Luisa Beltran
InsideSales.com said Jan. 18 that closed a $50 million growth equity round led by Polaris Partners. Microsoft also took part along with new investors include QuestMark Partners and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund. Existing venture investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Hummer Winblad, U.S. Venture Partners, Epic Ventures, and Zetta Venture Partners also participated. InsideSales.com, of Provo, Utah, provides an AI-powered predictive sales acceleration platform.
Letgo said Jan. 17 that it raised $175 million in new funding from investors such as Naspers, Accel, Insight Venture Partners, New Enterprise Associates, 14W and other investors. With offices in New York and Barcelona, Letgo provides a mobile marketplace to buy and sell locally.
Serena Capital said Jan. 17 that it has launched Serena Data Ventures, a fund dedicated to investing in big data and artificial intelligence in Europe. Institutional investors and large corporate groups have committed close to 80 million euros ($85.7 million) to Serena Data Ventures. The new fund will invest between 500,000 and 3 million Euros in the first financing rounds. Serena Data has invested in Heuritech, a French startup that specializes in deep learning technologies.
Kespry said Jan. 11 that George Mathew was named chief executive and chairman. Mathew was most recently president and chief operating officer of Alteryx. CEO Paul Doersch, who led the team that developed and commercialized the Kespry Drone System, will remain a shareholder in the company. Kespry, of Menlo Park, California, is an aerial intelligence platform provider backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, DCM Ventures, Spectrum 28, Wilson Sonsini and others.
Maven Capital Partners has led a 2.7 million pounds (US$3.4 million) funding round for QikServe Ltd. Maven is investing 2 million pounds while the other 700,000 pounds is coming from exiting investors including Par Equity, Equity Gap and Scottish Enterprise. QikServe, of the U.K., has developed a B2B cloud-based platform aimed at hospitality operators.
Lalamove said Jan. 10 that it raised $30 million in Series B financing led by Xianghe Capital. Also participating were Blackhole Capital and existing shareholders MindWorks Ventures, Crystal Stream and Thailand’s Asia Plus Group Holdings. Lalamove, of Hong Kong, is an on-demand delivery company.
New York private equity firm Aquiline Capital Partners is launching a technology growth fund that will invest in early- and growth-stage companies. The firm said Jan. 4 that it had hired Max Chee and Michael Cichowski to run the Technology Growth Fund. Chee, the former managing partner of Millennium Technology Value Partners, will head Aquiline Technology Growth. […]
Leeds Equity Partners LLC, known for investing in the knowledge sector, is merging four companies to focus exclusively on information and compliance solutions. The New York private equity firm said Dec. 7 that it simultaneously acquired BLR (formerly Business and Legal Resources), DecisionHealth, Argosy and CCMI. Financial terms of the deal, which closed this week, weren’t announced. […]
Mission Therapeutics said Dec. 5 that Dr Colin Goddard was named non-executive Chairman, effective January 1st 2017. Michael Moore, Mission's Founder Chairman, will continue on the board and transition to the role of Deputy Chairman. Mission Therapeutics, of Cambridge, England, is a drug discovery and development company.
Science 37 said Oct. 18 that it raised $31 million in series B funding led by Redmile Group. Lux Capital and dRx Capital also participated, as well as Sanofi Genzyme BioVentures. Los Angeles-based Science 37 is a clinical research company.