Germany-based biopharmaceutical startup Thermosome has closed €4.6m ($5.2m) in financing, including €1.9m from funds managed by corporate-backed venture capital fund High-Tech Gruenderfonds and Bayern Kapital. The other €2.7m came in the form of grant funding from government agency German Federal Ministry of Education and Research that will be provided over a three-year period.
Keranova, a France-based developer of instruments for ophthalmic surgery, raised €4m ($4.6m) on Monday in a series A round led by Mérieux Développement, the investment firm owned by medical diagnostics, immunotherapy and nutrition technology provider Institut Mérieux. The round also included CEA Investissement and French public investment bank Bpifrance, which invested €1m.
Canbank Venture Capital Fund, the VC arm of Indian state-owned financial services firm Canara Bank, has invested Rs 300m ($4.5m) in machine components manufacturer Him Teknoforge, Hindu Business Line reported on Wednesday. VC firm IFCI Venture Capital Funds sold its stake in the company for Rs 78m as part of the transaction.
Aviva Ventures, the strategic investment arm of insurance firm Aviva, has invested £3m ($4.3m) in UK-based contractor and DIY services marketplace Opun, City AM reported on Monday. Opun, then known as Mcado, raised approximately $1.2m in seed funding from undisclosed angel investors in February 2015.
Cloud9 Technologies, the US-based developer of a cloud-based voice trading platform, raised an undisclosed amount on Tuesday in its first round of funding. The capital was provided by voice and electronic dealer broke Icap and financial services firms JP Morgan and Barclays, the former two already customers of Cloud9 and the latter set to assist it with product development.
DigitalGenius, the US-based developer of an artificial intelligence-equipped customer service platform, secured $4.1m in funding yesterday from investors including Bloomberg Beta, Novel TMT and Salesforce Ventures, respective subsidiaries of media firm Bloomberg, telecoms company Novel Group and enterprise software producer Salesforce.com. Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Metamorphic Ventures, RRE, Singularity Investments and Spider Capital also took part in the round, which boosted the startup’s total funding to about $7.4m.
HookLogic, the US-based operator of an advertising platform for e-commerce sites, received an undisclosed amount of funding on Wednesday from Luma Capital Partners, the VC subsidiary of investment bank Luma Partners. It had previously raised $39.3m across three rounds from Intel Capital, the corporate venturing arm of chipmaker Intel, as well as Bain Capital Ventures, Fung Capital, Mousse Partners and angel investor Michael Barrett.
Optii Solutions, the Australia-based creator of a hotel housekeeping management platform, raised $2.7m on Tuesday in a series A round co-led by Camber Creek, the corporate venturing subsidiary of real estate developer Berman Enterprises. Hof Capital and Select Venture Partners also contributed to the round, which will support international expansion, the growth of Optii’s sales and marketing team, and the addition of new features to its software offering.
Lucid VR, the US-based creator of a pocket-sized virtual reality camera, secured $2.1m in seed funding on Wednesday from original design manufacturer Wistron Corporation, S2 Capital, Lab360, Teec Angel Fund, 17 Miles Technology and undisclosed angel investors. Lucid completed a crowdfunding campaign in December 2015 and has signed a manufacturing agreement with Wistron that will help it fulfil the orders.
Enterprise software provider Wingify has invested an undisclosed amount in Vegfru, the India-based operator of an online fruit and vegetable produce trading marketplace, the Economic Times reported on Monday. Vegfru currently has some 5,000 suppliers and buyers signed up to the service, charging a 4-5% commission on each transaction while taking care of logistics and packaging services itself.
US-based programmatic video marketing startup Visibl secured $1.5m on Tuesday in a seed round led by digital marketing agency IMM. The round, announced alongside a rebranding to the name Brandzooka, also included Galvanize Ventures, EonCapital Ventures, Mahalo Capital and RSVP Ventures.
Pocket Menu, the Japan-based operator of upmarket restaurant booking app Pocket Concierge, has received an undisclosed amount of series A funding from backers including digital marketing firm Adways and social marketing company Allied Architects, Tech in Asia reported on Tuesday. The round also included iMercury Capital and Monex Ventures, and follows $600,000 of seed capital provided by investors including Fuji Startup Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of Fuji Media Holdings, and Nippon Venture Capital, in 2013.
Law firm Stewart McKelvey has invested an undisclosed amount in US-based legal document assembly and automation tool developer TheFormTool as part of a strategic partnership agreement that was signed on Tuesday. The funding marks Stewart McKelvey’s first investment in a startup, and the firm will make TheFormTool’s software available to its 200 lawyers and 300 staff.