Market expansion firm DKSH has paid an undisclosed amount for a 20% stake in Thailand-based e-commerce service provider aCommerce, which counts conglomerates Sumitomo and Sinar Mas, mobile network NTT Docomo, internet company CyberAgent and digital consultancy Asia Pacific Digital as shareholders, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. The company had raised almost $19m in total as of May this year, with its existing investors also including JL Capital, Ardent Capital and Inspire Ventures.
Paediatric healthcare provider Children’s Health invested $5m in GoNoodle, the US-based producer of a range of short videos that promote physical activity for children, on Tuesday. GoNoodle had previously raised about $6m in debt and equity from Chrysalis Ventures and SSM Partners, which supplied the equity, and Gefinor Capital and Rand Capital, which provided the debt financing.
Real estate developer Bren Corporation supplied $5m in seed funding for India-based online furniture and kitchen retailer HomeStudio.com yesterday. Founded only last month, HomeStudio operates a site customers can use to design their own kitchens and furniture online with the help of experienced designers, and will invest the money in its technology platform, customer service, warehouse and delivery capabilities.
Moiiv, a China-based women’s healthcare app operator backed by technology and trading firm Susquehanna International Group (SIG), has secured an undisclosed amount of series D capital, China Money Network reported on Tuesday. The company, which reportedly raised $35m in a SIG-led series C round in June this year, will use the funding to expand its e-commerce offerings in the beauty products, maternity and baby care categories.
Gene sequencing company Illumina invested an undisclosed sum in UK-based gene editing software developer Desktop Genetics (DTG) on Wednesday that will be used to continue the development and commercialisation of DTG’s Deskgen software platform. DTG had previously raised more than £2.4m ($3.6m) from investors including MedCity, London Co-Investment Fund, IQ Capital Partners, and angel investors including Jonathan Milner, Martin Murphy and Dr Darrin M Disley.
India-based online data and analytics education provider Jigsaw Academy has secured Rs 200m ($3m) in a round led by education company Manipal Global Education Services that also featured Manipal chairman T.V. Mohandas Pai, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday. The capital will support an expansion of Jigsaw’s product range, international growth and the securing of additional corporate partnerships.
UK-based home security system startup Cocoon raised $3m in seed funding on Monday from Aviva Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of insurance firm Aviva, and Breed Reply Investments, a subsidiary of digital business services provider Reply. Breed Reply supplied $1.3m to Cocoon in February this year as part of its IoT Best in Breed initiative, a competition for startups developing internet of things technology.
Finc, the Japan-based operator of an online weight loss and dietary advice service, has received an undisclosed amount of funding from airline groups ANA and All Nippon Airways Trading, financial services firm Credit Saison, insurer Dai-ichi Life Insurance, real estate developer Mitsubishi Estate, restaurant chain Yoshinoya Holdings, mayonnaise producer Kewpie, healthcare goods producer Rohto Pharmaceutical, golfing services provider Golf Digest Online, recruitment firm Neo Career, user interface designer Goodpatch and Fenox Venture Capital, The Bridge reported on Monday.
Corporate-backed venture capital fund Iris Capital has invested €1.5m ($1.6m) in France-based native advertising content developer Feeligo, which has now raised €2.25m in total. Limited partners for Iris include telecommunications network Orange and marketing firm Groupe Publicis.
Japan-based cloud app developer Flect has entered into a financial partnership with cloud computing company Salesforce.com’s corporate venturing arm, Salesforce Ventures, according to The Bridge. Founded in 2005, Flect has participated in the firm’s Salesforce1 IoT Jump Start Program, but has not revealed how much funding it will receive from Salesforce through the newly formed agreement.
VC firm Venturra Capital has invested an undisclosed sum in BitX, a Singapore-based bitcoin services provider backed by online payment services provider PayU, Tech in Asia reported on Tuesday. PayU, a subsidiary of media and internet group Naspers, led BitX’s $4m series A round in July this year, investing alongside Digital Currency Group and increasing BitX’s overall funding to $4.8m.
SimScale, a Germany-based developer of web-based simulation technology for software testing, has closed a series A round led by Union Square Ventures and backed by Earlybird Venture Capital and angel investor Axel Bichara, raising an undisclosed sum. The startup received an undisclosed amount of seed funding from corporate-backed VC fund High-Tech Gruenderfonds, Earlybird, Bayern Kapital and assorted business angels in December 2014.
Desino, a Germany-based wheelchair startup backed by High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF), has raised €500,000 ($540,000) from a consortium of undisclosed business angels. HTGF and angel investor Dieter Lorenzen previously supplied Desino with an undisclosed amount of funding in February 2014.
Aquabit Spirals, a Japan-based near field communication technology developer and a graduate of Orange’s Orange Fab Asia incubator, has received ¥40m ($320,000) from VVC firm K&P Partners, The Bridge has reported. The company, which was founded in 2009, also won the Shibuya second prize in the Tokyu Accelerate Program, an accelerator run by railway company Tokyu Corporation and VC firm IMJ Investment Partners.