Funding
Investment firm Francisco Partners has provided $50m in funding for Matrixx Software, a US-based communication monetisation technology developer backed by conglomerate CK Hutchison and telecommunications firms Swisscom and Telstra. The company had raised a total of about $155m as of a $40m series C round in 2018 led by Sutter Hill and backed by corporate venturing units Telstra Ventures and Swisscom Ventures, conglomerate CK Hutchison, Spring Lake Equity Partners, Greylock Partners and Adams Street Partners. Its earlier backers include another telecoms operator, Philippine Long Distance Telephone.
Germany-based oncology therapy developer Abalos Therapeutics has closed a series A round featuring pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim at €43m ($50m). Seventure Partners led the extension, which included corporate venture capital unit Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), financial services firm NRW.Bank, Gründerfonds Ruhr, Coparion, Ventura BioMed Investors, investment adviser Droege Group’s Hx Bio Ventures vehicle and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). The $13.3m first tranche was co-led by BIVF and Gründerfonds Ruhr in late 2019 and backed by NRW.Bank and HTGF.
Groove, the US-headquartered creator of a sales engagement software platform, has secured $45m in series B funding from investors including financial services firm Capital One’s VC arm, Capital One Ventures. Hedge fund manager Viking Global Investors led the round, which also featured Level Equity, Quest Venture Partners and Uncork Capital, the three having joined Capital One Ventures in a $12m series A round in May 2020 that took Groove’s total funding to $15.8m.
US-based cobalt-free battery developer Our Next Energy completed a $25m series A round today featuring contract electronics manufacturer Flex and carmaker BMW’s strategic investment vehicle, BMW i Ventures. The round was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and included Assembly Ventures and Volta Energy Technologies. The proceeds will support development of the startup’s Aires and Gemini batteries, with the former slated to begin commercial production in late 2022.
Praxis Labs, the US-headquartered creator of a virtual reality-based inclusion education programme, raised $15.5m in series A funding from investors including telecoms and internet group SoftBank on Saturday. Investment bank Morgan Stanley’s Multicultural Innovation Lab also contributed to the round, as did Norwest Venture Partners, Emerson Collective, Ulu Ventures, Penny Jar Capital, Concrete Rose Capital, Precursor Ventures and Firework Ventures.
China-based gene therapy developer Neowise Biotechnology has increased its overall funding to RMB100m ($15.5m) in a series A round of undisclosed size that included pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm’s strategic investment arm, Sinopharm Capital, DealStreetAsia has reported. Life science-focused VC firm TF Capital led the round, which followed undisclosed amounts from Baidu Ventures, a subsidiary of internet group Baidu, in 2020, and through a pre-series A investment by drug discovery platform developer BioMap in March this year, according to DealStreetAsia.
Sucheon Technologies, the China-based creator of a software platform which utilises artificial intelligence to predict when industrial machinery will need maintenance, closed a series B1 round sized at almost RMB100m ($15.5m) on Friday that was led by insurer Sunshine Insurance’s Riverhead Capital vehicle, DealStreetAsia reported. It was joined by Xiamen Venture Capital and existing investor Shunwei Capital, and the round came after Sucheon raised an eight-digit yuan amount (RMB10m = $1.46m at contemporary rates) in a July 2019 series A round featuring Telescope Investment, Tsinghua Capital, Kexin Capital and existing backer Plum Ventures.
MagicCube, a US-based developer of internet-of-things management technology, has raised $15m in a funding round led by Mosaik Partners that also featured card reader producer ID Tech, Bold Capital and Epic Ventures. The company had secured at least $10.7m from investors including payment services firm Visa, telecoms group NTT, Azure Capital, Epic Ventures, Bialla Venture Partners, Bold Capital Partners, Social Starts, Silicon Valley Bank, CVentures and Luqman Weise Capital as of 2017 before adding undisclosed amounts from electronics producer Sony’s Innovation Fund in May 2020 and Visa three months later.
DMG Ventures, the investment arm of media company Daily Mail and General Trust, has contributed to the $14m close of a planned $24m series A round for UK-based financial management app developer Plum Fintech, UKTN reported on Friday. The round included Ventura Capital, Global Brain, VentureFriends and 500 Startups and it followed $500,000 in seed funding from 500 Startups and assorted individuals in 2016; $7.5m from backers including VentureFriends, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and angel investor Christian Faes in a round that closed in November 2019; and $10m from Global Brain, EBRD, VentureFriends and the UK government’s Future Fund in July 2020.
Top Doctors, the Spain-based operator of an online medical booking platform, has received $13m in a funding round co-led by Impact Partners and ICF Venture Tech II, a VC vehicle for the Government of Catalonia’s Institut Català de Finances agency. It came about six years after medical care provider Castle Connolly, cooperative society Caixa d’Enginyers’ Fons Enginyers vehicle and Inveready provided $1.2m in funding for the company, and four years after Addventure led a subsequent $3.2m round.
Real estate services provider JLL has co-led a $9m funding round for SwiftConnect, the US-headquartered developer of an online platform which facilitates flexible work. The corporate’s JLL Spark Global Ventures unit co-led the round with Navitas Capital, investing alongside cybersecurity membership network NetOne, World Trade Ventures, Concrete Ventures, Silvertech Ventures and 1414 Ventures.
Private equity fund Sabre Partners has provided $8m in series C funding for Aviom India Housing Finance, an India-based home loan provider backed by microlender Gojo & Company, VCCircle reported today. Insitor Impact Asia Fund had supplied $2.3m in series A financing for Aviom in 2018 that preceded an $8.4m series B round featuring Gojo & Company and Capital 4 Development Asia Fund in August 2019 and an undisclosed amount from Gojo & Company in June 2020.
Switzerland-based blood collection technology developer Loop Medical has secured $6.4m in a series A round co-led by medical device producer Sarstedt Group and investment firm Casdin Capital. The company said it has now received a total of over $10m in equity and grant funding altogether, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation having supplied it with $3.6m in grant financing.
Financial services firm United Overseas Bank has invested $5m in Samo Holding, the Vietnam-headquartered owner of financial product comparison service TheBank.vn, DealStreetAsia reported on Friday. The cash was provided through VC unit UOB Venture Management and the deal comes after TheBank.vn raised an undisclosed amount in early 2019 from internet company CyberAgent and pallet producer NPC, which invested through CyberAgent Capital (then known as CyberAgent Ventures) and NCore Ventures respectively.
Delphi Digital, a consulting firm focused on the digital asset market, co-led a $5m seed round for US-based blockchain game developer Laguna Games on Friday with VC firm Bitkraft Ventures. They were joined in the round by Polygon Studios, the investment arm of non-fungible token trading service Polygon, in addition to Transcend Fund and Headline Ventures.
Saudi Arabia-based telehealth platform developer Cura secured SAR15m ($4m) yesterday in a series A round co-led by oil and gas supplier Saudi Aramco’s Wa’ed subsidiary and digitalisation technology provider Elm. Cura was formed by technology incubator Ubieva and had received $1.7m from Enmaa Saudi Business Holding across funding rounds in 2016 and 2018, according to Zawya.
Nigeria-headquartered digital bank Sparkle has completed a $3.1m seed round led by insurance provider Leadway Assurance, TechCrunch has reported. Venture builder Trium Network also took part in the round along with undisclosed angel investors, and it came in the wake of $2m in pre-seed funding collected from friends and family over the past year.
Lucid Sight, a US-headquartered video game studio backed by mobile game publisher Animoca Brands and sports league Major League Baseball, has received $2.6m in a funding round led by Galaxy Interactive that included VamosVentures, Goal Venture Partners, Gaingels and unnamed existing investors. The company said it has now secured $15.4m in total, $6m coming from Animoca Brands, Galaxy EOS VC Fund, Digital Currency Group, Breakaway Growth and Frontier Venture Capital in 2019.
GoCement, the Indonesia-based creator of an online platform which connects general contractors with construction supplies, has secured an undisclosed amount in a seed round that included MDI Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia, e27 reported today. The round also featured Arise, the investment vehicle formed by MDI Ventures and VC firm Finch Capital, as well as Beenext and Ideosource.
Japan-based online career consultation service Compass closed a ¥200m ($1.8m) series A round today featuring Monex Ventures and Hataraku Fund, representing currency exchange operator Monex and financial services firm Shinsei Financial Group’s Shinsei Corporate Investment vehicle respectively. Private investor Kunihiro Tanaka also contributed to the round, which came after Compass revealed $1.2m in seed and pre-series A funding in July 2020 from investors including Monex Ventures, ISGS Investment Works, KVP and undisclosed angel investors.
Flatt Security, a Japan-based cybersecurity technology developer backed by internet company CyberAgent and mail order retailer Dinos Cecile, also raised ¥200m ($1.8m) today, in a debt and equity round that included structured finance-focused investment bank FinTech Global and VC firm B Dash Ventures. Flatt had secured $250,000 in a 2018 angel round before adding $2m from CyberAgent’s Fujita Fund, Dinos Cecile and private investor Suguru Namura in mid-2019.
M&A
Enterprise software producer Salesforce exited UK-headquartered customer personalisation technology developer Qubit on Friday in an acquisition of undisclosed size by digital experience software provider Coveo. Investment bank Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division led a $40m series C round for the company in 2016 that included Salesforce unit Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures and Accel, bringing its total funding to $76m. Its earlier backers included Balderton Capital.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
