Funding
Venture capital fund Solas BioVentures led a $21m series B round yesterday for Cryosa, the US-based developer of a medical device to treat sleep apnoea, that included medical technology producer Hoya, life sciences investment firm Santé Ventures and undisclosed others. Cryosa had secured $1m from unnamed investors in 2018 before Hoya and Santé Ventures co-led its $8.25m series A round in June 2020.
Sweden-headquartered financial software tool developer Doconomy raised $17m yesterday in a funding round led by CommerzVentures, the VC firm funded by financial services firm Commerzbank. The round included payment services firm Mastercard, holding group Wiklöf Holding and financial services firm Ålandsbanken. The company had received an undisclosed amount from Mastercard in December 2019 and identified Wiklöf Holding and Ålandsbanken as existing backers.
Portugal-based cybersecurity software developer Jscrambler secured $15m yesterday in a series A round featuring Sonae IM, the corporate venturing vehicle for diversified conglomerate Sonae. Investment management firm Ace Capital Partners led the round, which was also backed by Portugal Ventures, the VC firm that had invested an undisclosed amount in Jscrambler in 2014. It returned for a round sized at over $2.3m that was led by Sonae IM in 2018.
US-based business security technology provider RaySecur received $13m in series A funding yesterday from investors including security equipment producer Johnson Controls’ corporate venturing unit, JCI Ventures. The round was led by Outsiders Fund and also featured One Way Ventures, Yu Galaxy, Launchpad Venture Group and Dreamit Ventures. The company completed a $3m seed round led by One Way Ventures in December 2019 that included Junson Capital, Launchpad Venture Group and Dreamit Ventures.
Corporate card provider Ramp participated in a $12m pre-series A round for India-based corporate card technology developer Karbon Card yesterday. It joined Rainfall Ventures, Roka Works, Y Combinator, Orios Venture Partners and MyAsiaVC in the round, which followed $1m from assorted angel investors in March 2020 and $1m from investors including Orios Venture Partners and Whiteboard Capital the following month.
Dream Capital, the corporate venturing subsidiary of fantasy sports operator Dream Sports, co-led an $11.5m series A round yesterday for Fittr, the India-based operator of an online health and fitness community. The round was led by Elysian Park Ventures, the investment vehicle for the owners of baseball franchise the Los Angeles Dodgers, and included VC firm Sequoia Capital’s Surge fund. The company – then called Squats Fitness – had raised an undisclosed amount from actor Suniel Shetty in May 2019 and $2m from Surge in April 2020.
PouchNation, a Singapore-based developer of contactless payment and guest management software, secured an undisclosed amount of bridge funding yesterday from investors including online travel agent Traveloka, SOSV, Artesian, Found Ventures, Huashan Capital and unnamed individuals. Online ticketing service Tix ID invested an undisclosed amount in the company in February 2020, adding to $3m in series B funding it had raised from investors including Traveloka and SPH Ventures, the corporate VC arm of media company Singapore Press Holdings, in mid-2019. Cradle Fund and various individuals had supplied $1m for PouchNation in 2017.
Bloktopia, the Isle of Man-registered creator of a virtual reality metaverse, disclosed $4.2m in funding yesterday led by blockchain game developer Animoca Brands, digital currency exchange Kucoin Labs, crypto media platform developer Bitboy and blockchain scaling technology developer Polygon. They were joined by Anti Fund, X21 Digital, Genblock Capital, AU21, Avalanche, Shima Capital, TKX Capital, DuckDAO, Dreamboat Capital, Magnus Capital and angel investor Wendy-O.
US-based autonomous agriculture technology startup Agtonomy emerged from stealth yesterday with $4m in seed funding from investors including GV, a corporate venturing subsidiary of internet and technology conglomerate Alphabet. The corporate joined Grit Ventures and Village Global in the round, which will support an increase in headcount at the company.
Avenue, the US-based creator of a monitoring and incident response software platform for operations teams, also came out of stealth mode yesterday, having secured $4m in a seed round that included freight forwarder Flexport. The round was led by Accel and also backed by AirAngels and angel investors including Elad Gil and Lachy Groom.
AP Ventures, the strategic investment vehicle formed by technical services provider All Points Logistics, led a $1m pre-seed round yesterday for General Lattice, a US-based developer of computational and digital manufacturing technology. The cash will support the growth of General Lattice’s customer base and help it fulfil a contract with the US Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center.
Kitabeli, an Indonesia-based social commerce platform developer backed by on-demand ride service Gojek, has received an undisclosed amount of series A funding from Kopi Kenangan Capital, Banana Capital and angel investors Vidit Aatrey and Sanjeev Barnwal, Tech in Asia reported today. It will be added to the $10m in series A financing supplied by Gojek subsidiary Go-Ventures and existing investors AC Ventures and East Ventures in March this year.
CiiK, the Japan-based owner of men’s cosmetics brand Retøuch, has raised ¥30m ($270,000) in seed capital from investors including AA Fund, a vehicle formed by internet company Mixi in March this year. The round was also backed by VC firm W Ventures and angel investor Takanori Kataishi.
M&A
Marketing technology group You & Mr Jones is set to exit Tribe Dynamics, the US-based developer of a software platform for social media influence tracking, in an acquisition by influencer marketing software provider CreatorIQ sized at $70m according to Variety. Tribe Dynamics has not disclosed details of its funding but You & Mr Jones, Lighter Capital and Planven Entrepreneur Ventures all list it as a portfolio company.
Data batching technology provider Umbrella Network agreed yesterday to purchase US-based, blockchain-focused advertising technology developer Lucidity for an undisclosed amount in a deal that would allow digital wallet producer CoinUs and blockchain technology provider RChain Cooperative to exit. It came three years after RChain vehicle Pithia joined CoinUs, 3Rodeo, Cypher Group and YouBi Capital to invest $5m in Lucidity.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
