Daily funding roundup - August 14, 2015

GrabTaxi secured $400M; The Honest Company raised $100M; Massdrop bagged $40M

• The Honest Company, the subscription service that offers eco-friendly baby and family products, has long been seen as a potential IPO candidate. Now comes a bit of news that be a sign that the day is coming soon. The company, which was founded by Brian Lee and actress Jessica Alba, has just raised a $100 million funding round, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. Previous investors in the company include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners and ICONIQ Capital.
  
  
• Social networking app VoxWeb has raised an amount of $100,000 (Rs.65 lakh) in its seed round of funding from Jitendra Gupta, the cofounder and managing director of Citrus Pay. Founded in 2014 by former JP Morgan executive Yash Mishra and incubated in IIT Kharagpur, the startup recently launched its iOS and Android apps. It is a mobile app that allows users to attach a voice clip to pictures taken on their smartphones. The Mumbai startup has launched its service in India, Europe and in the US. Presently it is targeting to launch in South Korea, Japan and the African continent over the coming 6-8 weeks, as reported by ET.
  
  
• Betaout that makes marketing personalization software for ecommerce companies, nabbed $500,000 in seed round of funding from entrepreneurs & investors in India and US. Angel investors in this round include Snapdeal cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal, Anupam Mittal of People Group, Phanindra Sama of ex redBus fame, Pallav Nadhani of Fusion Charts, Girish Mathrubootham of Freshdesk, Vishay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, and Amit Ranjan of Slideshare among others.
  
  
• Gurgaon-based online grocery ordering app, BigZop is in final talks to raise $600,000 in its seed funding round for expansion to more areas in north India and even in eastern parts of the country by the end of this year. The investors are based in Delhi and Bengaluru, but their names are still undisclosed. The startup was launched in June 2015 by IIT Kharapur alumnus Aaditya Goyal, Mayank Bana and Subhajit Ray. It offers items from categories ranging from fruits & vegetables, grocery, beverages, personal care, household and dairy. The company claims to be processing 100+ orders per day for the last two months.
  
  
• Zionsville-based Clear Software LLC, which makes business software simpler to use, landed about $1 million in venture capital in its first venture funding round. The venture funding was facilitated by Chicago-based David A. Noyes & Co. It involves multiple investors including Elevate Ventures, a not-for-profit investment group that runs the Indiana Angel Network Fund.
  
  
• ChatID, a true SaaS platform that facilitates the conversation between retailers, brands and consumers, closed an $11.23 million in Series B funding. The round, led by Costanoa Venture Capital, brings ChatID's total funding to $19.2 million, after a $2 million seed round and $6 million series A round, led by FirstMark Capital and Mack Capital in March 2014.
  
  
• Ascentage Pharma Group Corp. Ltd. raised $15.5 million in a series A round led by Oriza Seed Capital and YuanMing Capital. EFung Capital; BioVenture Capital; Grains Valley Venture Capital; and undisclosed investors also participated. Ascentage's lead candidate is AT-101, a small molecule pan inhibitor of the Bcl-2 family of proteins. The candidate is in Phase II trials to treat chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Ascentage CEO Dajun Yang told BioCentury the company will use the funds for clinical studies of Bcl-2/Bcl-XL inhibitor APG-1252 and Mdm2 p53 binding protein homolog (MDM2; HDM2) inhibitor APG-115 in the U.S. and China. Yang said the company also will advance APG-1387, an antagonist of IAP (inhibitor of apoptosis) that is in Phase I trials in China and Australia.
  
  
• Tuhu, a Chinese online platform for automobile services and products, secured about $100 million from a group of investors including venture capital firm Joy Capital, looking to expand its distribution network and warehouses.
  
  
• Avalon Solutions Group, a technology company focused on the development of Software as a Service (SaaS) based solutions to support merchant payment processes for small businesses, announced a $5 million capital raise that will further fuel the company’s success. Avalon Solutions will use this investment to finance the company’s growth and achieve aggressive merchant acquisition goals
  
  
• Southeast Asia’s transportation app GrabTaxi now has new ammunition to battle against Uber and Go-Jek. The Singapore-headquartered startup has raised $400 million in a round led by China Investment Corp (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund. With the new round, GrabTaxi is said to be worth between US$1.6 billion and US$1.8 billion post-money.
  
  

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