North America

CStone Pharma raises $260 mln

CStone Pharmaceuticals said May 8 that it raised $260 million in financing led by GIC Private Ltd. Participating in the round were Sequoia China, Yunfeng Capital, 6 Dimensions Capital, CITIC PE, Taikang Insurance Group, ARCH Venture Partners, Hillhouse Capital, King Star Capital, 3W Partners, AVICT, and Terra Mafnum Capital Partners. Existing investors also taking part include Oriza Seed Venture Capital , Boyu Capital, and WuXi Healthcare Ventures. CStone, of Suzhou, China, is a biopharmaceutical company focused on drugs and combination therapies in immuno-oncology.

Rootility raises $10 mln

Rootility said May 9 that it raised $10 million in Series C financing led by ADM Capital’s Cibus fund. Also participating are existing investors GreenSoil Investments and Middleland Capital. Rootility, of Tel Aviv, Israel, develops root-focused plant breeding methods.

Health-care veterans form venture-capital firm Town Hall Ventures

A trio of health-care veterans has teamed up to form Town Hall Ventures, a venture capital firm targeting health-care technology and service companies catering to vulnerable populations.

Foundry Group to raise $750 mln Foundry Group Next 2018

The Foundry Group has set out to raise a $750 million Foundry Group Next 2018 fund, according to a filing with the SEC.

India's Mahindra leads Resson's $14 mln Series C round

Resson, a Fredericton, New Brunswick-based provider of predictive analytics to the agricultural industry, has raised $14 million in a Series C financing. The round was led by Indian vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, which joins existing strategic partners McCain Foods Ltd and Monsanto Co. They and Build Ventures, Rho Canada Ventures, BDC Capital, East Valley Ventures and New Brunswick Innovation Foundation also backed the Series C. Resson uses machine learning, big data analytics and computer vision to help growers of crops make better-informed decisions and increase productivity. Founded in 2013, the company is led by CEO Jeff Grammer.

Only 4 pct of Canadian SMEs are high performing: BDC

A study by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has found only 4 percent of Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can be classified as high performing. The study, based on data for 950,000 SMEs with less than $100 million in annual sales, suggests that companies with the best results are focused on productivity and innovation, invest in equipment, including information and communication technologies, offer employees competitive wages, expand globally and control debt. The BDC study identifies specific strategies that small, mid-sized and larger companies should adopt to improve their performance.

AI company Avaamo raises $14.2 mln led by Intel Capital

has raised a $14.2 million Series A financing round led by Intel Capital with additional investment from Ericsson Ventures, Mahindra Partners, Wipro Ventures and WI Harper. This funding brings the company's total investment to $23.5 million to date. Avaamo will use the latest funding to expand its sales and marketing to meet demand in the enterprise for conversational AI solutions in the growing global market.

Intel Capital invests more than $70 mln in 12 startups

Intel Capital said it invested more than $70 million in 12 technology startups. The new funding brings investments this year to more than $115 million. The news was announced at the organization's annual Global Summit.

Luna DNA inks $4 mln

Solana Beach, California-based Luna DNA, a community-owned genomic and medical research database, has raised $4 million in funding. The investors included Illumina Ventures, Arch Venture Partners, Bridgelink Capital and Hemisphere Ventures.

Al.Reverie secures seed funding

AI.Reverie, a provider of data to train machine learning algorithms, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding. The investors were Vulcan Capital, Compound and Locke Mountain Ventures.