Funding
Health services provider Optum and healthcare consortium Kaiser Permanente took part in a $60m series C round for US-based opioid addiction treatment provider Groups Recover Together yesterday through subsidiaries Optum Ventures and Kaiser Permanente Ventures. The round was led by Oak HC/FT and included Bessemer Venture Partners, Transformation Capital and RRE Ventures – all of which, like Optum Ventures and Kaiser Permanente Ventures, were named as existing investors. The company has not disclosed details of its earlier funding.
Vim, a US-based provider of healthcare management software, has closed a $60m funding round featuring health insurance providers Premera Blue Cross and Anthem, pharmacy retailer Walgreens Boots Alliance and Optum Ventures (see above), Globes reported yesterday. Frist Cressey Ventures, GreatPoint Ventures and Sequoia Capital also took part in the round, which comes after Premera Blue Cross, Optum Ventures, Leverage Health Solutions, GreatPoint and Sequoia supplied $24m in a 2019 series B round taking Vim’s total funding to $37m.
Cymulate, an Israel-based provider of cybersecurity validation software, secured $45m yesterday in a series C round featuring Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE) and Dell Technologies Capital, which invested on behalf of quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and computing technology producer Dell. The round was led by One Peak and included Vertex Ventures Israel and Vertex Growth, both of which joined Dell Technologies Capital and SGE in Cymulate’s $15m series B round in late 2019. It has now raised $71m in total.
Dell Technologies Capital has also participated in a $35m round for Israel-based predictive analytics platform developer Pecan.ai, VentureBeat reported yesterday. Venture capital firm GGV Capital led the round, which was also backed by S Capital and Mindset Ventures. The company had emerged from stealth in January 2020 with $15m from a series A round co-led by Dell Technologies Capital and S Capital.
StarTree, a US-based cloud analytics software provider backed by social network operator LinkedIn, raised $24m yesterday in a series A round co-led by VC firm GGV Capital and Bain Capital Ventures, the VC arm of private equity firm Bain Capital. The round also featured CRV, the VC firm that led StarTree’s $4m seed round in November 2019, participating alongside LinkedIn and angel investors Neha Narkhede, Gokul Rajaram, Jason Warner, Igor Perisic, Raghu Hiremagalur, Jason Forget and Chet Kapoor.
Utmost, the US-based creator of a software platform that helps businesses manage extended workforces, received $21m in series B funding yesterday from investors including enterprise software producer Workday’s corporate venturing unit, Workday Ventures. The round was led by Mosaic Ventures and backed by Acadian Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group and Greylock Partners, the last of which had led an $11.2m series A round for Utmost in October 2019 that included Workday Ventures.
Nearby, the US-based operator of an online marketplace focusing on local retailers, has completed a $21m series A round that included GV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet, Forbes reported yesterday. Redpoint Ventures led the round, which was also backed by Obvious Ventures, Moxxie Ventures, Sound Ventures, Cowboy Ventures and angel investor Tina Sharkey.
UrbanStems secured $20m in series C funding yesterday from investors including Motley Fool Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of financial information provider The Motley Fool. The round was co-led by Swan & Legend Venture Partners and DFE Capital Management and it included Gaingels, PAN and private investor Gordon Segal, increasing UrbanStems’ overall debt and equity financing to over $47m, Motley Fool Ventures, Swan & Legend Venture Partners, Middleland Capital, NextGen Venture Partners and Sagamore Ventures having provided $12m in a 2019 series B round.
US-based small-molecule ligand developer BridGene Biosciences raised $12m yesterday in a series A round backed by Takeda Ventures, the strategic investment arm of pharmaceutical firm Takeda. Wedo Venture Partners led the round, which also featured Kaitai Capital and Pangu Venture, the latter described by the company as an existing investor.
Delta Electronics, a producer of power components for electronics, has invested $7m in US-based artificial intelligence chipmaker Kneron, TechCrunch reported today. The deal came after Kneron raised an undisclosed amount from contract manufacturing Foxconn and semiconductor technology manufacturer Winbond in January 2021, a year after it pulled in $40m from a round led by VC firm Horizons Ventures that pushed its total funding to $73m. Its earlier backers included e-commerce group Alibaba’s Entrepreneur Fund, fabless semiconductor manufacturer Himax, mobile internet technology producer Thundersoft and mobile chipmaker Qualcomm.
Harmonic Bionics, the US-based developer of a robotic exoskeleton for physical rehabilitation, completed a $7m series A round yesterday featuring autonomous vehicle producer H Robotics and Smilegate Investment, an affiliate of video game developer Smilegate. KNet Investment Partners and Big Basin Capital co-led the round, which included DSC Investment, Bass Investment and JCurve Investment. The cash will support clinical research and product development.
Retailo, the Saudi Arabia-headquartered operator of an online business-to-business marketplace, has received $6.7m in seed capital from investors including agricultural media, data and investment group AgFunder, MenaBytes reported today. Shorooq Partners and Abercross Holdings co-led the round, which also featured Arzan Venture Capital, unnamed family offices and angel investors including Junaid Iqbal. It came after $2.3m in pre-seed funding from Shorooq Partners, 500 Durians, 92 Ventures and undisclosed individuals in October 2020.
Energy utility Engie co-led a $6m series A round for US-based industrial optimisation software provider ndustrial through corporate venturing unit Engie New Ventures yesterday. The round was co-led with investment group Clean Energy Ventures and also featured LED lighting equipment producer Orion Energy Systems, logistics service provider Lineage Logistics and Clean Energy Venture Group. The company had previously secured $1.4m from unnamed investors in 2015.
Machine Discovery, a UK-based University of Oxford spinout developing neural network technology to enhance complex simulations, secured an undisclosed amount yesterday from investors including Foresight Williams, the joint venture between engineering services firm Williams Advanced Engineering and investment manager Foresight Group. The round, the first for the startup, also featured University of Oxford Innovation Fund V and Oxford Technology.
Internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund, Gradient Ventures, led a $3.25m seed round yesterday for Recurate, a US-based developer of software that enables businesses to add peer-to-peer marketplaces to their online offerings. Existing investors Third Kind Ventures and Revolution Ventures’ Rise of the Rest fund also took part, and the company’s earlier backers include XRC Labs and RevTech Ventures.
Egypt-based fulfilment management software startup Flextock has completed a $3.25m pre-seed round that included freight services platform developer Flexport, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Foundation Ventures, Y Combinator, MSA Capital, CRE Ventures, Alter Global, Jameel Investment Management Company, B&Y Ventures Partners and Access Bridge Ventures also took part in the round, along with undisclosed angel investors.
Music streaming platform developer Deezer invested an undisclosed amount in Dreamstage, the US-headquartered developer of a live music streaming platform, yesterday. The cash will fund the continuing roll-out of Dreamstage’s platform, which allows performers to sell tickets for live online shows in addition to merchandise.
Grupo Shibata, the owner of supermarket chain Shibata Supermercados, has provided R$15m ($2.8m) in funding for Brazil-based loyalty technology developer Wiboo, Startupi reported last week. Wiboo has created a crypto token called Wibx which can be used as the basis for customer loyalty and engagement activities, and Shibata Supermercados is now among its partners.
Fazz Financial Group, the joint venture between digital payment technology provider Payfazz and payment services provider Singapore Xfers, has supplied an undisclosed amount for Modal Rakyat, the Indonesia-headquartered operator of a peer-to-peer lending marketplace, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. The deal was announced together with news Modal Rakyat has received a licence from Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority.
Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, the strategic investment arm of financial services firm Northwestern Mutual, led a $1.1m seed round yesterday for MentalHappy, the creator of an online platform designed to promote mental health through peer support. Social Impact Capital and Chai Angels also took part in the round, as did Peter Reinhardt, co-founder and chief executive of customer data technology provider Segment.
First Ascent, a Japan-based developer of digitalisation technology for the childcare space, raised an undisclosed amount from personal hygiene, childcare and household product manufacturer Unicharm today. The company had previously secured an undisclosed sum from investors including childcare and nursing services provider Global Bridge Holdings in January 2020.
India-headquartered esports platform developer Revenant Esports has received $1m in funding from Ventureland Asia, the corporate venturing arm of advertising agency Creativeland Asia, LiveMint reported today. The corporate took a 40% stake in Revenant through its investment, with the cash to support customer acquisition.
WE Ventures, the female-focused VC fund backed by software provider Microsoft, has invested an undisclosed amount in Unbox, a Brazil-based e-commerce software developer, to close its inaugural funding round. VC fund Maya Capital had led the round’s $670,000 first tranche in January this year.
Financial data aggregator Minkabu The Infonoid provided an undisclosed amount of funding today for Surf Holdings, the Singapore-based creator of an online platform to be called Surf Exchange which will connect music creators, producers and record labels. The corporate has also formed a partnership agreement with Surf Holdings, which was founded in September 2020.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
