GAC Group took part in the battery material producer’s $375m series B round while MetaVC Partners’ $62m fund included Corning and JSR as LPs.
Funds
US-based venture capital firm MetaVC Partners has closed its latest fund at $62m having secured capital from limited partners including glass and ceramics producer Corning and advanced materials maufacturer JSR Corporation. The corporates were joined by Gates Frontier along with unnamed family offices and institutional pension funds.
Singapore-based web3 router protocol developer Multichain and blockchain-focused education provider Web3hub launched an accelerator called Web3.0 Global Acceleration Program which is equipped with $10m.
M&A
IT technology group IBM acquired Ahana, a US-based analytics platform developer backed by mass media group Liberty Global and internet technology group Alphabet, for an undisclosed sum. Corporate VC unit Liberty Global Ventures and Alphabet subsidiary GV invested $7.2m in a $27.2m series C round in June 2022, bringing the total raised by Ahana to nearly $32m.
Peakwork, a Germany-based travel network operator that counts travel agency Tui Group among its investors, was purchased by diversified software conglomerate Constellation Software for an undisclosed sum. Tui had paid an undisclosed amount for a 15.4% stake in 2016.
Funding
China-based lithium-ion battery cathode material provider Libode New Material raised RMB2.6bn ($375m) in series B funding from investors including carmaker GAC Group’s GAC Capital unit. It participated alongside CICC Capital and China Capital Management, on behalf of China International Capital Corp and CSC Financial respectively, in addition to Leaguer Capital and CD Capital.
| Company | Company description | Sector | Country | Round | Round size($m) | Deal date | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChargeLab | EV charging software provider | Energy and Natural Resources | Canada | A | 30 (updated) | 14/04/2023 | Silver Comet, Eaton, ABB (ABB E-Mobility); King River Capital (lead), Construct Capital, Root Ventures, Highline Beta, Third Sphere, and Maple VC |
| Bibo | Smart automotive chassis developer | Transport | China | A | 29.2 | 14/04/2023 | Nio (Nio Capital) (co-lead), CWB Automotive Electronics; Orient Jiafu Asset Management (co-lead), Addor Capital |
| Epic Sciences | Prostate and breast cancer diagnostics technology developer | Healthcare | US | G | 24 | 14/04/2023 | Labcorp; Deerfield Management (co-lead), Arsenal Capital Partners (co-lead), Blue Ox Healthcare Partners, Domain Ventures |
| Capitola | AI-equipped commercial insurance marketplace | Financial | US | A | 15.6 | 17/04/2023 | Munich Re (Munich Re Ventures) (lead); Lightspeed Venture Partners |
| Scan.com | Medical imaging technology developer | Healthcare | UK | A | 12 | 17/04/2023 | Aviva (Aviva Ventures) (co-lead), Simplyhealth (Simplyhealth Ventures); Oxford Capital (co-lead), YZR Capital, Triple Point Ventures, Forefront Venture Partners |
| Respondology | Spam and abuse-focused online content filter developer | IT | US | A | 11 | 13/04/2023 | Boulder Heavy Industries; Iron Gate Capital, SJF Ventures, Zelkova Ventures, Service Provider Capital, RLB Holdings |
| Next Gate Tech | Investment oversight platform | Financial | Luxembourg | N/A | 8.7 | 17/04/2023 | Deutsche Börse Group (DB1 Ventures) (lead); NewAlpha Asset Management, Volta Ventures, Expon Capital, Seed X |
| Sun Metalon | High-speed metal 3D printer developer | Industrial | Japan | Pre-A | 7.6 (updated) | 13/04/2023 | Ideo (Design for Ventures), Globis (Globis Capital Partners); Impact Science Ventures, i-Nest capital, Scrum Ventures, University of Tokyo (Edge Capital Partners), University of California (Berkeley SkyDeck Fund) |
| Helio | Web3 payment platform provider | Financial | UK | Seed | 3.3 | 14/04/2023 | Solana (Solana Labs); Peak (co-lead), Lightspeed Faction (co-lead), RockawayX |
| Uxuy | Decentralised trading platform | Financial | Singapore | Seed | 3.3 | 17/04/2023 | KuCoin (KuCoin Ventures), Pionex, Bixin (Bixin Ventures); WaterDrip Capital, LK Ventures, Arcane Group, Daoverse Capital, Lapin Digital |
| NovoNutrients | Carbon dioxide-derived protein and oil developer | Industrial | US | N/A | 3 | 13/04/2023 | Woodside Energy |
| Earthboat | Sustainable trailer home developer | Services | Japan | Seed | <1 ($480,000) | 17/04/2023 | Not a Hotel, Field Design, Frontier, AdShipS; Hideyuki Kanda, unnamed other angel investors |
| Built Technologies | Real estate and construction asset management platform | IT | US | N/A | N/A | 16/04/2023 | Citi Group (Sprint) |
| Ecommit | Used consumer product supplier | Consumer | Japan | N/A | N/A | 17/04/2023 | Japan Post (Japan Post Capital) |
| Tsuruya Chemical Industry | Sweetener-based food ingredient manufacturer | Industrial | Japan | N/A | N/A | 17/04/2023 | Itochu (Itochu Sugare) |
