Funding
US-headquartered voltage regulator provider Empower Semiconductor completed a $45m series C1 round yesterday featuring consumer electronics producer Samsung’s Catalyst Fund. The round was led by venture capital firm Mesh Ventures and included Hallador Investment Advisors and Regal I – both, like Samsung Catalyst, described as existing investors. Empower has not revealed details of any earlier financing.
VC firm Left Lane Capital led a $26m series A round yesterday for Yokoy, a Switzerland-based expenses management software provider backed by telecommunications firm Swisscom and stock exchange operator Six. The round also featured Balderton Capital and it came after Swisscom subsidiary Swisscom Ventures co-led a $1.8m seed round for the company (then known as Expense Robot) with Six in March 2020, participating alongside angel investors including Gian Reto à Porta and Myke Näf.
UK-based game monetisation technology developer Admix received $25m in series B funding yesterday from investors including Colopl Next, the corporate venturing arm of mobile game publisher Colopl. The round included Elefund, Force Over Mass, DIP Capital, Notion Capital, Speedinvest, Rocket Capital, Sure Valley Ventures, Sidedoor Ventures, Kuvi Capital and unnamed individuals. Admix said it has now raised $37m in total, including $2.1m in seed funding from Speendinvest, Suir Valley, Force over Mass and Founders Factory in 2018 and $8.5m from Force Over Mass, Speedinvest, Sure Valley Ventures and various angel investors in a series A round that closed in September 2020.
Japan-based online programming education provider Life Is Tech closed a ¥2.5bn ($21.9m) series D round yesterday featuring ¥500m from payment services firm Credit Saison. The rest came from unnamed international institutional investors and the round boosted the company’s overall funding to just over $48m. Credit Saison invested $4.8m in the company in June this year, following $13.8m from mobile game producer Akatsuki, insurer Dai-ichi Life, retail group Marui, electronics producer Kaga, publisher Shogakukan, Shinsei Bank’s Shinsei Impact Investment vehicle and Yamaguchi Capital in late 2019.
Media group Hearst took part in a $20m funding round for US-based aerial image provider DroneBase yesterday through corporate venturing unit Hearst Ventures. Investment firm Euclidean Capital led the round, which also featured Union Square Ventures (USV), Upfront Ventures, Energy Transition Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Valor Equity Partners. The company closed its series C round, which included Hearst Ventures, USV, Upfront Ventures, Valor Equity Partners and Energy Transition Ventures, at $12.5m in June this year and has now raised $57m altogether.
Bridgit, a Canada-based construction management app developer backed by enterprise software provider Salesforce, secured C$24m ($19.4m) yesterday in a series B round co-led by Camber Creek and Storm Ventures. They were joined by Nine Four Ventures, StandUp Ventures, BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund, Sands Capital and Vanedge Capital, the last three having joined Salesforce unit Salesforce Ventures in a $4.6m round in early 2019 that boosted Bridgit’s overall funding to over $27m.
US-headquartered space data provider Hedron has received $17.8m in series A funding from investors including Lockheed Martin Ventures, the corporate VC arm of aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin, SpaceNews reported yesterday. Fine Structure Venture led the round, which also featured Republic Labs, Lime Street Ventures, Explorer 1 Fund and existing backers including NKM Capital, The Engine, Flybridge, Yard Ventures and Space Angels, the last four having taken part in the company’s $3.5m seed round in 2017 alongside Shasta Ventures, Dream Incubator, Dorm Room Fund and NXT Ventures.
US-based meal delivery service RealEats raised $16.3m yesterday in a series A round that included health and nutritional product provider GNC. Alternative investment manager Hamilton Lane led the round on behalf of the New York State Common Retirement Fund and it also featured Armory Square Ventures and Excell Partners. The company had closed a $2.8m seed round in July 2020 led by the Excell-managed Finger Lakes Forward Venture Capital Fund and backed by Armory Square Ventures and unnamed other investors.
Gencove, a US-based genome sequencing technology developer backed by life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities, completed a $10m series A round yesterday led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood that included Spero Ventures, Techammer, Third Kind Venture Capital and Version One Ventures. The company said its total funding now stands at $16.2m, $3m having come in early 2019 from Alexandria’s VC vehicle, Alexandria Venture Investments, as well as Spero Ventures, Burst Capital and existing investors Third Kind Venture Capital and Version One Ventures.
India-based farming technology platform developer Gramophone has secured $10m from investors including Info Edge Ventures, the corporate VC subsidiary of classified listings operator Info Edge, YourStory reported yesterday. Z3Partners led the round, which also featured Asha Impact, Siana Capital, Chona Family Office and private investors Amit Sharma and Sumeet Kanwar. The company had raised a total of $11.4m as of a $3.4m round in December 2020 led by Siana Capital and backed by Info Edge, Asha Impact and Better Capital.
Z Venture Capital has invested ¥1bn ($8.8m) in Japan-based audio recording and distribution platform developer Stand.FM on behalf of Z Holdings, the internet group formed by telecoms and internet conglomerate SoftBank and internet company Naver. The company had received $4.7m in funding from internet company Yahoo Japan, a junior member of Z Holdings, in August 2020.
Vietnam-headquartered blockchain game studio Sipher completed a $6.8m seed round yesterday featuring peer Yield Guild Games, crypto gaming platform developer Hyperchain, blockchain liquidity hub operator Kyber Network, cryptocurrency research provider Delphi Digital, trading firms Alameda Research and Capital Markets Trading and crypto software provider Coin98 Finance, the last two through CMT Digital and Coin98 Ventures. The round was co-led by Arrington Capital, Hashed and Konvoy Ventures and also backed by Defiance Capital, Signum Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Bitkraft Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, Sfermion, GBV Capital, Merit Circle and various individuals.
Healofy, an India-based social parenting platform developer that counts online parenting community Babytree as an investor, has raised Rs 480m ($6.4m) in a funding round led by Celesta Capital that also featured existing backers Omidyar Network India, IPV, Venture Catalyst and Haldiram family office as well as private investors Kunal Shah and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the Economic Times reported today. Stride Ventures has supplied $1m in debt financing and the round came after Healofy secured an undisclosed amount from M&S Partners in October 2019. Babytree, Omidyar Network and Bace Capital had invested $10m in the company seven months earlier following $1m from Omidyar Network in 2018.
Infostella, a Japan-headquartered provider of ground-based services for orbiting satellites, has secured ¥700m ($6.2m) in a series B round featuring trading groups Itochu, Mitsubishi and Tokyo Boeki Holdings, the last through its TB Innovations subsidiary. The round included financial services firm Mizuho Bank’s Mizuho Capital subsidiary and asset manager Sparx Group’s Space Frontier Fund, and the company said it has now raised approximately $17m in total. It had received $3.6m from investors including corporate VC units Airbus Ventures and Sony Innovation Fund in April 2020.
Pharmaceutical firm Shiratori has taken part in a ¥700m ($6.2m) series B round for Japan-based drug discovery technology developer Gexval. The round was co-led by Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, a subsidiary of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ, with eBest Investment & Securities and YK Venture Partners, and it included Bank of Yokohama (through Yokohama Capital), TNP (Technology Network Platform) Partners and Healthcare Innovation. Gexval was spun off by pharmaceutical firm Takeda in 2018 and raised $3.6m in series A funding from Takeda, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, TNP and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group’s SMB Venture Capital unit in 2018.
Immunefi, a decentralised finance-focused bug bounty service with no fixed headquarters, has received $5.5m in seed capital from investors including design agency Ideo’s CoLab subsidiary, The Block reported yesterday. Blueprint Forest and Electric Capital co-led the round, which also featured Framework Ventures, Bitscale Capital, The LAO, BR Capital and North Island Ventures.
Mobile semiconductor maker Qualcomm invested an undisclosed amount in Israel-based quantum computing infrastructure developer Quantum Machines yesterday through corporate venturing arm Qualcomm Ventures. The company had secured $50m last month in a series B round led by Red Dot Capital Partners and backed by Samsung Next, a subsidiary of electronics producer Samsung, as well as Claridge Israel, Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, Exor, TLV Partners, Battery Ventures and 2i Ventures to take its total funding to $73m.
Indonesia-based omnichannel e-commerce technology developer Majoo has raised $4m in a pre-series A round featuring digital payment gateway operator Xendit and BRI Ventures, the VC arm of financial services firm Bank BRI, Tech in Asia reported yesterday. The startup plans to channel the funding into product development and market expansion.
Drift Labs, a decentralised derivatives exchange developer with no fixed head office, secured $3.8m in seed funding yesterday from investors including quantitative trading firm Alameda Research. The round was led by Multicoin Capital and also featured Jump Capital, LedgerPrime, Not3Lau Capital, QCP Capital, Robot Ventures, ROK Capital and a range of angel investors.
Smilegate Investment, an affiliate of video game publisher Smilegate, led a pre-series A round for South Korea-based animation automation software developer Plask yesterday sized at almost $2.6m. Internet group Naver, KT Investment and Timewise Investment also contributed to the round, with Naver being billed as an existing backer.
Japan-based digitisation support service provider Upbond raised ¥250m ($2.2m) in pre-series A funding yesterday from investors including AIX Tech Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of human resources technology provider AIcross. The round also featured undisclosed angel investors and came four months after Upbond secured $910,000 from Realize Venture Capital, part of logistics consulting and investment firm Realize, in addition to marketing and branding group ENG, design studio Color’s, Minami Aoyama, Insight Partners and individuals including Yoshihide Arai to take its overall funding to $1.4m.
Japan-based workflow management software developer Kickflow has received about ¥200m ($1.8m) in seed funding from investors including app development software provider Mint and Gree Ventures, which invested on behalf of digital media company Gree. They were joined by Headline Asia and the round coincided with a management buyout by human resources software provider SmartHR.
US-based epilepsy therapeutics developer GenEp completed a $1.45m seed round yesterday co-led by Angelini Lumira Biosciences Fund, the joint venture formed by pharmaceutical company Angelini Pharma and VC firm Lumira Ventures. The round was co-led with 3B Future Health Fund and University of Virginia’s UVA Licensing and Ventures Group Seed Fund, and it included Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, Kids Connect Charitable Fund, PDI Ventures and GenEp’s management team.
Japan-based real estate technology developer Goyoh has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Open Network Lab ESG (Earthshot Fund), a vehicle operated by internet company Digital Garage’s DG Ventures and DG Incubation units. Goyoh is the creator of a software platform which helps property managers assess the best ways to combat climate change in their dwellings, and will put the cash into further development of its EaSyGo offering.
Bonnet, the UK-based developer of a mobile app that helps electric vehicle drivers find and use charging points, has secured £920,000 ($1.3m) in a pre-seed round featuring APX, the VC firm backed by publisher Axel Springer and carmaker Porsche. APX was joined in the round by Imperial College Innovation Fund (ICIF), Ascension Ventures and assorted angel investors.
Singapore-based accent analysis technology developer Sentient.io increased its overall funding to over $6m today with an undisclosed amount of series B1 financing from Real Tech Fund. The company’s total funding stood at $5m as of its May 2020 series A round, which included broadcaster Asahi Broadcasting’s ABC Dream Ventures unit, internet company Digital Garage, Real Tech Fund backer Leave a Nest, Beenext and A*Star. It added an undisclosed sum from Real Tech Fund in February this year.
Pksha Sparx Algorithm Fund, an investment vehicle backed by data analytics provider Pksha, led an ¥80m ($700,000) funding round for Japan-based freelancer management software developer CloudBrains yesterday. Financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital also took part in the round, which the company said increased its overall funding to about $1.3m.
BeA, the Japan-based operator of an online portal for digital migrant workers dubbed Tabisumu, has raised ¥60m ($530,000) in seed funding from staffing group Concord Executive Group. The capital will be allocated to product development and marketing activities.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu and Thierry Heles.
