Comcast’s SportsTech accelerator backed 10 sports technology developers while Modern Energy was part of a $90m round for Industrial Sun.

Tennis Ball on Tennis Racket on Floor

Funds

Thai financial services firm Kasikornbank has invested about $30m in its corporate venturing arm, Beacon VC, with the cash to be used to set up an impact investing scheme called Beacon Impact Fund. The initiative will focus on Thailand-based sustainability technology developers.

Singapore-based venture capital firm Blockchain Founders Fund reached the final close of its $75m second fund with backing from cryptocurrency scaling platform Polygon, crypto services provider Ripple and crypto market maker GSR. The limited partners also included Octava, NEO Global Capital, Appworks, Sebastien Borget, LD Capital, Metavest Capital and unnamed others, and the fund will invest in pre-seed and seed-stage Web3 and blockchain technology developers.

Life and health reinsurer Reinsurance Group of America co-anchored US-headquartered VC firm SixThirty Ventures’ third fund, which closed at $66m, with Edward Jones Investments. The other backers included insurance providers Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and Unum Group as well as BNY Mellon’s Pershing unit, Commerce Bancshares and undisclosed others.

M&A

Networking, cloud and cybersecurity firm Cisco agreed to acquire portfolio company Valtix, a US-based provider of enterprise cloud security technology, for an undisclosed sum. Valtix last received funding in 2021 when the corporate’s VC arm, Cisco Investments, took part in a $12.5m round that pushed its total funding to $26.5m.

IT services firm Foxway paid an undisclosed amount to buy Teqcycle Solutions, a Germany-based mobile trade-in technology developer backed by telecommunications firm Deutsche Telekom Group and consultancy Barkawi Group. Teqcycle raised an undisclosed amount in a round led by Deutsche Telekom unit T-Venture and backed by Barkawi in 2014, the year after it was spun off by waste disposal company Teqport Services.

Funding

Mass media group Comcast invested in 10 sports and fan engagement technology startups that formed part of its SportsTech accelerator’s third class: Aircast, Einbliq.io, FanFest, FanSaves, GeoSnapShot, Quicc, Recut, Rivalry Tech, Rizzarr and Tickets for Good. The companies received $50,000 each in funding from Comcast and Boomtown, a startup accelerator operator that helps manage the programme.

Company Company description Sector Country Round Round size($m) Deal date Investors
Industrial Sun Renewable energy and storage system developer Energy and Natural Resources US N/A 90 28/02/2023 Modern Energy; EIG
Bitwise Industries Software development training provider Services US C 80 28/02/2023 Motley Fool, Citigroup (CitiBank Growth Equity); Kapor Center (lead), Goldman Sachs Asset Management (Growth Equity)
SesamM Developer of natural language processing technology IT France B2 37 01/03/2023 BNP Paribas (Opera Tech Ventures) (co-lead), Raiffeisen Bank International (Elevator Ventures); Elaia Partners (co-lead), Unigestion, AFG Partners, Cegee Capital, Carlyle, New Alpha Asset Management
Novata Enterprise ESG measurement software provider  Energy and Natural Resources US B 30 28/02/2023 S&P Global, Microsoft (Climate Innovation Fund); Hamilton Lane (lead), Ford Foundation
Earthene (Asuene) Producer of enterprise decarbonisation and ESG management technology Energy and Natural Resources Japan B 19.9 (updated) 01/03/2023 Sony (Sony Innovation Fund), GMO (GMO VenturePartners), Salesforce (Salesforce Ventures); Glin Impact Capital, Tybourne Capital Management, SBI (SBI Investment)
Juno Cryptocurrency trading platform Financial Singapore N/A 17 28/02/2023 Jump Trading Group (Jump Crypto); ParaFi Capital (Growth Fund), Hashed, Sequoia India (Surge)
Gable Office space management provider Services US A 16 28/02/2023 Tishman Speyer Properties (Tishman Speyer Ventures); SemperVirens (lead), Foundation Capital, Ulu Ventures, January Ventures
Archway Customer interaction software provider for banks Services US A 15 28/02/2023 WaFd Bank (co-lead); Madrona (co-lead)
Avalon Gaming and virtual experience platform Media US N/A 13 28/02/2023 Coinbase (Coinbase Ventures), Delphi Digital; Bitkraft Ventures (lead), Hashed, Yield Guild Games, Avocado Guild, MorningStar Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Merit Circle
DigiFT Digital asset exchange platform Financial Singapore Pre-A 10.5 28/02/2023 Wanxiang (HashKey Capital); Shanda Group (lead), Hash Global, Xin Enterprise, North Beta Capital
Doctorly Provider of medical practice management software Healthcare Germany A 10 01/03/2023 Well Health Technologies, Uniqa Insurance Group (Uniqa Ventures); Horizons Ventures, The Delta, Speedinvest, Calm/Storm Ventures, Seedcamp
Ballas Construction materials provider Industrial  Japan A 8.5 01/03/2023 KLab (Anobaka), Mynavi, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC Venture Capital), Bank of Kyoto (Kyogin Lease & Capital), Nanto Bank (Nanto Capital Partners), Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital); Global Brain (co-lead), SBI (SBI Investment) (co-lead), Mint (Apricot Venture Fund)
Campfire Crowdfunding platform operator Financial Japan N/A 7.8 01/03/2023 Giftee, Mizuho Bank (Mizuho Capital); SBI Group (lead), RFI Advisors, Minerva Growth Partners, Mizuho Securities (equity); Japan Finance Corporation (debt)
Tential Diversified wellness product provider Consumer Japan N/A 7.4 01/03/2023 Nippon Life (Nissay Capital) (lead), Tokyo Broadcasting System Television (TBS Innovation Partners), Toyoshima (Toyoshima CVC), Paramount Bed (Paramount Bed Healthcare Fund), Rakuten (Rakuten Capital); unnamed financial institutions (debt)
WNWN Food Labs Cocoa-free chocolate developer Consumer UK N/A 5.6 28/02/2023 Geschwister Oetker Beteiligungen Group (Martin Braun-Gruppe), Paulig Group (Pinc); PeakBridge (lead), Mustard Seed Maze, Investbridge AgriTech, HackCapital
Colossyan Text-to-video transcription software developer Media UK A 5 27/02/2023 Axel Springer & Porsche (APX); LauncHub Ventures (lead), Emerge Education, Day One Capital, Oktogon Ventures
Spade Provider of financial transaction data software IT US Seed 5 28/02/2023 Alphabet (Gradient Ventures); Andreessen Horowitz (lead), Y Combinator, Dash Fund
Snaq.Me Snack subscription service Consumer Japan N/A 4 01/03/2023 Giftee, Marui Group, Oisix Ra Daichi (Future Food Fund)
Latrico Operator of online pharmacy Tokyo Bihadado Healthcare Japan N/A 3.8 01/03/2023 Colopl (Colopl Next), Money Forward (Money Forward Venture Partners’ Hirac Fund)
Perfora Online oral care brand Consumer India N/A 2.5 28/02/2023 RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group (RPSG Capital Ventures)
Term Labs Blockchain research and development provider Financial US N/A 2.5 28/02/2023 Coinbase (Coinbase Ventures), Circle (Circle Ventures), Mexc (Mexc Ventures); Electric Capital (lead), Robot Ventures, angel investors
Cierpa & Company Provider of ESG information disclosure support tool SmartESG Energy and Natural Resources Japan N/A 1.9 01/03/2023 Norinchukin Bank (Norin Chukin Innovation Fund), Mitsubishi UFJ (Mitsubishi UFJ Capital), Mizuho Bank (Mizuho Capital); Global Brain (lead), Genesia Ventures
Wakweli NFT and digital token authentication platform IT Switzerland Seed 1.1 01/03/2023 Summit Mining (lead), Funfair Technologies Group (Funfair Ventures); unnamed angel investors
Orisdi Ecommerce platform operator Consumer Iraq N/A <1 ($220,000) 28/02/2023 Al Sharqiya TV Group; 3B Starlight Investment
DigsConnect Online student property portal Services South Africa  N/A N/A 21/02/2023 Student.com
H3X Technologies Sustainable electric motor developer Transport US N/A N/A 28/02/2023 Lockheed Martin (Lockheed Martin Ventures)
Raven SR Renewable fuel producer Energy and Natural Resources US N/A N/A 28/02/2023 Stellar J Corporation
Remezcla Latinx-focused digital magazine and creative agency  Media US N/A N/A 28/02/2023 My Code
Eco Style Solar power generation infrastructure builder Energy and Natural Resources Japan N/A N/A 01/03/2023 Mizuho Leasing
Medifellow Japanese expatriate-focused medical teleconsultation service Healthcare Japan Seed N/A 01/03/2023 HIS; Sawada Investment
Mammoth Easy onboarding service for social media platform Mastodon Media US Pre-seed N/A 28/02/2023 Mozilla (lead); Long Journey Ventures, Marc Benioff
Integral Provider of automation software for healthcare data compliance Healthcare US Pre-seed N/A 01/03/2023 LiveRamp (LiveRamp Ventures); Virtue Ventures (lead), Caffeinated Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, Array Ventures, Joel Jewitt, Michel Tricot, Sam Whitaker, Abhishek Chandra, Andrew Arruda
Edison Fu

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