North America

Next47 appoints two as partners and another as principal

Next47, a venture firm formed by Siemens, has named Matthew Cowan and T.J. Rylander as partners. Also, Ching-Yu Hu is joining the firm as a principal. Previously, Cowan worked at Breezeworks where he was the CEO and co-founder while Rylander was a managing partner at In-Q-Tel. And, prior to Next47, Ching-Yu Hu was an entrepreneur-in-residence in Google's internal startup incubator Area 120.

VC-backed Relay Therapeutics adds three to staff

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Relay Therapeutics, a biotech company, has named Dr. Don Bergstrom as executive vice president, head of research and development; Brian Adams as general counsel; and Tom Catinazzo as vice president of finance. Relay Therapeutics' backers include BVF Partners, GV, Casdin Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Section 32, Third Rock Ventures and Alexandria Venture Investments.

Yellow takes in $9 mln seed

Brazilian bike-sharing startup Yellow has secured $9 million in seed funding. Monashees and Grishin Robotics led the round.

VC-backed Roche Holdings buys Inception 5 program

Roche Holdings, which is backed by Versant Ventures, has acquired the Inception 5 program. No financial terms were disclosed. Inception is focused on regenerative therapies for multiple sclerosis.

VC-backed Duco hires COO

London-based Duco, a data engineering technology company, has appointed Mireille Dyrberg as chief operating officer. Previously, she was COO at NEX Group's TriOptima. Duco's backers include Insight Venture Partners, NEX Opportunities and Eight Roads Ventures.

Sofinnova Partners collects $340 mln for initial healthcare crossover fund

Sofinnova Partners, a European life sciences-focused venture firm, has raised $340 million for its inaugural healthcare crossover fund. Sofinnova Crossover I will invest in the biopharmaceutical and medical device sectors. The fund's limited partners include sovereign funds, insurance companies, corporations and family offices. Triago was the placement agent for the fund while Clifford Chance provided legal counsel.

Welltok racks up $75 mln

Welltok, a consumer health enterprise software-as-a-service company, has secured $75 million in Series E2 funding. The investors included Future Fund Management Agency, Ziff Davis, NF Trinity Capital (Hong Kong) Limited, ITOCHU Corporation, New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners and Georgian Partners.

Mastercard leads Series D for IfOnly

IfOnly said April 4 that it raised a Series D funding led by Mastercard. Financial terms weren’t announced. Hyatt Hotels Corp, Sotheby’s, NEA, Founder’s Fund, Khosla Ventures, and TriplePoint Capital also participated in the round. IfOnly, of San Francisco, provides access to experiences that benefit worthy causes.

Threat X scores $8.2 mln Series A

Colorado-based Threat X, a provider of SaaS-based web application firewall solutions for real-time threat detection and neutralization, has raised $8.2 million in Series A funding. Grotech Ventures and Access Venture Partners led the round.

Legit pockets $2.6 mln seed

Cambridge, Texas-based Legit, a provider of software for intellectual property creators, has raised $2.6 million in seed funding. Eniac Ventures led the round with participation from Elementum Ventures and Max Ventures.