SoftBank followed up a $1.4m seed investment in the mathematics learning company last year by leading its series A round this time around.

SoftBank led the on-demand hair and beauty service's $7m series A round, raised as it prepares to expand across the US.

Digital marketing platform creator Lytics has now secured $9.2m in total funding after Comcast's corporate venturing unit joined its investors.

Photo-sharing and messaging app Blink has secured $20m in a series A round featuring Tencent, a participant in Snapchat's $80m series C round last year.

Quartet Medicine, a pain and inflammation treatment company, secured the funds from backers including Pfizer, Novartis and Partners Innovation Fund.

Forendo, which is developing treatments for endometriosis and low testosterone, has closed its second round of funding.

Cloud infrastructure company Bracket Computing has launched with $85m from investors including GE and Qualcomm Ventures.

Cellular immunotherapy company Unum Therapeutics has secured $12m in a series A round that included Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures to further develop its cancer treatments.

Corporate-backed companies Baidu, Qihoo360 and Ping-An all committed capital to Carmel's fourth fund, which has already invested in five start-ups.