Funding
Civic participation
Z Venture Capital, an investment vehicle for internet technology group Z Holdings, provided an undisclosed amount to lead the first close of a series A round today for PoliPoli, the Japan-based operator of an online platform that aims to connect the people with politicians and government officials, investing alongside VC firm Now and angel investors.
Construction and real estate
Internet and telecommunications group Softbank’s Vision Fund 2 and real estate developer RXR Reality took part in a $175m series D round for US-based architecture sample material marketplace Material Bank on Monday . Brookfield Growth, the VC arm of private equity group Brookfield Asset Management, led the round, which was filled out by Fifth Wall, 9Yards Capital, Echo Street, Bain Capital Ventures, Durable Capital Partners, General Catalyst, Bond, Raine Ventures and Lead Edge Capital. The deal helped the company’s total funding reach $325m and valued it at $1.9bn, according to Bloomberg.
SoftBank’s Latin America Fund joined early-stage fund Homebrew to co-lead a $200m series C round for Colombia-based residential property marketplace Habi yesterday, investing together with financial services firms Banco Mercantil del Norte and Grupo Financiero Banorte as well as Tiger Global, Inspired Capital, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst and Henry Kravis.
RO Capital Partners, a VC vehicle for real estate developer RO Group, led a £600,000 ($732,000) round for Sqft.Capital, the UK-based operator of a property development fundraising platform, investing together with Sibner Capital and Peter Rollings.
Computing and cybersecurity
Salesforce Ventures, the corporate VC arm of enterprise software producer Salesforce, took part in a $210m series D round for Finland-based open source and cloud infrastructure software provider Aiven yesterday at a $3bn pre-money valuation. Eurazeo led the round, which included BlackRock as well as existing investors IVP, Atomico, Earlybird and World Innovation Lab.
B Capital, the VC firm sponsored by advisory firm Boston Consulting Group, led a $50m series B round for Certn, a Canada-based provider of AI-driven background check software, on Tuesday. Financial services firm BMO (Bank of Montreal) and Telstra Ventures, the VC firm spun off by telecoms firm Telstra, were among the participants in the round, which included Tribe Capital, Inovia Capital, Scribble Ventures, Moxxie Ventures and Gaingels.
Z Venture Capital, Japan Post Capital and Salesforce Ventures, respective investment subsidiaries of internet technology group Z Holdings, postal service Japan Post and enterprise software provider Salesforce, took part in a ¥5bn ($38.5m) series E round for Japan-based business communication platform developer Zeals today. The ¥3.5bn of equity portion was led by JIC Venture Growth while Mizuho Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group supplied ¥1.5bn in debt financing.
Energy utility Iberdrola’s Perseo subsidiary and Criteria Venture Tech, a vehicle for Caixa Capital Risc, the VC arm of banking foundation Fundación la Caixa’s CriteriaCaixa unit, co-led a €2.5m ($2.6m) round for Spain-based industrial equipment’s cybersecurity system developer Barbara IoT. Water utility Global Omnium’s GoHub Ventures fund filled out the participants alongside Bizkaia Seed Capital and Basque Fondo.
Citi Ventures, the strategic investment arm of financial services group Citi, took part in a $14.5m series A round for US-based business data protection service Concentric yesterday. Ballistic Ventures led the round, which included Core Ventures Group, Engineering Capital and Clear Ventures.
NGP Capital, the VC firm sponsored by telecoms equipment producer Nokia, led a $12m series A round today for US-based business insight platform Synergies Intelligent Systems, investing together with New Future Capital.
IT services firm Enrise, accounting and taxation consultancy Minami Aoyama FAS and SMBC Venture Capital fund 6, a vehicle for financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, all participated in a ¥64.5m ($502,000) seed round for Definer, the Japan-based provider of a devops-as-a-service platform dubbed PrismScaler. Angel investors including Kotaro Tamura filled out the participants in the round, which took the company’s overall funding to about $545,000.
Crypto and blockchain
Coinbase Ventures, the VC vehicle for cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has participated in a $40m series A round for Sweden-based web3 development technology provider Moralis. The round also featured EQT Ventures, Fabric Ventures and Dispersion Capital along with new and existing angel investors.
Blockchain and gaming technology group Animoca Brands and private equity firm Gaw Capital co-led a $11m seed-plus round for Hong Kong-based web3-focused branding service Gusto Collective yesterday. The oversubscribed round included BlackPine, YCI Limited and returning investors such as ClearVue Partners, taking the company’s cumulative funding to $23m.
ESG
Conglomerate Mitsui is set to pay an undisclosed sum to acquire a 33% stake in Australia-based carbon energy regeneration service Climate Friendly, Australian Financial Review reported today. The deal involves the corporate’s Energy Solutions unit purchasing the shares from private equity firm Adamantem Capital, which will remain the majority owner of the company.
Energy company Sunly led a €500,000 ($520,000) pre-seed round last month for Estonia-based sustainable carbon nanomaterials and graphite technology developer UP Catalyst. The round included Scottish Baltic Invest, Little Green Fund and UniTartu Ventures and took the company’s total funding to about $2.2m.
Health and beauty care
Drug discovery group Evotec chipped into a €60 million ($63m) series B round for Germany-based protein-derived drug developer Tubulis last week. Andera Partners led the round, which included Fund+, Bayern Kapital’s Wachstumsfonds Bayern 2 fund, BioMedPartners, Coparion, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Occident and Seventure Partners.
Pharmaceutical firm Novo and startup accelerator Platanus co-led a $47m series A round for US-based immune homeostasis-driven therapy developer Nuvig Therapeutics today. Another pharma group, Bristol Myers Squibb, also took part in the round, as did Digitalis Ventures and Mission BioCapital.
Pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Company co-led a $26m round for US-based autoimmune and inflammatory disease therapeutics developer Artax Biopharma with VC fund Sound Bioventures today. Advent Life Sciences, Columbus Venture Partners and Belinda Termeer were also among the investors.
Cosmetics producer Pola Orbis led a ¥150m ($1.2m) series A round for Wellpharma, the Japan-based chemicals and new materials developer formerly known as Beauty Nutrition, on Monday, the company said today. MTG Ventures, a subsidiary of internet company MTG, also took part in the round alongside an unnamed additional company and eight angel investors including Shoko Takahashi.
Insurer MassMutual’s MM Catalyst Fund has participated in a $3m funding round for US-based, octopus-inspired skincare product manufacturer Seaspire last week. It was led by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s The Engine unit and also featured MassVentures, Safar Partners, Alumni Ventures as well as angel investors Daniel Siegel and Susan Bryde.
Human resources
Financial services firms Société Générale, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole Ile de France, Banque Palatine, LCL and Caisse d’Épargne Ile de France were among the investors in a €225m ($235m) round yesterday for HR Path, a France-based human resources digital transformation technology provider. The round was led by Andera Partners and also backed by Société Générale Capital Partenaires.
Industrial
SE Ventures, the CVC unit of energy and automation technology group Schneider Electric, contributed to a $6.75m seed round for US-based manufacturing execution system developer Pico MES on Tuesday. Congruent Ventures led the round, which included Union Labs, Lemnos Labs and unnamed previous investors, taking the company’s total funding to $8m.
Insurtech
MassMutual Ventures, MDI Ventures, BRI Ventures and Mandiri Capital Indonesia, respective corporate venturing subsidiaries of insurer Massachusetts Mutual Life, telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia and financial services firms Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Mandiri, all took part in a $65m series B round for Indonesia-based digital insurance marketplace Qoala yesterday. Eurazeo led the round, which included Daiwa PI Partners, Indogen Capital, Salt Ventures, Flourish Ventures, KB Investment, SeedPlus and Sequoia Capital India
Insurance groups Old Mutual, Asia Financial Holdings, Noria Group and Henner Group (the last two through Noria Capital and XN Worldwide Insurance respectively) participated in a $15m series A round for Singapore-based insurance software-as-a-service technology provider CoverGo yesterday. SemperVirens VC led the round, which was filled out by SixThirty, Tribeca Early Stage Partners and Fresco Capital along with unnamed returning additional backers.
Legaltech
Software producer Microsoft’s M12 fund has backed a $100m funding round for US-based contract intelligence platform Evisort. The round led by TCV and also backed by Breyer Capital, General Atlantic, Amity Ventures and Vertex Ventures.
Funds
SEB Alliance, the strategic investment arm of France-based domestic appliance and cookware producer Groupe SEB (Société d’Emboutissage de Bourgogne), has committed an undisclosed amount to France-based growth-stage venture capital fund Blisce.
Spain-based rail operator Renfe is set to close its first direct investment in a startup before the end of July this year, in a bid to expand its commitment to open innovation, El Español reported yesterday. The company has already formed a startup accelerator, TrenLab, with telecoms firm Telefónica’s Wayra unit.
Mol Plus, the corporate venture capital arm of shipping company Mitsui OSK, committed an undisclosed amount of capital yesterday to Pangaea Ventures Impact Fund, a vehicle for Canada-based impact investment firm Pangaea Ventures.
Leasing services firm Ricoh Leasing Company, marketing group Loyalty Marketing, media group Carta Holdings and consulting firms Growin’ Partners and Nihon M&A Center are among the limited partners for Japan-based VC firm Dimension’s ¥10bn ($77.8m) second fund, the company said yesterday. The LP roster was filled out by Industry Co-Creation, Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, SMBC Nikko Securities and 15 private investors.
Japan-based mobile game publisher Akatsuki launched a ¥2.5bn ($19.3m) web3-focused fund called Emoote today, which was formed in September 2021. The unit had already backed some 20 crypto projects including Stepn and BreederDAO.
M&A
Energy management and automation technology producer Schneider Electric agreed yesterday to pay an undisclosed sum to acquire US-based energy management technology developer AutoGrid, a portfolio company of its SE Ventures unit. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. AutoGrid last raised funding in an $85m series D-2 round in October 2021 from SE Ventures and fellow corporates SolarEdge, GS Group, National Grid, Shell and TotalEnergies (the last four represented by GS Futures, National Grid Partners, Shell Ventures and TotalEnergies Ventures respectively).
Soylent, a US-based plant-derived drink and meal replacement product manufacturer backed by investors including internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet’s GV unit, is looking for a buyer, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The company has secured more than $70m in funding and was valued at $430m in 2017.
Financial technology group Nexi acquired Orderbird, a Germany-based point-of-sale system developer with shareholders including retailer Metro Group and payment services provider Concardis, today for an undisclosed amount.
People
Hadi Tabbaa has joined B Capital, the VC firm backed by consultancy Boston Consulting Group, as global head of investor relations after a nearly five-year stint at investment manager Coatue in a similar role.
