Funding
Sary, the Saudi Arabia-based operator of a business-to-business marketplace, received $30.5m in series B funding yesterday from investors including Raed Ventures, the venture capital arm of conglomerate Almajdouie Holding, KrAsia reported. VentureSouq led the round, which also featured STV, the VC firm backed by telecommunications firm Saudi Telecom, as well as Rocketship.vc, MSA Capital and Derayah VC. It had raised $6.6m in an April 2020 round led by Raed Ventures and backed by MSA Capital and Derayah Ventures.
Aerobiotix, a US-based developer of airborne infection control technology, secured $25m yesterday from investors including Asahi Kasei Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of chemicals producer Asahi Kasei. The round was led by VC firm Vivo Capital and the cash will support sales, marketing and further development of the company’s product, which is designed for use in hospitals, offices and as part of long-term healthcare.
VC firm Andreessen Horowitz has led a $19m series A round for Bitski, a US-based developer of non-fungible token (NFT) storefronts that counts digital currency exchange Coinbase and app developer Animoca Brands as investors, TechCrunch reported yesterday. 3Lau and angel investors including Jay-Z, MrBeast and Serena Williams also took part in the round, which followed a $1.8m seed round in November 2019 featuring Coinbase, Animoca Brands, Galaxy Digital, Winklevoss Capital, SV Angel, Kindred Ventures, SV Angel, Signia Ventures and Bobby Goodlatte that took its total funding to $3.5m.
Validus, a Singapore-based business finance platform developer backed by conglomerate Kuok Group and building materials producer Siam Cement Group, has received S$20m ($15.7m) in equity funding from asset manager Fasanara Capital together with $23.5m in capital for its Enterprise Financing Scheme, The Business Times reported today. Both corporates took part in its $20m series B-plus round in May 2020 with Vertex Ventures, FMO, Openspace Ventures and VinaCapital Ventures. Its overall equity funding now stands at roughly $55m.
China-based autonomous robot developer Youibot has raised nearly RMB100m ($15.5m) in a funding round led by telecoms and internet group SoftBank through its SoftBank Ventures Asia subsidiary, TechCrunch reported today. Quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group and VC firm BlueRun Ventures – both described as existing investors – also contributed to the round, which came after a pre-series A round of undisclosed size in April 2020 that was led by ZhenFund and backed by existing investors HAX and C&I Capital.
US-headquartered crypto data provider Coin Metrics secured $15m on Wednesday in a series B round featuring crypto lending platform developer BlockFi. Investment bank Goldman Sachs led the round, which included investment and financial services group Fidelity, Castle Island Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Avon Ventures, Collab+Currency, Communitas Capital, Acrew Ventures, Morningside Group and Warburg Serres Investments. The company had raised a total of $7.9m as of a $6m series A round in March 2020 backed by Coinbase Ventures, the strategic investment arm of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
Department store operator Marui Group helped supply ¥1.15bn ($10.5m) in series C funding for Japan-based electricity retail marketplace Minna Denryoku today. It was joined by financial services firms Aozora Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the latter through its SMBC Venture Capital subsidiary, and Minna Denryoku has now raised $38m in total. The deal followed $14.3m in pre-series C funding from Marui, human resources firm DIP’s Labor Force Solution Investment Business Limited Partnership and Japan Finance Corporation in October 2020.
Investment holding company CapStone Holdings provided $10m for Local Motors, a US-based autonomous vehicle developer backed by aerospace manufacturer Airbus, earlier this year, it revealed yesterday. Local Motors parent LM Industries had secured $15m from Mirai Creation Fund II in October 2020, Airbus subsidiary Airbus Ventures having invested an undisclosed amount in the company in 2016, following $3m from car kit manufacturer Factory Five Racing and unnamed angel investors in 2007.
Hwy Haul, the US-based creator of an online freight management platform for fresh produce, received $10m in series A funding yesterday from investors including media, data and investment firm AgFunder. The round was co-led by investment firm Eileses Capital and BluePointe Ventures, a subsidiary of wealth manager BluePointe Capital Management, with backing from True Blue Partners and angel investors Girish Mathrubootham, Dheeraj Pandey, Rajiv Batra and Vivek Mehra.
Cryptocurrency research provider Delphi Digital and NFT trader GmoneyNFT contributed to a $7.5m series A round for Upshot, a US-based creator of decentralised information technology, yesterday that was co-led by Framework Ventures, CoinFund and Blockchain Capital. It also featured Slow Ventures, Mechanism Capital, CMS Holdings, FlamingoDAO and angel investors including Andrew Steinwold, Shayne Coplan, Cooper Turley, Meltem Demirors, Tegan Kline, Tony Sheng, Andy Chorlian, Stani Kulechov, Kain Warwick and Ryan Selkis.
Chemicals producer Solvay took part in a £5.3m ($7.4m) series A round yesterday for Invizius, a UK-based developer of treatments to suppress unwanted innate immune responses, through subsidiary Solvay Ventures. It included Old College Capital, Mercia Asset Management, Downing Ventures, Scottish Enterprise, Calculus Capital and private investor Jonathan Milner. Mercia Asset Management led a $3.4m round for Invizius in October 2019 that included Old College Capital, Scottish Investment Bank and Downing Ventures having already supplied $680,000 of seed capital the previous year.
Arcturus, a US-based creator of hologram creation technology, has secured $5m from investors including HBSE Ventures and NTT Docomo Ventures, which invested on behalf of respectively, sports and entertainment producer Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and mobile network operator NTT Docomo respectively. The round was led by Bitkraft Ventures and also featured Build Ventures and angel investors Marc Merrill and Craig Kallman.
GajiGesa, the Indonesia-based operator of a service that lets employees get early access to wages, has raised an undisclosed amount from OCBC NISP Ventura, the corporate VC subsidiary of financial services firm Bank OCBC NISP, and the founders of coffee shop chain Kopi Kenangan, TechCrunch reported today. It had received $2.5m in a February 2021 seed round co-led by Defy.vc and Quest Ventures that included retail distributor Kanmo Group, GK Plug and Play, Next Billion Ventures, Alto Partners Multi-Family Office and unnamed angel investors.
Burnt Finance, the US-headquartered developer of a decentralised NFT auction protocol, has received $3m from investors including quantitative crypto trading firm Alameda Research and decentralised finance protocol provider Injective Protocol, Coinbase reported yesterday. The round was also backed by Hashkey, an affiliate of automotive component producer Wanxiang, as well as Multicoin Capital, Mechanism Capital, Vessel Capital, Spartan Group and angel investors Do Kwon and Sandeep Nailwal.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu and Thierry Heles.
