North America

SoftBank to lend up to $20 bln to employees to invest in fund: WSJ

SoftBank Group is planning on lending up to $20 billion to its employees, which include CEO Masayoshi Son, to invest in its second mega venture fund, reported the Wall Street Journal. Son "may account for as much as $15 billion of that amount," noted the outlet, citing sources.

RedDoorz lands $70 mln: Reuters

Singapore-based RedDoorz, a hotel booking and management platform, has secured $70 million in funding, reported Reuters. Asia Partners led the round with participation from Rakuten Capital and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund.

VC-backed MolecuLight nabs $10 mln loan from Oxford Finance

Toronto-based medical imaging company MolecuLight has secured a nearly $10 million (US$7.5 million) loan from Oxford Finance LLC, a U.S. healthcare and life sciences finance firm. The proceeds will support the commercial growth of MolecuLight i:X, a real-time, handheld fluorescence imaging solution for the global wound care market. The device helps clinicians diagnose and treat chronic wounds. Founded in 2013 by CSO Ralph DaCosta, and led by CEO Anil Amlani, MolecuLight is backed by Canadian healthcare technology venture capital firm iGan Partners and other investors. Last week, MolecuLight announced the sale of its oncology business to Photonamic GmbH & Co KG.

Blokable inks $23 mln Series A

Blokable, a developer of multifamily housing, has secured $23 million in Series A funding. Vulcan Capital led the round with participation from Building Ventures, Jason Calacanis' LAUNCH, Kapor Capital, Marc Benioff, Motley Fool Ventures, Ten Eighty Capital and Dennis Joyce.

RiverMeadow snags financing from CloudScale

CloudScale Capital Partners has made an investment in Los Gatos, California and Markham, Ontario-based RiverMeadow Software Inc, a multi-cloud migration platform. No financial terms were disclosed. As part of the deal, Matt Bross, a partner at CloudScale, will join RiverMeadow's technical advisory board.

CPPIB adds San Francisco office as it crosses C$400bn mark

San Francisco will be the Canadian giant's second US location, where it expects its on-ground-presence in the technology ecosystem to help various initiatives

Motif FoodWorks nets $27.5 mln

Motif FoodWorks, an ingredients innovation company, has secured $27.5 million in funding. General Atlantic led the round with participation from CPT Capital.

Coinmine picks up $2.5 mln seed

West Hollywood, California-based Coinmine, a producer of crypto mining hardware and software, has raised $2.5 million in seed funding, according to a blog post on its site. The investors were M13, Gumi Crypto, Republic Labs, Canaan Labs and Shervin Pishevar.

Sorted Group lands Series B

UK-based Sorted Group, a global delivery software business, has secured 15 million pounds in Series B funding. Merian Chrysalis led the round with participation from Paretura Ventures and NVM Private Equity LLP.

Jump Capital leads funding round for Nudge Rewards

Toronto-based Nudge Rewards, a provider of mobile-first solutions in frontline employee communication, has secured US$9.3 million in funding. Jump Capital led the round. In addition to the funding, Michael McMahon, managing partner at Jump Capital, will join Nudge Rewards' board of directors. The capital infusion will be used to scale Nudge Rewards' go-to-market capacity as well as grow its data science team.