Funding
Blockchain and crypto
Mobile game publisher N3twork was among the investors in a $46m series A round for US-based blockchain game producer N3twork Studios yesterday. Griffin Gaming Partners led the round, which included Kleiner Perkins, Galaxy Interactive, KIP, Floodgate and LLL Capital.
Solana Ventures, public blockchain platform developer Solana’s corporate venturing unit, was among the investors that participated in a $7.5m round for Parcl, a US-based operator of a blockchain-fuelled property investment portal, on Tuesday. Fifth Wall, Jaws, Barry Sternlicht, IA Capital & Eberg Capital, Big Brain Holdings and Santiago Santos all co-led the round, which included Archetype, Dragonfly Capital, Shima Capital, Not Boring Capital and FJ Labs.
Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s corporate venturing arm, Coinbase Ventures, backed a $15m seed round for US-based web3 role-playing game developer Azra Games. Andreessen Horowitz (through its games fund and crypto fund) led the round, investing alongside NFX, Play Ventures and Franklin Templeton.
Computing
Eyewear brand owner Lenskart has led a $2.25m pre-series A round for India-based location intelligence software provider GeoIQ, investing alongside 9 Unicorns, Venture Catalysts and Ecosystem Ventures, the Economic Times reported today.
Consumer
IT services group Lanit invested an undisclosed amount in US-based electronics reseller Itogo through its Lanit Ventures unit, AK&M reported yesterday.
Mobile network operator Mobile TeleSystems’ corporate venturing vehicle, MTS Venture Fund, provided ₽72m ($1.2m) for Bartello, a Russia-based provider of a food and beverage ordering app, AK&M reported last month.
Financial services and investment firm Fidelity’s Eight Roads Ventures unit joined Elevation Capital to co-lead a $15m series A round yesterday for India-based female-focused direct-to-consumer brand owner BlissClub Fitness, VCCircle reported yesterday. Sriharsha Majety, Ghazal Alagh, Vivek Gupta, Abhay Hanjura, Sumer Juneja, Munish Varma, Brennan Loh and Masoom Minawala all took part in the round.
Bold, cosmetics producer L’Oréal’s corporate venturing arm also known as Business Opportunities for L’Oréal Development, provided an undisclosed amount for Japan-based direct-to-consumer skincare brand owner Sparty.
Foodtech
Food ingredient manufacturer Thai Union Ingredients took part in a $39.5m round yesterday for Mara Renewables Corporation, a Canada-headquartered algae-based food developer. InvestEco Capital led the round, which included BDC Venture Capital, Export Development Canada and MacKinnon, Bennett & Company. The company is set to raise additional funding for a second close from Clear Creek Investments next month.
Healthtech and biotech
Alexandria Venture Investments, the venture capital arm of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, participated in a $70m series B round yesterday for Remix Therapeutics, a US-based small molecule therapy developer. The round was led by Surveyor Capital, which invested alongside Foresite Capital, Atlas Venture, The Column Group, Arch Venture Partners and Casdin Capital.
Mass General Brigham Ventures, a vehicle for healthcare provider Mass General Brigham, co-led a round yesterday with Syncona a $56m series B round for SwanBio Therapeutics, a US-based gene therapy developer, taking the company’s overall funding to $133m.
Internet technology group Tencent and pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson (through its Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC unit) have taken part in a $35m series B round for US-based bacteriophage therapeutics developer Locus Biosciences, Fierce Biotech reported today. Artis Ventures and Viking Global Investors filled out the participants. The figure included equity funding and the conversion of an earlier convertible note.
Pharmaceutical group Cambrian BioPharma provided $11.5m in seed funding today for Oviva Therapeutics, a US-based biotechnology group focusing on women’s health.
Pharmaceutical firms Charles River Laboratories and Novartis participated in an $11.5m series B round for Deciphex, an Ireland-based pathology technology developer, today. Act Venture Capital led the round, investing alongside Irrus Investments, NextSteps Capital and HBAN Medtech Syndicate.
IoT
Arise, a growth vehicle for MDI Ventures, which invests on behalf of telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia, has participated in a $14m series A round for Indonesia-based poultry technology developer Pitik, Tech in Asia reported today. Alpha JWC led the round, which featured Wavemaker.
Funds
Insurance firm Ping An’s asset management arm, China Ping An Insurance Overseas, said yesterday it raised $300m for its dollar-denominated vehicle, Ping An China New Economy Fund.
US-based venture capital firm F7 Ventures has closed its first pre-seed and seed-stage vehicle at $50m with contributions from limited partners including internet and telecoms firm SoftBank, FinSMEs reported yesterday. JP Morgan, Insight Partners, Anthemis Group, Espresso Capital and Verdis Investment Management committed, as did Sheryl Sandberg, Tom Bernthal, Paris Hilton, Andrew Bosworth and Justin Kan.
Egypt-based shipping group Egytrans named the top three startup winners yesterday for its incubation initiative Logivators’ inaugural batch. The scheme was formed in October 2021 in partnership with accelerator hubs Pmaestro and Cash Cows, and it has already selected and backed seven teams from 56 applications.
Financial services provider SBI Holdings has formed a $75m Singapore-based investment vehicle, Nikkei reported today. SBI Ven Capital, a VC subsidiary of SBI, is set to manage the fund, having teamed up with Kyobo Securities, the brokerage arm of insurer Kyobo Life Insurance Group, and NTUitive, the innovation and enterprise unit of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. The fund’s final close is scheduled for the third quarter in 2023, and it will target digital technology developers at pre-series A and series A-stages.
