Funding
Managed care provider AmeriHealth Caritas led a $38m series B round for US-based healthcare services provider Wider Circle yesterday through its Social Determinants of Life subsidiary. The round included Blue Venture Fund, which invests on behalf of 35 Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers, as well as venture capital firm Chicago Ventures and undisclosed existing backers.
US-based data management software provider Tonic.ai completed a $35m series B round yesterday led by growth equity firm Insight Partners that included Bloomberg Beta, the VC firm sponsored by media group Bloomberg, as well as GGV Capital, Octave, Heavybit, and Silicon Valley CISO Investments. The company had raised a total of $9.8m as of an $8m series A round in December 2020 led by GGV and backed by existing investors Bloomberg Beta, Xfund, Heavybit and Silicon Valley CISO Investments along with various individuals.
Speciality credit provider Capital IP invested $31m in Issuu, a US-based digital publishing software provider backed by telecommunications firm KDDI, on Tuesday. KDDI’s Open Innovation Fund and Sunstone Capital had supplied $10m in series B funding for the company in 2014, six years after Sunstone Capital invested $5m to bring its overall funding to $6.3m.
US-based medical digital concierge developer TailorMed Medical increased its latest funding round to $25m yesterday with $5m from OSF Ventures, a subsidiary of healthcare provider OSF, as well as financial services firm Citi’s Impact Fund, American Cancer Society’s BrightEdge fund and Sanara Ventures vehicle Sanara Capital. The June 2021 first tranche included health systems Providence St Joseph Health and UnityPoint Health – through Providence Ventures and UnityPoint Health Ventures – in addition to Almeda Ventures, Bridges Israel, Discount Capital, Accelmed, Sanara Ventures and Triventures, taking its total funding to $34m.
BP Ventures, the investment arm of oil and gas supplier BP, put up $13m yesterday to lead a $25m series A round for India-based ride hailing and electric vehicle charging service BluSmart yesterday. Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns and Survam Partners also took part in the round along with unnamed investors, and it followed $7m in pre-series A funding from Inflection Point Ventures, Venture Catalysts, Survam Partners, Mumbai Angels, Chhatisgarh Investments, Jito Angels, Lets Venture Fund and Kaplavriksh Fund in September 2020. BluSmart had raised a total of $5.2m as of September 2019, from investors including motorcycle producer Hero Motorcorp and smartphone maker MicroMax.
US-based farming data technology provider Ceres Imaging received $23m yesterday in a series C round co-led by algorithmic trading firm XTX Markets’ XTX Ventures subsidiary and VC firm Remus Capital and backed by Insight Partners and B37 Ventures. Ceres had raised a total of $8m as of a $5m series A round led by Romulus Capital in May 2017, adding $2.5m from Romulus four months later and $25m in series B funding from Romulus and Insight Partners the following year.
US-headquartered smart sensor developer Vesper raised $18m yesterday, from investors including Applied Ventures, the corporate VC arm of semiconductor technology producer Applied Materials, as well as e-commerce group Amazon’s Alexa Fund, audio equipment producer Bose, electronics manufacturer Unitrontech, fabless semiconductor maker MegaChips and electronics distributor World Peace Group. The round was led by Accomplice and included Sands Capital, Gopher Asset Management and Industrial Technology Research Institute’s Industrial Technology Investment Corporation. It has received a total of at least $38m as of its $23m series B round in 2018.
Benepass, the US-based developer of a software platform for the management of workplace benefits, secured $12m yesterday in a series A round backed by internet technology provider Google’s Gradient Ventures fund. VC firm Threshold Ventures led the round, which also featured Modern Venture Partners, Operator Partners, Alumni Ventures Group and Global Founders Capital (GFC). It came after Gradient Ventures led the company’s $2.4m seed round in May 2020, investing with GFC, Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Amino Capital, Altair Capital, Elysium Ventures and Polymath.
YG Investment, the corporate VC arm of entertainment agency YG Entertainment, took part in a series B round for South Korea-based cybersecurity software provider S2W sized at over $10m today. LB Investment, KDB Development Bank, Magellan Technology Investment, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Lotte Ventures and DS Asset Management also took in the round, which S2W – a Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology spinout – said followed a $3.5m series A in March 2020.
US-headquartered database software developer TileDB has raised an undisclosed amount from aerospace manufacturer Lockheed Martin and mobile network operator NTT Docomo, through their Lockheed Martin Ventures and NTT Docomo Ventures units. The company’s overall funding stood at $20m as of July 2020 when it received $15m in series A funding from Intel Capital, the investment arm of semiconductor technology producer Intel, and fellow returning backers Nexus Venture Partners and Big Pi Ventures as well as Two Bear Capital and Uncorrelated Ventures.
Supersocial, a US-based studio developing online games for the Roblox gaming platform, received $5.2m yesterday in a seed round that included music distributor Warner Music Group. The round was led by Initial Capital and also featured investment bank Aream & Co, Griffin Gaming Partners, Time Ventures, LightShed Ventures, Powerhouse Capital and unnamed angel investors.
Software producer Microsoft invested an undisclosed amount in Truveta, a US-based healthcare data software developer established by 17 care providers, through a strategic partnership yesterday. The deal came two months after Truveta completed a $95m series A round featuring new investors Baylor Scott & White Health, MedStar Health and Texas Health Resources, and seven after it was launched by AdventHealth, Advocate Aurora Health, Baptist Health of Northeast Florida, Bon Secours Mercy Health, Hawaii Pacific Health, Henry Ford Health System, Memorial Hermann Health System, Northwell Health, Novant Health, Sentara Healthcare and Trinity Health.
Greenhouse technology producer Ridder led a $5m funding round yesterday for MetoMotion, an Israel-based developer of robotic farming technology. Navus Ventures, the family office for farming equipment manufacturer Lely, also participated in the round, as did VC firm Sirius Venture Capital. MetoMotion had previously disclosed $1.5m in funding from undisclosed investors in July 2019, and its existing backers include investment group Trendlines.
GrayMatter Robotics, a US-based developer of robotic assistants for use in manufacturing, secured $4.1m in seed capital yesterday from investors including consumer manufacturing group 3M’s corporate VC unit, 3M Ventures, as well as B Capital Group, the VC firm backed by consulting firm Boston Consulting Group. The round was co-led by Stage Venture Partners and Calibrate Ventures and also featured OCA Ventures and Pathbreaker Ventures.
