Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis made strategic investments in advanced battery developer Factorial Energy while celluar therapy developer Mana Therapeutics closed its $42m series A round.

Funding Automotive manufacturers Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis provided an undisclosed amount of funding for US-based solid-state battery developer Factorial Energy yesterday through separate collaboration agreements. Mercedes-Benz said it is supplying a ‘high double-digit amount’ for the company while Stellantis did not reveal details of its investment. US-based cell therapy developer Mana Therapeutics completed a $42m series A round yesterday, adding $7m from SK Securities, a securities brokerage subsidiary of conglomerate SK Group, and private equity firm J&W Partners. The company had publicly launched in January this year with $35m in series A funding from Cobro Ventures, Lightchain Capital, LifeSci Venture Partners and unnamed others, and announced the second tranche alongside a $7.5m venture debt facility provided by Silicon Valley Bank. Solutions by Text, the US-headquartered creator of a text messaging software platform for use in the financial services industry, received $35m yesterday in a growth round that included Stifel Venture Bank, a subsidiary of investment banking firm Stifel. The round was led by growth equity firm Edison Partners. HiiRoc, a UK-based developer of gas-to-hydrogen conversion technology, closed a £26m ($34.7m) funding round on Monday featuring carmaker Hyundai and its Kia subsidiary, energy utility Centrica, manufacturing group Melrose Industries, oil and gas provider Wintershall Dea, gas infrastructure provider VNG and HydrogenOne Capital. The company had previously raised an undisclosed amount from Wintershall Dea and VNG in March this year through subsidiaries Wintershall Dea Technology Ventures and VNG Innovation. Internet group Prosus co-led a S$35m ($25.6m) funding round for Singapore-based wealth management app developer Endowus yesterday through its Prosus Ventures vehicle. The round was co-led by the state-owned EDBI and included Z Holdings, a joint venture between internet company Naver and telecommunications and internet group SoftBank, as well as telecoms firm Singapore Telecommunications’ Singtel Innov8 subsidiary, investment bank UBS and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Endowus had raised $22.3m as of a $5.2m round in June this year featuring UBS subsidiary UBS Next, Singtel Innov8 and Samsung Ventures, which invested on behalf of electronics producer Samsung. Q-Ctrl, an Australia-based quantum software developer spun out of University of Sydney, received $25m yesterday in a series B round led by Airbus Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of aerospace manufacturer Airbus. The round included Main Sequence Ventures, Ridgeline Partners, Main Sequence Ventures, Horizons Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sierra Ventures, DCVC, Sequoia Capital China and In-Q-Tel, the last of which had supplied funding as part of a strategic partnership agreement in April 2020. That followed a $15m round in…

Subscribe to go deeper

GCV subscribers get access to all our proprietary data and deep-dive articles, as well as the global directory of CVC investors.



Not sure if you have a subscription?
Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.