Funding
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 led a $75m series D round yesterday for WorkBoard, a US-based provider of objectives and key results (OKR) management software. The round included Workday Ventures, Capital One Ventures and M12 – on behalf of enterprise software producer Workday, financial services firm Capital One and software producer M12 – as well as Andreessen Horowitz, GGV Capital and SVB Capital. It valued WorkBoard at $800m post-money according to TechCrunch, and it took the company’s total funding to $140m, following a $30m series C round in January 2020.
GV, a subsidiary of internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet, took part in a $70m series B round for US-based therapist network operator Headway yesterday. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz led the round, which included Thrive Capital and Accel and which valued the company at $750m according to TechCrunch. Headway had raised a total of $32m as of a $26m series A round in November 2020 co-led by GV and Thrive Capital and backed by existing investors Accel, GFC and IA Ventures as well as multiple individuals.
Switzerland-headquartered ophthalmic treatment developer Oculis completed a $57m series C round yesterday featuring Novartis Venture Fund, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical firm Novartis, and Pivotal BioVenture Partners and Nan Fung Life Sciences, on behalf of property development group Nan Fung’s Nan Fung Life Sciences division. The round was co-led by BVCF Management and Hyfinity Investments and included VI Partners, Wille Finance, Bay City Capital, Brunnur Ventures, EarlyBird Venture Capital, Silfurberg, funds managed by Tekla Capital Management and unnamed existing backers. It followed a $35.9m series B round closed in early 2019.
Social Bella, the Singapore-headquartered online beauty and personal care product retailer also known as Sociolla, has raised approximately $56m in a round led by private equity firm L Catterton and backed by Indies Capital, East Ventures and Jungle Ventures, e27 reported yesterday. The company had received a total of more than $52m as of a $40m series D round in 2019 led by EV Growth, a joint venture between East Ventures, conglomerate Sinar Mas and internet company Yahoo Japan, and its earlier backers include fashion e-commerce platform iStyle.
JupiterOne, the US-based cybersecurity and governance software provider spun off by healthcare software producer LifeOmic, secured $30m yesterday in a series B round led by VC firm Sapphire Ventures that included Bain Capital Ventures, the VC arm of private equity firm Bain Capital. The company had secured $19m in a September 2020 series A round led by Bain Capital Ventures and backed by LifeOmic, Rain Capital and undisclosed angel investors.
US-headquartered smart lending software provider LoanSnap also received $30m in series B funding yesterday, from investors including conglomerate Virgin Group. VC firm True Ventures led the round, which also featured Baseline Ventures, Avanta Ventures, ThomVest Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, WorkPlay Ventures, Mantis and private investor Reid Hoffman. LoanSnap had previously raised $10m in a May 2020 round featuring Virgin, True Ventures, Mantis, Work Play Ventures, Accelerator Ventures, Baseline Ventures, Thomvest Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures and Ovo Fund to take its total funding to $22.3m.
US-based online political media company Recount Media has raised $18 million in a series B round backed by Burda Principal Investments, the corporate venturing arm of media group Hubert Burda, it told Axios yesterday. VC firm Foundry Group led the round, which also featured Union Square Ventures (USV), Alumni Ventures, True Ventures, Correlation Ventures and unnamed private investors. It had already secured $13m in a March 2020 series A round led by USV that included broadcaster ViacomCBS, Burda Principal Investments and True Ventures.
Insurance firm Allstate led an extension of undisclosed size to a $10m series A round for US-headquartered cybersecurity counterintelligence provider Prevailion yesterday through subsidiary Allstate Strategic Ventures. The extension included Accenture Ventures, the investment arm of consulting firm Accenture, and investment firm Irongrey, and it came after a securities filing last month indicated Prevailion had raised $5m in new funding. It had raised an undisclosed sum from VC firm Legion Capital Partners in November 2019, seven months after AllegisCyber and DataTribe provided the round’s $10m first tranche. The latter had previously led the company’s $1.7m seed round the previous year.
US-based online pet product retailer Pawp secured $13m yesterday in a series A round featuring telehealth platform developer Ro, medical services marketplace ZocDoc and mattress brand Eight Sleep. The round was led by VC firm Lux Capital and included Good Friends, unnamed earlier backers and undisclosed angel investors. Pawp had previously received $3m in seed financing from unnamed investors in September 2019.
Digital trading firm Kinetic and Gumi Cryptos, a subsidiary of mobile game publisher Gumi, co-led an $11m seed round for Qredo, a UK-headquartered provider of decentralised digital asset management technology, on Monday with G1, Maven 11, Spartan Group and 1kx. The round included financial services provider Celsius, crypto trader Deribit, digital asset market maker Wintermute, crypto financial services provider GSR, quantitative trading firm Kronos Research, crypto trading tool developer 3commas, blockchain auditor Quantstamp, CMS Holdings, Amnis Ventures, Artus Capital, Borderless Capital, Connect.Capital, Rare Stone Partners, Spartan Group, SVK Crypto, Tokentus, Yellow and Zhou Holdings.
France-based digital payment software provider Fintecture received $7.5m in seed funding from investors including financial services firm Société Générale yesterday. VC firm Target Global led the round, which also featured VC fund Samaipata and unnamed angel investors. The cash will be allocated to boosting the size of Fintecture’s team, strengthening its infrastructure and expansion in Europe.
Commercial vehicle producer China Dynamics paid an undisclosed amount yesterday for a 5% stake in Germany-based electric vehicle and electrification technology provider Quantron. The investment was made in connection with a deal through which Quantron will source components and retrofitting kits from China Dynamics to support demand from European customers.
Carry1st, a South Africa-headquartered, Africa-focused social game publisher, has raised $6m in a round that included video game developer Riot Games and mobile game publisher Akatsuki’s AET Fund, VentureBeat reported yesterday. VC firm Konvoy Ventures led the round, which also featured Raine Ventures and TTV Capital and which followed an undisclosed amount of seed capital from Musha Ventures in 2020 and $2.5m in seed funding from smartphone maker Transsion’s Future Hub, CRE Venture Capital, Perivoli Innovations, Chandaria Capital, Lateral Capital and angel investor Kam Kronenberg III in May the same year to take its overall funding to $4m.
Portainer.io, the New Zealand-headquartered creator of container data management product Portainer CE, secured $6m yesterday in a series A round that included Sonae IM, the technology investment arm of diversified conglomerate Sonae. The round was led by VC firm Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) and included Movac, and it came in the wake of a $1.2m seed round in August 2020 featuring BVP, Black Nova Group, K1W1, AmpliPhi Ventures and unnamed angel investors.
Materials and manufacturing technology producer Confluent Medical Technologies provided an undisclosed amount yesterday for Electrospinning, a UK-based provider of contract design and manufacturing services focusing on nanofiber biomaterials for the medical industry. Electrospinning had raised $420,000 from angel investors in 2011, $810,000 from investors including Angels 5K, LBA, Minerva, Wroxall, Angels in MedCity, Oxford Investment Opportunity Network and Rainbow Seed Fund in 2017 and $1.9m from Downing Ventures, MidVen, Newable Private Investing and the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council in June 2019.
Insurance firm Sancor Seguros has led a $2m series A round for Agree, the Argentina-based developer of an online trading platform for the agricultural industry, La Nación reported last month. The company has not disclosed details of earlier funding but had previously taken part in the The Yield Lab LatAm accelerator.
M&A
Social media company Twitter paid an undisclosed amount yesterday to acquire Scroll, a US-based digital content publisher backed by electronics producer Samsung and media companies Bertelsmann, Gannett, Axel Springer, The New York Times and O’Reilly Media. All the corporates took part in Scroll’s $7m series A round in 2018 alongside Union Square Ventures, Uncork Capital, Founder Collective and Tom Glocer. It followed a $3m seed round featuring O’Reilly’s OATV unit, Axel Springer, New York Times, News Corp and Softech VC two years earlier.
Cloud networking technology provider Aryaka disclosed yesterday it bought Secucloud, a US-based developer of secure access service edge technology, for an undisclosed amount last month, allowing conglomerate Sonae to exit. Sonae’s corporate venturing unit, Sonae IM, had supplied a ‘multi-million’ amount of series B funding for the company in 2017, two years after it raised an undisclosed sum from Heilemann Ventures.
