Funding
Japan-based virtual reality technology provider Hikky reached a ¥6.5bn ($57.1m) first close of its series A round today that included mobile network operator NTT Docomo. Hikky will also collaborate with NTT Docomo and parent company NTT through a strategic partnership agreement.
US-based oncology drug developer Ankyra Therapeutics completed a $45m series B round on Friday that included GV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet. Investment and financial services group Fidelity also took part in the round, as did Borealis Ventures, Sands Capital Ventures, Spring Mountain Capital, Polaris Partners and Mithril Capital. Ankyra had raised $14.5m in May 2020 and described Mithril Capital and Polaris Partners as existing investors this week.
Legend Capital, the venture capital firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, has led a pre-series A round for TuringQ, a China-based developer of photonic quantum computing technology, sized at ‘several hundred million yuan’ (RMB100m = 15.6m). The round came nine months after the startup was formed and the proceeds will fund research and development and the commercialisation of its quantum algorithm technology.
Habu, a US-based provider of secure data isolation software, has received $25m in a series B round that included cloud data software producer Snowflake’s corporate venturing unit, Snowflake Ventures. VC firm Wing Venture Capital led the round, which also featured Norwest Venture Partners, Super{set} and Ridge Ventures. The last two had combined to supply $15m in series A funding for the company in February 2020.
Internet company VNG has led a $22.5m pre-series B round for Telio, the Vietnam-based operator of a business-to-business e-commerce platform, VnEconomy reported on Friday. GGV Capital and Tiger Global Management also took part in the round, which followed $1.5m from Sequoia Capital India’s Surge fund in April 2019 and $25m in series A funding from Tiger Global, Sequoia India, GGV Capital and RTP Global eight months later.
Property and casualty reinsurer Greenlight Re has invested $7.5m in Blueprint Holding Co, the US-based owner of title insurance agency Blueprint Title. The company had raised $16m in a September 2021 series B round featuring Greenlight Re subsidiary Greenlight Re Innovations; Liberty Mutual Strategic Ventures and Avanta Ventures, on behalf of insurers Liberty Mutual and CSAA respectively; and Mouro Capital, the VC firm spun off by financial services firm Santander.
Telecoms and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 had paid an undisclosed amount for a 20% stake in Bangladesh-based mobile banking software developer bKash, DealStreetAsia has reported. E-commerce group Alibaba’s Ant Financial affiliate invested an undisclosed amount in 2018 to acquire a stake in the company sized at up to 20%, with some shares being bought from Money in Motion, International Finance Corporation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through a secondary deal.
Biopharmaceutical company Opko Health has led a $5m financing round for HealthSnap, a US-based developer of remote patient monitoring software. It included W-5 Group, 6nine26 and existing backers Florida Funders, MacDonald Ventures and Hard Facts. The company had received $2.5m from a single unnamed investor in mid-2019 and $4m from Florida Funders and two undisclosed individuals in January this year. It said its overall funding now stands at $12.2m.
Singapore-headquartered customer research technology provider Milieu Insight has raised $5m in a funding round led by MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia, a corporate venturing vehicle for insurance firm Massachusetts Mutual Life, Marketing Interactive has reported. The round also featured OSK Ventures International, Genesis Alternative Ventures and undisclosed existing investors. Milieu had secured $730,000 in 2018 from angel investors including Ravi Ravulaparthi and $2.4m in a pre-series A round led by MassMutual Ventures Southeast Asia in late 2019.
Switzerland-headquartered blockchain indexing technology developer Subsquid completed a $3.8m seed round on Friday featuring decentralised protocol creator Chainflip, blockchain technology provider Astar Network, decentralised data exchange platform Dia Data, blockchain developer Zeitgeist and digital asset services provider Faculty Group. They were joined in the round by Zee Prime, Illusionist Group, DFG and 0x Ventures.
Aracan, the Japan-based operator of a second-hand automotive marketplace called Car ByeBuy, closed an undisclosed amount of series A funding today from Nagoya TV Ventures, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Z Venture Capital, on behalf of broadcaster Nagoya TV, financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ and Z Holdings, the holding entity formed by internet companies Naver and Yahoo Japan. Partial details of the round had been disclosed last week.
Videra Health, the US-based creator of a remote video monitoring system for behavioural health, has received $3m in seed capital from investors including OATV, the corporate venturing arm of media company O’Reilly. Seed-stage VC fund Peterson Ventures led the round, which was also backed by Rose Park Advisors and angel investor Jeremy Andrus.
American Express Ventures, the corporate VC arm of payment services firm American Express, has invested an undisclosed sum in Firework, the US-based operator of a short-form video shopping platform. Firework had previously raised $55m in a March 2021 series A round that included conglomerate Sumitomo, alcoholic beverage producer Asahi, GSR Ventures, IDG Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, increasing its overall funding to just over $100m.
Clear, the Singapore-based developer of a decentralised derivatives system, has secured $2.5m from investors including Huobi Ventures and Gate.io Labs – subsidiaries of cryptocurrency exchanges Huobi and Gate.io – as well as blockchain services provider Hoo Group’s Hoo Cub Fund and trading firms VRM and Kronos Research. They invested with SpringWind Ventures, Double Peak Group, Markarian Capital, AC Capital, DWeb3 Capital, Foresight Ventures, AlphaCoin Fund, NFVentures, Mintable Fund, NPC DAO and existing backers LD Capital and StillWater Research.
Financial services firm Banca Sella has supplied €2m ($2.3m) in seed funding for Tot, the Italy-based developer of a financial management software platform for freelancers and micro-sized businesses. The startup intends to formally launch its product in early 2022.
Heralbony, the Japan-based operator of an online platform which commercialises the work of intellectually disabled artists, raised an undisclosed amount today in a series A round featuring D2C&Co, a subsidiary of retail group Marui, as well as rail operator JR East’s Start Up fund and Iwagin Jigyo Souzou Capital, a vehicle for financial services firm Bank of Iwate. They were joined by Kamakura Investment Management and the round was preceded by an undisclosed amount from Social Innovation and Investment Foundation in August 2020.
Generic medicine provider Hikma has participated in a $1.8m seed round for US-based cancer therapeutics developer Biosapien through investment vehicle Hikma Ventures. VC firm SOSV led the round, which was also backed by Microventures, Infinity Capital Ventures, JPin VCats, Side Door Ventures, Harbr, Beni VC, Cedas Foundation and angel investors including Kartik Garg and George and Saul.
Zuki Moba, the Vietnam-based creator of a multiplayer battle arena game, has received $1.4m from investors including crypto liquidity hub Kyber Network, blockchain marketing agency Coins Group, professional information provider UFin and BSCStation, the creator of a non-fungible token auction platform. The round also featured Axia8 Ventures, Krypital Group, x21, Clovers Venture, Onebit Ventures, Kiwi Group, Alphamoon Capital, VBC Ventures, BinStarter, LaunchZone and KrystalGo.
PecoFree, the Japan-based operator of a school lunch ordering service, closed a ¥61m ($540,000) funding round featuring digitisation services studio Sun Asterisk, broadcaster RKB Mainichi and nursery school operator Teno Holdings. The round included funding provided by NCB Venture Capital, the VC arm of financial services firm NCB Bank, in September this year.
SandBox, the Japan-based creator of a neuroscience-powered emotion analysis system, raised ¥30m ($260,000) today from investors including internet and telecoms group SoftBank’s Deepcore fund. The corporate was joined in the round by Japan Startup Support Association and multiple angel investors.
M&A
Organon has agreed to purchase Forendo Pharma, a Finland-based endometriosis drug developer backed by pharmaceutical firms Novo, Merck Group and Novartis, for $75m upfront and potentially up to $870m in milestone payments. Forendo had raised a total of $38.5m as of mid-2019 when it received $5.6m from Sunstone Life Science Ventures. Corporate VC units Novo Seeds, Novartis Venture Fund and M Ventures were among its earlier backers, as were Finnvera, Karolinska Development, Tekes and Vesalius Biocapital.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
