Funds
Côte d’Ivoire-based social impact vehicle Janngo Capital Startup Fund has reached a €34m ($36m) first close having raised cash from limited partners including media groups Muller Medien and Hubert Burda Media, the latter through its investment arm, Hubert Burda Media. They were joined by European Investment Bank, African Development Bank and Agence Française de Développement’s Proparco unit.
US-based web3-focused venture capital firm MetaWeb Ventures has formed a $30m debut vehicle called Fund I with backing from cryptocurrency exchange Near Foundation, crypto trading firm GSR Markets and crypto network Octopus Network. Its LPs also include Sequoia China, Dragonfly Capital, SevenX Ventures, Mentha Partners as well as Illia Polosukhin, Bo Shao, Shawn Shi and Mark Wang.
US-based VC firm Kapor Capital has formed a $126m Fund III that included contributions from investors including PayPal, Twilio, Foot Locker, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, Bank of America and National Geographic Society. The LP roster was filled out by Cambridge Associates, Align Impact, Ford Foundation, EIP Elevate Future Fund, Southern Poverty Law, The California Wellness Foundation, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and Stardust Equity.
Reverse merger
Aerwins Technologies, the US-based parent company of drone technology provider ALI Technologies, which counts corporates Fuyo General Lease, Kyocera, JR West, Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, Opt, Saibu Gas and Trust Tech as backers, has agreed to go public through a merger with Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company Pono Capital Corp. The deal will give the combined business a pro forma equity value of approximately $750m.
Public markets
Leapmotor, the China-based electric vehicle manufacturer backed by corporates Dahua Technology, Shanghai Electric and CRRC, has called off a $1.5bn initial public offering to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, two people privy to the development have told DealStreetAsia.
M&A
Turkey-based local services portal Armut has merged with ProntoPro, an Italy-headquartered peer backed by online real estate portal Immobiliare.it. Undisclosed existing ProntoPro investors are leading a €15m ($14.8m) funding round supporting the transaction.
Funding
| Company | Company description | Sector | Country | Round | Round size($m) | Deal date | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nimbus Therapeutics | Small molecule drug developer | Healthcare | US | N/A | 125 | 12/09/2022 | Access Industries (Access Biotechnology), Pfizer (Pfizer Ventures), GlaxoSmithKline (SR One); SV Health Investors, Atlas Venture, BVF Partners, Bill Gates, Lightstone Ventures, RA Capital Management, Bain Capital (Bain Capital Life Sciences) |
| Predictive Index | Talent optimisation software provider | Services | US | N/A | 30 | 13/09/2022 | JM Family Enterprises |
| Hone | Executive learning and development platform | Services | US | B | 30 | 13/09/2022 | Slack (Slack Fund); 3L Capital (lead), Fidelity (F-Prime Capital), Cowboy Ventures |
| Litmus | Email marketing testing service | Media | US | B | 30 | 13/09/2022 | Belden (lead); unnamed additional investor |
| Community Labs | Power software developer | IT | US | N/A | 30 | 09/09/2022 | Arweave; Lightspeed Venture Partners (lead) Bain Capital (Bain Capital Crypto), Blockchain Capital, Distributed Global, Road Capital Management |
| iSabers Materials | Advanced semiconductor integration technology developer | IT | China | A | 28.8 | 09/09/2022 | Beijing Integrated Circuit Advanced Manufacturing (Beijing Integrated Circuit Advanced Chip Fund), Sungrow; China Construction Bank (CCB Trust), Beijing Zhike Industry Investment Holding Group, Wofo Capital |
| Liquid Instruments | Measurement hardware and software provider | Industrial | Australia | B | 28.5 | 13/09/2022 | Lockheed Martin (Lockheed Martin Ventures); Acorn Capital (lead), Powerhouse Ventures, Spirit Super/ANU Connect Ventures, MA Growth Ventures, Significant Capital Ventures, Boman Enterprises |
| Applied EV | Electric vehicle software developer | Transport | Australia | N/A | 14.2 | 13/09/2022 | Suzuki; St Baker Energy Innovation Fund |
| Polimero | Plastic waste recycling service | Industrial | Italy | N/A | 12 | 12/09/2022 | Repeats Group |
| Jobbatical | Workers’ immigration and relocation platform | Services | UK | N/A | 11.6 | 12/09/2022 | Swiss Post (Swiss Post Ventures); Inventure (lead), Union Square Ventures, Karma VC, Metaplanet, Devotion Ventures, Kristel Kruustük, Indrek Prants, Andres Kull, Joe Zadeh |
| WhiteLab Genomics | Gene and cell therapy developer | Healthcare | France | N/A | 10 | 12/09/2022 | Debiopharm; Omnes Capital |
| B+J Studios | Consumer NFT technology developer | Financial | US | A | 10 | 08/09/2022 | Solana (Solana Labs); Brevan Howard (Brevan Howard Digital), Big Brain Holdings, Foundation Capital, Starting Line, Republic Capital |
| Procol | Procurement management software developer | IT | India | N/A | 6.4 | 13/09/2022 | GMO Internet Group (GMO Venture Partners), Alarko (Alarko Ventures); Esas Holding (Esas Ventures), FounderBank Capital, Anchorage Capital, Blume Ventures, Sequoia Capital (Sequoia Surge), Beenext |
| Sender | Crypto-driven ewallet provider | Financial | Singapore | N/A | 4.5 | 12/09/2022 | WOO Network, Crypto.com, Octopus Network, Paras; Pantera Capital (lead), Jump Capital, Amber Group, SevenX Ventures, Smrti Lab, D1 Ventures, Puzzle Ventures, Shima Capital, Eniac Ventures, GFS Ventures, Ref Finance |
| Emulsion Flow | Rare metal recycling service | Industrial | Japan | A | 3.1 | 13/09/2022 | Honda Motor, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC Venture Capital), Mitsubishi UFJ (Mitsubishi UFJ Capital), KDDI (KDDI Green Partners Fund); RealTech Fund (lead), Okasan Securities (Okasan Capital Partners) |
| Neem | Financial services provider for underbanked communities | Financial | Pakistan | Seed | 2.5 | 13/09/2022 | Arif Habib; SparkLabs Fintech, Cordoba Logistics & Ventures Ltd, Taarah Ventures, My Asia VC |
| KNN3 Network | Web3 relationship aggregator | Media | US | Seed | 2.4 | 09/09/2022 | ShowMe, Mask Network; Hash Global (co-lead), Liang Xinjun (co-lead), MetaWeb Ventures, Eniac Ventures, Tess Ventures, Stratified Capital, Fundamental Lab, Incuba Alpha, Zeuth Ventures, Cogitent Ventures, Atlas Capital, Impossible Finance, RSS3, Yan Xin, Potter Li |
| Onmeta | Web3 transaction service | Financial | India | Seed | 1.5 | 13/09/2022 | Polygon (Polygon Studios); Skycatcher Fund (lead), Luno Expeditions, GSF Fund, Sandeep Nailwal, Ganesh Swami, Nitish Mittersain, Madhur Deep, Hiro Mashita |
| Neo Fantasy | Blockchain game developer | Media | India | N/A | 1.5 | 09/09/2022 | Neo_Blockchain, BitKeep, Map Protocol, LeadWallet, Nextype; Shima Capital (lead), CatcherVC, Humble Ventures |
| Nawgati | Fuel queue management service | Energy and Natural Resources | India | N/A | N/A | 12/09/2022 | MapmyIndia |
| Zero Emission Industries | Maritime hydrogen technology developer | Energy and Natural Resources | US | A | N/A | 08/09/2022 | Chevron (Chevron New Energies) (lead), Crowley |
| PharmaX | Online pharmacy operator formerly known as Yojo Technologies | Healthcare | Japan | N/A | N/A | 13/09/2022 | KDDI (KDDI Open Innovation Fund 3), Globis (Globis Capital Partners); Anri |
| Yukai Engineering | Communications and connected robot developer | IT | Japan | N/A | N/A | 13/09/2022 | Sumitomo Life (Sumisei Innovation Fund), Tsukui (Tsukui Capital), Koizumi Sangyo |
| Uena | Local food and beverage delivery service | Consumer | Indonesia | Seed | N/A | 13/09/2022 | IDN Media; East Ventures (lead) |
| VitalConnect | Remote and in-hospital wearable biosensor technology developer | Healthcare | US | N/A | N/A | 13/09/2022 | HCA Healthcare (Health Insight Capital) |
