Luisa Beltran

ORIX USA said Thursday it has expanded ORIX Ventures, which focuses on high growth companies. As part of the expansion, Jeff Bede is now leading debt and equity investment efforts on the West Coast after seven years in the Mid-Atlantic region. ORIX Ventures also hired Todd McDonald as Director of the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as Sabeen Firozali and Joel Marquis as associate directors.

DiaCarta said Friday it raised $8 million in Series A financing from BVCF (BioVeda China Fund). Hayward, Calif.-based DiaCarta is a molecular diagnostics company.

The Beekman Group LLC has closed its third fund at $230 million. Beekman Investment Partners III LP will invest in lower middle-market services companies with enterprise values ranging from $15 million to $75 million in three focus industry sectors – consumer, healthcare and business services. Beekman’s prior fund collected $100 million in 2012.

Ascension Ventures, Heritage Group and Kaiser Permanente Ventures are investing in Ingenious Med, which is backed by North Bridge Growth Equity. Atlanta-based Ingenious Med provided a cloud-based patient encounter platform that aims to automate physician and care team workflow at the point of care. North Bridge acquired a majority stake in the company in 2014 and remains lead investor.

Fountain Healthcare Partners announced the initial close of its second fund €85 million (US$100.7 mln) of committed capital. Fountain Healthcare Partners II LP, a dedicated life science venture capital fund, will focus on specialty pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostics.

Hua Medicine said Thursday it closed $25 million in Series B financing led by Ally Bridge Group. New investors Frontline BioVentures and TF Capital joined in the round, as well as existing Series A investors ARCH, Venrock, Fidelity, WuXi Ventures, and SAIL. Shanghai-based Hua Medicine is a clinical-stage biotechnology company.

Bill Gates and Madrona Venture Group have led an initial $15 million round of funding for Echodyne Corp. Vulcan Capital, Lux Capital, The Kresge Foundation and others also invested. Bellevue, Wash.-based Echodyne, the fourth spin-out from Intellectual Ventures, aims to bring to market metamaterials-based radar products.

Rinovum Women’s Health said Friday it raised $3 million in series C financing from its existing investor base. Rinovum said the round was led by a private, Pennsylvania-based investment fund. Other participants included the PLSG Accelerator Fund and BlueTree Allied Angels. Rinovum Women’s Health, of Monroeville, Pa., is a women’s health company.

SparkLabs Global Ventures has invested in Code Kingdoms and MangoPlate. Financial terms of either transaction wasn’t announced. Code Kingdoms, of the U.K., is an education technology startup, while MangoPlate is a restaurant search and discovery mobile app in South Korea.