Funding
China-based augmented reality technology developer HiScene has closed a RMB270m ($41.6m) series C-plus round featuring IT services firm Myeg and digitalisation technology provider Esmartwave, China Money Network reported today. Citic PE led the round, which included Jadex Capital, V Star Capital, Sincere Capital and Ondice Capital. It came after a $35m series C round in 2019 led by Yangtze River Delta Collaborative Advantage Industry Fund and backed by Panxi Capital, taking HiScene’s total funding to over $67m.
Netherlands-based celiac disease therapy developer Calypso Biotech increased its series A round to €28m ($33.1m) yesterday, adding €8m from Fountain HealthCare Partners to a first close that included Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and M Ventures – behalf of pharmaceutical firms Johnson & Johnson and Merck Group respectively. The early 2019 first tranche also featured Gilde Healthcare and Inkef Capital.
Care provider Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center joined Alumni Ventures, Jazz Venture Partners and Summer VC yesterday to add $5.2m to a series A round for Blue Note Therapeutics, a US-headquartered developer of evidence-based therapeutics, lifting the round to $31.5m. Jazz Venture Partners led the round’s $26.3m first close in March this year, participating alongside Summer VC.
Supabase, the Singapore-based app development platform provider backed by web browser developer Mozilla, has secured $30m in a series A round led by investment manager Coatue Management, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round also featured individuals including Tom Preston-Werner, Alex Solomon and Solomon Hykes, and it comes after Coatue led a $6m round in December 2020 that included Mozilla and some 20 angel investors.
Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of mass media group Comcast, has co-led a $20m series A round for sustainable apartment builder Juno, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The round was co-led by Khosla Ventures and Real Estate Technology Ventures and included JLL Spark, the investment arm of real estate services provider JLL, as well as Vertex Ventures, Anim, K50, Foundamental and Green D Alumni Ventures. The company had reportedly raised $11m from investors including Khosla Ventures, Canaan Partners, Vertex Ventures and MetaProp as of July 2020.
China-based smart exercise bike manufacturer Freebeat raised $20m last month in a funding round co-led by SIG China, a subsidiary of quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group. The round was co-led by venture capital firm GSR Ventures and the proceeds will be used to boost production.
Infrastructure and energy conglomerate Motive Companies led a $20m series B round for US-based private networking technology developer GenXComm yesterday. It was joined by BMW iVentures and Intel Capital – on behalf of carmaker BMW and semiconductor data producer Intel – as well as merchant bank Raine’s Next-Gen Communications subsidiary, Azure Capital and Bandgap Ventures. GenXComm received an undisclosed amount from BMW iVentures in July 2020, following $7m from Intel Capital, Azure Capital Partners, Bandgap Ventures, Capital Factory, Lip-Bu Tan, WS Investment and existing backers Fam Capital Partners and UT Horizon Fund in 2017 that took its total funding to $8.5m.
Brazil-headquartered forestry company Amata has spun off engineered wood subsidiary Urbem with R$103m ($19.9m) from investors including DX Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of wood and ceramic tile provider Dexco. The round was led by DX Ventures and also featured undisclosed Amata shareholders.
Alder Fuels, a US-based company developing low-carbon jet fuel, has raised a multimillion-dollar amount from air carrier United and industrial and consumer product manufacturer Honeywell, TechCrunch reported yesterday. United has also signed an agreement to buy 1.5 billion gallons of Alder’s fuel.
US-based video therapy provider DotCom Therapy completed a $13m series A round yesterday that included healthcare provider OSF’s strategic investment vehicle, OSF Ventures. Private equity firm New Capital Partners led the round, which also featured VC platform LRVHealth and which followed an $815,000 investment by HealthX Ventures in March 2019.
Blackstone’s Innovations Investments subsidiary and Carlyle co-led an extension of undisclosed size to US-based investment automation technology provider Canoe Intelligence’s series A round yesterday, participating alongside Hamilton Lane. The company had secured an undisclosed amount in the round’s $11.8m first tranche in February 2020, from Nasdaq Ventures, the investment arm of financial market operator Nasdaq, as well as Hamilton Lane, Promus Capital and Portage Partners.
Smartwyre, the US-based creator of a commercial agricultural information platform, received $10.5m yesterday in a series A round featuring Cavallo Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of agricultural product manufacturer Wilbur-Ellis. VC fund High Alpha Capital led the round, which included Anterra Capital – the VC firm backed by financial services firm Rabobank – as well as Fall Line Capital and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest fund. The company had raised $3.1m in seed funding in April 2019 according to a securities filing, and named Cavallo Ventures, Anterra Capital, Rise of the Rest and Fall Line Capital as existing backers.
US-based e-commerce marketing platform developer Yotpo secured an undisclosed amount of funding from social commerce marketplace Shopify yesterday through a strategic partnership. Yotpo was valued at $1.4bn in March this year when it raised $230m in series F funding from conglomerate Access Industries’ Claltech subsidiary, Bessemer Venture Partners, Tiger Global Management, Coin Ventures, Hanaco, Vertex Ventures and Vintage Investment Partners to increase its overall funding to $406m.
AccelByte, the US-headquartered creator of a development software platform for game-as-a-service products, completed a $10m series A round yesterday that included game developers NetEase, Krafton and Dreamhaven. VC firm Galaxy Interactive led the round, which will support the growth of AccelByte’s industry partnerships.
US-based digital therapeutics developer Neuroglee Therapeutics confirmed yesterday it has raised $10m in a series A round led by VC firm Openspace Ventures that included pharmaceutical firm Eisai, the Singaporean state-owned EDBI and angel investors including Raman Singh, Kuldeep Singh Rajput and Wendou Niu. News of the deal originally broke last week and it came after Eisai co-led Neuroglee’s $2.3m seed round in December 2020 with Kuldeep Singh Rajput.
E-commerce firm Alibaba’s eWTP Technology and Innovation Fund has invested a seven-digit amount in Vietnam-based imported food chain Homefarm, the latter’s CEO, Tran Van Truong, told DealStreetAsia yesterday. The capital will be allocated to expansion as Homefarm looks to grow its retail network from about 150 stores to 1,000 by 2025.
DeFi Land, the US-based creator of a gamified decentralised finance platform, has closed a $4.1m funding round featuring blockchain game developer Animoca Brands, quantitative trading firm Alameda Research and cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io, The Daily Hodl reported yesterday. There were some 40 participants in the round including Jump Capital, NGC Ventures, Solana Foundation, MXC, Solar Eco Fund and Youbi Capital.
Telecommunications firm Telus provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Canada-based carbon credit provider Radicle Group yesterday through corporate venturing subsidiary Telus Ventures. The investment will support the company’s international expansion.
Japan-based urban engineering designer Scheme Verge received ¥220m ($2m) in pre-series A funding today from investors including multicorporate-backed VC firm Yamaguchi Capital as well as Energy and Environment Investment and Samurai Incubate. The company said it has now raised approximately $2.6m in total and revealed telecoms and internet group SoftBank’s Deepcore subsidiary had joined Samurai Incubate and angel investor Masashi Takahashi to supply about $450,000 in seed funding in 2020. Deepcore and unnamed individuals had previously invested an undisclosed amount in 2018.
Omron Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for automation technology producer Omron, has supplied Rs 140m ($1.9m) in series A funding for Phable, an India-based provider of patient compliance technology, Inc42 reported yesterday, citing a regulatory filing. Inflection Point Ventures had provided $1m in pre-series A financing for Phable in May 2020 before investors including LetsVenture, Betatron Venture Group added $160,000 three months later, according to Inc42.
Oxford Cancer Analytics (OxCan), a UK-based developer of screening technology for the early detection of lung cancer, has secured nearly £1.3m ($1.8m) in seed funding from investors including and automation technology provider MegaRobo. The round also featured Francis Crick Institute, Cancer Research UK, Civilisation Ventures, Oxford Technology Management and assorted angel investors.
Fathom, a UK-based flood risk and modelling technology developer spun out of University of Bristol, attracted an undisclosed amount of funding yesterday from financial ratings and risk assessment provider Moody’s. The company targets clients in the insurance and reinsurance, risk management, financial services, engineering and disaster response sectors, incorporating climate crisis models to predict the impact of future flooding.
DocoDoor, the Japan-based operator of a no-code app development platform called Applimo, raised ¥80m ($730,000) in series A funding from IT services firm SystemSoft, real estate developer Apaman Network and Mirai Nihon Ventures today. The company had secured a total of $820,000 across various rounds before adding an undisclosed amount from co-working space provider Fabbit, Japan Startup Support Association and Nippon Venture Capital in June this year.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu and Thierry Heles.
