion-focused non-fungible token marketplace, with Red DAO on Tuesday. Orange DAO, HanDAO, Andromeda Capital Advisors, Arcanum Capital, Bitscale Capital, Finality Capital Partners, Future\Perfect Ventures, Global Coin Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Hyperedge Capital, Infinite Capital, Morningstar Ventures, Nalu Capital, Narcissus Ventures, TLF Ventures and various angel investors also took part.
Artificial intelligence data provider Appen joined unnamed other investors to supply $3.7m for Mindtech, a UK-based developer of synthetic data creation software, on Tuesday. Mindtech had previously received $3.25m from Mercia, Deeptech Labs and In-Q-Tel in July 2021.
Decentralised exchange operator WingRiders raised an undisclosed amount from investors including digital asset exchange Bitrue, blockchain game developer Animoca Brands and MatrixPort, a provider of digital asset financial services, on Tuesday. The round also featured Spark Digital Capital and Double Peak.
Nigeria-based identity verification technology developer OkHi doubled its seed round to $3m with $1.5m from investors including digital payment services provider Interswitch Group, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Chapel Hill Denham, angel syndicate EXFI and existing backers Founders Factory Africa and Betatron also took part in the extension along with various angel investors. The first tranche came from backers including Angel Investment Network in September 2020.
US-based geothermal energy developer Criterion Energy Partners raised an undisclosed amount from gas and oilfield services provider Patterson-UTI Energy on Tuesday. The funding will go to development of Criterion’s first project, in the state of Texas.
US-headquartered workspace provider Barnfox has received $1m in funding from investors including Foster Supply Hospitality, FinSMEs reported on Tuesday. The cash will be used to expand its network of work/retreat centres.
Konvi, the Germany-headquartered operator of a crowdfunded alternative asset investment platform, has secured over €814,000 ($900,000) from investors including APX, the joint venture formed by sports car manufacturer Porsche and media group Axel Springer, EU-Startups reported today. The round also featured unnamed angel investors.
Department store retailer M&S provided an undisclosed amount of funding for activewear brand The Sports Edit on Tuesday. The startup had previously raised nearly $1.2m in a mid-2020 campaign on crowdfunding platform CrowdCube.
TieUps, the Japan-based operator of social media profile aggregator Lit.Link and online community WeClip, has closed ¥100m ($860,000) in debt and equity financing through a seed round featuring mobile game publisher KLab’s Anobaka unit. The round was also backed by Headline Asia and angel investor Tohru Yoshikawa.
M&A
Private equity firm DC Capital Partners acquired uAvionix, a US-based drone safety technology provider backed by aerospace manufacturer Airbus, for an undisclosed amount yesterday. Airbus subsidiary Airbus Ventures led the company’s $5m series B round in 2017, investing alongside Redpoint Ventures and existing backer Playground Global to take its total funding to $10m.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu. Photo courtesy of Nothing.
