Funding
US-based short and medium-term accommodation provider WhyHotel rebranded to Placemakr yesterday having secured $90m from apartment manager Bernstein Management Corporation, real estate investment trust JBG Smith, Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Gaw Capital, Suffolk Technologies and Geolo Capital. The cash was raised alongside $750m in programmatic equity financing which will fund property purchases.
Blockchain game developer Animoca Brands has co-led China-headquartered crypto custodian Hex Trust’s $88m series B round with VC fund Liberty City Ventures, Coindesk reported yesterday. Financial settlement services provider Ripple, decentralised payment technology developer Terraform Labs and blockchain researcher Protocol Labs also took part, as did Morgan Creek Capital Management, Primavera Venture Partners, LeadBlock Partners and private investor Adrian Cheng. It valued Hex Trust at $300m, according to Bloomberg.
UK-headquartered online academic material provider Perlego has received $50m in a series B round led by Mediahuis Ventures, the investment arm of media group Mediahuis, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Boutique merchant bank Raine Group’s venture capital subsidiary, Raine Ventures, also participated, as did Evli Growth Partners, undisclosed publishers and private investors Jamie Brooker and Johan Brand.
Scientific instrument manufacturer Bruker Corporation led a $46m financing round yesterday for PrognomiQ, a US-based company developing multi-omics-focused diagnostics technology. The corporate was joined by investment and financial services group Fidelity, Catalio Capital Management, Invus, Maverick Ventures, Emerson Collective, Wing VC and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price.
US-based mortgage payment software provider EarnUp raised $31m in series C financing yesterday from investors including online lending marketplace LendingTree and financial services provider KeyBank. They participated alongside Bain Capital Ventures, the VC arm of private equity firm Bain Capital, as well as SignalFire, Blumberg Capital and Flourish Ventures.
US-headquartered cloud cybersecurity software provider Selector completed a $28m series A round yesterday that included mass media group Comcast’s corporate venturing unit, Comcast Ventures. The round was co-led by Two Bear Capital, SineWave Ventures and Atlantic Bridge and it also featured Azure Capital Partners.
US-based DNA synthesis technology developer Molecular Assemblies secured $25.8m yesterday in a series B round backed by protein engineer Codexis and scientific instrument producer Agilent Technologies. They invested together with Casdin Capital, iSelect Fund, Lyfe Capital and Argonautic Ventures.
Treehouse, a Singapore-based developer of blockchain data analytics software, received $18m in seed capital today from investors including cryptocurrency exchanges GSR, Bitpanda, Coinhako and Binance, crypto brokerage Pintu, crypto market maker Wintermute, algorithmic trading firm Pulsar Trading and MassMutual Ventures, a subsidiary of insurer Massachusetts Mutual Life. The round was led by an unnamed financial technology investor and also backed by Mirana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Global Founders Capital, Jump Capital, Moonvault Capital, K3 Ventures, LeadBlock Partners, The Brooker Group, Venturra Capital, AlphaLab Capital, Fundamental Labs, Berioza Associates, CRC Capital, Portofino and individuals including Do Kwon.
Daphne Technology, a Switzerland-based developer of technology designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, yesterday added CHF4m from telecommunications firm Swisscom, One Creation and unnamed private investors to a funding round now sized at CHF14m ($14.8m). Shell Ventures and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures – subsidiaries of oil and gas suppliers Shell and Saudi Aramco – had joined commodities trader Trafigura and shipping firm AET Tankers in the round’s October 2021 first close.
Life sciences-focused real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities co-led a $14m series A round for RNA interrogation technology developer Eclipse Bioinnovations yesterday through its Alexandria Venture Investments subsidiary. The round was co-led by iGlobe Partners and also backed by Photon Venture Alpha and Phoenix Venture Partners.
France-headquartered cyberattack prevention software developer Hackuity came out of stealth yesterday with €12m ($13.1m) from a funding round led by conglomerate Sonae through corporate VC unit Sonae IM. The round also featured existing backer Caisse des Dépôts.
Synthetaic, a US-based developer of artificial intelligence development software, completed a $13m series A round yesterday that included TitleTown Tech, the innovation centre formed by software producer Microsoft and American football franchise the Green Bay Packers. The round was led by Lupa Systems and also featured Betaworks, Booz Allen Hamilton and Esri.
TravelX, a US-headquartered startup working on a blockchain-based distribution protocol for the travel industry, secured $10m in seed funding from investors including blockchain technology provider Algorand in November 2021, it disclosed yesterday. Borderless Capital led the round, which was also backed by Draper Cygnus, Myelin Capital and Monday Capital.
Chemical and pharmaceutical producer Bayer invested $9.5m in Woebot Health, a US-based developer of digital therapeutics for mental health, yesterday through corporate venturing unit Leaps by Bayer. The company said it has now raised over $123m altogether.
FreedomFi, the US-based creator of a system which enables cryptocurrency to be used as an incentive to crowdsource 5G small cell networks, completed a $9.5m series A round yesterday featuring Qualcomm Ventures and Samsung Next, on behalf of mobile chipmaker Qualcomm and electronics producer Samsung. The corporates invested alongside Blueyard Capital.
Telecoms firm Telus led a combined $8.4m series A and non-dilutive funding round for Virtual Gurus, the Canada-based owner of an online marketplace which connects businesses to remote administrative staff, through its Pollinator Fund for Good vehicle yesterday. Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, The51, The Houssian Foundation and Accelerate Fund were also among the investors.
US-based 3D genomics technology developer Arima Genomics raised $7m in series B funding from investors including precision oncology platform developer Genetron Health and scientific instrument manufacturer Agilent Technologies. They were joined by Tech Coast Angels, Ladder Ventures, Hiaqua Investments, Co-win Ventures, Vectr Ventures and Berkeley Catalyst Fund.
American football franchise the Philadelphia 76ers’ Sixers Innovation Lab and HearstLab, a vehicle for media group Hearst, helped supply $7m in funding for US-based, technology-enhanced market research provider Highlight yesterday. Scribble Ventures, Operator Partners and angel investors Zander Lurie, Max Mullen, Richard Thornton and Tom Bernthal also took part in the round.
France-headquartered mobile game startup PopScreen Games increased its overall funding to $6m yesterday with an undisclosed amount of series A funding from investors including video game publisher Garena. Popscreen is working on role-playing games and had previously raised an undisclosed amount of seed capital.
Food delivery and restaurant listings service Zomato has invested $5m in India-based kitchen robotics technology developer Mukunda Foods at a $30m valuation, NDTV reported yesterday, citing a securities filing. Mukunda had raised undisclosed amounts from Indian Angel Network in 2013 and automotive and agriculture firm SAR Group’s Ncubate Capital Partners vehicle five years later.
Industrial and chemicals group Koch Industries led a $4.2m seed round for Repowr, the US-based operator of a transportation equipment sharing service, through investment arm Koch Disruptive Technologies yesterday. Perot Jain Alliance and Plug and Play Venture Group also contributed to the round along with unnamed angel investors.
Finblox, the China-headquartered creator of a digital platform which helps users accumulate interest on cryptocurrency assets, completed a $3.9m seed round featuring Saison Capital, a subsidiary of payment services firm Credit Saison, e27 reported yesterday. It was joined by Dragonfly Capital, Sequoia Capital India, Three Arrows Capital, MSA Capital, Coinfund, Venturra Discovery, Kyros Ventures, First Check Ventures, Ratio Ventures and individuals including Ron Hose and Tianwei Liu.
Chatterbox, the UK-based operator of an online platform that helps businesses hire qualified refugees and members of marginalised groups, secured £1.5m ($2m) in a pre-seed round led by media company Guardian Media Group’s GMG Ventures unit. The round included internet and telecoms group SoftBank, All Turtles, Mustard Seed Maze and RLC Ventures.
Mobile game publisher Voodoo led a $1.5m seed round for Portugal-headquartered mobile game studio Volt Games yesterday. Shilling, Aream & Co and angel investors including Chris Lee, Rui Pereira, Niall Curran and Sebastien Borget also participated in the round.
Japan-based baby food brand Homeal received ¥100m ($850,000) in funding today from investors including Harizury, the parent company of leather product manufacturer Tsuchiya Kaban. The equity portion of the round was filled out by Chiba Dojo Fund and W Ventures while unnamed financial institutions supplied debt financing.
Impact Circle, the Japan-based operator of an online, social impact-focused investment platform, secured ¥80m ($680,000) from investors including open innovation technology provider Relic today. The round was also backed by VC firm Inclusion Japan.
Kinomis, the US-based operator of non-fungible token-equipped retailer DeStore, increased its overall funding to about ¥70m ($590,000) today with an undisclosed amount from investors including mobile game publisher KLab’s Anobaka subsidiary. The round also featured East Ventures, F Ventures, Next Web Capital, Orange DAO and angel investors Ramon Recuero, Thomas Chen, Peter Piekarczyk and Satoshi Naito.
Sweden-based animal skincare product developer Emollivet raised SEK5m ($520,000) yesterday in a rights issue to existing owners that included pharmaceutical company Lipidor.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu. Photo courtesy of Placemakr.
