Access Industries-backed Acelyrin filed to go public while Lockheed Martin took part in Orbit Fab’s $28.5m series A round.

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Public markets

Acelyrin, a US-based inflammatory disorder drug developer backed by industrial conglomerate Access Industries, filed to raise $100m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market. It has received a total of $408m in venture funding, and the corporate’s Access Biotechnology unit owns a 3.9% stake having led a $300m series C round in September 2022.

CytoMed Therapeutics, a Singapore-based cancer immunotherapy developer that counts telecommunications product distributor MDR Group as an investor, floated on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in a $9.6m IPO, having priced 2.41 million shares at $4 apiece. MDR provided $1.1m in convertibl debt financing in 2019 and had a 14.7% stake diluted to 11.6% in the offering.

M&A

Workforce management software provider BetterPlace closed the acquisition of Troopers, a Malaysia-based online human resources platform focused on part-time jobs, for an undisclosed sum, allowing marketing firm Shopper360 to exit.

Funding

Orbit Fab, the US-based operator of an in-orbit refuelling station network, raised $28.5m in series A funding from investors including Lockheed Martin Ventures, a subsidiary of aerospace and defence group Lockheed Martin. The round was led by investment firm 8090 Industries and also featured Stride Capital, Industrious Ventures, Tribe Capital, Good Growth Capital and Massive Capital Partners.

Company Company description Sector Country Round Round size($m) Deal date Investors
HashPort Web3 and blockchain consulting service Services Japan C 9 (updated) 18/04/2023 Tokyu Land Corporation (TSVF Fund 1); Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, University of Tokyo (Edge Capital Partners), Shizuoka Bank (Shizuoka Capital), Venture Labo Investment (MS Startup Support Fund), Yusaku Maezawa
Toku Provider of AI-equipped diagnostic and screening software Healthcare US A 8 17/04/2023 National Vision (co-lead), Topcon Healthcare (co-lead)
Fractal Infrastructure provider for digital asset trading Financial Switzerland Seed 6 18/04/2023 Avalanche (Blizzard), Circle (Circle Ventures), CoinShares, Capital Markets Trading (CMT Digital); Hack VC (lead), 6th Man Ventures, Archetype Ventures, GoldenTree Asset Management, QCP Capital, Spartan Group, Akshai Rajendran, Anand Gomes, Josh Frank, Shiliang Tang, Sid Powell
Bloomo Investment US stock and exchange-traded fund asset building app Financial Japan Seed 6 18/04/2023 Mitsubishi UFJ (Mitsubishi UFJ Innovation Partners), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC Venture Capital), Mizuho Bank (Mizuho Capital); Spiral Capital, Global Brain, Scrum Ventures, Angel Bridge, Insignia Ventures Partners
Jatri Bus network management platform Transport Bangladesh A 5.25 15/04/2023 Alsa, Genting Group (Genting Ventures); SBK Tech (lead), DVC, Doha Tech Angels
Lockr Digital identity and data management platform IT US Pre-Seed 2.5 17/04/2023 Mozilla (Mozilla Ventures); Junction Venture Partners, Grit Capital Partners 
Grabss Electronic ticket and online communication platform Media Japan N/A 2.2 18/04/2023 Airworks
DDK Positioning Provider of global navigation satellite technology Industrial UK N/A N/A 17/04/2023 Topcon Positioning Systems
Araris Biotech Developer of antibody-drug conjugate production technology Healthcare Switzerland N/A N/A 12/04/2023 Samsung (Samsung Ventures’ Samsung Life Science Fund)
Agnavi Owner of canned sake brands Ichi-Go-Can and Canpai Consumer Japan N/A N/A 18/04/2023 JR East (JR East Start Up)
Edison Fu

Edison Fu is head of Asia development at Global Corporate Venturing.