Funding
Medical services group Danel led a $40m series B round yesterday for Aviv Scientific, an Israel-based developer of oxygen therapy treatments to address age-related cognitive decline. The round included the deep technology-focused Deep Insight Fund and although Aviv has not revealed details of past funding, its technology stems from a partnership with Sagol Center, a hyperbaric medicine and research facility located at Shamir Medical Center.
US-based drug delivery technology developer Credence MedSystems completed a $39.9m funding round yesterday that included pharmaceutical firm Novartis and Molex Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of fibre optic equipment maker Molex. The company had previously secured $3m in funding in 2012, $6m the following year, $7.9m in 2016 and $12.8m two years later, according to securities filings.
Singapore-based expense tracking software developer Spenmo has raised $34m in series A funding from investors including enterprise software provider Salesforce’s corporate venturing unit, Salesforce Ventures, e27 reported yesterday. Growth equity firm Insight Partners led the round, which also featured Addition, Alpha JWC Ventures, Broadhaven, Global Founders Capital, Operator Partners, Commerce Ventures and several angel investors. It came in the wake of $2m in seed capital from e-commerce holding company Rocket Internet, Y Combinator, Iterative Capital and undisclosed individuals in August 2020.
Kaiser Permanente Ventures, the investment arm of healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente, took part in a $33m series B round on Tuesday for NOCD, a US-based developer of treatments for obsessive compulsive disorder. The round was led by F-Prime Capital and included another subsidiary of investment and financial services group Fidelity – Eight Roads Ventures – as well as existing investors including 7wire Ventures, Health Enterprise Partners (HEP) and Chicago Ventures. NOCD had raised $1m in seed funding from 7wire in 2018, $4m in series A funding from Chicago Ventures, 7Wire, Meridian Street Capital, and Hyde Park Angels in October 2019 and another $12m in series A financing from 7Wire, Chicago Ventures and Hyde Park Angels 12 months later.
Tact.ai, the US-based developer of a customer engagement software platform for life sciences, secured $33m on Tuesday from pharmaceutical firms Eli Lilly and Novartis, enterprise software provider Salesforce, medical supplies distributor McKesson and diversified software producer Microsoft, the last four through DRX Capital, Salesforce Ventures, McKesson Ventures and M12 respectively. The company said it has now raised $88m in total, including an undisclosed sum from Honeywell Ventures – part of industrial and consumer technology producer Honeywell – in January 2020. Its earlier backers include Alexa Fund and Comcast Ventures, subsidiaries of e-commerce and cloud computing firm Amazon and mass media group Comcast.
Telecommunications and internet group SoftBank has led a $30m series A round for Indonesia-headquartered online payment platform developer Oy Indonesia, e27 reported today, citing a company statement. The corporate invested through its SoftBank Ventures Asia subsidiary and the round included Saison Capital, the investment arm of payment services firm Credit Saison, as well as telecoms firm Telkom Indonesia’s MDI Ventures unit, electronics producer Satnusa, financial services firm Bank Central Asia’s Central Capital Ventura unit, Pavilion Capital, AC Ventures, Wavemaker and Orion Advisors. The company had raised $44.5m in a July 2021 round also billed as a series A, taking its total funding to $47.5m.
B Capital Group, the VC partner of consulting firm Boston Consulting Group, has co-led a $20m series A round on Tuesday for Israel-based data access software provider Satori. The round was co-led by VC firm Evolution Equity Partners and also featured YL Ventures, the VC firm which led Satori’s $5.25m seed round in December 2019.
Genially, a US-headquartered provider of interactive content creation software, received $20m yesterday in a series B round co-led by VC firms 645 Ventures and Owl Ventures that also featured DN Capital, Brighteye Ventures and unnamed individuals. The company had raised $4.8m from JME Ventures, GP Bullhound, Market One Capital, Athos Capital Fund, FJ Labs and various angel investors in February 2020, identifying telecoms firm Telefónica’s Wayra subsidiary, Caixa Capital Risc and Lánzame Capital as existing backers.
Orca, the creator of a cryptocurrency exchange mechanism for the Solana blockchain platform, secured $18m yesterday from investors including digital currency exchange Coinbase’s corporate VC unit, Coinbase Ventures. The round was co-led by hedge fund manager Three Arrows Capital and VC firms Polychain and Placeholder, and it also featured Jump Capital, Sino Global Capital, Collab & Currency, DeFiance, Zee Prime, Solana Capital and unnamed angel investors.
Media group Hearst took part in a $15.5m seed round for UK-based open banking software startup Vyne today through its Hearst Ventures subsidiary. The corporate was joined by Entrée Capital, Triplepoint Capital, Seedcamp, Venrex, Founder Collective, Partech and angel investors Alex Chesterman, Charlie Dellingpole and Will Neale. Vyne claims it is the largest seed round yet for a UK-headquartered open banking company.
Canada-based cyber insurance provider Boxx completed a $10m series A round yesterday that included insurance provider Zurich Insurance Group. The round also featured VC funds Cyber Mentor Fund and SixThirty Ventures, and the proceeds will be allocated to international growth. Boxx had previously been part of insurance firm Lloyds of London’s Lloyds Lab accelerator.
Scottish National Investment Bank supplied £6m ($8.2m) in convertible note financing yesterday for Sunamp, a UK-headquartered thermal battery producer backed by gas utility Osaka Gas. It came in the wake of $5.9m in series A financing from Aurus Capital, Scottish Investment Bank and undisclosed existing private investors in August 2020, a round which in turn followed a $2.8m seed round in 2018 featuring Osaka Gas, Scottish Investment Bank, Equity Gap and Par Equity.
China-based healthy snack brand Ffit8 has raised an eight-digit yuan amount (RMB10m = $1.55m) in series A-plus funding from investors including Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI) and Fosun RZ Capital, which invested on behalf of media group Bertelsmann and conglomerate Fosun, 36Kr reported yesterday. Houwei Capital, a vehicle for broadcaster Hunan Broadcasting System, also contributed to the round, all three investors having backed an eight-digit dollar round for Ffit8 in November 2020 alongside influencer marketing agency Microidea Technology.
Recycleye, the UK-based recycling technology developer backed by environmental sustainability consultancy Eolos, secured £3.8m ($4.8m) yesterday in a seed round led by VC firm Promus Ventures through its Orbital Ventures fund. The round also featured MMC Ventures, Playfair Capital, Atypical Ventures and Creator Fund, the last three of which had joined Eolos in a $1.6m round for the company in December 2019.
Bangladesh-based trucking services provider Truck Lagbe has received $4m in series A financing from investors including Colopl Next, a subsidiary of game publisher Colopl, The Business Standard has reported. The round was co-led by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation and asset manager IDLC’s Venture Capital Fund and also backed by Millville Opportunities Master Fund, Shorooq Partners and TRU Fund I. The company had previously raised $1.75m in seed capital from investors including Mount Parker Ventures and Aria Group.
US-based petcare product and service provider Dogdrop raised $2.9m from investors including pet product provider Mars PetCare yesterday. Fuel Capital led the round, which also featured Muse Capital, Animal Capital, Gaingels, The Helm and angel investor Garrett Smallwood. Dogdrop was part of the 2020 batch of Mars Petcare’s Leap Venture Studio accelerator, and named Science Inc and Muse Capital as additional investors in September the same year.
Investment firm Ultrabuttonwood Capital has provided an undisclosed amount for ViewInTech, a China-based cybersecurity software developer backed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, 36Kr reported today. Legend Holdings subsidiary Legend Star and Cornerstone Capital had supplied an undisclosed amount of seed funding for ViewInTech in July 2019, and it added an undisclosed amount in a January 2021 pre-series A round led by Security Capital.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio revealed investments of undisclosed size in Israel-based cultivated meat developer Aleph Farms and Netherlands-headquartered counterpart Mosa Meat yesterday. Aleph had raised a total of $118m from investors including corporates Thai Union, BRF, CJ CheilJedang, Strauss Group, M-Industry and Cargill as of a $105m series B round in July this year, five months after Mosa closed an $85m series B featuring corporates Mitsubishi, Merck Group and Bell Food Group to take its total funding to $93m.
M&A
Communications software provider Sinch agreed yesterday to acquire MessengerPeople, a Germany-based conversational messaging software developer backed by media company Müller Medien, for €48m ($56.3m). The deal will consist of €33.6m in cash and €14.4m in shares and it follows a $5.9m series A round in 2017 featuring Müller Medien and Media + More Ventures – a vehicle for media companies VRM, Badisches Pressehaus and Druck & Medien Heilbronn – as well as High-Tech Gründerfonds, Wessel Management and unnamed others, back when MessengerPeople was still known as WhatsBroadcast.
Financial services firm JPMorgan Chase purchased Frank, the US-based operator of an online financial assistance service for higher education students, on Tuesday, allowing education technology producer Chegg to exit. Chegg had taken part in a $5m round for Frank alongside Aleph, GingerBread Capital and private investor Marc Rowan in April 2020, following $5.5m in a 2017 seed round and $10m in funding from Aleph, Rowan, Reach Capital, Tusk Ventures and Slow Ventures the following year.
Pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim bought portfolio company Abexxa Biologics, a US-based developer of molecular cancer drugs, for an undisclosed sum on Tuesday. Abexxa said it had raised funding from the corporate’s Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund in 2016, the same year it secured $1.2m from three investors according to a regulatory filing.
Additional reporting by Thierry Heles.
