Funding
Illumigyn, the Israel-headquartered creator of a remote software platform for gynaecological imaging, increased its overall funding to $33m yesterday having closed a round of undisclosed size that included digital communications software provider Ubicom Holdings Japan and Yozma Group Korea, a vehicle for VC firm Yozma Group. The company has not disclosed earlier funding but said the cash will support an international expansion drive which will take in the United States, United Arab Emirates, India, Singapore and South Korea.
Medallion, the US-based developer of a licensing, credentialing and payer enrolment software platform for the healthcare industry, raised $30m in series B funding yesterday from investors including Optum Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of healthcare services provider Optum. Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital led the round, which also featured Spark Capital and individuals including Elad Gil and Daniel Gross. It had received $20m from investors including Optum Ventures, Spark Capital, BoxGroup and Susa Ventures in a June 2020 series A round.
Egypt-headquartered online grocery delivery service Breadfast has secured $26m in a series A round featuring freight forwarder Flexport, TechCrunch reported yesterday. Vostok New Ventures and Endure Capital co-led the round, which was also backed by Jam Fund, Y Combinator Continuity, Shorooq Partners, 4DX Ventures and an unnamed Saudi Arabia-based fund. Breadfast has now raised a total of $30m according to TechCrunch, including undisclosed amounts from 500 Startups and Averroes Ventures in a 2017 seed round, from 500 Startups and angel investor Mohamed El Sewedy in June 2019 and from NHN Ventures – likely on behalf of digital entertainment provider NHN – Shorooq Partners, Pioneer Fund, Pontem Ventures and various individuals in a March 2020 pre-series B round.
Chemical and pharmaceutical group Bayer co-led a $25m series A round for protein therapeutics developer GRO Biosciences yesterday through corporate venturing unit Leaps by Bayer. The round was co-led by Redmile Group and included Digitalis Ventures and Innovation Endeavors. GRO said it has now raised $31.2m altogether, $2.1m coming from Digitalis Ventures and Innovation Endeavors in a 2017 seed round.
PadSplit, the US-based operator of an online marketplace for shared accommodation, secured $20.5m yesterday in a series B round featuring financial services firm Citi and media, communications and automotive group Cox Enterprises. The round included Core Innovation Capital, Impact Engine, Alate Partners and Mark Cuban Companies, and it increased PadSplit’s total funding to over $35m, including $10m from Cox Enterprises, Citi’s Impact Fund, Core Innovation Capital, Alate Partners, Kapor Capital and Impact Engine in an August 2020 series A round.
Faze Technologies, the India-headquartered operator of an online platform for collectible cricket-focused non-fungible tokens, has received $17.4m in seed funding from investors including blockchain game developer Dapper Labs and Samsung Next, a corporate VC vehicle for electronics producer Samsung, Business Standard reported yesterday. Hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management led the round, which also featured Courtside Ventures and Bow Capital.
Investment firm Avenue Capital Group supplied $15m in funding for Microshare, a US-based smart building technology producer backed by financial information provider The Motley Fool, through its Avenue Sustainable Solutions Fund yesterday. Corporate venturing vehicle Motley Fool Ventures had led a $5.5m round for the company in early 2019 that boosted its overall equity funding to $10.5m.
Israel-based cancer drug developer Biond Biologics completed a $15m series C round yesterday led by VC fund Deep Insight that included conglomerate Heritage Group and existing investors including insurance provider Harel Insurance & Finance Group. Biond had raised $17m in an early 2019 series A round co-led by Harel and Israel Biotech Fund and backed by pharmaceutical firm Celgene and SBI JI Innovation Fund, a joint venture for financial services provider SBI and VC firm Vertex, in addition to unnamed existing investors.
BrainCheck, the US-based developer of a cognitive assessment software tool for use by physicians, secured $10m yesterday in a series B round featuring insurance provider SelectQuote and UPMC Enterprises, the investment vehicle for University of Pittsburgh-affiliated health system UPMC. Next Coast Ventures and S3 Ventures co-led the round, which included Nueterra Capital, Tensility Ventures and True Wealth Ventures. It followed an $8m series A round in late 2019 co-led by S3 Ventures and Tensility Venture Partners that took the company’s total funding to $14m.
Spruce, a US-headquartered developer of decentralised identity management technology, disclosed $7.5m in funding yesterday from investors including quantitative trading firm Alameda Research, software research provider Protocol Labs and cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini, which took part through Coinbase Ventures and Gemini Frontier Fund respectively. The round was co-led by Ethereal Ventures and Electric Capital and also featured Bitkraft, A.Capital Ventures, SV Angel, Future Positive, Third Kind Venture Capital and various angel investors.
US-based accounting automation software startup RightRev emerged from stealth on Tuesday having raised $5m in a funding round co-led by enterprise software producer Salesforce through its Salesforce Ventures unit. VC firm Norwest Venture Partners co-led the round, which also featured Idea Fund Partners, Two Sigma, GoBig.ai and Correlation Ventures.
Cryptocurrency exchange operator Binance invested an undisclosed amount on Tuesday in SecondLive, the Singapore-based developer of an online metaverse based on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC). The cash was provided through corporate venturing vehicle Binance Labs and BSC’s $1bn Growth Fund, and the company also named blockchain infrastructure developers GBV Capital and Bullet Labs, ArkStream Capital, LucidBlue Ventures, Magic Ventures, Multiplex Ventures, Old Fashion Research, Pow Rise Capital, Sejo Asset and Yuanyuzhou Ventures as existing investors.
Greenwork, the US-based operator of an online skills platform for blue-collar workers, received $2.4m in funding on Tuesday from investors including GV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet. It was joined by Climate Capital, Defy Partners, Global Founders Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Scout Fund, Tango.vc, UpHonest Capital, Wing Venture Capital and Y Combinator.
Polygen, the UK-headquartered creator of a decentralised blockchain launchpad, secured $2.3m on Tuesday from investors including blockchain software provider Axiom and decentralised finance platform developer Pluto. The round was led by SL2 Capital and also backed by 18 Ventures, Twin Apex Capital, AU21, Polygon Syndicate, ZBS Capital, Iconomy, Insignius Capital, NetZero Capital, Maven Capital, Woodstock Capital Fund, Sky Man Ventures, Lumos Labs, Moonboots Capital, Storna Finance, Extra Watts, LD Ventures, Keys Investment, LucidBlue Ventures, Biconomy, GSR and Amplio Capital.
Ruptok Fintech, the India-based operator of an online lending platform which uses gold as collateral, has raised Rs 160m ($2.1m) in pre-series A funding from investors including jewellery retailer Manuvel Malabar Jewellers, Entrepreneur Europe reported on Tuesday. Angel investors Nivedan Sahay and Neeraj Aggarwala also participated in the round, which followed $1.4m from investment firm Wurk in January this year.
Pakistan-based housing finance provider Trellis Housing Finance received an undisclosed amount of funding on Tuesday from investors including real estate developer TPL Properties and Fatima Gobi, the corporate VC subsidiary of conglomerate Fatima Group. The corporates participated in the round together with Insitor Partners, Zayn Capital and Taarah Ventures.
Garden care provider Evergreen Garden Care has led a £1m ($1.4m) seed round for Muddy Trowel, a UK-based startup providing curated home plant kits, UKTN has reported on Tuesday. The round also featured undisclosed existing investors, and it came 19 months after Muddy Trowel was founded.
M&A
Fluoroproduct manufacturer Koura agreed yesterday to acquire Silatronix, a US-based lithium-ion battery technology developer that counts chemical producer Hitachi Chemical and diversified conglomerate Sumitomo as investors, for an undisclosed amount. Both corporates joined unnamed existing investors to provide $8m for Silatronix in a 2016 round increasing its overall funding to $14m. Its earlier backers include Venture Investors and University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
