- Zenstores, a cloud-based shipping platform for online sellers, secured £400,000 (approximately $571,400) n late seed investment led by Downing Ventures. The Bristol-based startup, which enabled online sellers to dispatch over one million shipments in 2015, takes the strain out of shipping for online sellers. Zenstores will use the fresh capital to add new integrations with marketplaces and couriers while scaling its userbase in 2016.
- Julie Desk, a Paris, France-based provider of an Artificial Intelligence virtual assistant that takes care of meetings via email, raised €600,000 (approximately $667,434) in funding. Backers included Side Capital. The company intends to use the funds to continue to grow operations and expand adoption of Julie. Co-founded in 2015 by Julien Hobeika (CEO), Nicolas Marlier (CTO) and Guillaume Michiels (CPO), Julie Desk has built an artificial intelligence powered virtual assistant who schedules appointments for users who delegate to “her” their calendar-related tasks with via email.
- Mohit Goel, a promoter of Realty firm Omaxe has started an e-commerce portal, Supplified.com and has also made investment in the startup in his personal capacity. Mohit invested $1 million as seed funding to market construction materials. The startup was founded few months back by Goel and SPR Buildtech Director Nalin Saluja. The startup aims to tap huge opportunity in the unorganized construction materials market.
- San Francisco-based Volley Labs raised a $2.3 million seed round from investors including Reach Capital, Zuckerberg Education Ventures and Chinese education services provider, TAL Education Group. Individual angel investors from companies including Apple, Blackboard, Dropbox and Udemy also contributed.
- Paintbox Group, a UK-based full service supplier of premium exterior systems and advanced painting and finishing solutions to the automotive industry, secured debt and equity financings. The Business Growth Fund‘s investment, together with a £3 million (approximately $4.24 million) facility from Barclays, is facilitating the development of a fourth robotic paint line at the Birmingham site, operational in late 2016.
- Inmoji, which connects brands with consumers on mobile messaging using interactive emojis, raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Dr. John Wigneswaran. The company, which has offices in Boston and San Francisco, said also participating in the round were technology luminaries within MIT Sloan School of Management community. Inmoji previously raised $2.4 million in seed-stage funding from ex-PayPal Media COO David Chang, Paypal Start Tank and Atlas Venture, now known as Accomplice.
- Cloud maintenance and asset management platform maker Maintenance Assistant, Inc. raised $5 million Series A in a round led BuildGroup. Founded in 2008, Maintenance Assist develops maintenance software solutions that are said to transform enterprise maintenance operations by eliminating waste and costly downtime, while at the same time managing risk.
- E-lending platform EZBob Ltd raised £20 million (approximately $28.56 million) in Series C funding in a round led by Leumi Partners and Oaktree Capital Management. According to statement, the company will use the new funds to increase its lending capacity and continue to develop its technology platform. Leumi Partners is the investment arm of Bank Leumi, one of Israel’s biggest banks with a history of investing in technology.
- Justworks, a HR and payments platform, landed a $33 million Series C funding round led by Redpoint Ventures with existing investors Bain Capital Ventures, Thrive Capital and Index Ventures also participating. This latest round brings the total amount raised to $53 million. The company will use its current funding to invest in its core technology and features and enhance its benefits platform with additional partnerships and offerings that will continue to make life easier for its small business customers and their employees.
- Hony Capital led a RMB500 million ($76 million) series B round of financing in Shanghai-based boutique studio firm Ningmeng Pictures. Existing investors Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Mango TV Fund also participated in the round. Founded in August 2014, Ningmeng Pictures is an independent producer of television programs, films and video shows.
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Image source: www.wsj.com
