North America

PolyCharge America grabs funding

Tucson, Arizona-based PolyCharge America Inc, a capacitor technology company, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding. The backer was SFM Holdings, an investment arm of Mursix Corporation.

Mexican online university takes in $1 mln

Universidad Kuepa, a Mexico-based online university, has secured $1 million in funding. The investor was Adobe Capital.

Helbiz closes $7.13 mln in private placement

New York-based Helbiz, an intra-urban transportation company, has raised about $7.13 million in a private placement. TriPoint Global Equities LLC was the placement agent.

Valar Ventures racks up $150 mln for fifth fund

Valar Ventures has raised $150 million for its fifth fund, according to an SEC filing. Based in New York, the venture firm was founded by Peter Thiel.

Bayer to acquire VC-backed BlueRock Therapeutics in $1.3 bln deal

Bayer AG has agreed to acquire BlueRock Therapeutics, a Toronto- and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based developer of engineered cell therapies. The deal values BlueRock at about $1.3 billion (US$1 billion), including the 40.8 percent stake currently held by Bayer. In 2016, Bayer partnered with U.S. life sciences venture capital firm Versant Ventures in founding BlueRock with a US$225 million financing. Bayer said it will pay US$240 million for the remaining stake at closing and US$360 million more when development milestones are met. BlueRock's portfolio is focused on neurology, cardiology and immunology, with a first clinical program in Parkinson's disease expected later this year.

PurpleLab raises $3 mln

PurpleLab said Aug. 8 that it raised $3 million in growth financing from Edison Partners. PurpleLab is a healthcare data and analytics platform.

Vymo raises $18 mln

Vymo said Aug. 8 that it raised $18 million in Series B funding led by Emergence Capital. Existing investor Sequoia India also participated in the round. Vymo provides an AI-powered mobile personal sales assistant that aims to capture data of sales activities.

WSC Sports raises $23 mln

WSC Sports said Aug. 8 that it raised $23 million in Series C funding led by O.G Tech Ventures. Participating in the round were NTT DOCOMO Ventures, HBSE Ventures, Maor Investments, ISF and Go4it Capital. Existing investors including Intel Capital, Detroit Venture Partners, Elysian Park Ventures, WISE Ventures, 2BAngels and iAngels also joined the round. WSC Sports aims to provide personalized and automatic sports video content in near real-time.

Top Canadian VC deals draw $522 mln in Q2 as focus shifts to early-stage

Canada’s venture capital market sustained robust levels of activity in Q2, despite somewhat fewer dollars going into the largest financings. The top 10 second-quarter rounds secured $522 million from VC funds. That’s down 4 percent from the $542 million raised by the top 10 deals a year earlier, and down 16 percent from the $625 million that went to the top deals in Q2 2017. The estimate is based on PE Hub Canada’s list of the largest financings announced from April through June, supplemented by preliminary data from Refinitiv. It indicates some moderation in the influence of big late-stage rounds, which dominated Canadian VC trends last year.

Owl.co raises $2.6 mln in seed round led by Impression, Luge

Owl.co has raised $2.6 million in a seed-stage financing, the Vancouver-based financial technology provider told PE Hub Canada. The deal was led by Impression Ventures and Luge Capital, both Canadian fintech venture capital firms. They were joined by existing backers Sway Ventures, Inovia Capital, Plug and Play, Builders VC and Holt. Owl.co was launched in 2018 by CEO Sean Merat and CPO Sohrab Merat, both serial founders, as well as COO Vahid Mirjalili. Its solutions help banks and insurers manage critical processes around customer data collection. Owl.co's technology supports customer on-boarding, know-your-customer and anti-money-laundering due diligence, and fraud detection.