Funding
Celona, the US-based creator of a software platform which helps companies adopt cellular wireless technology, raised $60m yesterday in a series C round led by DigitalBridge Ventures, the venture capital arm of infrastructure management group DigitalBridge Group. The round included NTT VC and Qualcomm Ventures – which invested on behalf of telecommunications firm NTT and mobile chipmaker Qualcomm – in addition to Lightspeed Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Cervin Ventures.
Poplar Homes, a US-based provider of technology-equipped property management software, secured $53m in series B funding yesterday from investors including AGNC Ventures, the corporate VC vehicle for real estate investment trust AGNC Investment Corp. The round was led by LL Funds and also featured Crescent Cove Advisors and angel investors included Jeff Dean and Zain Jaffer.
LambdaTest, the US-headquartered developer of a software test orchestration platform, completed a $45m funding round today backed by telecoms firm Telstra’s corporate venturing unit, Telstra Ventures. Multi-family office Premji Invest led the round, which also featured Sequoia Capital India, Blume Ventures, Leo Capital and private investor Sandeep Johri.
Pharmaceutical firm Novo co-led a $40m funding round for India-headquartered medical imaging technology provider Qure.ai yesterday. The round was co-led with healthcare VC fund HealthQuad and also featured MassMutual Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life.
US-based retail electricity provider David Energy raised $20.5m in series A funding from investors including sustainable motor system manufacturer Turntide Technologies yesterday. Keyframe Capital co-led the round with Union Square Ventures’ climate fund and it also featured Equal Ventures, Box Group, MCJ Collective, Toba Capital and angel investor James Dice.
UK-based healthcare communications software developer Lantum has secured $15m from investors including healthcare provider Cedars-Sinai, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round was led by Finch Capital and also backed by Piton Capital and Samos Investments.
Spine BioPharma, a US-based developer of non-opiate treatments for chronic low back pain triggered by degenerative disc disease, closed a $13m series B round yesterday featuring pharmaceutical company Pacira Biosciences. The corporate was joined by Viscogliosi Bros, Cercano Management and undisclosed other investors.
Cross the Ages, the creator of a video game which utilises non-fungible token-based digital trading cards, has raised $12m in seed funding from investors including blockchain developer Polygon, game publisher Ubisoft and blockchain game developer Animoca Brands, CoinDesk reported yesterday. They participated in the round alongside angel investor Sebastian Borget.
US-based chemistry algorithm developer QunaSys secured $10m in series B funding yesterday from IT services firm Fujitsu’s Ventures Fund, deep learning technology provider HPC Systems and chemical producer Zeon Corporation. The round was led by JIC Venture Growth Investments and backed by Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Shinsei Corporate Investment – on behalf of financial services firms Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Shinsei Bank – as well as Anri, Global Brain and JST Success Program.
Insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life’s Catalyst Fund took part in a $10m series A round yesterday for HourWork, the US-based developer of a recruitment and retention software platform for restaurant franchisees. Positive Sum led the round, which included Permanent Capital, York IE, Impact Engine and OneValley Ventures.
TipTip, the Indonesia-headquartered operator of an online platform which helps digital creators monetise their content, received $10m in seed capital today from investors including media group Emtek and SMDV, a vehicle for conglomerate Sinar Mas. VC firm East Ventures led the round, which also featured Vertex Ventures and various family offices.
Australia-based digital payment technology developer DataMesh raised A$12m ($9m) in pre-series A funding from investors including financial services firm National Australia Bank’s NAB Ventures subsidiary today. Asset management services firm Peregrine Group also participated.
A China-based digital twin platform developer also called DataMesh has closed a series B2 round of undisclosed size co-led by SIG Asia and Singtel Innov8, on behalf of quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and telecoms firm Singapore Telecommunications, Lie Yunwang reported today. The company had raised almost $15.5m in series B1 funding from investors including Lenovo Ventures, on behalf of electronics producer Lenovo, as well as Cornerstone Fund.
US-headquartered canine supplement brand Native Pet has completed a $6m series A round that included confectionery and pet food producer Mars’ Companion Fund. VC firm Cavu Venture Partners led the round, which was also backed by Selva Ventures.
Purec, a Japan-based cellular medicine developer spun out of Shimane University, raised ¥700m ($5.7m) today from investors including pharmaceutical firm Mochida Pharmaceutical. The round also featured financial services firm San-in Godo Bank, private equity group Gogin Capital and Stanford University professor Hiromitsu Nakauchi, and it took Purec’s overall funding to just over $11m.
Cameroon-based telehealth system developer Waspito has received $2.7m in seed financing from investors including mining connectivity services provider BringCom and Orange Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications firm Orange, Disrupt Africa reported yesterday. The corporate invested alongside Newtown Partners’ Imperial Venture Fund, Launch Africa Ventures, Saviu Ventures, Plug and Play and the Bamboo Capital Partners-managed Bloc Smart Africa fund.
Mobile game publisher iDreamSky has provided an undisclosed amount of series A-plus funding for Singapore-based online collectibles marketplace Mighty Jaxx, Tech in Asia reported today. Tencent Cloud, a subsidiary of internet and gaming group Tencent, had invested $7.2m in the company in August 2021 through a $10m round that lifted its total funding to $14.8m.
M&A
Workforce management software provider Papaya Global agreed yesterday to acquire Azimo, a UK-based cross-border payment platform developer backed by e-commerce firm Rakuten, for $150m to $200m, Calcalist reported. Rakuten subsidiary Rakuten Capital joined E.ventures, Frog Capital, GR Capital Partners, Greycroft Partners, MCI Capital, Quona Capital and Silicon Valley Bank in Azimo’s $20m series C round in 2018, two years after it raised $15m in a Rakuten-led round that increased its overall funding to $46m.
Financial services firm National Bank of Canada exited Canada-based online insurance distribution service Breathe Life yesterday in an acquisition of undisclosed size by insurance technology and services provider SE2. Diagram Ventures and Real Ventures joined unnamed angel investors to provide $3.3m in seed capital for the company in 2019 before taking part in a $4.9m series A round in 2020 with National Bank of Canada’s NAventures unit, Investissement Québec, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Cameron Ventures and Desjardins secured alongside $3.2m in debt financing.
Public Markets
Talenthouse, a UK-headquartered creative content connection service backed by blockchain game developer Animoca Brands, conglomerate Reliance Industries’ Reliance Entertainment unit, networking technology provider Cisco and media company ProSiebenSat.1, has agreed to list on the SIX Swiss Exchange through a reverse merger with investment firm New Value, the Financial Times reported today. The deal values the combined business at about $450m and comes three years after Animoca Brands provided $2m shares and cash for Talenthouse. It had raised a total of over $29m as of a $10m series B round in 2014.
Funds
Fang Yuan, a former director at Baidu Ventures, a subsidiary of internet group Baidu, has joined AIX Ventures, a newly formed venture capital firm focused on artificial intelligence. AIX Ventures has secured $50m for its Fund I from limited partners including Bain Capital Ventures, Foundation Capital, Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, Village Global, Vintage Investment Partners and unnamed individuals.
Real estate services provider CBRE is supplying an undisclosed amount of capital for US-based, real estate-focused VC firm Fifth Wall’s Climate Technology Fund, it revealed yesterday. Invitation Homes and Ivanhoé Cambridge were among the backers for the firm’s Early-Stage Climate Technology Fund, which had reached nearly $117m in size as of September 2021, and it filed to raise money for a Late-Stage Climate Technology Fund last month.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
