Funding
US-based workplace analytics software provider VergeSense secured $60m today in a series C round featuring property developer DivcoWest as well as JLL Spark and Allegion Ventures, which represented real estate services firm JLL and security equipment producer Allegion respectively. Venture capital firm Scale Venture Partners led the round, which included Tola Capital, MetaProp and Bolt and which followed a $12m series B led by Tola Capital in December 2020. Allegion Ventures and JLL Spark had both contributed to a $9m series A round seven months earlier that took the company’s total funding to $10.5m.
Pharmaceutical firm Sanofi agreed yesterday to provide up to $60m for UK-based ocular therapy developer Gyroscope Therapeutics, with the first $40m to come right away and the remaining cash to potentially be supplied through a future funding round. Gyroscope withdrew from a planned initial public offering in May this year having previously raised a total of over $209m from investors including Fosun Pharma – part of diversified conglomerate Fosun – as well as Forbion, Syncona, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Sofinnova Investments, Tetragon Financial Group and GIC.
Landing AI, a US-based producer of artificial intelligence software tools for the manufacturing sector, raised $57m yesterday in a series A round backed by cable and wire manufacturer Walsin Lihwa, electronics producer Samsung’s Catalyst Fund, conglomerate Far Eastern Group’s Drive Catalyst vehicle and Intel Capital, the investment arm of semiconductor producer Intel. The round was led by McRock Capital and included Insight Partners, Taiwania Capital, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and AI Fund. The company had already received an undisclosed amount from Intel Capital in April 2019.
Matter Labs, the developer of a scaling protocol for the Ethereum cryptocurrency, secured $50m yesterday in a series B round featuring digital currency exchanges OKEx, ByBit and Crypto.com, blockchain infrastructure provider Covalent, blockchain software developer Consensys, decentralised app platform developer Alchemy and blockchain technology producer Blockchain.com. The round was led by Andreessen Horowitz and backed by Placeholder, Dragonfly Capital, 1kx and several individuals. The company, which has no physical address, had raised $2m from Placeholder, 1kx, Dragonfly Capital, Dekrypt and Hashed in a 2019 seed round, before the first three combined for a $6m series A in February this year.
US-based augmented reality technology provider Dispelix completed a $33m series B round yesterday that included 3M Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of consumer goods manufacturer 3M. Growth equity firm Atlantic Bridge led the round, which also featured CCB Trust, Flashpoint and existing backers Lifeline Ventures, VTT Ventures and Finnish Industry Investment, all three having joined 3M Ventures in a $13.7m series A round in 2018 that pushed the company’s overall funding to $15.6m.
Growth equity firm Blume Equity led a €24m ($27.8m) funding round for Motatos, a Sweden-based sustainable food retailer backed by Ingka Group – the owner of furniture retailer Ikea, today. Motatos did not reveal the other participants in the round but said it has raised a total of about $110m including an otherwise undisclosed series C round earlier this year, naming Ingka, Gullspång Re:food Invest, SEB Private Equity, Novax, LeadX Capital, Norrsken Foundation and Northzone as existing backers.
Swimm, an Israel-based documentation software developer backed by financial information provider FundFire, received $27.6m yesterday in a series A round led by Insight Partners that also featured Dawn Capital, Pitango First and TAU Ventures. The last two had joined FundFire, Axon Ventures and unnamed angel investors in Swimm’s $5.7m seed round in January this year.
Symbl.ai, a US-headquartered conversational intelligence software developer backed by e-commerce firm Amazon, has secured $17m in a series A round led by Great Point Ventures that also featured Gutbrain Ventures, PBJ Capital, Crosscut Ventures and Flying Fish Ventures. The company had raised $4.7m in a December 2020 round led by Crosscut Ventures that included Amazon’s Alexa Fund, Jump Capital, Third Kind VC, Technexus Ventures, Flying Fish and multiple individuals. That round followed a $1.8m seed round the previous year led by Flying Fish Partners and backed by Revel Partners and several angel investors.
VC firm Liberty City Ventures has led a $15m funding round for US-based risk management technology developer Solidus Labs that also featured crypto trading firm GSR and Exor Seeds, an investment vehicle for holding company Exor. Hanaco Ventures had led its $3m seed round in early 2019 before joining cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Evolution Equity Partners, Avon Ventures, 645 Ventures and various private investors in a $20m series A in May this year.
Valera Health, a US-based provider of digital mental health services, has completed a $15m funding round featuring Axa Venture Partners, a subsidiary of insurance firm Axa. The round was led by Windham Venture Partners and backed by Aquiline Technology Growth, MultiCare Health System, Divergent Investments, Watershed, GreyMatter Capital, Gaingels, Figure Eight Investments, Alsora Capital, Startup Health and private investor Tom Insel. It came after Axa Venture Partners led a $3.8m round in February this year that took the company’s total funding to $9m.
US-based DNA synthesis technology developer Molecular Assemblies has received $10m in series B funding from SynBio Innovation Accelerator, a joint venture between enzyme engineering firm Codexis and Casdin Capital. A September 2021 securities filing indicates the company had raised $20.1m of a targeted $40m for its latest round, which comes seven months after it closed its series A at $24m. That round included Codexis, laboratory instrument maker Agilent and Alexandria Venture Investments, a vehicle for life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.
Thailand-headquartered e-commerce logistics provider MyCloudFulfillment has closed a $7.4m series B round featuring logistics and supply chain services provider JWD Group and SCB 10X, e27 has reported. The latter had joined Gobi Partners, ECG Research and NVest Venture to provide $2m in series A funding for the company in October 2020.
Online classified listings operator Hipages has paid A$6.25m ($4.6m) for a 25% stake in Australia-based property management software provider Bricks + Agent, ITWire has reported. The companies plan to collaborate on cross-selling and lead generation, and Bricks + Agent will use the capital to pursue growth plans likely to include international growth.
Forth, the UK-based operator of a mobile app that helps users optimise their mental and physical health, has received £1.6m ($2.2m) in funding from investors including Trajan Scientific Europe, a subsidiary of medical equipment producer Trajan Scientific and Medical. The round – which the company described as its fourth – also featured Development Bank of Wales, which said it doubled its investment in Forth to £500,000. It had joined Angels Invest Wales and individuals including Craig Gulliford to provide an undisclosed amount for the company in February 2019.
StackSwap, the Czech Republic-based creator of a decentralised exchange for the Bitcoin network, has closed a $1.3m funding round that included HashKey, the blockchain investment affiliate of automotive component producer Wanxiang. The round was led by Stacks Foundation, which oversees Bitcoin technology provider Stacks, and also featured Genesis Block Ventures and SOSV.
Ariadne, the UK-headquartered creator of a multi-chain aggregator that enables users to transfer assets more efficiently across blockchains, has completed an $835,000 funding round featuring blockchain monitoring platform developer Parsiq. It was joined by LedgerPrime, Impossible Finance, Rarestone Capital, D1 Ventures, Incuba Alpha, Genesis Block Ventures, Supernova, Exnetwork Capital and individuals including Darren Lau, Sandeep Nailwal, Santiago Santos, Fabien Marino and Nick Chong.
M&A
Delivery kitchen operator Reef Technology has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire United Arab Emirates-based cloud kitchen operator iKcon Restaurant, enabling hotel chain Al Hokair Group and conglomerate Mohamed Yousuf Naghi & Brothers Group to exit. They had joined AlTouq Group, Derayah Ventures, B&Y Venture Partners and Nazer Group in iKcon’s $20m series A round in March this year. That round reportedly pushed the company’s overall funding to $32m, $5m having come from AlTouq Group, Nazer Group and Arzan Venture Capital in an August 2020 pre-seed round.
Software monitoring technology provider Datadog has purchased Ozcode, an Israel-based live debugging software developer backed by defence equipment manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, for an undisclosed amount. The company had secured $3.5m in a 2018 round co-led by Rafael with technology holding company Elron Electronic Industries and TPY Capital.
