Funding
US-based healthcare delivery software developer Aver has rebranded to Enlace Health having raised over $58m in a funding round led by communications, automotive and media group Cox Enterprises. The company had received a total of $51.6m as of a $27m series C round in January 2020 that included Cox, conglomerate Heritage Group and Hearst Ventures, an investment vehicle for media group Hearst, as well as Drive Capital and NCT Ventures. Its earlier backers include pharmaceuticals distributor Cardinal Health.
Kitman Labs, an Ireland-headquartered sports analytics software provider backed by consumer electronics manufacturer Sony, has secured $52m in a funding round led by investment adviser Guggenheim Investments. It had raised $6m from investment adviser Qvidtvm in a July 2020 deal that came five months after an undisclosed amount from Sony’s Innovation Fund, and it said the July round took its 2020 funding to $10.5m. It had previously accumulated about $20m from backers including Bluerun Ventures, Enterprise Ireland, H Barton Co-Invest Fund and Pete Kight.
US-based holographic headset developer DigiLens has raised over $50m from investors including electronics producer Samsung and its Samsung Electro-Mechanics subsidiary; Diamond Edge Ventures, on behalf of chemicals producer Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation; UDC Ventures, the investment arm of LED technology manufacturer Universal Display Corporation; and mobile game publisher 37 Interactive Entertainment for the first close of a series D round valuing it above $500m. Alsop Louie Partners and Dolby Family Ventures also took part in the tranche, which followed a $50m series C round in 2019 that took its total funding to $82m.
AscendEX, the Singapore-headquartered operator of an online platform which provides resources to cryptocurrency traders, has completed a $50m series B round featuring quantitative trading firm Alameda Research and market maker Acheron Trading. The round was co-led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC and also backed by Jump Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Eterna Capital, Nothing Research and Palm Drive Capital. The company has not revealed details of its earlier funding.
Pharmaceutical firm Roche’s Venture Fund co-led a $49m series A round on Friday for GlycoEra, a Switzerland-based biologics developer spun off by biopharmaceutical company LimmaTech Biologics. The round was co-led with 5AM Ventures and Sofinnova Partners, and Monique Schiersing, an investment director at Roche Venture Fund, will join the company’s board of directors in connection with the round.
Germany-based cannabinoid product developer Sanity Group has added $3.5m from venture capital firm Casa Verde Capital to a series A round featuring German Media Pool – an ad-for-equity vehicle representing several domestic media companies – that it said totals $45m. It had disclosed $44.2m in series A funding from investors also including Redalpine, Navy Capital and SOJE Capital in June this year and said last week its funding now totals $76.5m. Its earlier investors include media company ProSiebenSat.1’s SevenVentures unit.
Investment firm Grand Oaks Capital has led a $42m series C round for Botkeeper, a US-based bookkeeping automation software producer backed by internet technology provider Google. The deal came after a $25m series B round in June 2020 led by Point72 Ventures and backed by Google’s Gradient Ventures vehicle, Greycroft Partners, High Alpha Capital, Ignition Partners, Oakridge Management Group, Peak State, Republic Labs and Sorenson Capital, taking Botkeeper’s overall funding to $47.5m.
SAIC Capital, the corporate VC arm of automotive manufacturer, has co-led a $40m series C round for Xgene Pharmaceutical Group, a China-based developer of neurological disorder drugs, through fund-of-funds vehicle Hengxu Capital, DealStreetAsia reported on Friday. The round was co-led with Citic Securities and Neovision Capital and included Ping An Ventures, the investment arm of insurer Ping An, in addition to GSR United Capital, Tao Capital and Yijing Capital. Xgene had raised $20m in a Ping An Ventures-led series B round in 2018 that also featured Zhongtai Investment, a vehicle for conglomerate Sinar Mas, as well as TF Capital and 5Y Capital.
Obligo, the US-headquartered operator of an online rental deposit payment product, has received $35m in a series B round featuring MUFG Innovation Partners, a vehicle for financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. VC firm 83North led the round, which included HighSage Ventures, 10D, Entrée Capital, Alumni Ventures and La Maison Partners. The company had secured $5m in seed funding from 83 North, Entrée Capital and HFZ Capital and a $2m credit facility from Viola Credit in 2018 before adding $15.5m in a November 2020 series A round backed by 83North, 10D, Entrée Capital and Viola Credit.
Wuxi Biortus Biosciences, a drug development services subsidiary of heating, ventilation and cooling equipment manufacturer Shuangliang Group, has completed a RMB200m ($31.3m) series B round, DealStreetAsia reported on Friday. Legend Capital, the VC firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, co-led the round with Bayland Capital – a vehicle formed by Legend Capital and contract research organisation Pharmaron – and it included Sherpa Healthcare Partners. Biortus had already raised $15m in a November 2020 series A round led by Bayland Capital.
Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has co-led a $21m series A round for US-headquartered blockchain game developer Faraway with VC firm Lightspeed Venture Partners. They were joined by blockchain platform developer Solana, Sequoia Capital, Pantera Capital, Jump Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. All the participants bar FTX had already contributed to an $8m seed round earlier this year, the startup said.
GeoWealth, the US-based creator of an asset management software platform tailored for use by financial advisors, has received $19m in series B funding from investors including investment banking firm JP Morgan’s Asset Management subsidiary. Investment manager Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors led the round through its Kayne Partners Fund, and GeoWealth said JP Morgan Asset Management had been a backer since 2018.
Qualifyze, the Germany-based operator of an online marketplace for pharmaceutical supplier audits, has closed a $14m series A round featuring APX, the joint venture between media group Axel Springer and carmaker Porsche, Nordic 9 reported last month. HV Capital, the VC firm backed by publisher HV Holtzbrinck, led the round, which included Cherry Ventures, Rheingau Founders and private investor Udo Jung. Qualifyze had raised $1.9m from Cherry Ventures and Auxxo in July 2019, and $3.5m in April 2020 from Rheingau Founders, Cherry Ventures and angel investors including professional footballer Mario Götze.
US-based 3D content management software Vntana has secured an amount of series A funding it told TechCrunch was $10.5m from investors including freight forwarder Flexport. The corporate joined Anorak Ventures, Chloe Capital, Mana Ventures and private investors including Mark Cuban, Brendan Iribe and Tom Dolan in the round, which followed a $6m seed round in 2019 according to TechCrunch. Its earlier backers include Stadia Ventures and Alpaca VC.
HV Capital has also co-led a $10m series A round for Plan A, a Germany-headquartered creator of software which helps businesses track their carbon footprint, with VC firm Keen Venture Partners. The round also featured Demeter IM and Coparion, both of which had participated in Plan A’s $3m seed round in March this year alongside internet and telecommunications group SoftBank.
Prosus, the internet holding group formed by e-commerce and media company Prosus, has invested $10m in Collective Benefits, the UK-based operator of an online insurance platform for gig workers, Forbes has reported. The cash was supplied through its Prosus Ventures vehicle and the deal came four months after Collective Benefits raised $8.3m from NFX, Stride.VC, Delin Ventures, Insurtech Gateway and unnamed angel investors. Stride.VC, Delin Ventures and Insurtech Gateway had joined undisclosed individuals to provide $4.3m for the company in February 2020.
Mogul, the US-based operator of a diversity-focused online recruitment platform, has disclosed it has raised an undisclosed amount in a funding round led by telecoms and internet group SoftBank. The company said SoftBank is its largest investor to date and named media group Hearst and private investors Gary Vaynerchuk, Will Bunker, Michael Wolfson and Julian Brodsky as existing shareholders.
US-headquartered blockchain infrastructure developer Syndica has closed an $8m seed round that included Solana Ventures, the investment arm of blockchain platform developer Solana, as well as digital asset consulting firm CoinShares and trading firms MGNR and Alameda Research. The round was co-led by Social Capital, Jump Capital and Kindred Ventures, and it also featured 0x Labs, DeFiance Capital, Spartan Group, Resolute VC, Untamed Ventures and angel investors such as Ryan Selkis and Joe McCann.
Hyperreal Digital, a US-based metaverse entertainment producer focused on hyper realistic human avatars, has completed a $7m seed round backed by video game publisher Pearl Abyss and marketing agency Zash Global Media. Angel investors David Levy, Robert Wolf and Ryan Schinman also contributed to the round.
Internet technology provider Google’s artificial intelligence fund, Gradient Ventures, has co-led a $6m seed round for US-based social commerce platform developer SocialChat. The round was co-led by VC firm Race Capital and also featured tech exceutives Kevin Lin, Tony Zhao, Ran Makavy, Alanna Gregory and Jack Xie. It will support the expansion of SocialChat’s product range.
Real estate developer SRM Development has participated in a $4.1m seed round for Doorsey, the US-based creator of an online platform which expedites the property bidding process. Family office 166 2nd Financial Services led the round while Agya Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures and individuals including Sam Parr also contributed. The cash will go to technology development, recruitment and domestic expansion.
Osmoses, a US-headquartered developer of membrane-based gas separation technology, has received $3m in a pre-seed round backed by polymer, materials and infrastructure group Orbia’s strategic investment vehicle, Orbia Ventures. VC firm The Engine led the round, which also featured Fine Structure Ventures, an affiliate of investment and financial services group Fidelity, in addition to Little Green Bamboo Capital and angel investors including Stuart Levinson and Adrian Pylypec.
7th Ave, the US-based owner of an online knowledge sharing platform for black professionals and students, has secured $2.5m in seed funding from investors including microblogging platform operator Twitter. VC firm MaC Venture Capital led the round, which was also backed by VC fund Backstage Capital.
M&A
Medical products group Johnson & Johnson has acquired portfolio company OrthoSpin, an Israel-based developer of robotic orthopaedic systems, for $79.5m. The company is being bought by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Synthes and the deal comes after corporate venturing unit Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC co-led OrthoSpin’s $5m series B round with technology commercialisation firm Trendlines in March 2020. The company had raised $3m in a seed round led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC two years earlier.
