North America

Roam Robotics procures $12 mln Series A

San Francisco-based Roam Robotics, a builder of robotic exoskeletons, has raised $12 million in Series A funding. Yamaha Motor Co led the round with participation from Boost VC, Heuristics Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, R7 Partners, Spero Ventures, Valor Equity Partners and Venture Investment Associates.

VC-backed Karius secures $25 mln loan from Oxford Finance

Oxford Finance LLC has provided a $25 million senior secured facility to Karius Inc, a life science company focused on infectious disease diagnostics with genomics. The financing will be used to expand the company technology to more hospitals and patients, invest in additional clinical studies and fund additional technology and product innovations. Karius Inc's backers include Data Collective, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tencent, Khosla Ventures, Innovation Endeavors and Spectrum 28.

Aras gathers $70 mln Series D in Goldman Sachs-led round

Andover, Massachusetts-based Aras, a provider of open product lifecycle management software for the enterprise, has raised $70 million in Series D funding. Goldman Sachs Private Capital led the round with participation from other investors that included Silver Lake Kraftwerk. In conjunction with the transaction, Hillel Moerman and Holger Staude of Goldman Sachs will join Aras’ board of directors as a board member and as an observer, respectively.

Asana nabs $50 mln Series E

San Francisco-based Asana, a work management platform for teams, has secured $50 million in Series E funding. Generation Investment Management led the round with participation from 8VC, Benchmark Capital, Founders Fund, Lead Edge Capital and World Innovation Lab.

ParaGen Technologies rakes in $3 mln

Columbus, Ohio-based ParaGen Technologies, the parent company of four medical device companies, has secured $3 million in funding. Ikove Venture Partners managed and organized the round.

Blue J Legal raises $9.3 mln in Series A led by Relay Ventures

Blue J Legal, a Toronto-based software platform focused on the legal industry, has secured about $9.3 million (US$7 million) in a Series A financing. The round was led by Canadian mobile venture capital firm Relay Ventures. It was joined by LDV Partners, Mistral Venture Partners and BDC Capital. Founded in 2015 by CEO Benjamin Alarie, Blue J's platform uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to enable legal research, initially in the fields of tax and employment law. Over the past two years, it has signed on more than 100 clients. The company will use the funds raised to establish a foothold in the U.S. market, expand its product suite, and grow its go-to-market and product development teams.

Qualcomm unveils $100 mln AI investment fund

Qualcomm unveiled an AI-focused investment fund, Qualcomm Ventures AI Fund, that will steer up to $100 million to startups working with artificial intelligence. Qualcomm Ventures made its first investment from the fund by participating in a Series A round for AnyVision.

BlueLight Analytics lands $3 mln in CIC Capital-led Series A

BlueLight Analytics, a Halifax-based data-driven dental technology company, has raised $3 million in a Series A financing. The round was led by CIC Capital Ventures, an investment arm of French private equity firm CM-CIC Investissement. It was joined by Canadian early-stage venture capital firm Innovacorp. Founded in 2009 at Dalhousie University, BlueLight develops technologies to improve light curing in dentistry and advance value-based dental care. Its solutions have been used in thousands of light evaluations in more than 35 countries. Led by CEO JP Furey, BlueLight will use the funds raised for scaling operations, product development, expanding its global reach, and sales and marketing.

CPPIB invests in EV charging network ChargePoint

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has made an undisclosed investment in ChargePoint, a Campbell, California-based electric vehicle (EV) charging network. The investment was part of a US$240 million Series H financing led by Quantum Energy Partners and joined by multiple other new and existing backers. ChargePoint will use the round's proceeds to continue developing charging solutions for electric passenger vehicles and expand into electric buses, trucks, fleets and beyond. CPPIB said ChargePoint is the initial investment of a new strategy focused on technologies poised to become critical segments of the energy value chain.

Venture-backed HYAS secures $2 mln in debt from SVB

HYAS, a Victoria, British Columbia-based provider of attribution intelligence solutions for information security and cybersecurity professionals, has raised $2 million in debt financing. The source was Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a U.S. technology debt financing firm. The deal follows the close of HYAS' $6.2 million Series A financing in August. That round was led by M12 and joined by Startup Capital Ventures, 205 Capital, Wesley Clover International and others. The company also secured funding from Susa Ventures. HYAS said the partnership with SVB will support expansion of its Comox attribution intelligence engine.