Venture capital firm Bay City Capital followed a $5m investment in SynGen, a US-based developer of cell-based medicines, by increasing its overall investment in the company to $10m on Monday. Other investors in SynGen include GE Capital, industrial conglomerate General Electric’s growth capital unit, which invested $2.5m in March this year.
Japan-based online footwear retailer Loncodo has raised ¥500m ($4.6m) in series C funding from investment firm Jafco Ventures, Tech in Asia reported on Monday. Loncodo has now raised almost $19m from backers also including Rocket Internet, which incubated the company, corporate venturing units Itochu Technology Ventures and Mizuho Capital, e-commerce company Excite Japan, Lead Capital Management and Neostella Capital.
Roli, the UK-based creator of a high-tech music keyboard, secured $3.7m in series A follow-on funding on Wednesday from investors including venture capital fund Horizons Ventures. The company raised $12.8m in April from record company Universal Music, Balderton Capital, FirstMark Capital, Index Ventures and several private investors.
SR One, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline, invested an undisclosed amount in UK-based biopharmaceutical company Atopix Therapeutics on Tuesday as part of an extension of Atopix’s series A round. Deborah Harland, a partner at SR One, will join the board of Atopix, which is working on treatments for allergic diseases.
Instant messaging service Line, which formed a $100m gaming fund earlier this year, contributed to a $2.8m series A round raised by Japan-based game developer Translimit on Thursday, according to The Bridge. The round also included mobile app developer United, East Ventures, Skyland Ventures, and Genuine Startups. Translimit secured about $100,000 in seed funding from Genuine and Skyland in March this year.
BrightFunnel, a US-based developer of predictive analysis technology for marketers, secured $2.5m on Thursday in a seed round backed by Bloomberg Beta, the early-stage investment arm of media company Bloomberg, Resolute Ventures, Crosslink Capital and Tekton Ventures. The start-up previously received about $700,000 in angel funding earlier this year.
Voxa, the US-based creator of a productivity tool for Salesforce, raised $2.5m on Wednesday from conferencing services firm Premiere Global Services, Ethos Capital Partners, Tom Noonan and David Cummings. The company, which was formed in early 2014, has developed software that can sort through emails and messages and highlight which are most pressing.
Corporate-backed venture firm Formation 8 has led a $2.15m seed round for BuildZoom, a US-based marketplace for housing remodellers and contractors, which also included Streamlined Ventures and Goldcrest Investments, Dow Jones reported on Monday. BuildZoom, which graduated from Y Combinator’s Winter 2013 batch, has access to the details of more than 3.5 million licensed contractors and the building permits of 50 million construction projects worldwide.
France-based shopping app developer Plyce has secured €1.5m ($1.9m) in venture funding from email marketing service Caloga and state-backed bank BPIfrance. Plyce previously raised almost $1.3m across two rounds from Jaina Capital, Kima Ventures and private investor Fabrice Grinda.
Derivatives marketplace CME Group invested an undisclosed amount in US-based big data provider Powerlytics on Thursday that will be used to enhance product development, client services, sales and marketing. Powerlytics raised $1.7m in late September, according to SEC filings, adding to $145,000 in seed funding in 2011.
US-based digital art platform Depict raised $1.6m on Tuesday from 3M New Ventures, manufactured goods company 3M’s corporate venturing fund, and angel investors Michael Baum, Bruce Gibney, Jim Pallotta and Thomas Andrae. Depict enables its users to discover, share and collect digital art, which can also be brought into their physical spaces.
IDG Capital, the China-based corporate venturing subsidiary of data and publishing company IDG, has invested $1.55m in US-based mobile game developer Cloudcade, Dow Jones reported on Wednesday. Cloudcade’s debut game will be a fantasy shop simulation.
US-based mobile and web data management company MParticle raised $1.5m in follow-on seed funding on Thursday from investors including Bowery Capital, Harbinger Capital and Battery Ventures. The start-up had already raised $4.5m from investors including Google Ventures, internet company Google’s corporate venturing unit, Bowery and Greylock Partners.
Japan-based marketing company Somewrite has secured ¥120m ($1.1m) from a seed round backed by Gree Ventures, the investment arm of social media company Gree, and other undisclosed investors, The Bridge reported today. Somewrite’s native advertising platform sends advertorial articles from websites to other participating news sites in the form of a native advertisement.
Preventicus, a Germany-based start-up developing mobile healthcare technology, raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from corporate-backed VC fund High-Tech Gruenderfonds and another VC fund, Born2Grow, on Monday. The cash will be used to advance the company’s technology to bring it closer to market.