Funding
Cybersecurity software provider Istari led a $50m series C round on Tuesday for Sonrai Security, a US-based developer of cybersecurity technology for public clouds. New Brunswick Innovation Fund (NBIF), Polaris Partners, Menlo Ventures and TenEleven Ventures also took part in the round, the last three having provided $20m in series B funding for the company in October 2020. Sonrai had emerged from stealth in January 2019 with $18.5m from a series A round co-led by Polaris Partners and TenEleven Ventures that included NBIF.
Coterie Insurance, a US-based provider of small business insurance, closed a $50m series B round on Tuesday that included insurance firm Group 1001. The round was led by Weatherford Capital and backed by RPM Ventures, Intact Ventures and Alpha Edison, the three having joined Group 1001 subsidiary Lackawanna Insurance and Allos Ventures in an $11.5m series A-1 round in February this year. Coterie said it has now raised $75m in total, and its earlier investors include financial services group Western & Southern and Greenlight Re Innovations, a subsidiary of reinsurance firm Greenlight Re.
Singapore-headquartered fashion brand Love, Bonito completed a $50m series C round yesterday led by investment firm Primavera Capital Group that also featured fashion retailer Adastria and Ondine Capital. The company had secured an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Openspace Ventures (then known as NSI Ventures) in 2016 and $13m in a 2018 series B round led by e-commerce firm Kakaku that included Openspace.
Healthworx, the innovation and investment arm of health insurance provider CareFirst Holdings, co-led a $45m funding round for US-based workforce management software provider ShiftMed yesterday. The round was co-led by venture capital firm Panoramic Ventures and included Motley Fool Ventures, the VC arm of financial information provider The Motley Fool, as well as Blue Heron Capital and 3TS Capital Partners. The company has not disclosed any earlier funding.
QuickNode, a US-headquartered blockchain infrastructure software developer backed by telecommunications and internet group Softbank, raised $35m in series A funding yesterday. Tiger Global Management led the round, investing alongside Seven Seven Six, Soma Capital, Arrington XRP Capital, Crossbeam Venture Partners and angel investor Anthony Pompliano. It came seven months after Seven Six led a $5.3m seed round for the company that also featured Softbank’s Opportunity Fund, Arrington XRP Capital, Crossbeam and Pompliano.
Petroleum refiner SK Innovation invested $30m in US-based solid-state battery cell developer Solid Power yesterday. Solid Power agreed in June this year to pursue a reverse merger with publicly-listed special purpose acquisition company Decarbonization Plus Acquisition Corporation III at a $1.2bn valuation, having previously raised $161m from investors including carmakers Ford, BMW and Hyundai, automotive component producer Sanoh, battery manufacturer A123 Systems, electronics manufacturer Samsung and chemical provider Solvay.
Motor vehicle distributor Delek Motors led a $27m series C round for Israel-based automotive sensor technology developer Tactile Mobility yesterday. The round included Goodyear Ventures and Porsche Ventures, which invested on behalf of tire manufacturer Goodyear and carmaker Porsche, in addition to vehicle distributor Union Group, The Group Ventures and angel investors Zvi Neta, Giora Ackerstein and Doron Livnat. Tactile raised $9m in late 2019 from Porsche, Union Group subsidiary Union Tech Ventures and unnamed existing investors to take its total funding to $14m, adding an undisclosed amount from The Group Ventures and motion control technology provider Nexteer Automotive in January this year.
US-based video analysis technology developer Cogniac Corporation closed a $20m series B1 round yesterday led by National Grid Partners, the corporate VC arm of energy provider. National Grid. It was joined by Cisco Investments, the corporate venturing unit for networking technology producer Cisco, as well as Autotech Ventures, Energy Innovation Capital, London Technology Club, Vanedge Capital and Wing Venture Capital. The company had received $10m in series B funding from Autotech, Vanedge, Wing Venture Capital, Yellowstone Ventures and George Kaiser Family Foundation/Energy Innovation Capital in October 2020, taking its total funding past $20m. Internet technology provider Google’s Gradient Ventures unit is also among its investors.
Payment services firm Visa invested an undisclosed amount in US-headquartered credit card technology developer Deserve yesterday. Payment services provider Mastercard co-led Deserve’s $50m series C round in June this year with Ally Ventures, a subsidiary of financial services holding company Ally Financial, and Mission Holdings, at a $500m valuation. The round included financial services firm Sallie Mae and Goldman Sachs’ Asset Management, and it increased the company’s funding to over $140m altogether.
Cosmetics brand Lotus Herbals has paid approximately $6.8m for a 32% stake in India-headquartered dermatology product manufacturer Fixderma, the Economic Times reported yesterday. Although the size of its investment was not disclosed, Lotus Herbals joint managing director Nitin Passi told ET the deal valued Fixderma at RS 1.58bn ($21.1m).
Lingvist, an Estonia-based language learning technology provider backed by e-commerce firm Rakuten, secured €5.1m ($5.9m) yesterday in a funding round led by Rubio Impact Ventures that also featured Rockaway Capital and Metaplanet Holdings. The company had raised $8m from Rakuten, SmartCap, Inventure, Metaplanet chairman Jaan Tallinn and Geoff Prentice in a 2015 series A round that took its total funding to $9.1m. It joined accelerators Upscale in 2016 and Alexa Next Stage, Powered by Techstars – which counts e-commerce firm Amazon as a backer – in June 2020.
China-headquartered autonomous driving technology developer Leadgentech closed a pre-series A round led by automotive chipmaker Horizon Robotics last month in the eight-figure yuan (RMB10m = $1.55m) range, China Money Network reported today. Zhenxin Capital and angel investor Deng Haiqing also participated in the round alongside the startup’s management team.
China-based augmented reality technology developer Raypaitech has also received tens of millions of yuan, in a series A-plus round that included real estate developer Country Garden’s VC vehicle, Country Garden Venture Capital, China Money Network reported yesterday. The round was led by GF Qianhe, the growth equity arm of securities brokerage GF Securities, and also featured VC firm Step Holdings. The round came nine months after Raypaitech raised $1.5m in a series A round led by V Fund Management and backed by Yunhui Capital and Kaifeng Ventures.
Resilient Power, a US-based developer of fast charging technology for electric vehicles, completed a $5m seed round yesterday featuring e-commerce and cloud computing group Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund and conglomerate GS Group’s corporate venturing subsidiary, GS Futures. VC firm Energy Transition Ventures led the round, which represented Resilient’s first equity financing following earlier grant funding.
Billy, the US-based creator of a software platform which helps construction firms manage their insurance, raised $3.5m in seed capital yesterday from investors including real estate development and investment firm Laguna Canyon Group. VC firms MetaProp and Coelius Capital co-led the round, which also featured Global Village, Shadow Ventures and Hustle Fund.
Fast food franchisee Jubilant Foodworks is paying approximately Rs 248m ($3.3m) for a 35% stake in India-based customer loyalty tool developer Hashtag Loyalty, Outlook India reported yesterday, citing a regulatory filing. ThinQbate had provided pre-seed funding for the company in 2016 before Ahimsa Capital added a similarly undisclosed amount through a 2018 seed round.
AutoFill, a Netherlands-based creator of transport inspection management software, received €2.6m ($3m) today in a pre-series A round featuring Deeptech Labs, the accelerator formed by semiconductor producer Arm and University of Cambridge. It was joined by Innovation Industries and angel investors Rick Belluzzo and Bram Schot, and the cash will fund technology development and the growth of AutoFill’s engineering team.
M&A
Pharmaceutical firm Takeda agreed today to acquire portfolio company GammaDelta, a UK-based developer of immunotherapy treatments for solid tumours, for an undisclosed amount. Takeda secured the option to fully buy the company in 2017 when it joined life sciences investment firm Abingworth to provide it with $100m in funding. Abingworth, Cancer Research Technology, King’s College London and Francis Crick Institute had supplied an undisclosed amount of seed funding the previous year.
