Funding
Growth equity firm Trustbridge Partners has provided $40m in series B funding for Senser, a China-based fashion e-commerce platform developer backed by conglomerate Fosun, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. The publication did not give details of Senser’s earlier funding but named Fosun subsidiary Fosun RZ Capital, Blue Lake Capital, Vision Plus Capital and Spade Capital as earlier investors.
US-based marketing software provider Civis Analytics raised $30.7m in series B funding yesterday from investors including telecommunications firm Verizon’s corporate venturing unit, Verizon Ventures. It was joined by Alumni Ventures, Drive Capital, Silicon Valley Bank and private investor Eric Schmidt and the round came after a $22m series A in 2016 led by Drive Capital and backed by Verizon Ventures, Eric Schmidt and public relations group WPP. Civis had received an undisclosed amount of seed capital from Schmidt three years earlier.
Bijnis, the India-based operator of an online trading platform for manufacturers, has secured $30m in a series B round featuring classified listings operator Info Edge. The round was led by private equity firm Westbridge Capital and included Matrix Partners India, Sequoia Capital India and Waterbridge Ventures. The company raised $10m in a July 2020 series A round co-led by Matrix Partners India and Sequoia Capital India and backed by Info Edge and Waterbridge Ventures, taking its total funding to over $11.7m.
Hanwha Solutions, a subsidiary of diversified conglomerate Hanwha Group, led a $25m series A round for US-based cultured meat developer New Age Meats yesterday. SOSV’s IndieBio fund also took part in the round, as did TechU Ventures, FF Venture Capital and Siddhi Capital. It followed $2.7m in seed capital from FF VC, Agronomics, Sand Hill Angels, Supernode Ventures, Hemisphere Ventures and Kairos Ventures in January 2020, a $2m extension led by TechU Ventures six months later and a further $2m from Litani Ventures, FF VC, SOSV, Innovating Capital, San Diego Tech Coast Angels, BeniVC, Oceanic Partners, Deep Ventures and Climate Capital in January this year.
Optical product maker Fujifilm invested an amount likely to be about $1.6m in Japan-based, data-focused media service JX Press Corporation, increasing its series C round to ¥2.2bn ($19.8m) today. The round stood at $18.2m as of last month and the equity portion included insurance provider Aioi Nissay Dowa, broadcaster Asahi Broadcasting Group’s ABC Dream Ventures unit, JIC Venture Growth Investments, SMBC Nikko Securities and Global Brain. It has now raised $33.5m altogether.
US-headquartered, Africa-focused cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card raised $15m in series A funding yesterday from investors including Blockchain.com Ventures, the investment arm of blockchain technology provider Blockchain.com, as well as payment technology providers Square and MoonPay and crypto exchanges BlockFi and Coinbase, the latter through Coinbase Ventures. The round was co-led by Valar Ventures, Third Prime and Castle Island Ventures and also featured Polychain Capital, Fabric Ventures, Raba Partnership and GreenHouse Capital. The company had received an undisclosed sum from Metal VC in September 2019 and $1.5m in seed financing from Polychain, Andreessen Horowitz and Celo, which jointly invested through Celo Ecosystem Fund.
US-based augmented reality software developer Phiar Technologies completed a $12m series A round yesterday led by insurance firm State Farm’s strategic investment vehicle, State Farm Ventures. The round was also backed by telematics technology producer Cambridge Mobile Telematics, wireless location services provider Telenav, Norwest Venture Partners, The Venture Reality Fund and GFR Fund. The last three had joined Anorak Ventures, Mayfield Fund, Zeno Ventures, Cross Culture Ventures, Y Combinator, Innolinks Ventures and Half Court Ventures in Phiar’s $3m seed round in 2018.
Cryptocurrency information provider KuCoin’s Eco Fund led a $12m series A2 round for China-headquartered crypto asset manager Blofin yesterday. Matrix Partners, Lingfeng Capital and Fenbushi Capital also contributed to the round, which came six months after Matrix Partners and quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group co-led the company’s $10m series A-plus round.
Japan-based joint home purchasing scheme Not a Hotel secured ¥850m ($7.6m) today in a pre-series A round that included real estate developer Open House and Oriental Land Innovations, a corporate venturing subsidiary of amusement park operator Oriental Land. They were joined by investment firm Mercuria Investment, hedge fund manager The Breakthrough Partners Go Fund and VC firm Brew.
Japan-based advertisement production software provider Richka raised ¥800m ($7.2m) today from investors including GMO VenturePartners, Hakuhodo DY Ventures, Monex Ventures, Mizuho Capital, FFG Venture Business Partners and Shinsei Corporate Investment, on behalf of internet company GMO, marketing firm Hakuhodo DY, currency exchange Monex and financial services firms Mizuho Bank, Fukuoka Financial Group and Shinsei Bank respectively. They joined artist management firm Rooftop, Daiwa Securities’ Daiwa Corporate Investment unit and Dream Incubator’s Dimension fund, and the round followed $1.9m in a mid-2019 round.
France-based cancer therapeutics developer Aglaia Therapeutics closed a €4m ($4.7m) seed round yesterday that included pharmaceutical and cosmetics producer Pierre Fabre. The round was led by investment firm Advent France Biotechnology and also featured Crédit Mutuel Innovation, a VC vehicle for financial services group Crédit Mutuel.
Akudo, the India-based developer of an education-focused digital bank offering, has received $4.2m in a seed round co-led by mobile game publisher Akatsuki’s AET Fund, the Economic Times reported yesterday. The round was co-led by Y Combinator, Jafco Asia and Incubate Fund India and included Tribe Capital, Cabra Capital and angel investors including Lalit Keshre. It came about a month after Akudo disclosed it had raised an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding from Y Combinator, Jafco Asia and Incubate Fund India.
Real estate developer Lippo Group has provided $3.3m in pre-series A funding for Moolahgo, the Singapore-based operator of a cross-border mobile payment platform, Tech in Asia reported today. Angel investor Eric Barbier supplied an undisclosed sum for the company in early 2019 before Lippo added an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding in March 2020.
Z Venture Capital, a corporate venturing vehicle for internet holding group Z Holdings Corporation, invested an undisclosed sum in Japan-based content management system developer MicroCMS today. Its product enables users to manage content without a web server.
Indonesia-based identity authentication software startup Verihubs has secured $2.8m in a seed round featuring Central Capital Ventura, the VC arm of Bank Central Asia, TechCrunch reported today. VC firm Insignia Venture Partners led the round, which included Armand Ventures and angel investors Budi Handoko, Jefriyanto and Ricky Winata, Rohit Mulani, Chinmay Chauhan and Pramodh Rai.
Japan-based menopause consultation service Truly raised an undisclosed amount of funding today from internet company CyberAgent, brand developer MTG and financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ. They invested through CyberAgent Capital, MTG Ventures and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital respectively.
Plastic pipe manufacturer Nippon Chutetsukan supplied collected ¥298m ($2.7m) in convertible bond financing for Japan-based infrastructure information provider Whole Earth Foundation today. The cash will be channelled into product development and recruitment.
Sanfee, an India-based feminine hygiene brand backed by pharmaceutical company Elixir Pharma, received $1m in series A funding yesterday from LetsVenture and angel investors Ajay Garg, Tarun Sharma, Arjun Vaidya and Dhimant Parekh, YourStory reported. Elixir Pharma joined Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, SucSeed Venture Partners, Titan Capital and various individuals in a $1.1m pre-series A round for the company in February 2020.
M&A
Alibaba Health Information Technology, a subsidiary of e-commerce group Alibaba, has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire Xiaolu, the China-based owner of an online platform that connects patients to healthcare providers, allowing conglomerate Fosun to exit, DealStreetAsia reported yesterday. NGP Capital invested $20m in Xiaolu in mid-2019 to take its overall funding to $64m. Its earlier investors included Fosun vehicle Tonghao Capital, Redpoint Ventures, Sinovation Ventures, IDG Capital and 5Y Capital.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
