Funding
India-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) service Tabby increased its series B round to $104m today with a $54m extension co-led by STV, the venture capital firm anchored by telecommunications firm Saudi Telecom. The second tranche was co-led with Sequoia Capital India and also backed by Arbor Ventures, Mubadala Investment Capital and Global Founders Capital (GFC). The first $50m came from STV, holding company Almajdouie’s Raed Ventures vehicle, online food delivery service Delivery Hero, GFC, Arbor Ventures, Mubadala Investment Capital, CCVA, Global Ventures, MSA Capital, VentureSouq, Outliers VC, Jimco and HOF at a $300m valuation in August 2021.
Prosus, the internet holding company formed by e-commerce and media group Naspers, co-led a $50m series C round today for Captain Fresh, the India-based operator of an online business-to-business seafood marketplace. The round was co-led by Tiger Global Management and also backed by Accel India, Matrix Partners India, Ankur Capital and Incubate Fund. The round valued Captain Fresh at $500m, double the valuation of its $40m series B round in December 2021.
CytoNiche, a China-headquartered developer of 3D bionic cell technology, has received almost RMB300m ($47.5m) in series B funding from investors including Sinopharm Capital, the corporate VC arm of pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm, China Money Network reported on Friday. Gaorong Capital, CICC Qide and CICC Qiyuan co-led the round, which also featured Aplus Capital, 3E Bioventures and DT Capital Partners.
Otipy, the India-based operator of a group buying system focusing on fresh produce, secured $32m in funding from investors including today from investors including Quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG). The round was led by private equity firm Westbridge Capital and also backed by Omidyar Network India, the latter having joined SIG, Inflection Point Ventures, Pravega Ventures and Factor(e) Ventures in Otipy’s $10.2m series A round in July 2021.
E-commerce marketplace and software provider Shopify has participated in a $20m series A round for Disco, a US-headquartered provider of e-commerce customer acquisition services, TechCrunch reported on Friday. Felicis Ventures led the round, which included Sugar Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Indicator Ventures, RiverPark Ventures, Vibe Capital, Not Boring Fund and undisclosed individuals.
Pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim’s Venture Fund has co-led a $20m seed round for US-based anti-infective drug developer ArrePath with Insight Partners and Innospark Ventures. They were joined by drug research services provider Viva Biotech’s Viva BioInnovator vehicle in addition to Arimed Capital, PTX Capital and Nor’easter Ventures.
Telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia has led a funding round of undisclosed size for Indonesia-headquartered online education provider Zenius through subsidiary MDI Ventures that increased its overall funding to $40m, e27 reported today. Financial services firm Kasikorn Bank’s Beacon Venture Capital vehicle also took part, as did Northstar Group, Alpha JWC and Openspace Ventures. Zenius raised $20m in series A funding from Northstar, Kinesys Group and BeeNext in early 2020 before all three joined Alpha JWC and Openspace in a pre-series B round of undisclosed size in January 2021.
LifeScore, the UK-based creator of a software platform which uses artificial intelligence to offer users tailored and adaptive music, received £11m ($14.5m) in series A funding from investors including design agency Ideo and record label Warner Music today. VC firm Octopus Ventures led the round, which also featured 4 Good Ventures and unnamed existing shareholders.
Pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim invested an undisclosed sum in TeleVet, a US-based provider of human resources tools for veterinary practices, on Friday. The cash was supplied through a strategic collaboration agreement which will involve Randolph Legg, head of the commercial business for Boehringer Ingelheim’s Animal Health USA subsidiary, taking a board seat at TeleVet.
Lisaqua, a startup developing a land-based shrimp farm in its home country of France, has closed a €4.9m ($5.4m) funding round that included €2.6m of new equity funding from agricultural cooperative Le Gouessant, Litto Invest and unnamed individuals. It was added to €2.3m of non-dilutive financing from BPIfrance and banks Crédit Maritime and CIC Ouest.
OKX Blockdream Ventures, the investment arm of cryptocurrency exchange OKX, co-led a $2.5m funding round for decentralised, metaverse and crypto-focused accelerator operator Gamepad.co with non-fungible token product developer Enjin on Friday. The cash was raised at a $25m valuation.
Diagonal, a developer of subscription payment tools for Web3 companies, has raised $2.5m in pre-seed funding from investors including digital currency exchange Coinbase’s corporate VC unit, Coinbase Ventures, Coinbase reported on Friday. Mechanism Capital, MetaCartel Ventures, The LAO and unnamed investment firms also participated in the round together with angel investors including Ryan Selkis and Anthony Sassano.
Diversified conglomerate Ram Charan Company provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Bolt Mobility, the US-based micromobility services provider co-founded by athlete Usain Bolt, on Friday. Rokk3r Fuel ExO, the VC firm that has since rebranded to Fuel Ventures, led a series A round of undisclosed size for the company at a $100m valuation in March 2020 that took its total funding to $30m. It added $1m from an unnamed investor seven months later, according to a securities filing.
Philippines-headquartered loyalty and e-commerce platform developer Zap has received an undisclosed amount of series A funding from True Digital Group, a corporate venturing subsidiary of telecoms firm True Corporation, the latter revealed today. Zap had raised a total of $1.4m as of a $550,000 pre-series A round co-led by telecoms company Globe Telecom’s Kickstart Ventures subsidiary and Venture Capital Holdings in 2017.
AdipoSeeds, a Japan-based developer of therapeutics which use platelet-rich plasma derived from adipose tissues to treat intractable skin ulcers, raised ¥152m ($1.3m) today from clinical diagnostics and laboratory services provider HU Group Holdings’ MSF Capital Partners unit as well as an unnamed company director. The company had received $3.8m in funding from drug producer Chugai Pharmaceutical, generic medicine manufacturer Dogan, industrial manufacturer KSP and Keio Innovation Initiative in late 2020.
Ginkan, the Japan-based operator of online social dining platform SynchroLife, secured an undisclosed amount of funding from gas utility Saibu Gas today. The corporate invested in Ginkan through its SG Incubate unit.
