E-commerce company Alibaba made a series B investment in Visualead, an Israel-based developer of scannable QR codes for everyday objects, on Tuesday reported to be $5m by Geektime. Visualead previously received $1.6m in 2013 from Kaedan Capital and Entrée Capital, after Kaeden has supplied a reported $750,000 for Visualead’s seed round.
China-based online travel community app 117go.com has raised an undisclosed amount of series C funding from IDG Capital, the China-based venture capital fund affiliated with media company IDG, as well as New Horizon Capital, LakeSide Fund and Redpoint Ventures, China Money Network reported on Wednesday. 117go raised $20m in April 2014 from telecommunications firm Softbank, after raising series A capital from e-commerce company Alibaba in 2013 and seed funding from Redpoint the previous year.
Sensorion, a France-based company developing treatments for inner ear disorders, secured €4m ($4.6m) on Wednesday from Innobio, a VC fund backed by several pharmaceutical companies, and VC firm Inserm Transfert Initiative, dependent on it achieving certain clinical milestones. The company has now raised approximately $11.6m in total.
SceneDoc, a Canada-based developer of software that can help law enforcement officials document crime and accident scenes, closed a $4m series A round on Thursday featuring Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, the investment arm of communications technology producer Motorola Solutions. The round, which was led by iGan, also included undisclosed angel investors, and lifted SceneDoc’s total funding to almost $6m, with past backers including Mars Investment Accelerator Fund.
True Link Financial, a US-based provider of anti-fraud services to protect the elderly, closed a $3.4m seed round led by health insurance provider Cambia Health Solutions on Wednesday. Kapor Capital, Collaborative Fund and Generator Ventures also invested in the round, which will be used to expand True Link’s customer base as it upgrades its fraud protection algorithms.
Keaton Row, the US-based operator of a social commerce marketplace for stylists, secured an undisclosed amount on Wednesday in a series A round led by media company Time, which will take up a seat on Keaton Row’s board. Menlo Ventures, Rho Capital and Grape Arbor Venture, all of which contributed to the $2.6m in seed funding the startup had raised previously, also took part in the round.
Enterprise-focused startup accelerator Alchemist Accelerator has raised $2.1m in capital from Cisco Investments, a corporate venturing subsidiary of networking technology producer Cisco; cloud computing company Salesforce.com; industrial equipment maker Siemens; Sapphire Ventures, the VC firm affiliated with software provider SAP; electronics producer Tyco; Mayfield, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Foundation Capital, Khosla Ventures and US Venture Partners, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday.
VC fund SV Frontier has invested an undisclosed sum in Shakr Media, a Korea-based video advertising platform backed by steel producer Posco, The Bridge reported on Thursday. Shakr had previously raised about $3m from investors including 500 Startups and NHN Investment.
Germany-based recipe app developer Kitchen Stories secured $1.8m on Wednesday from Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, an investment unit belonging to media company Bertelsmann, VC firm Point Nine Capital, Cherry Ventures and a range of angel investors. Kitchen Stories will spend the cash on expanding its team and geographical reach, and building its online community, the Kitchen Stories Family.
Peer5, the US-based developer of a mobile content delivery platform, received an undisclosed amount of seed funding on Tuesday from mobile game developer Tapinator, VC firm Hillsven and FG Angels, the angel investment arm of VC firm Foundry Group. Peer5 graduated from accelerator UpWest Labs in 2012.
SanomaVentures, the corporate venturing arm of media company Sanoma, invested an undisclosed sum in Netherlands-based shipping software developer SendCloud on Wednesday. Founded in 2012, SendCloud subsequently graduated from StartupBootcamp Amsterdam, and won the Deloitte Technology Fast50 Rising Star Award in late 2014.
SiamSquared, the Thailand-based parent company of stock market investment and analysis platform StockRadars, has closed an $800,000 series A round backed by CyberAgent Ventures, the investment unit belonging to internet company CyberAgent, and East Ventures, TechCrunch reported on Thursday. The funding, secured at a $5m-to-$10m valuation, will support expansion into Indonesia, with other Asia Pacific markets to follow.
Socket, the Japan-based developer of automated revenue optimisation platform Flipdesk, has received an undisclosed amount of seed funding by corporate-backed VC fund B Dash Ventures, The Bridge reported on Monday. The cash will be spent on staffing and marketing initiatives.
SB Isat, the joint investment venture formed by Asian telecom companies Softbank and Indosat, has invested an undisclosed amount in Dealoka, the Indonesia-based operator of an app that distributes promotional e-vouchers to its users, DailySocial reported on Tuesday. Dealoka graduated from Ideabox, the incubator run by Indosat, in June 2014.
IT services provider Cogent E Services has invested $330,000 in India-based marketing software startup Refiral Solutions, YouStory has reported. The investment was made as part of a partnership that will involve the companies collaborating on a customer support tool for online businesses.
India-based eKincare, a cloud-based system to store medical records, has raised $300,000 from business technology provider Adroitent and VC fund Bitchemy Ventures, according to YourStory. The platform was launched by startup Aayuv Technologies less than two months ago.
Egomotion, the US-based developer of alert app Status, has raised $250,000 from Bloomberg Beta, the seed-stage corporate venturing subsidiary of media company Bloomberg, Initialized Capital and Tikhon Berstram, TechCrunch reported on Monday. The funding follows a $750,000 seed round in April 2014 led by Google Ventures that also featured Initialized, Bee Partners and additional angel investors. Egomotion has now raised about $2.1m in total.
Mobile game studio Mag Interactive has provided an undisclosed amount of seed funding for UK-based mobile gaming startup Delinquent, VentureBeat reported on Monday. Delinquent, founded by ex-members of game companies including Electronic Arts, Mind Candy, Relentless and Activision, expects to release its first game during the first quarter of this year.