Daily funding roundup - January 8, 2016

MyMusicTaste landed $10M; Zymeworks bagged $61.5M; Pierian closed a $9.25M funding

• Blinkist, a Germany-based startup that gives you the gist of well-known nonfiction books in 15 minutes or less, has raised €4 million ($4.3 million) to accelerate product development and expand in the U.S. and across Europe. Blinkist had previously raised around $2 million, but perhaps one of the most notable facets of yesterday's announcement is that New York-based Greycroft Partners co-led the round, alongside VC firm E.Ventures.
  
  
• StartEngine, an equity-based crowdfunding platform created in 2013 by Howard Marks, co-founder of Activision, and Ron Miller, announced today that it's secured $5.5 million in funding from SE Agoura Investment LLC, an investment affiliate of Aubrey Chernick. The additional financing will help the platform expand, particularly through enhanced marketing campaigns.
  
  
• Deposit Solutions, a Hamburg, Germany-based open architecture platform for retail deposits in Europe, raised €6.5 million (approximately $7.04 million) in funding. The round was led by FinLab AG, a German fintech investor with participation from Peter Thiel. Other investors in the company include e.ventures, Stefan Wiskemann, Stefan Glänzer and Christoph Linkwitz. The company intends to use the funds for European-wide rollout of its open architecture retail brand ZINSPILOT.
  
  
• Bruin Biometrics, LLC, a Los Angeles, CA-based developer of innovative sensor-based diagnostic products, closed a $9 million financing. The round was led by new and existing investors. Proceeds from the financing will be used to accelerate the commercialization of the SEM Scanner. Led by Martin Burns, CEO, Bruin Biometrics provides the SEM Scanner, a hand-held device for detecting early-stage pressure ulcers. It uses non-invasive biosensor technology to measure sub-epidermal moisture (SEM), a biophysical marker associated with localized edema in the initial inflammatory phase of pressure ulcer formation.
  
  
• PierianDx, a provider of genomic software and services to enable data-driven personalized medicine, announced that it closed $9.25 million in Series A financing led by New York-based Health Catalyst Capital Management (HCCM). Joining HCCM in the investment round is a venture investing affiliate of Ocean Road Advisors, Inova Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI), and ARUP Laboratories. This financing will enable PierianDx to expand its lead as a pioneer in Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) software and services. PierianDx will use the funding to accelerate product development and expand sales, marketing and operations efforts. 
  
  
• MyMusicTaste, a Seoul-based startup that gauges fan interest to help figure out where to plan concerts, plans to expand throughout Asia after landing a $10 million Series A led by Softbank Ventures Korea. Other participants in the round include Samsung Ventures Investment, Formation 8, Golden Gate Ventures, Timewise Investment, Partners Investment, Bokwang Ventures Investment, and DT Capital.
  
  
• Hyderabad-based early-stage venture capital firm, Endiya Partners, has made first close of $15 million INR 100 Cr) for its maiden fund of $30 million. The fund plans to invests in 25 startups in a period of next three years. It will be focussing on technology (including sectors like IoT, SAAS, electronics and semiconductors), consumer internet services and healthcare startups (comprising of digital healthcare startups, medical devices and point-of-care and chronic disease management solutions).
  
  
• Online-first restaurant FreshMenu has raised INR 110 crore (US$16.5 million) in its latest round of funding, at a valuation of INR300 crore ($45 million). The round was led by Zodius Capital, with participation from existing investor Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to a report by The Economic Times, quoting two unnamed sources. The Bangalore-based firm, which started operations in 2014, plans to use the funds to expand operations, scale the team and build the brand.
  
  
• Beijing-based Jerry Education has received RMB260 million (US$40 million) series A financing from a joint venture fund established by Sailing Capital and an investment unit of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, according to Chinese media reports. With the new financing, Jerry Education, which runs 59 schools with over 100,000 students in China, is expected to add online capabilities and channels rapidly.
  
  
• Vancouver-based Zymeworks has completed a long-awaited venture raise, bagging a $61.5 million mezzanine round with an eye to following up with an IPO--when the time is right. The round was paired with an equity investment in neighboring biotech Kairos Therapeutics, which will now collaborate on developing antibody drug conjugates as Zymeworks ponders an option to buy.
  
  
• Zai Lab Ltd., an innovative biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it has secured over $100 million in its Series B financing from a group of leading healthcare investors. The investment was led by Advantech Capital and included OrbiMed. The existing investors Qiming Ventures, Sequoia Capital China, and TF Capital all participated in the round. The funding will be used to support Zai Lab's research and development programs as well as the company's ongoing in-licensing and commercialization efforts. 

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Image source: entrepreneur.com