Robert Daniel
SkyTran, developer of elevated and levitating high-speed rapid-transit systems for people and cargo, closed a Series B financing agreement. In a statement skyTran, based in NASA Research Park at Moffett Field, California, said the accord entailed “execution of a bridge loan tied to a $30 million Series B commitment.” The deal, negotiated and managed by Verita Merchant Bank of Hong Kong, enables skyTran to continue sales efforts and introduce the system worldwide. The company has demo systems in place at the NASA park and in Israel. SkyTran also has backing from Innovation Endeavors, the private venture-capital arm of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt.
Hua Medicine, the Shanghai clinical-stage firm developing therapies for diabetes and central-nervous-system disorders, closed $50 million (in U.S. dollars and yuan) of Series C financing. The round, 3x oversubscribed, was led by Harvest Investments, the Chinese PE firm. Current investors were led by BioVentures and included Arch, Venrock, Fidelity (now Eight Roads and F-Prime Capital), WuXi Ventures, SAIL, Ally Bridge Group and TF Capital. Hua will use the funds to, among other things, help complete long-term Phase II clinical trials this year and speed the Phase III development plans of HMS5552, a new fourth-generation glucokinase activator for Type 2 diabetes. China Renaissance was Hua’s financial adviser.
Preempt Security, the San Francisco network-security specialist, closed $8 million of Series A funding, which it plans to use to expand marketing and sales and speed product development. General Catalyst Partners, the Cambridge, Mass., investment firm, led the round; also participating were Mickey Boodaei and Rakesh Loonkar, the founders of Trusteer, and Paul Sagan, former chief executive of Akamai. And the company named Heather Howland vice president of marketing. She had been VP marketing for Lacoon Mobile Security, where she helped position the company to be acquired by Check Point Software in 2015. Preempt says a number of its team members were part of Unit 8200, the Israel Defense Forces intelligence corps.
Brighter, the Santa Monica, California, developer of a tech-driven dental-service, -payment and marketing platform, raised $21 million in a Series D round led by General Catalyst Partners, the Cambridge, Massachusetts venture capital firm. Participating were DAG Ventures and current investors Mayfield, Benchmark and Tenaya. Gabe Ling, a partner at General Catalyst, joins Brighter’s board. Brighter said it would use the funds to recruit enterprise software product and engineering staff.
Second Genome Inc, the closely held South San Francisco biopharmaceutical company, closed a Series B investment round with $42.6 million in financing. The round was co-led by Pfizer Venture Investments and Roche Venture Fund. Participating were a number of new investors — Digitalis Ventures, Adveq, LifeForce Capital, MBL Venture Capital, and the Mayo Clinic — as well as Series A investors Advanced Technology Ventures, Morgenthaler Ventures, Seraph Group, and individual investor Matthew Winkler, Ph.D. Second Genome has now raised a total investment of $59 million. With the new financing, Elaine Jones, executive director of Pfizer Venture Investments, and Carole Nuechterlein, head of Roche Venture Fund, will join the Second Genome board.
Bugcrowd Inc, the San Francisco developer of a crowdsourced tech-security platform, closed $15 million of Series B funding, led by Blackbird Ventures, the New South Wales, Australia, venture firm. Also signing on: new investors Industry Ventures and Salesforce Ventures as well as current investors Rally Ventures, Costanoa Venture Capital and Paladin Capital Group. Bugcrowd has now raised $24 million. Bugcrowd said that its Crowdcontrol system, adopted by major brands and Fortune 500 firms, enables its clients to uncover security bugs in their products. The efforts are driven by what it calls a “curated, vetted community of more than 27,000 security researchers.”
Israel’s high-tech companies raised 10 percent less money in the first quarter than they did in the fourth quarter, which was a record period for attracting funding, a survey says. The survey, produced by the IVC Research Center and the consultants KPMG, showed Israel tech startups pulled in $1.09 billion in Q1 against $1.2 billion in […]
Scandy, the New Orleans developer of software to enable users to capture, share and print 3D content from mobile devices, said it raised $1 million in a seed round led by Callais Capital with angel investors from Louisiana, Maryland and Texas. In a statement, Scandy said it would use the funds to develop an app for the planned launch of the first phones equipped with embedded depth sensors and the Google Project Tango software. The company said it’s “in discussions with sensor companies, phone manufacturers, and potential software and content partners.” Callais is the Thibodaux, Louisiana, family office and independent investment manager.
FusionOps, the Mountain View, California, provider of supply-chain intelligence, closed $25 million of Series C funding, led by Georgian Partners, with participation from current investors including New Enterprise Associates and Prabhu Goel, chairman of FusionOps. The company plans to use the funds to expand international sales operations, and for other purposes. Tyson Baber of Georgian Partners will join the FusionOps board. Georgian Partners, Toronto, invests in enterprise software firms taking in $6 million of revenue a year or more.
Five major U.S. commercial banks invested a total of $30 million in Transactis, the New York provider of electronic billing and payment solutions. Capital One, Fifth Third, PNC, TD, and Wells Fargo put equal amounts into this Series E round. Including this funding, Transactis has now raised $70 million. Transactis says its software as a solution enables businesses of all sizes “to replace paper bills, statements, invoices, payments and documents with efficient and cost effective digital alternatives.” Other Transactis investors include ff Venture Capital, MacAndrews & Forbes, Metamorphic Ventures, Safeguard Scientifics and StarVest Partners. K&L Gates LLP advised the five banks on the Series E investment agreements.