Daily funding roundup - July 27, 2015

Palantir received $450M; DraftKings added $300M; Secret Escapes bagged $60M

• Buyatab Online Inc., a Vancouver, BC, Canada-based international provider of digital gift card solutions, completed a funding round of undisclosed amount. Backers were not disclosed. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate sales and marketing of its digital gift card platform in the U.S. and to further its operations in international markets. Led by Johann Tergesen, CEO, and Matias Marquez, Chief Operating Officer, Buyatab provides advanced eGift card infrastructure solutions for medium and large-sized businesses. It offers a solution for eGift cards to be purchased from a merchant’s online properties (website, mobile site, Facebook page etc.) and delivered to recipients via email or text message.
  
  
• Zoctr, a startup that allows users to buy health-related services and home-based wellness packages online, has secured $1 million in funding from SPA Capital Group founder Sandeep Parwal, Organic Wellness’ founder Krishan Gupta and other angel investors. Former Ranbaxy executives Anil Khandelwal and Arun Purohit have also put money in Zoctr, which is run by Mumbai-based Zoctr Health Pvt Ltd, as per a press statement.  Rajeev Agrawal, partner at Ambit Pragma Ventures, had made a seed capital investment in the company three months back. Zoctr will use the funds raised to expand services into Delhi-NCR and for partnering with hospitals and ICUs across Delhi and Mumbai. It will also use the money to enhance hiring and training activities.
  
  
• US and Bangalore-based online hiring platform, Bevy, has raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Varun Agarwal of Alma Mater and other angel investors. The startup plans to use the raised capital for hiring experts in the fields of HR, Artificial Intelligence, and Software Development. It also plans to hire data scientists from IITs to make its platform more self-reliant so that it matches users’ profile with more relevant jobs. Started in 2014 by Luke Walton, Bevy is an online hiring platform which helps job seekers secure interviews with recruiters via its Smart Placement Process.
  
  
• Mobile and online florist Bloom & Wild has secured a £2.5million Series A funding round, led by MMC Ventures. MMC join existing angel investors, including Samos, Catamaran Ventures and Scott Sage, who also participated in the round.  Based in South-West London, the team now deliver thousands of flower bouquets around the whole of the UK every week, including the option of monthly subscription deliveries. Today’s funding announcement marks the next stage of growth for the business, which will use the funding to support further website and app development, investing in the UX, design and development teams, and to trial new products.
  
  
• Smart Insight, a Tokyo, Japan-based provider of enterprise application software product, secured a 500 million yen (around $4 million) Series C round of funding. Backers included Innovation Network Corporation of Japan. The company intends to use the funds to strengthen out its technological and retail efforts with global cloud service providers, and launch Mµgen domestically and overseas, primarily in the US market.
   
• Ecovent, a Boston startup whose wireless technology promises room-by-room control of a home’s temperature, received $6.9 million in Series A funding as it prepares to ship its first round of products in August. The Series A round was led by Emerson Climate Technologies, which is part of tech company Emerson (NYSE: EMR), with participation from Tamarisc and Blue Fog Capital.
  
  
• Castle Biosciences, Inc., a provider of molecular diagnostics to improve cancer treatment decisions, closed the first tranche of a $20 million Series F financing, raising $11.7 million. The funding will be used to accelerate the growth in clinical adoption of the Company’s gene test for identifying metastatic risk in early stage cutaneous melanoma, DecisionDx-Melanoma, and its other tests designed to improve cancer care.
  
  
• Leon Nanodrugs GmbH, nanotechnology-based drug development company completed its Series A preferred stock offering at EUR 18.5 million (around $20.5 million). The financing was led by TVM Capital Life Science, based in Munich and Montreal, with participation from Signet Healthcare Partners (USA), LifeCare Partners (Switzerland), CD-Venture (Germany), Albany Private Equity Holding (Australia), and a non-disclosed Family Office from Germany. Dr. Hubert Birner, Managing Partner, and Stefan Fischer, General Partner & CFO, TVM Capital Life Science, James Gale, Managing Director, Signet Healthcare Partners, Dr. Gerhard Ries, Managing Partner, LifeCare Partners, Dr. Frank Mathias, CEO, Medigene AG, and Dr. Bernd Baumstümmler, CEO, Instillo Group, will be joining the Board of Directors.
  
  
• Oncobiologics, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, closed a $31 million financing.  Proceeds will be used to support continued development and expansion of the company's proprietary BioSymphony™ biosimilar platform and advancement of its preclinical and clinical programs. The investment round was led by new investor, Perceptive Advisors. Participating new investors included Cormorant Global Healthcare Master Fund, Longwood Capital Partners, and venBio Select Fund. Other investors included Proximare Lifesciences Fund, OSSB Pharma Fund and MIH Fund.  Citigroup and Jefferies LLC advised Oncobiologics on the transaction.
  
  
• China Rapid Finance, a China-based online consumer lending marketplace serving online users, completed $35 million Series C round of financing. The round, which a pre-money valued the company at US $1 billion, was led by Broadline Capital, with participation from a global family office through UBS Investment Bank as well as other investors.
  
  
• Benevity Inc., a global supplier of workplace giving and volunteer management software solutions, completed a $38 million CAD Series A round with JMI Equity, a growth equity firm focused on investing in leading software and services companies. As part of the transaction, JMI General Partner, Bob Nye will join Benevity’s Board of Directors.
  
  
• Google’s investment arm, Google Ventures led a $60 million Seris C funding round for UK-based Secret Escapes, which bills itself as offering exclusive deals to members through flash sales for luxury properties and vacations. The membership is free. The funding round, which brings Secret Escapes’ total funding to around $73 million, included participation from existing investors Index Ventures and Atlas Venture.
  
  
• DraftKings, a daily fantasy sports website, added $300 million in new investment to sustain its growth, marketing and planned international expansion. Fox Sports, the lead investor, will pay about $150 million for an estimated 11 percent of DraftKings, according to a person briefed on the terms of the transaction.
  
  
• Palantir Technologies, a Silicon Valley startup that focuses on data mining, received $450 million in a new fundraising round, the company announced Thursday in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The 11-year-old company, which sells software to government agencies and Wall Street, raised its round at a valuation of $20 billion.
  
  
• E27, a nine-year-old, Singapore-based tech blog and events business, has closed a $650,000 bridge round ahead of a planned larger raise (in the neighborhood of $3 million) before year end. In 2013, the company raised $615,000 in funding from numerous Southeast Asian investors, including 8capita Partners, Ardent Capital, B Dash Ventures, and Pinehurst Advisors. 
  

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