Funding
Recludix Pharma, a US-based developer of small molecule cancer and inflammatory disease therapeutics, publicly launched yesterday with $60m in series A funding from investors including Access Biotechnology, a VC subsidiary of conglomerate Access Industries. Venture capital firms New Enterprise Associates and Westlake Village BioPartners also contributed to the round.
US-based digital payment and rewards technology developer Imprint raised $38m in series A funding from investors including online payment processor Stripe yesterday. The round was led by VC firm Kleiner Perkins and the company said it has now secured $53m altogether, $14m coming in January this year according to a regulatory filing. It named consumer lender Affirm, Thrive Capital and Allen and Company as existing shareholders along with angel investors including James Corden and Lloyd Blankfein.
Industrial equipment and appliance manufacturer Siemens’ Next47 unit led a $35m series A round yesterday for Zesty, an Israel-based developer of cloud software optimisation technology. Samsung Next, a subsidiary of consumer electronics producer Samsung, also took part in the round, as did Sapphire Ventures and S-Capital. Zesty said its total funding now stands at $42m, $6.6m having been supplied in a November 2020 round led by S-Capital and backed by existing investor M-Fund Club.
India-based online home furnishing retailer Wakefit has secured Rs 2bn ($26.9m) in a series C round led by quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group at a $380m valuation, Inc42 has reported. Sequoia Capital India and Verlinvest also took part in the round, having combined to provide it with $25m in series B funding in December 2020. Sequoia India had acquired a 31.9% stake in the company when it led a $2.8m round in 2018.
US-headquartered intelligent writing assistant developer Writer raised $21m yesterday in a series A round that included internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund, Gradient Ventures. The round was led by growth equity firm Insight Partners and also featured Todd & Rahul Angel Fund and a range of private investors. Upfront Ventures, Aspect Ventures, Bonfire Ventures and Broadway Angels had supplied $5m in seed funding for the company in October 2020.
US-based budget tracking software provider Monograph received $20m in series B funding from investors including real estate developer Tishman Speyer. Hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management led the round, which was also backed by Index Ventures, Homebrew, Designer Fund and Parade Ventures, the last three of which had joined undisclosed individuals in a $7.4m series A round in June this year. The three had taken part in the startup’s $1.9m seed round in March 2020 with Hustle Fund and unnamed angel investors.
Lilly Asia Ventures, an investment vehicle for pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, led a RMB120m ($18.8m) series B round today for Novlead Biotech, a China-headquartered developer of nitric oxide-focused medical devices, DealStreetAsia reported. It was joined by 3E BioVentures and Northern Light Venture Capital, the latter having reportedly taken part in a series A round for the company in early 2021 in the seven-figure dollar range.
China-headquartered construction robotics technology developer Weibuild Technology has closed its series A and A-plus rounds having raised a total of RMB100m ($15.7m) from investors including Poly Capital, a subsidiary of real estate developer Poly Group, China Money Network reported today. Poly Capital took part in both rounds and K2VC led the series A, which was also backed by Sequoia Capital China and existing investor Linear Capital.
US-based topical ophthalmic therapy developer Kedalion Therapeutics closed a series B round of undisclosed size yesterday led by pharmaceutical firm Novartis. The round was preceded by a $5m series A round led by healthcare investment firm Lagunita Biosciences in 2018.
China-based computer graphics technology developer GritWorld has secured $10m in a series B round featuring property developer Poly Group’s Poly Capital vehicle, DealStreetAsia reported today. The round was also backed by hedge fund manager Hillhouse Capital’s GL Ventures subsidiary and Linear Capital, the VC fund that led a 2018 series A round in the eight-digit yuan range (RMB10m = $1.45m) that included Jiangmen Venture Capital. DealStreetAsia named electronics producer Huawei’s Habo Investment vehicle, animation studio Sparkly Key, Creo Capital, C Ventures, J Ventures and Wuxi Venture Capital Group as early GritWorld investors.
Internet group Baidu and clinical services provider Tigermed have co-led a series B round of undisclosed size for JS InnoPharm, a China-based developer of small molecule cancer therapeutics, China Money Network reported today. Baidu invested through its Baidu Ventures unit and the round also featured Jiuyo Capital, Efung Capital and Ming Bioventures.
Japan-based video education software provider Tebiki closed an ¥800m ($7m) series A round today featuring Globis Capital Partners (GCP), an investment vehicle for education services provider Globis. The unit had also contributed to the company’s $2.8m seed round in September 2020, participating alongside angel investors including Nobuhiro Ariyasu, Yosuke Tsuji and Yu Akasaka.
US-headquartered decentralised finance platform developer Alex secured $5.8m yesterday from investors including OK Blockchain Capital, the corporate venturing arm of blockchain technology provider OK Group. Technology investment firm White Star Capital led the round, which was also backed by Cultur3 and GBIC.
India-based restaurant management and payment technology developer Petpooja has received $4.5m in funding from investors including business-to-business e-commerce marketplace Udaan, YourStory reported yesterday. Family office Aroa Ventures led the round, which also featured GVFL and angel investor Mayur Desai. It came in the wake of a $2m investment by Udaan subsidiary Trustroot Payments in February 2020.
Financial services firm Capital One invested an undisclosed amount in US-based cloud cybersecurity software developer Aqua Security yesterday through its Capital One Ventures unit. Aqua had raised a total of over $265m as of a $135m series E round in March this year that was led by Ion Crossover Partners and backed by software producer Microsoft’s M12 subsidiary, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Insight Partners, TLV Partners, Greenspring Associates and Acrew Capital at a valuation above $1bn.
Uganda-headquartered electric motorcycle rental service Zembo has raised €3m ($3.4m) from investors including automotive manufacturer Toyota’s Africa-focused Mobility 54 vehicle. DOB Equity and InfraCo Africa were also among the participants, and the round came in the wake of an undisclosed amount of funding from EEP Africa in September 2019.
Digivriddhi Technologies, the India-based operator of a neobank focused on dairies, has secured $3.1m from investors including classified listings operator Info Edge, The Economic Times reported today. The corporate participated through corporate venturing unit Info Edge Ventures and was joined in the round by VC firm Omnivore.
Vietnam-headquartered metaverse game studio Aspo has completed a $2m funding round that included digital currency exchange Gate.io, according to NewsBTC. The round also featured Icetea Labs, the digital app development platform which incubated Aspo, in addition to Hashed, Raptor, DaoMaker, Everse Capital and CoinCu Ventures.
Confectionary producer Mondelēz International has committed an undisclosed amount of capital to US-based investment manager Circulate Capital’s Ocean Fund as a limited partner. The fund will target developers of sustainable packaging technology as well as methods of collecting, organising and recycling plastic waste.
M&A
Digital watermark technology provider Digimarc agreed yesterday to buy Evrythng, a UK-based developer of supply chain tracking software, in a deal of undisclosed size that will enable branding services provider You & Mr Jones and Cisco Investments, a subsidiary of networking technology producer Cisco, to exit. Evrythng’s total funding stood at $60m as of October 2020, when it raised $10m from IDC Ventures – part of investment bank Grupo IDC – Simon Eyers, the UK’s Future Fund, Sway Ventures, Generation Ventures, Fernbrook Capital, Bloc Ventures and unnamed others.
Narrative Science, a US-based data analytics technology provider backed by financial services firm USAA, agreed yesterday to be acquired by enterprise software producer Salesforce for an undisclosed sum. USAA led a $10m series D round for the company in 2014 that included Sapphire Ventures, Jump Capital and Battery Ventures that took its total funding to $32m, its earlier backers including Northwestern University and In-Q-Tel. The company added $11m from USAA, Jump Capital and Sapphire Ventures in 2017.
Population health technology provider Lightbeam Health Solutions paid an undisclosed amount yesterday to purchase CareSignal, a US-based patient monitoring software developer that counts health systems UnityPoint Health and OSF Healthcare as investors. CareSignal had raised a total of $7m as of a $2.7m round in February 2020 featuring corporate venturing units UnityPoint Health Ventures and OSF Ventures, Nueterra Capital and 1984 Ventures.
InRento, the operator of a buy-to-let crowdfunding platform, has bought Estonia-based online real estate portal BitOfProperty for an undisclosed sum, enabling real estate data provider Lifull to exit, EU-Startups reported today. Lifull had provided an undisclosed amount of seed capital for the company in 2018, the year after it raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from investors including Spaze Ventures.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
