Funding
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank has co-led a $60m funding round for Brazil-based accounting services provider Contabilizei with investment banking firm Goldman Sachs and Pruven Capital, Latin American Business News has reported. Kaszek, Point 72 Ventures, Quona Capital and Igah Ventures also took part, along with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation.
Germany-based affordable luxury food brand KoRo closed a total of €50m ($54.9m) in primary, secondary and venture debt financing today through a series B round that included social commerce marketing agency The Social Chain and HV Capital, the VC firm backed by publisher Holtzbrinck. The round was also backed by Five Seasons Ventures and Partech.
Theta Lake, a US-headquartered provider of security and compliance software tailored for remote workers, raised $50m yesterday in a series B round featuring video communication software provider Zoom, networking technology producer Cisco, collaboration software developer RingCentral and enterprise software provider Salesforce, the last three through Cisco Investments, RingCentral Ventures and Salesforce Ventures respectively. VC firm Battery Ventures led the round, which included Lightspeed Venture Partners and Neotribe Ventures.
US-based data management software producer Spectro Cloud completed a $40m series B round yesterday backed by mobile network operator T-Mobile’s corporate venture capital unit, T-Mobile Ventures. The round was led by growth equity firm Stripes and it also featured Sierra Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, WestWave Capital and Alter Venture Partners.
Enterprise software producer Salesforce and its enterprise communication app subsidiary, Slack, co-led a $40m series C round for WorkRamp, a US-based developer of digital employee learning software, through investment vehicles Salesforce Ventures and Slack Fund yesterday. The round was co-led with VC firm Susa Ventures and included Omers Ventures, on behalf of public pension fund Omers, as well as GTMfund, PeopleTech Angels, UpHonest Capital and private investor Jack Altman.
Pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca has invested about £25m ($33m) in UK-headquartered remote healthcare and patient data technology developer Huma, CNBC reported yesterday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The capital was provided through a partnership agreement which will involve Huma taking over the corporate’s digital health platform, Amaze.
T-Mobile Ventures, the investment arm of mobile network operator T-Mobile, yesterday added an undisclosed amount to the $30m in series B funding raised by US-based telecoms software provider SignalWire in June 2021. The first close was led by Prosperity7 Ventures and backed by Samsung Next, an investment vehicle for consumer electronics producer Samsung, in addition to Storm Ventures, Jerry Yang and Dean Drako.
Players Health, the US-based operator of an online platform which oversees player wellbeing in youth team sports, completed a $28m funding round yesterday that included insurance and reinsurance firm SiriusPoint, which invested in connection with a strategic partnership agreement. Mastry Ventures, RPM Ventures, EOS Venture Partners and Will Ventures also took part in the round.
Kargo, a US-based developer supply of technology which helps monitor the supply chain, secured $25m in series A funding from investors including freight forwarder Flexport yesterday. VC firm Sozo Ventures led the round, which was also backed by Founders Fund, Activant, Human Capital, Strike Capital and Lineage Ventures.
Wholesale e-commerce marketplace Saru has invested $22.5m in Jugnu, a Pakistan-based provider of tools for small and medium-sized enterprises, to lead a series A round of undisclosed size today. It was joined in the round by digital technology provider Systems Limited and VC firm Sarmayacar.
Geneos Therapeutics, a US-based cancer immunotherapy developer spun off by synthetic DNA drug developer Inovio, raised $17m yesterday in a series A2 round that included its parent company. Life sciences investment firm Flerie Invest led the round, which also featured Korea Investment Partners’ Global Bio Fund and Santé Ventures.
Pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma agreed yesterday to provide $11m in funding for Harm Reduction Therapeutics, the US-based developer of a low-cost version of opioid addition treatment naxolone. Purdue has been an investor in the company since 2018 and has also supplied technical expertise and data rights.
Curql Fund, the investment vehicle representing more than 75 US credit unions, led a $10m funding round yesterday for Facteus, the creator of a software platform which helps users gain insights from consumer transaction data. The other investors in the round were not revealed, but Curql partner Dave Tucker is taking a seat on the company’s board of directors.
US-based personalised health supplement provider OK Capsule received $9.5m in funding yesterday from investors including health and nutrition product manufacturer Royal DSM’s investment arm, DSM Venturing. The round was co-led by Mucker Capital and Next Ventures with additional backing from Findaway Adventures.
Rugged Robotics, a US-based developer of robotics technology for use in construction, has raised $9.4m in a series A round featuring general contractor Consigli, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Bold Capital Partners co-led the round with Brick & Mortar Ventures and it included Riot Ventures, Morpheus Ventures, Embark Ventures and Suffolk Technologies.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance led an $8m seed round for Puerto Rico-based blockchain software developer Tea through strategic investment arm Binance Labs yesterday. The round also featured XBTO Humla Ventures, a VC vehicle for cryptofinance provider XBTO Group, in addition to Lattice Capital, Darma Capital, Coral DeFi, Woodstock Fund, SVK Crypto and Make Group.
France-based healthcare training services provider Invivox secured €7m ($7.7m) in funding today from investors including mutual insurer MACSF. The round was also backed by Educapital and existing shareholders Isai and BPIfrance.
Peru-headquartered waste reduction services provider Sugo Company has raised $5.5m from investors including beverage bottler Femsa’s corporate venturing vehicle, Femsa Ventures. The round also featured Inter-American Development Bank’s IDB Lab subsidiary, which contributed $1m, and VC firm Nazca.
Customer service software producer Zendesk invested an undisclosed amount in Alliants, a UK-based provider of customer experience technology, yesterday. The company plans to leverage customer relationship management and messaging tools on the Zendesk platform to enhance its product.
India-based ayurvedic beauty brand Ayurveda secured $3m yesterday from investors including Wipro Consumer Care Ventures, a vehicle for conglomerate Wipro’s Consumer Care & Lighting subsidiary. Angel investors Rahul Gupta and Harsh Gupta also took part in the round.
US-based road monitoring software developer Blyncsy raised an amount indicated by a regulatory filing to be $2.6m yesterday, from 16 investors including irrigation and infrastructure equipment producer Lindsay Corporation. Peterson Ventures, Pelion Venture Partners and Subtraction Capital had contributed to Blyncsy’s $2.6m seed round in 2016, before it added $150,000 in debt financing later that year and $530,000 in equity funding in 2017.
Upstreet, the Australia-headquartered operator of a shopping rewards system utilising fractional shares in publicly listed companies, received A$3m ($2.2m) yesterday in a seed-plus round that included consulting firm McKinsey & Co. The round was led by Wattle Hill Capital and also featured Wattle Hill founder Albert Tse, Kelly+Partners Investment Office and angel investors including Justus Hammer, Christopher Mapp and Hugh Robertson.
Cryptocurrency trading platform developers MEXC Global and AscendEX took part in a $2.1m funding round yesterday for PrePO, the creator of a decentralised digital exchange which offers synthetic exposure to private markets. Republic Capital and IOSG Ventures co-led the round, which included Possible Ventures, DCV Capital, Shima Capital, HoneyDAO, Caballeros Capital, Berggruen Holdings, NeptuneDAO, Dexterity Capital, NxGen Capital, Re7 Capital and Global Coin Research.
India-headquartered data analytics software developer Calligo Technologies raised an undisclosed amount on Tuesday from investors including consulting firm UST. It was joined by the state-backed Karnataka Information Technology Venture’s Semiconductor Venture Fund.
China-headquartered data interpretation software developer Dayta AI has secured $1.8m in pre-series A funding from investors including medical care provider EC Healthcare, Tech Times reported on Tuesday. Grosvenor Group, Xcel Next Ventures and Abacus PropTech also contributed to the round.
Kaeru, the Japan-based operator of an e-commerce platform targeting senior citizens, received ¥140m ($1.2m) in pre-series A funding today from investors including electronics producer Sony’s Innovation Fund, G-Startup Fund and Nanto Capital Partners, the last two on behalf of education services provider Globis and financial services firm Nanto Bank. The round was filled out by W Ventures, Finolab and Venture Labo Investment.
M&A
SecureKey Technologies, a Canada-based developer of identity and authentication technology, was acquired by digital security and privacy technology producer Avast yesterday for an undisclosed amount, allowing semiconductor technology provider Intel, telecoms firms Rogers and Telus, payment services firms Visa, MasterCard and Discover Financial Services and banks MO Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Desjardins, Royal Bank of Canada and TD Bank to exit. The company had raised at least $72m in debt and equity financing as of a $20.5m round in 2016.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
