Comcast-backed real estate platform developer Nomad secured $20m while Hannover Re-backed insurance software provider Sureify received $15m.
Funding
Nomad Homes, the US-headquartered operator of an online real estate platform for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, raised $20m yesterday in a series A round co-led by 01 Advisors and The Spruce House Partnership that included Goodwater Capital, HighSage Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Partech, Class 5 Global, Precursor Ventures and Alta Park Capital. The company had previously received $4m in a July 2020 seed round led by mass media group Comcast’s investment arm, Comcast Ventures, and backed by media holding company WndrCo, Abstract Ventures, Partech, Precursor Ventures and Class 5 Global.
Sureify, a US-based life insurance software provider backed by reinsurance firm Hannover Re, secured $15m yesterday in a series C round led by growth equity firm Aspen Capital Group. The company had reportedly raised $4.8m in series A funding from Hannover Re subsidiary Hannover Life Reassurance Company of America, Plug and Play and SixThirty in 2016 before Timia Capital provided a $2m investment facility in June 2019.
FarmNote, a Japan-based developer of digitalisation technology for dairy farms, received ¥1.44bn ($12.9m) today from recruitment firm MyNavi, conglomerate Marubeni, building materials provider Maeda Kosen, livestock feed producer ChubuShiryo, logistics and robotics group Kobashi Holdings, construction firm Hagiwara, financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital unit, Innovation Engine, Chiba Dojo and asset manager Sparx Group’s Mirai Creation Fund. The company said it has now raised a total of about $39m including an undisclosed amount from online grocer Oisix Ra Daichi’s Future Food Fund in January 2020, in turn following a $7.8m round in late 2019.
Financial services firm Commerzbank co-led a €10m ($11.7m) series A round for ClimateView, the Sweden-based creator of a software platform which manages progression towards an organisation’s climate targets, through corporate venture capital unit CommerzVentures today. The round was co-led by NordicNinja and also featured 2050, Norrsken and Gaingels. It followed $2.5m in funding from Norrsken Foundation, Nordic Makers, Max Ventures and GGV Capital in April 2020.
Burro, the US-based agricultural robotics developer formerly known as Augean Robotics, secured $10.9m yesterday in a series A round co-led by Toyota Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of carmaker Toyota. The round was co-led with S2G Ventures and also featured investment and financial services group Fidelity’s F-Prime Capital subsidiary, ADM Capital Europe’s Cibus Enterprise Fund and existing investors including Radicle Growth and FF VC. The company had received a $250,000 funding offer from farming association Western Growers and S2G Ventures in 2018, $1.5m in an April 2019 seed round led by FF VC and backed by S2G Ventures and Radicle Growth, and $1.6m from unnamed investors in May 2020 according to a securities filing.
BluAge, a Japan-based developer of enterprise digitalisation technology, raised ¥1.2bn ($10.7m) today from ABC Dream Ventures and NTT Finance, subsidiaries of broadcaster Asahi Broadcasting Corporation and telecommunications firm NTT respectively, in addition to Angel Bridge. The round was preceded by $620,000 from Coral Capital in 2018 and $2.9m from Angel Bridge, financial services firm Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation’s SMBC Venture Capital unit and University of Tokyo’s Entrepreneur Supporter’s Club Incubation Fund in July 2020.
Fiveable, a US-based remote tutoring service backed by financial services firm Northwestern Mutual, completed a $10m series A round yesterday led by VC firm Union Square Ventures and backed by Owl Ventures and Progression Fund. The company raised $615,000 in a January 2020 seed round led by Northwestern Mutual affiliate Cream City Ventures, four months before it received $125,000 by entering telecoms firm AT&T’s Aspire Accelerator. It added $2.3m in an October 2020 round led by BBG Ventures that included Cream City, Metrodora Ventures, Spero Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, 27V, Golden Angel Investors, SoGal Ventures and angel investor Deborah Quazzo.
US-based social financing software developer Roll received $10m in series A funding yesterday from investors including Huobi Ventures, the VC arm of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, as well as mobile game publisher Animoca Brands and decentralised software technology provider Alchemy. The round was led by IOSG Ventures and also featured Weekend Fund, Mischief Fund, Audacity Fund, Longhash Ventures, Ruttenberg Gordon Investments, Red Beard Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, Hustle Fund, Blue 9 Capital and assorted angel investors. Roll said its overall funding stands at $12.7m and named Galaxy Interactive and Hustle Fund as existing backers.
United Arab Emirates-based social commerce platform developer Zbooni has completed a $9.5m series A round featuring luxury goods distributor Chalhoub Group’s CCVA subsidiary, Wamda reported yesterday. The corporate joined March Holding, Enterprise Fund and unnamed private investors in the round’s $4.5m second tranche, which followed $5m from an undisclosed investment fund in January this year. Chalhoub and B&Y Venture Partners had co-led Zbooni’s $1.1m seed round in mid-2019.
Nahmii, the Norway-headquartered creator of a scaling protocol for the Ethereum blockchain, raised $8m in series A funding yesterday from investors including blockchain security technology provider Quantstamp and CMT Digital, the blockchain investment vehicle for trading firm Capital Markets Trading. The round was led by Darma Capital and also featured Aligned Capital, Delta Fund and Fourth Revolution Capital.
Elkstone Capital and Crow Rock Capital have co-led a €6m ($7m) funding round for HealthBeacon, an Ireland-based medication management tool developer that counts law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips as an investor, Silicon Republic reported yesterday. HealthBeacon had raised a total of $20.9m as of a $6.5m round in November 2020 featuring Elkstone, Cantor Fitzgerald Private Clients, Oyster Capital, Business Venture Partners and Enterprise Ireland.
Soil Connect, the US-based creator of an online marketplace for the soil, aggregates and building materials space, received an undisclosed amount today from investors including cement producer Cemex’s corporate VC unit, Cemex Ventures, and a joint investment by contractor lending platform developer EquipmentShare and one of its backers, Romulus Capital. The round was led by Heartland Ventures and also featured TIA Ventures, AB Investment Group and Arka Ventures. The company had closed a $3.25m seed round in December 2020 backed by Cemex Ventures, TIA Ventures, Heartland Ventures, AB Investment Group, concrete contractor Bazella, real estate services provider Situs Real Estate, real estate developers Altmark Group and JG Pertucci, Alpaca VC and Great Oaks Venture Capital.
MarqVision, the US-based developer of a software platform which uses artificial intelligence to help protect intellectual property, completed a $5m seed round yesterday that included SoftBank Ventures, a corporate venturing subsidiary of telecoms and internet group SoftBank. The corporate was joined in the round by Y Combinator and Bass Investment, and it was disclosed as the company launched an anti-piracy software product.
Spider Labs, the Japan-based advertisement fraud detection service formerly known as Phybbit, raised ¥550m ($4.9m) today in a series B round featuring Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, a subsidiary of financial services firm Mitsubishi UFJ Group. It was joined by Golden Asia Fund, a vehicle formed by Mitsubishi UFJ Capital and Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Investment Corporation, in addition to Darwin Venture Management and Headline Asia. The company had previously received $2.9m in a late 2019 series A round backed by Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.
Eternal, the US-headquartered operator of an online platform which allows users to trade non-fungible tokens based on video clips of gaming livestreamers, has secured $4.5m from investors including blockchain game developer Dapper Labs and Coinbase Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of digital currency exchange Coinbase, TechCrunch reported yesterday. NFX and Arrington Capital filled out the round with angel investors Mark Cuban and Gary Vaynerchuk.
Japan-based video production software developer Crevo received ¥500m ($4.5m) today from insurance provider Mitsui Sumitomo’s VC arm, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, as well as Incubate Fund, Aizawa Asset Management and Axiom Asia Private Capital. The company said it has now raised about $11.6m altogether, $1.9m of which came in May 2020 from Voyage Ventures and Kiraboshi Capital – representing marketing technology provider Voyage and financial services firm Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group – as well as Yamaguchi Capital and unnamed others.
Media company Guardian Media Group co-led US-based content monetisation software developer Unlock’s $4m seed round yesterday through its corporate venturing arm, GMG Ventures. The round was co-led with Betaworks and Cygni Labs with backing from Metacartel Ventures China and undisclosed existing investors. General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures co-led a $1.7m pre-seed round for Unlock in 2018 that included Coinbase Ventures and Consensys Ventures (on behalf of crypto exchange Coinbase and blockchain technology provider Consensys), Kindred Ventures, Betaworks, 122 West Ventures and La Famiglia.
US-based gene editing technology startup Acrigen Biosciences raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding yesterday from investors including Alexandria Venture Investments, the VC arm of life science-focused real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities. The round was led by Red Tree Venture Capital and also backed by Berkeley Catalyst Fund, Dolby Family Ventures and unnamed individuals. Acrigen had secured $775,000 in convertible note financing in July 2019 according to a regulatory filing.
Quantitative trading firm Alameda Research has led a $2.9m funding round for Solcial, a decentralised social network developer which has not revealed where it is based, Coindesk reported yesterday. The round included Solana Foundation, the organisation which oversees the Solana blockchain, in addition to Rarestone Capital, GBV, Shift Capital and Noia Capital.
Electrical engineering equipment manufacturer Yokogawa Electric invested an undisclosed amount today in CyberneX, a Japan-based startup working on brain wave analysis technology. The companies are already collaborating on neurotechnology research activities.
Dental care information provider MedicalNet supplied an undisclosed amount of funding yesterday for Change the World, the Japan-based operator of a mobile app which enables users to invest in renewable energy. The investment was made through a business and capital alliance.
M&A
Biosense Webster, a cardiac arrhythmia-focused subsidiary of medical product group Johnson & Johnson, acquired NuVera Medical, a US-based ultrasound catheter developer backed by pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly, for an undisclosed sum in December 2020, it was disclosed yesterday. Eli Lilly subsidiary Lilly Asia Ventures joined GE Ventures, the now defunct investment arm of industrial technology group General Electric, as well as Capital Partnership and Cormorant Asset Management in an $11m series A round in 2017. Lilly Asia Ventures, Cormorant and Capital Partnership all returned for the first close of a $15m series B in early 2019.
US-based speech recognition software developer GreenKey Technologies has been purchased by financial surveillance technology producer VoxSmart for an undisclosed amount, enabling communications technology provider Motorola Solutions and communications and networking technology provider IPC to exit, Finextra reported yesterday. IPC invested in GreenKey in March 2019 before Motorola Solutions provided a similarly undisclosed amount seven months later.
Additional reporting by Liwen-Edison Fu.
