Bonnier Growth Media, a subsidiary of media group Bonnier, invested $5m in Sweden-based podcast hosting platform Acast on Monday, acquiring a “significant” minority stake in the process. Acast, which received an undisclosed amount of funding from investment firm Moor in June 2014, will spend Bonnier’s funding on expanding its service in Europe and the US.
Speakeasy, a US-based developer of conference calling software compatible with mobile devices, had secured $5m in series A funding from Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of cloud computing company Salesforce.com, and venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners. The startup disclosed the funding on Tuesday, the same day it launched its iPhone app and web client.
Computing company IBM and VC fund The Entrepreneurs’ Fund co-led a $5m series A round for WayBlazer, the US-based developer of a personalised travel discovery platform, on Tuesday. VC firm Gobi Partners also took part in the round, which will be used to expand WayBlazer’s platform and its sales capabilities as it moves toward bringing its service to market.
AlphaDraft, the US-based creator of a daily fantasy sports platform that combines eSports, live streaming and fantasy sports competitions, raised $5m on Tuesday from investors including talent agency William Morris Endeavor and IDG Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of media company International Data Group. The round also included Upfront Ventures, Amplify.LA, KEC Ventures, Freestyle Capital, SK Ventures, Basset Investment Group, Greycroft Partners, Melo7 Tech Partners, Gokul Rajaram and David Stern.
Siemens Venture Capital, the investment arm of industrial conglomerate Siemens, invested $5m in US-based open source software logistics company Black Duck Software on Wednesday. Black Duck has now raised more than $70m altogether, with previous investors including software company Red Hat, semiconductor technology maker Intel, Sapphire Ventures, which is backed by software company SAP, General Catalyst Partners, Flagship Ventures, Split Rock Partners, Focus Ventures and Volition Capital.
Mobcrush, the US-based operator of a live streaming platform for mobile games, secured $4.9m on Tuesday in a seed round featuring entertainment studio Lionsgate, MTGx Ventures, which acts as the investment arm of media group Modern Times, and CAA Ventures, the corporate venturing unit owned by talent agency Creative Artists Agency. The round also included Raine Ventures, First Round Capital, Lowercase Capital, CrunchFund, Rincon Venture Partners, Crosscut Ventures, Advancit Capital, BAM Ventures and several angel investors.
US-based medical device maker Companion Medical closed a series B round led by pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly on Wednesday. Companion did not disclose the size of the round, which followed $400,000 in funding raised by the company in May 2014, but will use it to support the progress of its insulin delivery systems to commercialisation.
Decorist, the US-based operator of an online platform for sourcing interior design services and advice, has raised $4.5m from home improvement retail chain Lowe’s Companies, Women’s Venture Capital Fund and undisclosed angel investors. The funding will be used to expand the concierge design services available on the platform, which has accumulated more than 50,000 members since it was launched in 2014.
CyPhy Works, the US-based unmanned aerial vehicle developer that raised funding from communications equipment manufacturer Motorola Solutions in March this year, secured an undisclosed amount from VC firm Draper Nexus yesterday. CyPhy, which had raised $10m prior to Motorola’s investment, will use the funding to expand its team, strengthening its data management and analytics, commercial partnerships, product management and mechatronics staff.
Zeek, an Israel-based online marketplace for unwanted gift vouchers, has raised $3m from Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mobile semiconductor maker Qualcomm, as well as Blumberg Capital and Uri Levine, founder of navigation app Waze, TechCrunch reported on Monday. The startup, which entered the UK market in December 2014, will use the funding to support further expansion in Europe.
Telus Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications company Telus, has invested an undisclosed amount in Sprout, the Canada-based provider of an employee health and wellness engagement platform. Sprout will use the capital to secure additional corporate customers while also expanding its engineering, account management and customer success teams.
Wonolo, a US-based startup that matches workers with temp jobs, has raised $2.2m at a $7.5m valuation in a seed round led by PivotNorth Capital that also included CrunchFund, Foundry Group and undisclosed angel investors, the Wall Street Journal has reported. A graduate of beverages producer Coca-Cola’s Founders Program, Wonolo has also received $1m in convertible debt financing from Coca-Cola and an additional $700,000 note that will be converted in its next round.
Guildery, a US-based e-commerce startup specialising in home furnishing, has closed a $2.1m seed round backed by BBG Ventures, the female-focused fund run by internet company AOL, as well as Forerunner Ventures, Cowboy Ventures and SoftTech, TechCrunch reported yesterday. The funding will support the hiring of additional technical and marketing staff to flesh out Guildery’s 10-strong team.
Bitbar Technologies, the Finland-based developer of cloud-based mobile development and testing service Testdroid, closed its latest funding round yesterday, raising an undisclosed amount from Qualcomm Ventures, Inventure, DFJ Esprit, Creathor Venture and Finnvera Venture Capital. Qualcomm, Creathor, DFJ Esprit and Finnvera all participated in Bitbar’s last funding round, which raised $3m in 2013, along with Finnish state-backed fund Tekes.
Japan-based local services marketplace Anytimes has secured ¥230m ($1.9m) from internet services company DeNA, digital media company Gree and various angel investors, Tech in Asia reported on Thursday. Anytimes, which raised $500,000 from DeNA and VC firm Incubate Fund in June 2014, will spend the series A funding on system and design improvement, marketing and expanding its team.
Novo Seeds, the early-stage investment subsidiary of pharmaceutical company Novo, led a DKK 12.5m ($1.8m) financing round for Denmark-based synthetic biology company Biosyntia yesterday. Biosyntia is developing a synthetic biology and metabolic engineering platform for the biological production of vitamins, and is initially focusing on vitamins for use in the food and feed industry.
Online travel agency MakeMyTrip has acquired an 18% stake in Inspirock, the US-based developer of a customisable itinerary planning tool, VCCircle reported on Monday. MakeMyTrip made the investment through its $15m Innovation Fund, which provides up to $3m to travel technology startups.
GSoft Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of IT services provider GSoft, invested $1m in OfficeVibe, the Canada-based developer of a real-time employee engagement platform for businesses, on Monday. The service has expanded to companies in 64 countries since its launch in December 2014.
Mobile consumer technology company Xurpas has invested $1m in Quick.ly, a US-based search engine technology startup still operating in stealth mode, on Monday. Xurpas acquired a 4.5% stake in Quick.ly, a graduate of incubator Idealab, through the investment.
Invisible Media, the US-based creator of a real-time mobile data, predictive decision-making and marketing automation platform, received $1m in seed funding from marketing technology provider SMS Marketing Services on Tuesday. The funding will support the development of Invisible’s platform.
MeetUniv, the India-based operator of a higher education search engine and a graduate of media company Times Group’s Tlabs accelerator, secured $1m on Tuesday from VC firm Peesh Capital. Tlabs invests $50,000 in each of its startups in return for an 8% stake.
Internet company Tencent has led a $750,000 seed round raised by Tissue Analytics, the US-based creator of an app that can use a smartphone camera to measure and track care of chronic wounds, according to TechCrunch. The round also featured DreamIt Health, the accelerator from which Tissue graduated in July 2014.
Community development services provider Safebuilt invested an undisclosed sum in US-based outsourced building development services company Independent Inspections on Monday. The funding will help expand Safebuilt’s customer base in the states of Florida and Wisconsin.