Japan-based healthcare management technology provider Welmo closed its series B round at ¥1.57bn ($14.3m) yesterday having secured additional funds from investors including electricity supplier Tepco Power Grid.
Mizuho Capital, the venture capital arm of financial services firm Mizuho Financial Group, also contributed to the extension, which came in the wake of an $11m first tranche in August 2019.
The first close included Line Ventures and I Mercury Capital, on behalf of messaging app developer Line and internet company Mixi, as well as insurer Aioi Nissay Dowa, mobile game publisher Akatsuki, childcare support service Global Kids and IT product maker Konica Minolta.
Welmo has developed artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software tools for senior care, including a care plan creation platform dubbed Care Plan Assistant and Milmo, which helps care managers identify service providers, including insurance firms, for care recipients.
In addition to nursing care services, Welmo runs a daycare centre dubbed Unico that offers bespoke education programs for developmentally disabled children.
The funding will support the strengthening of Welmo’s products and the expansion of its business. It has offices in the Japanese cities of Fukuoka, Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo and Yokohama, and a research and development facility in Finland.
Tepco will leverage Welmo’s AI technology in a bid to improve its internet-of-things system, which predicts home energy consumption based on users’ behaviour. Welmo had previously received $4.1m in a mid-2018 series A round featuring I Mercury Capital, Femto Partners and SX Capital.
The round followed $660,000 in a 2016 round featuring Archetype Ventures, Oita Venture Capital and Sagin Capital & Consulting, subsidiaries of startup-focused marketing firm Archetype and financial services firms Oita Bank and Bank of Saga respectively.
