North America

Chrysalix RoboValley Fund launches with $155 mln target

Chrysalix Venture Capital, a Canadian industrial innovation venture capital firm, announced the first close of its latest fund vehicle, Chrysalix RoboValley Fund. The fund, which has a target of about $155 million (US$120 million) has so far signed on a range of investors, including Teck Resources Ltd, Mistletoe Venture Partners International, Petronas, Severstal, Delft University of Technology, Mitsubishi Corp and Golden Properties. It will invest in early-stage companies that are developing technologies in intelligent systems and resource productivity solutions for industries such as energy, mining, mobility, chemicals and materials. Vancouver-based Chrysalix is led by Managing Partners Fred van Beuningen, Richard MacKellar and Wal van Lierop.

Former Salesforce exec Marcel LeBrun joins Real Ventures as venture partner

Real Ventures has recruited Marcel LeBrun as a venture partner, according to a news release. LeBrun joins the Montréal venture firm after more than two decades as a tech entrepreneur and executive, including senior vice president at San Francisco cloud-software maker Salesforce. He took on that job with Salesforce’s 2011 acquisition of Radian6, a Fredericton, New Brunswick, social-media-monitoring platform, for US$326 million. LeBrun, who co-founded Radian6 in 2006, was the company’s CEO. In the new role at Real Ventures, Fredericton-based LeBrun will source Canadian tech opportunities and support the firm's portfolio.

Kettlebell Kitchen cooks up $26.7 mln Series B in North Castle-led round

Kettlebell Kitchen, a provider of healthy prepared meals and custom meal plans, has secured $26.7 million in Series B funding. North Castle led the round.

Fifth Wall leads Series A round for Shipwell

Austin, Texas-based Shipwell, an online business freight shipping platform, has raised $10 million in Series A funding, according to a blog post. Fifth Wall led the round.

VC-backed data catalog company Alation expands C-suite with two new appointments

Silicon Valley-based Alation Inc, a data catalog company, has named Steve Kennedy as chief revenue officer and Bob Block as chief customer success officer. Previously, Kennedy was senior vice president of field operations for Recommind while Block was CCSO at Jive Software. Alation was backed by Costanoa Ventures, Data Collective, Harmony Partners and Icon Ventures.

TidalScale snaps up $24 mln Series B

Campbell, California-based TidalScale, a provider of software-defined servers, has raised $24 million in Series B funding. The investors included Bain Capital Ventures, Hummer Winblad, Sapphire Ventures and Infosys.

AI firm Machinify takes in $10 mln Series A

Palo Alto, California-based Machinify, a new artificial intelligence firm, has raised $10 million in Series A funding. Battery Ventures led the round with participation from GV and Matrix Partners.

French cybersecurity firm Acorus secures funding from Elaia, Partech and Kima

Acorus Networks, a French cybersecurity company, is raising 5 million euros in funding. The investors are Elaia Partners, Partech and Kima Ventures.

Security startup Paladin Cyber raises $3.6 mln led by Lightbank

San Francisco-based Paladin Cyber, which provides cyber protection services for small and medium businesses, announced that it has raised $3.6 million in seed funding. Lightbank led the round, which included participation from Aquiline Technology Growth, Haystack, Argo Ventures and Clocktower Technology Ventures, as well as existing investors Ground Up Ventures, Hemi Ventures, Sutardja Ventures and Y Combinator. As part of the funding, Lightbank Managing Director Vic Pascucci will join the board. Paladin, founded in 2017, has now raised $4.5 million in total funding.

CiValue procures $6 mln Series A

CiValue, a provider of cloud-based precision marketing and supplier advertising platforms for retailers, has raised $6 million in Series A funding. Nielsen and Sonae IM led the round.