IOVC in action

ZX Ventures – the global investment and innovation group of AB InBev – has announced a new partnership with Clara Foods, which will focus on unlocking the potential of precision fermentation at a large scale. Clara Foods specialises in engineering, manufacturing and formulating animal-free proteins using precision fermentation. In 2019, the company secured funding in a Series B round led by Ingredion.

MioTech, the AI-based sustainability data and technology provider, announced today that HSBC has invested in the company in an additional financing round to its Series B, further expanding the company's stellar investor base which already includes ZhenFund, Horizons Ventures, Moody's and TOM Group.

Dialpad, the business-centric voice, video and contact-center service, today announced that it has raised a $100 million Series E funding round led by OMERS Growth Equity. Andreessen Horowitz, Google Ventures, ICONIQ Capital and Work-Bench also participated. The company says its valuation is over $1.2 billion after it has now raised a total of $245 million.

Samsung showcases the first cloud-based chip design platform in partnership with Rescale
Fabless customers can use diverse EDA tools with flexible computing power

Today it announces the launch of an $800 million fund to back promising new AI companies and academic research. It will consequently be opening a London office as an extension to its original Hong Kong base.

Now, in 2021, we’re thrilled to share that we’re continuing to take steps in the right direction with our $25 million in Series B financing, led by Obvious Ventures. This latest round brings Torch’s total financing to nearly $40 million and puts our company in the same portfolio as other category-defining brands like Beyond Meat, Diamond Foundry, Gusto, and Virta Health. 

The investment, led by WRVI Capital’s Michael Marks, brings Boom’s total funding to $210 million, and takes the company one step closer to its objective of broadly accessible high-speed flight.

While Sugar gains a ton of AI expertise, it also adds a customer prediction element to the platform, such as figuring out the customers most likely to convert or most likely to leave. This puts it in more direct competition with Adobe and Salesforce, which for some time have had intelligence layers that provide that kind of predictability. CEO Craig Charlton says his company’s solution puts that kind of capability in reach of more companies.

CEO Chan said that around 80 percent of the company’s 400,000 users are on the free version of the app. Some brands on the app include Unilever, Siemens, DHL, McDonald’s, and Jet.com. Chan said UpKeep saw a 206 percent increase in revenue in 2019.

ZeroDown, a startup that helps customers own a home without making a down payment, announces the closing of more than $100M of debt capital from Credit Suisse to fuel the next stage of the company’s growth. ZeroDown gives future homebuyers an unmatched level of ease and flexibility in pursuing their homeownership goals in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Rescale, a leading hybrid HPC cloud platform enabling intelligent computing for digital R&D, today announced it has closed $50 million in Series C funding from Hitachi Ventures, Microsoft’s M12, Nautilus Venture Partners, NVIDIA, Republic Labs and Samsung Catalyst Fund, bringing the company’s total funding to over $100 million.

B Capital led the round, with help from new investors Lead Edge Capital and Marc Benioff along with previous investors Insight Partners, Crosslink Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Mango Capital, Y Combinator and Javelin Venture Partners. Today’s investment brings the total raised to more than $82 million.

CAT recently acquired San Francisco, CA-based robot and autonomy technology solutions company — Marble Robot, Inc. The buyout is in sync with Caterpillar’s automation and autonomy strategy.

Dray Alliance, a digital drayage marketplace that connects shippers and truckers for short-range delivery of shipping containers between ports and logistics centers, announced today that it has closed a $10.2 million Series A led by Matrix Partners. Ex-Uber syndicate Moving Capital also participated in the Series A along with previous investors Craft Ventures, Act One Ventures, and Wonder Ventures. Sammi Liu also joins Dray Alliance as COO to lead the company into its next phase of growth, along with Lauren Roberts, VP of Sales.