Dubai-based solar project developer Adenium provided an undisclosed amount of funding on Monday for US-based residential solar system installer American Solar Direct (ASD). The capital will be used to accelerate the growth of ASD’s partner-based channel initiative, which supplies its technology and installation expertise to third-party residential solar power companies.
India-based tutoring service Avanti Learning Centres has received Rs 331m ($4.9m) in its third round of funding, which was led by Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and backed by educational publisher Pearson’s Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF), Asha Impact and angel investor Ted Dintersmith, YourStory reported on Tuesday. PALF previously invested an undisclosed amount in Avanti in 2013 before being joined by Michael & Susan Dell Foundation for a $1.5m round in April 2015.
Pamono, a Germany-based online marketplace for vintage and contemporary furniture and design products, has raised a mid-seven figure amount in euros (€1m = $1.1m) from Ringier Digital Ventures and Gruner + Jahr Digital Ventures, the respective corporate venturing subsidiaries of media companies Ringier and Gruner + Jahr, as well as VC firms Holtzbrinck Ventures, DN Capital and Atlantic Internet.
France-based predictive analytics software developer TellMePlus has secured €4.2m ($4.7m) from Sferen Innovation, a subsidiary of insurance firm Sferen, as well as Ventech, Runa, Soridec, Jeremie LR, XAnge and undisclosed angel investors. TellMePlus is a graduate of the Axeleo accelerator.
Toss Lab, the Korea-based developer of cloud collaboration platform Jandi, has raised an undisclosed amount in convertible note financing from Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing vehicle for wireless technology manufacturer Qualcomm, and HnAP that increased its total pre-series A financing to $4.5m. It previously raised $2m in a 2014 angel round co-led by Softbank Ventures, a subsidiary of telecoms and internet group SoftBank, and Cherubic Ventures.
Bialla Venture Partners, the corporate venturing arm of consulting firm Bialla & Associates, led a $4m round for US-based digital learning product supplier ZyBooks on Wednesday. David Uri, an investment manager at Bialla Venture Partners, will join ZyBooks’ board of directors in conjunction with the round, which will fund the introduction of more content and features for ZyBooks’ offering as well as new sales and marketing initiatives.
Velano Vascular, a US-based developer of blood-draw technology for hospitals, secured $3.5m on Monday from hospitals Griffin Hospital and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, as well as First Round Capital, White Owl Capital, Kapor Capital, Safeguard Scientifics, D-W Investments and assorted angel investors. The hospitals, First Round, White Owl, Kapor and Safeguard Scientifics previously supplied Velano with $5m in series A funding in January 2015.
Marketing firm Hakuhodo DY Holdings has paid an undisclosed amount for a minority stake in US-based design consultancy Ideo, Fast Company reported on Tuesday. The funding was provided as part of a deal that involves Ideo joining the Kyu Collective, a group of creative advertising businesses overseen by Japan-based Hakuhodo.
Maas Finland, a startup that is developing an app-based subscription service for transport services, received €2.2m ($2.5m) on Tuesday from Finnish government agency Tekes and a raft of corporate investors. Those corporates include France-based transportation service provider Transdev and Turkey-based carmaker Karsan, which each hold a 20% share of Maas, loyalty card provider Neocard, public transport service Korsisaari, virtual queuing technology developer GoSwift, business automation company Good Sign, brokerage Delta Capital Force and mobile payment services provider IQ Payments.
Vimoc Technologies, the US-based developer of an internet of things analytics platform, closed the first tranche of its seed round at $2.4m on Monday, securing funding from Flex Lab IX, the accelerator run by supply chain services provider Flextronics, venture capital fund Morado Ventures, which led the round, and ET Capital Partners. The cash will be used to meet demand for Vimoc’s products and to expand its smart city product offering.
Statflo, the Canada-based operator of a mobile customer service platform, completed a $2.4m seed round led by VC firm Round13 Capital that also featured bill payment processor TIO Networks. The round, which included Extreme Venture Partners, MaRS IAF, Globalive Capital, Rising Tide Fund, Garage Capital and Hedgewood, will be used to accelerate growth.
CrunchBase, the US-based VC data platform spun out of media brand TechCrunch in September 2015, has closed $2m in series A2 funding on Wednesday from Salesforce Ventures, the strategic investment subsidiary of enterprise software provider Salesforce.com, Felicis Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, SV Angel, 8 Partners and undisclosed angel investors. Emergence Capital led an initial $7m round for CrunchBase in September, while TechCrunch owner AOL/Verizon retains a substantial stake.
Financial services firm Wells Fargo & Company made a $1m equity equivalent investment in US-based non-profit microfinance organisation Grameen America yesterday together with a $6m senior debt facility. The financing will act as revolving funds and is expected to yield an additional $42m in loans for startups and expansions to low-income female entrepreneurs in the US over the next three years.
Diversified conglomerate Lippo Group has invested an undisclosed amount in Call Levels, the Singapore-based creator of a financial market tracking app, Tech in Asia reported yesterday. Lippo’s investment follows a $500,000 seed round in November 2015 led by 500 Startups and backed by angel investors including Timothy Teo, Gracelyn Ho and Koh Boon Hwee.
UK-based live video streaming app developer Tizr has raised $500,000 at a pre-money valuation of $11m in a round led by dance music label Spinnin’ Records, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday. Videos streamed through Tizr’s app stay publicly available for 20 minutes, but can have their life extended by 10 seconds for each ‘like’ they get from a user.
ServeAnywhere, the US-based creator of a mobile training platform for the hospitality industry, is set to launch next week having secured $250,000 in angel funding from technology development and integration company Riptide Software. The platform is powered by Riptide Elements, the micro-learning services architecture developed by Riptide.
US-based VoterGuru launched its first product, a web platform that matches users with political candidates according to their public statements and voting records, on Tuesday, at the same time revealing it has received an undisclosed amount of funding from media agency Horizon Media’s incubator initiative. The startup was a winner of the Dunes of Dreams innovation challenge launched by Horizon in May 2015.