Internet company Tencent has invested an undisclosed sum in Sensewhere, a UK-based developer of mapping technology that can be used in indoor spaces where GPS is unavailable, TechCrunch reported on Wednesday. Tencent will also gain access to Sensewhere’s technology for use in its Tencent Maps app, and has appointed Sensewhere as its preferred vendor for location-based advertising services in its home country of China.
US-based visual marketing platform developer Pixlee secured $4m on Wednesday in a series A round led by angel investor David Jones that included GS Shop, a retail subsidiary of Korea-based conglomerate GS Group, and Brian Weiner, chairman of advertising agency 360i. The funding follows a $1.5m seed round in 2013 led by XSeed Capital that included Andreessen Horowitz, Ariel Poler, Rothenberg Ventures and Mark Gorenberg.
BitFlyer, the Japan-based operator of a marketplace for cryptocurrency Bitcoin, raised $4m on Thursday from Dentsu Digital Holdings, a subsidiary of marketing firm Dentsu; insurance provider Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance; Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, which acts as the venture capital subsidiary of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ; media company Quick and Venture Labo. The company has now raised $6.9m altogether.
Internet company Google is set to spin out Niantic Labs, the US-based developer of location-focused multiplayer mobile game Ingress, with an undisclosed amount of seed funding, it revealed on Wednesday. The announcement follows the disclosure that Google is set to spin out several of its divisions under the umbrella of a new holding company called Alphabet, but it has not revealed whether or not Niantic will be overseen by Alphabet.
AgroStar, an India-based online retailer of agricultural products such as seeds, nutrients and farm hardware developed by ULink BioEnergy, has raised Rs 240m ($3.7m) from IDG Ventures India, the Indian corporate venturing affiliate of media company International Data Group, as well as Aavishkaar Venture Management. The service processes some 15,000 transactions a month, and aims to ramp that figure up to around 50,000 in the next 12 to 18 months.
US-based onsite healthcare service Dispatch Health raised $3.6m in seed funding on Wednesday from investors including healthcare management and billing services provider EMP Holdings. Dispatch, which was founded as True North Health Navigation in 2013, will use the cash to expand the range of services it offers.
US-based digital media company Inverse launched on Wednesday with an undisclosed amount of seed funding from investors including Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, the strategic investment arm of media group Berteslmann, as well as Greycroft Partners, Crosslink Capital, Social+ Capital Partnership and Rothenberg Ventures. Inverse is a millennial male-targeted media website focused around technology and the future.
Reliance Venture Asset Management, the corporate venturing arm of diversified conglomerate Reliance Industries, has invested $1m in India-based mobile payment technology startup ToneTag, Hindu Business Line reported on Monday. ToneTag, which is developing software that will enable contactless payment on existing payment equipment, previously received seed funding from angel investors Ram Sellaratnam and Rajesh Yohahanna.
This, a US-based online content sharing startup incubated by online media company Atlantic Media, has raised $610,000 in seed funding from backers including New Republic Fund, which acts as the investment arm of media company New Republic, Matter Ventures, Hong Qu, Chloe Sladden, and John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Users of the service, which is in beta with around 4,500 users, can share one link with each other a day.