US-based nano-porous materials producer SBA Materials closed its series D round on Tuesday having raised an undisclosed sum from corporate venturing units Air Liquide Venture Capital, Tokyo Electron Venture Capital, Intel Capital and Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, and private equity firm Sun Mountain Capital. Founded in 2000, SBA had previously raised approximately $13m from investors including Intel, Samsung and Sun Mountain.
PointGrab, an Israel-based developer of automated internet of things technology, raised $5m on Tuesday from ABB Technology Ventures, power and automation company ABB’s corporate venturing unit, as well as EcoMachines Ventures, Flex Lab IX and company chairman Saar Wilf. The capital will support PointGrab’s expansion into the home and building automation market.
Bringg, the Israel-based operator of an on-demand courier service for businesses, secured $5m on Wednesday in a series A round which, according to TechCrunch, featured fleet management company Ituran and an additional, undisclosed strategic investor based in the US. Bringg has now raised $7.5m in total, with Ituran returning as an existing investor.
Takasago Thermal Engineering Company has paid an undisclosed sum for a 26% stake in India-based cleanroom engineering technology manufacturer Integrated Cleanroom Technologies (IClean), Hindu Business Line reported on Wednesday. IClean currently has three manufacturing facilities and intends to set up a fourth in collaboration with Takasago.
Corporate-backed private equity and venture capital firm Idinvest Partners led a €4.5m ($4.9m) series A round on Tuesday for Azalead Software, the France-based developer of a business-to-business marketing platform. The round also included Aurinvest, the VC fund that led Azalead’s €2m seed round in March this year.
Full Circle Insights, a US-based developer of marketing performance management technology, completed a $4.7m series B round yesterday led by VC fund Aligned Partners and backed by Salesforce Ventures, cloud computing company Salesforce.com’s strategic investment arm. The company had already raised $3.8m in a November 2014 series A round featuring Salesforce Ventures, Aligned Partners and WI Harper.
Germany-based laser lithography equipment developer Multiphoton Optics closed a series A round on Monday having secured an undisclosed sum from machinery producer Sack & Kiesselbach, corporate-backed VC fund High-Tech Gruenderfonds, Bayern Kapital, Fraunhofer Gesellschaft and a consortium of business angels. Its first product, the LithoProf3D prototyping platform,was released in February this year.
Inthera Bioscience, a Switzerland-based company developing small molecule therapies to treat cancer, raised $3.7m on Tuesday in a round led by MS Ventures, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Merck. The round also featured Novo Seeds, the seed-stage investment vehicle of pharmaceutical group Novo, as well as Dutch Aglaia BioMedical Ventures and EVA Basel, the fund founded by financial services firms Cantonal Banks of Basel-Stadt and Basel Landschaft.
US-based healthcare marketing platform operator Clariture secured $3.5m in series A funding on Wednesday from undisclosed investors. Clariture initially raised $50,000 from the Healthbox accelerator and its partners, which included health insurance firm BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and healthcare provider Hospital Corporation of America, in 2013, and $1m from VC firm Martin Ventures in May 2014.
IT services firm Infosys invested $3m in Whoop, the US-based operator of a performance optimisation system for professional sports teams, on Monday. Whoop had previously raised about $21m from investors including Two Sigma Ventures, Mousse Partners, Accomplice, Promus Ventures, Valley Oak Investments and NextView Ventures.
Technology Will Save Us, a UK-based provider of gadget building kits for children, has completed a £1.2m ($1.8m) seed round led by angel fund SaatchInvest, which invested alongside VC fund Backed and undisclosed angel investors, VentureBeat reported yesterday. The company had previously received £750,000 in angel and grant funding from backers including internet technology provider Google, Saatchinvest and innovation charity Nesta.
US-based on-demand design service provider SketchDeck has received $1.7m in funding from Norwest Venture Partners, the VC firm sponsored by financial services firm Wells Fargo, as well as Matrix Partners, Foundation Capital, Blue Capital, Arnold Capital and Flight VC, TechCrunch reported on Monday. SketchDeck previously raised $500,000 in February this year from Y Combinator and angel investors including Dharmesh Shah and Michael Siebel.
SlideRule, a US-based provider of mentored educational courses which is backed by Microsoft’s strategic investment unit Microsoft Ventures, rebranded as Springboard on Wednesday having raised $1.7m. The round, which followed an undisclosed sum from Microsoft Ventures in 2013, featured 500 Startups and angel investors including Allen Blue, John Katzman, Naveen Tewari, Amit Gupta and Greg Badros.
Whomor, the Japan-based operator of a crowdsourcing platform for illustrations and 3D computer graphics, has raised ¥200m ($1.6m) from DG Incubation, a subsidiary of internet company Digital Garage, and DK Gate, a joint venture between Digital Garage and publisher Kodansha, The Bridge reported on Wednesday. Whomor will seek to leverage the relationship with DK Gate to expand the distribution of its original content.
Germany-based online payment startup Cookies has secured $1.6m in seed funding from Holtzbrinck Ventures, the venture capital firm spun out of publisher Georg von Holtzbrinck, as well as angel investors Ehssan Dariani, Dennis Bemmann, Benedikt Lehnert, Steen Kiedel, Chad Fowler and Raffael Johnen.
Singapore-based financial news platform DealStreetAsia has received an undisclosed amount of seed capital from media firm Hindustan Times Media Group, Singapore Angel Network and angel investor Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Tech in Asia reported on Tuesday. DealStreetAsia, which is also backed by VC firm Puthen & Cole, will invest in expanding to China and Hong Kong, growing its India and Southeast Asia reporting, and launching a deal analytics platform.
Funnely, a US-based startup that automates social media advertising, raised approximately $990,000 yesterday in a seed round led by Verizon Ventures, the corporate venturing subsidiary of telecommunications network Verizon. The round also included 500 Startups, MITS Fund and Pallasite Ventures, and will support product development, sales and marketing.
Germany-based biometric technology developer Jenetric secured an undisclosed amount yesterday in its second round of funding. The cash was provided by High-Tech Gruenderfonds, BM|T, which acts as the holding company of German state Thuringia, and angel investor Franz Schmidt.
Singapore-based mobile payment startup Kashmi has raised S$700,000 ($500,000) in a seed round co-led by tea exporter Akbar Group Sri Lanka and VC firm Vamm Ventures that featured undisclosed angel investors and corporates from Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand, Tech in Asia reported on Tuesday.