Japan-based online event booking service Asoview has raised ¥600m ($5m) in a series A round led by travel agency JTB Group, which invested alongside YJ Capital, the corporate venturing arm of Yahoo Japan, as well as Jafco and Globis Capital Partners. The round, which followed ¥200m in funding from Global Capital Partners and Jafco in March 2014, was raised alongside the signing of a partnership between Asoview and JTB.
China-based on-demand massage service Diandao has raised $5m in a series A round backed by on-demand household and beauty services provider 58Daojia and Banyan Capital, 36Kr reported today. The funding will be used to expand Diandao’s service, which is currently available in Beijing and Shanghai.
Media company MediaCorp paid an undisclosed amount today for a 52% share of KLN Group, the Indonesia-based parent company of online media company Kapanlagi Network, Tech in Asia reported today. MediaCorp intends to use its expertise and geographical reach to help KLN expand its reach in Indonesia.
Marketing firm Interpublic Group invested an undisclosed sum in US-based television analytics provider Samba TV on Monday. Founded in 2008 as Flingo, Samba TV secured $8m in funding from August Capital, Mark Cuban and Gary Lauder in 2012. The Interpublic-owned IPG Media Lab has already incorporated data provided by Samba TV into its product offering.
US-based enterprise gamification technology developer GamEffective raised $3m in series A funding on Monday from analytics technology provider Verint Systems Inc. and existing investors including 2B Angels and Shaked Ventures, the two firms that co-led the startup’s $1m seed round in 2013.
Safe, a Germany-based startup that has developed an insurance policy comparison app, secured an undisclosed amount of funding on Wednesday in a round led by internet holding company Rocket Internet. The round also featured Henrich Blase, the chairman of price comparison site Check24, and angel investor Oliver Roskopf.
Coubic, the Japan-based creator of an online event booking management system, has raised ¥310m ($2.6m) from Gree Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of internet media company Gree, and VC firm DCM, The Bridge reported on Wednesday. Gree Ventures and DCM previously invested $500,000 in Coubic in April 2014.
Frost I3, the joint venture formed by GE Software, a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate General Electric, and big data incubator Frost Data Capital, invested an undisclosed sum in PingThings, the US-based creator of a predictive analytics platform for the utility industry, on Thursday. The investment will fund the initial deployment of PingThings’ technology with US-based utilities and the expansion of the company’s sales team.
Scalyr, a US-based developer of log monitoring and analysis tools for engineers, closed a $2.1m seed round on Wednesday led by VC fund Susa Ventures, with additional cash from Bloomberg Beta and Google Ventures, the respective corporate venturing units of media company Bloomberg and internet company Google, and VC firm Sherpalo Ventures. Part of the funding will be used to build the startup’s engineering team.
Rakuten Ventures, the corporate venturing unit belonging to e-commerce company Rakuten, has provided an undisclosed amount of seed funding for US-based push notification startup OneSignal, Tech in Asia reported on Monday. OneSignal, which changed its name from GameThrive earlier this month, received the funding out of the $100m fund Rakuten formed in June 2014.
Hartford Steam Boiler, an engineering and technical risk insurance subsidiary of insurer Munich Re, invested an undisclosed sum in Waygum, the Ireland-based developer of an internet of things platform for use in the industrial sector, yesterday. Waygum, a winner of networking technology company Cisco’s Internet of Things Grand Innovation Challenge, received $1.5m from fire prevention and security system company Tyco and Navitas Capital last month.
China-based online salad delivery service Sweetie Salad has raised RMB 10m ($1.6m) in seed funding from mobile gaming company JJWorld, Meridian Capital, and Fangchuang Capital, Sina Tech reported yesterday. Sweetie Salad, currently operating in Beijing only, makes a range of salads itself that are then available to be ordered.
India-based test preparation service Avanti Learning Centres has secured Rs 96m ($1.5m) in a series A round led by Michael & Susan Dell Foundation that also featured Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF), a subsidiary of educational publisher Pearson, VCCircle reported on Thursday. PALF previously provided an undisclosed amount as part of Avant’s 2013 seed round.
Twigtale, a US-based startup that sells personalised children’s books, has received $1m in seed funding from HBS Angels, Tech Coast Angels and angel investors Larry Paige, Lucy Southworth, Anne Wojcicki, Wendi Murdoch and Ivanka Trump, SocialTech reported on Tuesday. Twigtale graduated from entertainment conglomerate Disney’s accelerator with $120,000 of funding last year.
VC firm from Point Nine Capital made a $1m investment in US-based enterprise communications technology startup Honey on Wednesday that will fund the expansion of Honey’s product and support teams. Honey was incubated by Huge, a digital marketing subsidiary of advertising firm Interpublic Group, and launched in 2013 with $1.25m of seed capital.
Music streaming company KKBox has invested an undisclosed sum in Taiwan-based event ticket retailer WalkieTicket in a deal that will make KKBox the startup’s largest institutional shareholder, Tech in Asia reported today. The deal comes five months after KKBox launched its own ticket vendor subsidiary, KKTix.
Repro, a Japan-based startup that provides a video-assisted app analytics service, has raised ¥100m ($840,000) in a seed round funded by DG Incubation, which acts as an early stage subsidiary of internet holding company Digital Garage, data analytics provider BrainPad and online media company Shift, Tech in Asia reported on Wednesday. The funding was revealed concurrently with the full version of Repro’s product.
Atooma, the Italy-based developer of a tool enabling users to link apps and smart devices, received €600,000 ($640,000) today from UniCredit, which invested €105,000 through its Unicredit Start Lab accelerator, VC firm LVenture Group, which invested €300,000, and additional angel investors and industrial partners. The money will be used by Atooma to expand, and it is in the process of hiring more engineering staff.
Mobile healthcare technology company mClinica has invested an undisclosed sum in Philippines-based mobile electronic medical record platform developer Medix, Tech in Asia reported on Monday. In return for the funding, mClinica will get an equity stake as well as access to Medic’s technology, which will power Connect Physician, a new mClinica service that helps doctors maintain relationships with patients.
TIM Ventures, the corporate venturing unit owned by telecommunications company Telecom Italia, and Club Italia Investmenti 2 jointly invested €150,000 ($160,000) in US-based content storage and sharing app Edi.io on Wednesday. Edi also took part in Tim #Wcap, the accelerator ran by Telecom Italia, in 2013.
TIM Ventures has also invested €100,000 in Innaas, an Italy-based provider of digital and data analysis services and another graduate of Tim #Wcap. Innaas’ technology has already been incorporated into Telecom Italia’s Tim Stadium data platform.