North America

Camera IQ seed round closes at $4.3 mln

Camera IQ said March 6 that its seed round closed at $4.3 million. The round, led by Shasta Ventures, also included participation from Betaworks, Homebrew and WndrCo. Camera IQ, of Santa Monica, California is a camera experience manager.

Matthews joins Verodin

Verodin said March 6 that Major General Earl D. Matthews, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), has joined the company as a senior vice president and chief strategy officer. Matthews previously served as vice president and general manager of enterprise security solutions for DXC Technology. Verodin is backed by Blackstone, Rally Ventures, Crosslink Capital and Cisco Investments

Southeast Asian VC Monk's Hill Ventures leads $3.2 round in language app ELSA

Monk’s Hill Ventures led a $3.2 million Pre-A round in ELSA, a mobile app for language learners. With offices in Singapore and Jakarta, Monk’s Hill Ventures invests in pre-seed-stage startups in Southeast Asia.

Medial EarlySign raises $30 mln from aMoon Fund, Horizons Ventures, more

Medial EarlySign said it raised $30 million of Series B capital in a round led by aMoon Fund and joined by Horizons Ventures and Medial EarlySign co-founder Nir Kalkstein.

Upskill raises $17.2 mln from Accenture, Cisco, Boeing HorizonX, GE, NEA, others

Upskill said it raised $17.2 million from new investors Accenture and Cisco Investments, and existing investors Boeing HorizonX, GE Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.

Trident Capital Cybersecurity names Lisa Lee CFO

Trident Capital Cybersecurity named Lisa Lee to the position of chief financial officer.

Panache Ventures unveils first seed fund in $25 mln initial close

Panache Ventures, a new Montréal-based early-stage venture capital firm, has launched its debut fund. Panache Ventures I, which raised $25 million in an initial close, will invest in pre-seed and seed opportunities in artificial intelligence-machine learning, blockchain, cybersecurity, financial technology and other sectors. Managing Partners Mike Cegelski and Patrick Lor, Partner David Dufresne and Associate Nicolas Jacques-Bouchard, who helped launch 500 Startups Canada two years ago, will lead the firm. Panache has already backed 11 of a planned 140 Canadian startups to receive investments over the next four years. It will soon add a Toronto-based team member.

Grabr grabs $8 mln in funding led by Foundation Capital

San Francisco-based Grabr, provider of an international peer-to-peer community marketplace and delivery network, announced it has raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Foundation Capital. Javier Olivan, VP of growth with Facebook; Geoff Donaker, Former COO of Yelp; Matt Wyndowe, previously head of product partnerships with Uber; and Gokul Rajaram, product engineering lead at Square, also participated in the funding. Grabr, founded in 2015 by co-founders Artem Fedyaev and CEO Daria Rebenok, has now raised more than $14 million in venture funding. As part of the latest round, Charles Moldow, general partner at Foundation Capital, has joined the board. Prior investors include Founders Fund and SignalFire.

UiPath lands $153 mln Series B in Accel-led round

New York City-based UiPath, a platform for enterprise robotic process automation, has raised $153 million in Series B funding. Accel led the round with participation from CapitalG, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Earlybird, Credo Ventures and Seedcamp.

Rombaut joins Seraphim Capital as general partner

London-based Seraphim Capital, which focuses on space tech, announced it has added Frédéric Rombaut as a general partner. Rombaut is former managing director of Cisco Investment International and founder of Qualcomm Ventures Europe. Seraphim last year raised a $95 million fund to invest in space tech, which includes Earth-observation technologies, data-driven applications and satellite and drone technologies including.