Funding
AG Real Estate, a subsidiary of insurance firm AG Insurance, led a €58m ($70.3m) financing round for Belgium-based short-term accommodation provider Cohabs yesterday made up of nearly $15.2m in equity funding and $55.2m in subordinated debt, participating alongside Alphastone, Federal Assurance, Finance.Brussels and undisclosed others. Cohabs has not revealed details of earlier funding but named AG Real Estate and Alphastone as existing backers.
Stampli, the US-based creator of an accounts payable management platform, received $50m in series C funding from investors including media company Bloomberg and internet group Naver yesterday. The round was led by growth equity firm Insight Partners and also featured SignalFire, Nextworld Capital, UpWest and Hillsven Capital. It increased Stampli’s overall funding to $87m and followed $25m in series B funding from Bloomberg-sponsored venture capital firm Bloomberg Beta, SignalFire, Hillsven Capital and NextWorld Capital in late 2019.
Tarana Wireless, a US-headquartered wireless cellular technology developer backed by several corporate investors, completed a $50m preferred stock financing yesterday led by Prime Movers Lab. The company had raised a total of $200m as of early 2019 when it closed an $88m round featuring satellite producer EchoStar, before adding $24m from EchoStar, 1010 Holdings and existing investor Khosla Ventures in February 2020 and $30m from Prime Movers Lab and mass media companies Liberty Latin America and Liberty Global eight months later.
Spain-headquartered orthodontal services provider Impress has secured $50m in a series A round that included Uniqa Ventures, the strategic investment arm of insurance firm Uniqa, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round was led by CareCapital, a subsidiary of hedge fund manager Hillhouse Capital, and also featured Nickleby Capital, TA Ventures, Bynd VC and angel investors Michael Linse, Valentin Pitarque, Peter Schiff and Elliot Dornbusch. It came in the wake of $5.8m from investors including Bynd VC, TA Ventures and Sabadell VC, a vehicle for financial services firm Banco Sabadell, in October 2020.
Canada-based digital transformation services provider OSF Digital raised $43m yesterday from investors including enterprise software producer Salesforce’s corporate venturing unit, Salesforce Ventures. The round was led by growth equity firm Delta-v Capital and was also backed by OSF Digital chairman David Northington, director Jeff Rich and board advisor Gary DiOrio. Delta-v Capital had led a $23m round for OSF in May 2019 that included Salesforce Ventures, the latter having revealed it as a portfolio company the previous year.
US-based facial recognition software developer Paravision received $23m from investors including identity verification technology provider HID Global yesterday. VC firm J2 Ventures led the round, which also featured Marlinspike Capital, Atomic, Icon Ventures, Perot Jain, Red Cell Partners and unnamed others. Formerly a photo storage app developer known as Everalbum, Paravision had raised $8m from investors including Khosla Ventures, Felicis Ventures and Cherubic Ventures as of 2016, Felicis Ventures and Khosla Ventures returning for a $16m series B round led by Icon Ventures the following year.
US-headquartered back-office technology developer Collective secured $20m in series A funding yesterday from VC firms General Catalyst and Sound Ventures as well as multiple angel investors. Gradient Ventures, the artificial intelligence fund formed by internet and technology group Alphabet, had joined General Catalyst, QED Investors, Expa and various individuals in the company’s $8.7m seed round in September 2020.
Planck, an Israel-based intelligent underwriting software provider backed by financial services provider Nationwide and insurance firm HDI Group, has raised $20m from investment and financial services group Fidelity’s Eight Roads Ventures fund, 3L Capital, Greenfield Partners and existing backers including Team8, Viola Fintech and Arbor Ventures, Globes reported yesterday. Both corporates took part in Planck’s $16m series B round in June 2020 and the latest round boosted its overall funding to $48m.
US-headquartered social video tool developer Jellysmack confirmed yesterday it has closed an undisclosed amount of series C funding from internet and telecommunications group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. Broadway Video Ventures, the investment arm of entertainment producer Broadway Video, and Partech Ventures co-led a $2m round for Jellysmack in 2017, when it was still known as Keli Network, investing alongside OneRagTime. The company added $14m in series A funding from Highland Europe, Interplay Ventures, Partech and OneRagTime the following year.
Big Time Studios, the US-based developer of a cooperative RPG video game, has received $10.3 million in equity funding from investors including digital currency exchange OKEx and quantitative crypto trading firm Alameda Research, VentureBeat reported yesterday. Digital asset manager FBG Capital led the round, which included North Island Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Blockdream Ventures, Circle Financial and Sound Ventures, and Big Time is also in the process of raising $11m for a fund which will back game developers utilising its technology.
HG Ventures, the VC arm of diversified trading group Heritage Group, co-led a $10m round for US-headquartered design automation software provider Transcend Software yesterday with Aspen Capital Group and PureTerra Ventures. The round also featured Vespucci Partners, which had led a $3m seed round for Transcend in August 2020 that included Citic Capital, Idinvest Partners, International Finance Corporation, Invesco/WLR, Gamma Capital Partners and XPV Water Partners, after the company had been spun off by wastewater treatment technology producer Organica.
US-based animal protein technology developer Applied LifeSciences & Systems has raised an undisclosed sum for the first close of a series B round with a $7m target for its close. Merck Animal Health, the veterinary subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co, co-led the tranche with Mountain Group Partners, investing alongside Oval Park Capital. The same three investors had supplied $8m for the company’s series A round in early 2019.
US-based RPG developer Lightforge Games emerged from stealth yesterday with $5m from investors including video game developer Dreamhaven and NetEase Games, a subsidiary of internet company NetEase. The corporates were joined by Galaxy Interactive, Maveron, 1UP Ventures and undisclosed angel investors, and the cash will support hiring as Lightforge looks to create an all-remote studio.
Japan-based asset management app developer Moneytree received ¥470m ($4.3m) in series C2 funding from GMO Venture Partners, the investment arm of internet company GMO, as well as financial services and investment group Fidelity, Aslead Capital and Yamauchi No 10 Family Office, on Tuesday. The company had raised a total of $29m as of an investment of undisclosed size by Fidelity in April 2020, and its earlier investors include enterprise software producer Salesforce, internet company Digital Garage and financial services firms SBI, Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Hiroshima Bank and Fukuoka Financial Group.
Investment firm Trilogy Equity Partners has led a $4m funding round for LumaTax, a US-based tax software provider backed by professional services firm KPMG, GeekWire reported yesterday. Madrona Venture Group and Greycroft Partners joined unnamed individuals to invest $2m in LumaTax in 2016 and returned for a $3m round that included Cowboy Ventures and Vulcan Capital two years later. All four were part of a $2m round for the company in February 2020.
Japan-based online anime producer Plott secured ¥400m ($3.7m) yesterday from animation studios Oriental Light and Magic (through its OLM Ventures unit) and Polygon Pictures, video game publisher Sega Sammy Holdings, marketing group Hakuhodo DY’s Future Design Fund, Dream Incubator’s Dimension fund, Anri and angel investors Kensuu (Kensuke Furukawa) and Yōhē Sadoshima. It had raised $470,000 from investors including mobile game publisher Gumi’s Tokyo XR Startups and Gumi Ventures units as of August 2019, before private investor Hiroaki Akiyama added an undisclosed sum three months later.
Wilder World, the US-headquartered creator of a digital art gallery focused on non-fungible tokens, has received $3m in a round that included mobile app developer Animoca Brands, VentureBeat reported on Monday. The round was led by crypto financial advisory firm Spartan Group and also backed by Digital Currency Group, Republic Realm and Signum Capital.
Marketing group Dentsu provided an undisclosed amount for Ambr, the Japan-based developer of a creative virtual reality studio, today. Computer graphic design studio ModelingCafe had joined VC firm Anri and several angel investors in a $900,000 round for the company in April 2019 that included debt financing from Japan Finance Corporation.
Angel Torch, the corporate venturing arm of real estate developer AdWorks Group, invested nearly $460,000 to lead an ¥80m ($730,000) funding round today for X Digital Innovation, the Japan-based provider of a financial planning service. Three unnamed companies provided the rest of the funding, which followed $770,000 from unnamed angel investors in July 2020.
Property developer Mitsubishi Estate supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for CEspace, a Japan-based provider of rental housing aimed at the tech community, today. CEspace was spun off by human resources firm Will Group in March 2019 and had raised an undisclosed amount from IT services firm Information Strategic Technology in January 2020.
Cynaps, the Japan-based developer of connected CO2 monitoring and ventilation alert system Hazaview, secured ¥28m ($260,000) yesterday from investors including measurement and testing equipment producer Sanko and energy conservation technology provider CHC Group. The corporates will work with Cynaps to jointly develop internet-of-things products and they were joined in the round by multiple angel investors.
Workplace attendance technology producer Amano Corporation provided an undisclosed amount of funding today for Beepnow Systems, a Japan-based developer of shift management software. The investment was made through a partnership deal through which the companies will collaborate on products and services.
Minda Industries, part of automotive component group Uno Minda Group, has paid Rs 2.7m ($37,000) for a 27.7% stake in India-based solar power provider Strongsun Renewables, VCCircle reported yesterday, citing a securities filing. Strongsun had not disclosed details of earlier financing.
M&A
Precision medicine services firm CellCarta has purchased US-based pathology imaging software developer Reveal Biosciences for an undisclosed amount, allowing semiconductor and data technology producer Intel and biopharmaceutical company GNI Group to exit. Intel’s corporate venturing subsidiary, Intel Capital, led a series A round of undisclosed size for the company in April 2019, investing alongside GNI and asset manager PP Capital.
Internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet’s AI fund, Gradient Ventures, has exited US-based data planning platform developer Iteratively through an acquisition of undisclosed size by digital optimisation technology provider Amplitude. The deal was closed just three months after Gradient Ventures led the startup’s $5.4m seed round, which also featured Fika Ventures and existing backer PSL Ventures.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
