Daily funding roundup - June 16, 2015

Mitos Suson · June 16, 2015 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/3e3e

KPCB closed $4M; Zymergen raised $44M; BelezaNaWeb nabbed $30M

  • Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers launched a new seed fund, dubbed KPCB Edge, in an effort to regain its status as a go-to venture capital firm for young entrepreneurs working on hot emerging technologies. The $4 million fund is a carve-out from Kleiner Perkins’ 16th fund–which closed last year at $450 million to focus on early-stage companies–and will be invested in startups working on virtual reality, drones, blockchains (the foundation of bitcoin), mobile marketplaces, digital health and computer vision, which enables machines to apply artificial intelligence to visual data.

  • Mumbai-based Logicserve Technologies Pvt Ltd, which owns and operates coupon provider Couponraja.in and price comparison site CompareRaja.in, raised $500,000 (Rs 3 crore) from Mahesh Pratapneni, Pallab Chatterjee and a bunch of unnamed investors. Pratapneni is managing director of Singapore-based VC fund EmergeOut Ventures while Chatterjee is managing director of SymphonyTechnology Group, a private equity company based in the US.

  • Kwambio, Inc., a Boston, MA-based 3D printing marketplace and 3D printer, closed a $650,000 round of funding. Backers included Techstars Boston and additional angels. The company intends to use the funds to expand into international markets, particularly in the US and Europe.

  • SigOpt, a Y Combinator grad, scored a $2 million seed round from Andreesen Horowitz and Data Collective to provide world-class data science and optimization as a service. SigOpt’s promise is to optimize everything and anything — from digital ads, to shaving cream, to synthetic biotech products — cutting the need for manual (and costly) trial and error.

  • Faceit a competitive gaming platform and a London-based firm landed $2 million earlier this year in what it’s calling a “pre-Series A” bridge round. United Ventures led the funding, convinced to do so thanks to the startup’s 1.5 million registered users, 2 million monthly uniques, and 5 million hosted gaming sessions.
     
  • Inventory management software as a service (SaaS) developer Unleashed Software Pty. Ltd. raised AU$4.5 million ($3.5 million) Series B in a round that included MYOB founder Craig Wrinkler. Founded in 2009, the Trans-Tasman (Australia/ New Zealand) based company offers a SaaS platform that provides accurate inventory management in real-time for the small, medium and enterprise market. Unleashed partners and integrates with industry-leading companies that provide online accounting, point-of-sale and eCommerce software to deliver a complete business solution, and boasts customers in more than 80 countries.

  • Sketchfab, an online platform for 3D file sharing, raised a $7 million Series A round led by FirstMark Capital. Existing investors TechStars, Balderton, Partech and Borealis also participated in the Series A round. With the new funding. Sketchfab hopes to invest more heavily in the worlds of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

  • Connectifier, an Orange County, CA-based provider of search powered recruiting software, closed a $6 million Series A funding round. The round was led by True Ventures, with participation from Galeo Ventures, Okapi Ventures, and angel investors including Sean Ellis, Andrew Chen, Jonathan Downey, and James Hong.

  • French online farmers' market La Ruche qui dit Oui - branded as The Food Assembly in English - won 8 million euros ($9 million) in funding as venture capital firms seek to enter Europe's expanding "food tech" market. The five-year-old company has been backed by investors including Felix Capital, the $120 million London-based European venture fund recently launched by Frederic Court, and Fred Wilson of New York-based Union Square Ventures. La Ruche qui dit Oui, which links local farmers with consumers, faces competition in Europe from Bonativo, an online food marketplace set up in Berlin with $3 million in funding last year from e-commerce investor Rocket Internet, as well as decades-old local food-buying cooperatives.

  • Philo, a next-generation TV platform, raised $10 million in its Series B financing. This raise was led by Series A lead investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA) with participation from CBC New Media Group of Raleigh, NC; Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO); Rho Ventures; XFUND; and CEO Andrew McCollum. The round will allow Philo to expand upon its innovative product vision, as well as additional operational and strategic initiatives, including the relocation of the company’s headquarters to San Francisco.

  • CyMedica Orthopedics, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based medical device company that develops and commercializes products that target muscle atrophy using patented platform technology, closed an $11.5 million Series A financing. The round was led by Research Corporation Technologies and California Technology Ventures, with participation from existing investor Aphelion Capital and the founding group of investors.
     
  • ServiceTitan, a mobile, cloud-based management platform for home service businesses, landed $18 million Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, at a post-money valuation of roughly $100 million. ServiceTitan currently reaches more than 1.8 million homes each year throughout the U.S. and Canada. ServiceTitan's platform helps service companies streamline operations, improve customer service, and grow revenue – bringing a fully operational modern technology infrastructure to an industry traditionally underserved by software.

  • Zymergen, a Emeryville, CA-based company which uses microbes to manufacture high-value chemicals and new materials, raised $44 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Data Collective with participation from AME Cloud Ventures (Jerry Yang), Draper Fisher Jurvetson, HVF (Max Levchin), Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors, Obvious Ventures, True Ventures and Two Sigma Ventures.

  • Actility, a Paris, France-based provider of network solutions and managed information systems for the Internet of Things (IoT) market, secured $25 million in funding. The round was led by Ginko Ventures with participation from KPN, Orange, Swisscom and Foxconn, and existing investors Fonds Ecotechnologies managed by Bpifrance Investissement, Idinvest Partners, and Truffle CapitalThe company intends to use the funds to accelerate its go-to-market strategy for ThingPark, funding its operational resources, building a high level of service and continuing to develop technology partnerships.

  • Wahanda, a startup out of the UK that has built a platform for beauty salons and consumers to find and book appointments based on time and location, picked up a $73 million in funding, and that it is buying ZenSoon, a beauty platform in France.  The $73 million is coming from the sole outside investor in the company, Japan’s Recruit Holdings, which now owns 80% of the company after buying out other investors in May of this year. 

  • Brazil’s leading beauty ecommerce company,BelezaNaWeb (“Beauty on the web”), nabbed a $30 million Series C round from an undisclosed New York City private equity firm.

  • Azimo, a London, UK-based digital money transfer platform, secured $20 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Frog Capital with participation from MCI Investmentse.ventures and Greycroft PartnersThe company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth and to continue its pan-European growth and to target new markets in North America and Asia.

If you are interested to be included in our funding roundup, submit your press release or blog post about your financing round to mitos@vator.tv. 

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Mitos Suson

I produce Vator Events and enjoy the challenge. I am learning and growing a lot, being involved with Vator and loving every moment of it!

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