Funding
Agtech and food
PTT Oil and Retail Business, part of oil and gas group PTT, has led a $23.5m series B round for Thailand-based agricultural technology developer Freshket, the Business Times reported today. Agricultural and food conglomerate Betagro was also part of the round, which was filled out by Openspace Ventures, Volta Circle and Orzon Ventures.
Fast food eatery owner Chopt Creative Salad Company’s parent firm, Founders Table Restaurant Group, took part in a $5m round for Sweet Chick, a US-based chicken-and-waffles restaurant chain operator, yesterday.
Packaged meat producer Maple Leaf Foods took part in a $2m seed round yesterday for Canada-based cultivated meat developer Evolved Meats. Funders Maple Leaf Foods and Big Idea Ventures co-led the round, which was filled out by Garage Capital, Saltagen Ventures, University of Waterloo’s Velocity Fund and angel investors.
AI
Restar-SBI Innovation Fund, a joint vehicle between electronic component manufacturer Restar and financial services firm SBI, provided an undisclosed amount yesterday for Japan-based artificial intelligence technology developer Intelligence Design.
AR & VR
Telecommunications and internet group NTT Docomo provided ¥450m ($3.5m) today for Anomaly, a Japan-based virtual dance content producer.
Consumer
Industrial conglomerate Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures unit led a $10m convertible note financing round for NorthLadder, a UAE-based second-hand electronics trading portal operator. Beco Capital, Venture Souq and Dutch Founders Fund filled out the participants in the round.
Financial services firm Nordea Bank took part in a $30m round for Finland-based consumer brand marketplace operator eBrands, investing alongside Varma Pension Fund, Rettig Group, Veikko Laine Oy, Icebreaker.VC and unnamed private investors, taking its total funding to $50m. Nordea Bank and Finnvera are the company’s lenders.
Computing, enterprise and cybersecurity
Workday Ventures, a corporate venturing arm of human resources software producer Workday, took part in a $45m series B round for Noyo, a US-based operator of an employee benefits industry-focused API platform. The round was led by Norwest Venture Partners and backed by Costanoa Ventures, Spark Capital, Homebrew, Operator Collective, Fika Ventures, Precursor Ventures, Garuda Ventures, Core Innovation Capital and Webb Investment Network.
Dell Technologies Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of US-based computing equipment provider Dell, participated in a $3.6m seed round for ZincSearch, a US-based search engine platform operator. Nexus Venture Partners led the round, investing alongside Secure Octane, Cardinia Ventures and angel investors including Anand Babu Periasamy, Balaji Parimi, Rob Skillington, Anshu Sharma, Luke Kim, Awais Nemat, Dan Pinto and Alex Gallegos.
Slack Fund, a vehicle for US-based enterprise communication tool developer Slack, has participated in US-based natural language processing technology developer Glean’s $100m series C round, which valued it at $1bn post-money. Sequoia Capital led the round, which included Lightspeed, General Catalyst and Kleiner Perkins.
Cybersecurity technology groups CrowdStrike (through Falcon Fund) and CyberArk contributed to an $11m seed round for Israel-based cloud data security system developer Dig, as the company emerged from stealth yesterday. Team8 led the round, which featured Merlin Ventures and angel investors including Tom Killalea, Jeff Fagnan, Nir Polak, Ori Fragman and Nitzan Shapira.
Water utility Global Omnium’s GoHub Ventures unit took part in a €4m ($4.2m) round for Galgus, a Spain-based intelligent wifi technology developer. GED Capital and Mundi Ventures also took part in the round.
Marketing technology group Vertika Corporation and IT services firm PT Reycom Document Solusi took part in a $3.8m seed round for Indonesia-based insurance technology provider Rey Assurance, DealStreetAsia reported on Wednesday, citing regulatory filings. The round was filled out by Genesia Ventures.
Crypto
Smart contract software provider Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund took part in a $3m series A round for Security Token Group, a US-based security token-focused venture consultancy. Blue Bay Ventures led the round, which included participation from Exodus and Miami Tech Leaders.
Cryptocurrency exchanges Matrixport and KuCoin (the latter through its KuCoin Ventures unit) took part in a $15m series A round for BitKeep, a Singapore-based Web3.0 cross-chain wallet, on Wednesday. Dragonfly Capital led the round, which included A&T Capital, Foresight Ventures, SevenX, Matrixpor, Bixin Capital, Danhua Capital, Peak Capital and YM Capital.
Energy
Inven Capital, a vehicle for energy utility Čez, chipped into a $105m series C round yesterday for Germany-based solar energy equipment provider Zolar. Energy Impact Partners and GIC co-led the round, which counted backing from Heartcore Capital, Statkraft Ventures and Pirate Impact Capital.
EV
ABB E-Mobility, a subsidiary of industrial automation technology firm ABB Group, took part in US-based electric vehicle charging management platform ChargeLab’s $15m series A round yesterday. King River Capital led the round, which included Construct Capital, Root Ventures, Highline Beta, Third Sphere and Maple VC.
Fintech
EV Growth, a venture capital partnership co-formed by internet company Yahoo Japan (now part of Z Holdings), conglomerate Sinar Mas and VC firm East Ventures, backed a $300m series D round for Indonesia-based payments infrastructure platform Xendit. Coatue and Insight Partners co-led the round, which took the company’s total funding to $538m. Accel, Tiger Global, Kleiner Perkins, Amasia, Intudo and Goat Capital filled out the participants.
HSBC Asset Management, a subsidiary of financial services firm HSBC, led a series C round for Hong Kong-based digital wealth management platform Quantifeed’s series C round of undisclosed size today. Daiwa PI Partners, Franklin Templeton and Lun Partners Group filled out the participants.
Cryptocurrency exchange JEX and Velocity Fintech Capital have co-led a €1.1m round for Netherlands-based salary donation scheme provider The Social Handshake, Silicon Canas reported yesterday. Boralis and multiple startup founders filled out the investors.
Healthtech
Medical supplies vendor Medipal Holdings’ corporate venturing unit, Medipal Innovation, backed a round of undisclosed size yesterday for Japan-based cancer therapeutics developer Chordia Therapeutics through a business partnership.
Optum Ventures, a vehicle for pharmacy benefit manager Optum, participated in a $10m round for Greater Good Health, a US-based nurse practitioner-focused care model provider, on Wednesday. LRVHealth led the round, which included Martin Ventures, Health Velocity Capital and unnamed angel investors and health experts. The company had already raised $3m in hitherto undisclosed seed funding from unspecified investors.
Financial services firm Citi’s Impact Fund and non-profit organisation Kapor Center for Social Impact’s Kapor Capital Fund took part in a $12m series A round yesterday for Cayaba Care, a US-based maternity care technology provider. Seae Ventures led the round, which included Wellington Partners and Rhia Ventures.
Industrial
Channel 4 Ventures, a vehicle for broadcaster Channel 4, co-led a £3.5m ($4.4m) round on Tuesday for Coat, a UK-based sustainable paint producer. Channel 4 Ventures provided the funding through a media-for-equity deal, and the round was co-led by Pembroke VCT and backed by Seedrs.
Insurtech
Gree Ventures, G-Startup Fund, Monex Ventures and SMBC Venture Capital, respective subsidiaries of digital marketing group Gree, education services provider Globis, currency exchange Monex and financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, joined Chiba Dojo Fund, Hiroshima Venture Capital, Lifetime Ventures and Miraise today to back IB, the Japan-based operator of insurance claim platform Hokenbo.
Supply chain
Logistics group DHL took part in a $24m round yesterday for Everstream Analytics, a US-based supply chain and risk data analytics service. Morgan Stanley Investment Management, Columbia Capital and StepStone Group were also among the investors.
Funds
Raúl Camou, general director of Mexico-based advertising agency ISA Corporativo, revealed at networking event Pitch at the Beach last week the company has formed a corporate venturing unit dubbed ISA Capital, El CEO reported yesterday. Camou has not responded to GCV’s request for comment.
M&A
Media group Candle Media paid $100m to acquire US-based digital content provider Attn, which is backed by talent agency CAA’s Evolution Media affiliate, in a cash and stock deal.
Food delivery app operator Jahez is set to acquire The Chefz, a Saudi Arabia-based peer backed by consulting group OceanX, for an undisclosed amount, Arab News reported yesterday.
SPAC
Near, a US-based advertising technology developer backed by networking equipment producer Cisco and telecommunications firm Telstra, agreed yesterday to merge with Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company KludeIn I Acquisition Corp. The combined entity, Near Intelligence, will become a publicly listed company with a pro forma capitalisation of almost $1bn.
