SparkLabs Global Ventures Technology

and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review

March 16th, 2015

Bi-monthly Highlights

Global Trends

Fewer venture capitalists are betting on game companies

The game-making business is risky, and thats led to less capital available for startups in recent years. Investment in
gaming has dropped 7 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to advisory firm Digi-Capital. Thats on top of
a capital market that has already declined 25 percent from 2011 to 2014. Total investment in games from venture
capitalists was US$1.4 billion over the 12 months leading up to the end of March. The problem is that the partners at
most firms are risk-adverse, and its difficult trying to predict where to put money in a hit-based industry. While
people making specific games for console and PC are struggling to find financial backers, its not nearly as bad for
companies building tools that a lot of other studios use. VCs are willing to take a chance on something that could
turn into an industry standard. But beyond the tech, mobile is still getting the most attention. And thats primarily
coming out of Asia. Strategic investors in China, Japan, and South Korea are all putting cash into mobile developers
and tech companies geared toward that part of the world.

The Trends Creating New Winners And Losers In The Card-Processing Ecosystem
The payments industry had a huge year in 2014 and it's showing no sign of slowing down. On the one hand tech
giants like Amazon and Apple released new products that affirmed their long-term payments ambitions (Apple Pay
and Amazon Local Register). On the other hand startups such as Stripe and ShopKeep continued to carve out
market share, challenging older players like PayPal and VeriFone. Understanding this complex and rapidly evolving
space can be challenging. The ecosystem for credit- and debit-card processing involves a complicated set of players
interacting to process every transaction. The mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) is going to have a massive impact on the
payments-hardware and payments-software industry. By 2019, we forecast that nearly 80% of US retailers will have
implemented a mPOS device. The move to mPOS will continue to put pressure on hardware providers that compete
directly against mPOS devices, as well as ISOs that sell legacy devices to merchants.

E-sports makes US$612M from its 134M viewers worldwide, SuperData finds
Young guys with a lot of money are watching e-sports, and this is turning it into a market of its own. Competitive
gaming is a US$621 million business, according to intelligence firm SuperData Research. That money primarily
comes from Asian markets like South Korea and China, where the e-sports scene is huge and has an established
history of success. But its also growing in Europe and North America thanks to popular games like League of
Legends, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. In addition to the money, e-sports fans around the world
number in the 134 million range. But even as more money and people pour into this space, SuperData founder and
chief analyst Joost van Dreunen argues that it is still a marketing tool for publishers before anything else.

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Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
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Asia Pacific
China

The face recognition startup raises US$25M in funding

Face++, a face recognition tech startup from Beijing, announced that it raised an additional US$25 million as part of
its series B round that began in November last year. The fresh funding brings the companys series B to a total of
US$47 million. Innovation Works and Ignition Partners contributed to the initial funding, while the more recent
investors have not yet been disclosed. Face++ makes a cloud-based API and an SDK so developers can
incorporate face recognition into their own apps. The startup has over 30,000 developers using its technology.
Besides password replacement and payments, Face++ is currently looking into intelligent video analysis, retail
applications, and security.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma leads US$128M investment in live-streaming sports site

LeTV Sports, an affiliate of online video portal and smart TV maker LeTV, has raised US$128 million in series A
funding. The investment was led by two of Chinas most prominent billionaires, Alibaba founder and chairman Jack
Ma and Wanda Group chairman Wang Jianlin. Each man invested via his private venture capital fund, Yunfeng
Capital and Wanda Investment, respectively. Fortune Link, Prometheus Capital, and several others also participated
in the round. As a result, LeTV Sports has reached a valuation of US$452 million. LeTV Sports is an online video
site that focuses on live streaming sports events. It claims to broadcast 4,000 matches of 12 different sports every
year, including soccer, basketball, tennis, and golf. It has acquired exclusive rights to broadcast a handful of events.
The company established a US$200 million film production fund and acquired a production studio for US$260 million
to generate more exclusive content.

Chinese companion robot AI Nemo raises over US$10M series B

Chinese tech site Lieyunwang is reporting that A.I. Nemo, a Chinese startup that produces what it calls a robot
companion for homes, has raised a series B round in excess of US$10 million. The precise sum of the round and its
investors have not been disclosed, but previous investors in the company include Innovation Works and Lightspeed
China Partners. A.I. Nemo is a hardware startup that produces what it calls a smart robot companion. In actuality,
its basically a small desktop computer with a very nice webcam and some automated panning abilities. The idea is
that you put the thing which costs US$370 in your home and itll help you communicate with family members
even when youre not there. Users that arent at home can control the device through a mobile app, and will receive
notifications from it on the app.

Chinese travel site Tuniu gets US$500M injection, JD now biggest shareholder
Tuniu, a NASDAQ-listed Chinese travel and tourism site, announced that it has secured a US$500 million
investment led by ecommerce giant JD. JD will purchase US$350 million worth of shares in Tuniu, with the rest
divided between Hony Capital, DCM Ventures, Ctrip, Temasek Holdings, and Sequoia Capital. The deal is expected
to close sometime in the current quarter. Ctrip, JD, and Hony in December contributed to a US$148 million injection
into Tuniu. JD is now Tunius largest shareholder with a 27.5 percent stake. JD is Alibabas closest rival in China. As
part of the deal, Tuniu will be more closely integrated into JDs online marketplace, according to a statement by the
ecommerce company. It also means Tuniu will operate, for five years without commission, the leisure travel channel
for both JD.coms website and mobile app, and will become JD.coms preferred partner for hotel and air tickets
booking services.

Dubbed the Model T and Apple of drones, Chinas DJI rakes in US$75M funding
Shenzhen DJI Technology, the worlds biggest make of consumer and prosumer aerial drones, announced a US$75
million investment from Accel Partners. Now valued at US$10 billion, its the undisputed champ both in sales revenue
and in market cap. Accels injection values the company at US$8 billion, but the company is reportedly in ongoing
negotiations that will raise its valuation even further. DJI expects to sell US$1 billion worth of drones this year, up
from US$130 million in 2013. Previous investors include Sequoia Capital, but the company has taken in relatively
little funding up to this point. DJI released the latest model in its popular Phantom line last month. The Phantom 3
sells for US$1,259 and US$999 for the Pro and Advanced versions, respectively.

Chinese real estate site Aiwujiwu closes US$120M series D

Shanghai-based real estate startup Aiwujiwu continued its whirlwind year of funding with the announcement of a
series D round worth US$120 million. Investors in the round included GGV Capital, MorningSide Ventures, Shunwei
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Capital, and Banyan Capital. Aiwujiwu is a rental and second-hand home listing portal and transaction platform. The
site allows for easy location-based visualization and searches, and many of its listings include video tours. It acts as
a kind of virtual agent, allowing you to do things like book visits via your smartphone. Aiwujiwu charges a 1%
commission for home sales, but its rental services are free. Aiwujiwu is a relatively new platform but funding has
come thick and fast, with undisclosed series A, B, and C rounds all having been closed within the past year.

Korea

Apora Ventures Launches Accelerate Korea Berlin,With Full Program Subsidies provided By KISED
Accelerate Korea Berlin is a new four stage Acceleration Program for Korean startups beginning 1 June 2015. It is
a specialized Cross-border Incubator & Accelerator Program designed to significantly increase the chances of a
Korean Startups success in Berlin, Germany. It equips Korean startups with the knowledge and experience for global
acceleration in Korea, followed by a comprehensive Overseas Immersion Program in Berlin. Accelerate Korea
Berlin will be hosted by Apora Ventures, an early-stage-investment firm headquartered in Amsterdam, with full
funding provided by the Korean government through KISED. Apora Ventures supports innovative, early-stage tech
startups from its base in the Netherlands. It boasts a global network of mentors and support services across the
world, with Google, Amazon, and many other industry key leaders as official partners.

Japan

Paidy raises additional US$5M to give online shoppers instant credit

Exchange Corporation (ExCo)s Paidy service allows ecommerce shoppers to buy now and pay later without a credit
card. The Tokyo-based fintech startup announced that it has expanded its series A funding by US$5 million, bringing
the total to US$8.3 million. To make an online transaction, Paidy users simply share either an email address or their
mobile phone number. The startup guarantees the payment to the merchant and bills the purchaser about two
weeks later, assuming all risks involved like a traditional credit card company. Also similar to plastic is the option to
break payments into monthly installments. The startup charges a flat 3 percent fee to the merchant, in line with
competing credit card rates.

Japans GMO announces US$18M startup fund

GMO Internet is perhaps the biggest Japanese tech company largely unknown outside of its home country. In its
first quarter earnings report, the firm revealed a growing interest in expanding its overseas business, in part by
establishing a new US$18 million startup fund. The fund, to be operated by GMO Venture Partners, a subsidiary of
GMO Internet, is the fourth such fund created by the company. Already, it has made investments into ex-Line CEO
Akira Morikawas new video startup and Slack competitor Chatwork. The new fund has an international tinge. GMO
Venture Partners wants it to support Japanese startups aiming to launch in the North America and Asia markets.
This dovetails with an international expansion theme that the parent company established in its earnings release
today. Behind the Z.com domain name, GMO is aiming to raise its overseas revenue percentage from the current
three percent.

ChatWork, a year older than Slack, raises US$2.5M for team chat and collaboration tool
ChatWork, an enterprise social network, announced that it has raised US$2.5 million from GMO Venture Partners
(GMO VP). It marks the first investment in the startup, which is based in Japan and California. ChatWork was an
early mover in the team chat and productivity space, recently abuzz thanks to Silicon Valley rival Slack and its nearly
US$2.8 billion valuation as of last month. While Slack has been a hit with startups, ChatWork positions itself as a
communication tool for non-technical business professionals and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). This
investment is the second from GMO VPs newly established Fund 4, with the first going toward former Line CEO
Akira Morikawas video curation startup C Channel. The funding will be used for product development, hiring, and
expansion to the US and Europe.

India

Toppr bags US$10M to help its students top entrance exams in India
India has the highest number of students in the world. Over 253 million students are enrolled in schools across the
country. Yet when it comes to e-learning, the present offerings in the country leave a lot to be desired. And classic
classroom education is expensive. Toppr wants to change that. It provides a subject learning platform for middle
school and high school students preparing for the entrance examination for the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
and medical entrance exams. It has announced a series B funding round of US$10 million led by Fidelity Growth
Partners India. Its existing investors SAIF Partners and Helion Ventures, who had earlier invested US$2 million in
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Toppr, participated in the round. The startup had recently acquired its rival EasyPrep, a customized exam paper
creation platform for schools, coaching institutes, and teachers.

Indias Vedantu bags US$5M to give students specialized teachers from anywhere
In India, students often feel too shy to clarify their doubts in a crowded coaching classes. Many students travel long
hours to get to class. Bangalore-based Vedantu wants to break these shackles by liberating learning and teaching
from the limits of location. It has developed tools to give live online tutoring sessions through in-built whiteboard,
audio, and video technology. The company announced that they have raised US$5 million from Accel Partners and
Tiger Global in series A funding. With fresh funding, the startup will create a system where a student can choose a
suitable teacher in real time. Vedantu, a six-month-old startup, caters to students from grade six to 12. Besides
monthly tuitions, it provides test prep coaching for competitive exams like National Talent Search Examination
(NTSE), International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO), and Joint Entrance Exam (JEE).

Logistic services firm Delhivery raises US$85M to ride on Indias ecommerce boom
Riding on the back of an ecommerce boom, India-based logistics service Delhivery raised a series D round of
US$85 million led by Tiger Global Management. Last year, the company received US$35 million from Multiples
Alternate Asset Management, Nexus Venture Partners, and Times Internet Limited. These investors have also
participated in this round. This has so far been the biggest deal for an ecommerce support venture in India.
Delhivery has a range of proprietary commerce technologies that theyve built in-house to tackle logistics problems.
With the funding, it plans to tap into Indias rural market and build 2.5 million square feet fulfilment centers. The
startup aims to expand its reach four-fold. Delhivery is also expected to invest heavily in expanding the senior
management team. It has recently appointed Sandeep Barasia, senior partner of Bain and Company and Suraju
Dutta, ex-FedEx executive, as managing directors.

Red Polka raises seed round to help ladies avoid fashion faux pas
A Mumbai-based online fashion and lifestyle curation portal RedPolka has closed its first round of angel funding and
raised US$250,000 with the help of five angel investors. The online portal provides a platform for sellers to
showcase their designs to a targeted audience. Brands sign up with Red Polka for a fee to reach out to women
shoppers, and Red Polka takes a commission of sales. Red Polkas competition includes Bangalore-based fashion
discovery startup Wooplr, which recently closed a series A round of US$5 million from Helion Ventures. Roposo, a
Gurgaon-based startup, is also a major player in this space. Tiger Global recently invested US$5 million in it. The
startup was founded in January 2015 by Vishakha Singh, a marketing and brand-management professional. Red
Polka employs a team of in-house curators, content writers, relationship managers, and techies. Its also hiring
people with specific skill sets like artificial intelligence.

Indias BedBathMore buys marketplace of interior designers to go beyond home furnishing

Indias BedBathMore, an online shopping portal in the home furnishings and lifestyle segment, announced that it
acquired Homado, a marketplace for interior designers. The deal size remains undisclosed. With this, Homados
eight member team including founders Anupam Sinhal and Vikas Chaudhary will join BedBathMore. Homados
3,000 architects and interior designers have been integrated into the existing offerings of BedBathMore. It aims to
onboard 10,000 more this year. The nine-month-old startup is at a pre-revenue stage. BedBathMore also
announced its plans to go beyond ecommerce and turn into a community. In its new avatar, the consumers
interaction with the lifestyle brand will begin with curated content on home dcor, created by a team of editorial
experts, as well as engaging user generated content.

Meet Indias Airbnb for small offices that just raised funding
MyCuteOffice, Indias Airbnb for desk space and offices, just raised seed funding from angel network Lead Angels.
The deal size is not disclosed. With fresh funding, the four-month-old startup aims to launch a mobile app to book
offices on the go. The startup is a marketplace for sharing vacant work desks, offices, studios, and meeting facilities
for small businesses in six Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore. It gives businesses more flexibility
by offering space rentals on an hourly, daily, or monthly basis. While searching for space on MyCuteOffice is free for
office seekers, the company makes its revenues from space providers who pay a fee of 10 percent of the rental
value. The startup also assists in registration of offices in Mumbai for US$15.6. MyCuteOffice claims to have served
400 users.

Indias Uniphore raises funding from Infosys founder to ease man-machine communication
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Uniphore, a Chennai-based speech recognition startup, announced that it nabbed a series A round of funding led by
Infosys founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. The company had earlier raised funding from early stage VC fund IDG
Ventures India, Indian Angel Network, YourNest Angel Fund, among others. Uniphore provides voice biometrics, a
virtual assistant, and speech analytics solutions to enterprises. These allow any software application to understand
and respond to natural human speech. It is serving customers from industries like banking, insurance, outsourcing
(BPOs), agriculture, and healthcare. The startup claims to have worked with over 70 enterprise customers and
served over 4 million end users. It has offices in India, the Philippines, and the UAE. The fresh funding will be used
for global expansion and product and technology development plans.

PropTiger acquires rival as Indias online property startups boom

Real estate search and booking portal PropTiger announced that it has acquired rival listing firm Makaan for an
undisclosed sum. Makaan is a real estate classifieds firm for buying, selling, and renting. It claims to have around
200,000 active property listings from 40,000 brokers in 50 Indian cities. PropTiger on the other hand provides
services like property search, site visits, home loan advice, and assistance in the final registration of property.
PropTiger claims to have sold 12,000 homes worth US$1.2 billion through its platform. It has a team of over 500
people including engineers, product experts, and property advisors in eight major Indian cities. The company also
provides real estate consulting and data services to institutions such as real estate developers, private equity
investors, and banks.

Indonesia

aCommerce snaps up US$5M in preparation for series B round

One of Southeast Asias largest ecommerce service providers aCommerce announced that it raised a bridge
funding round of US$5 million, oversubscribed by existing shareholders. Investors in the round included Ardent
Capital, Indonesian conglomerate Sinarmas, and Inspire Ventures. According to the firm, the funding round is in
preparation for a larger series B round set to take place in the second half of 2015. aCommerce previously raised
US$10.7 million in June 2014 one of the largest series A rounds on public record in Southeast Asia. The fresh
capital for aCommerce will be used to ramp up areas in all three of its divisions: marketing, tech, and warehouse
space. As a result, the Indonesian team is expected to exceed 300 staff.

Taiwan

Taiwans iChef discloses US$1.5M funding round from supermarket mogul

iChef, the Taipei-based startup that offers an iPad-enabled POS (point-of-sales) service for restaurants, has
disclosed a US$1.5 million investment from Lin Ming-Hsiung, chairman of Pxmart, one of the islands biggest
supermarket chains. While the round was closed last July, the company has not made it public until now. Pxmarts
current CEO Hsu Chung-Jen also contributed to iChefs seed-size round, but the company says it has no formal ties
to the food vendor. iChef is a POS app that Chen and three other co-founders built to serve the islands new class of
business-savvy restaurateurs. Since its launch in 2012, Chen claims that iChef has scored more than 500 clients in
Taiwan, the overwhelming majority of whom are pay for it via monthly subscription fees.

Philippine

Rappler gets funding from top media veterans led by Marcus Brauchli
Rappler, an independent social news startup in the Philippines, has secured funding from an investment firm led by
Marcus Brauchli, who held top positions at the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal. Rappler is among the first
in the region to receive capital from North Base Media, founded by Brauchli; Sasa Vucinic, a Serbian journalist who
helped launch the non-profit Media Development Investment Fund; and Stuart Karle, former COO of Reuters. The
millions of dollars in series A funding catapults Rappler into one of the most valued startups in the Philippines, one
source says. A second source adds the financing round can grow with the entry of another investor, whose identity
is not known yet. More than the capital, the three veteran journalists will bring top-level international media
expertise to Rappler, equipping the company for its expansion in other markets in the region, starting with
Indonesia.

Healthcare entrepreneur to fund many startups, starting with Bitcoin firm Satoshi Citadel
Philippine Bitcoin umbrella company Satoshi Citadel Industries (SCI) has raised US$100,000 in seed funding from
Filipino healthcare entrepreneur Joe Maristela. Maristela says the investment marks the start of many more
investments he plans to make in Philippine startups, specifically those that are socially oriented and engaged in
fintech. SCI caught his interest because of its mission to widen financial inclusion in the country by catering to
Filipinos without bank accounts. The strength of its team was also a big factor. SCI is led by CEO John Bailon,
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COO Jardine Gerodias, and CCO Miguel Cuneta, who co-founded the company in early 2014 with its very first
product, Bitcoin payment processor Bitmarket. SCI has grown its product portfolio to include remittance service
Rebit, order-book exchange Coinage, bills payment platform Bills Ninja, Bitcoin card provider Prepaid Bitcoin, selfie
posting site Bitstars, and recently, Bitcoin exchange BuyBitcoin.

Thailand

Omise raises US$2.6M to launch ecommerce payment solutions across Southeast Asia
Thailands payment solutions company Omise announced series A funding of US$2.6 million led by Indonesiabased SMDV. Existing investors East Ventures, 500 Tuk Tuk, and Thai telco True Group participated in the round.
Even as ecommerce spreads fast across Southeast Asia, payments are a pain. Many people dont have credit cards
or even bank accounts in the region, and payment gateways are clunky. Omise is one among several startups trying
to fix this in different ways. Its easy-to-integrate payment gateway is designed to help merchants accept payments
on any platform. It has been in beta mode so far. Now, with strong backers, it intends to go out into the market. It will
be launching its products soon in Thailand as well as Southeast Asia and Japan.

Singapore

Singapores Alpha7 raises US$2.3M, looks to complete its COO as a service offering
Singapore-based business consultancy firm Alpha7 announced that it has received private funding of US$2.3
million. Founded in 2014, the company previously raised US$375,000 in seed funding in January 2015, which brings
it to a total of US$2.7 million in investments. The funding will go towards product development and recruitment, as
the company looks to grow and expand its services to new markets. Alpha7 is a business consultancy-cumtechnology company, offering advice and business support to small- and medium-sized enterprises. As part of its
expansion plans, Alpha7 wants to open an office in Australia in the second half of 2015. In addition, it wants to reach
out to businesses from there, as well as the US and the UK, to help them expand their operations in Southeast Asia.

Singapores DocDoc raises US$8.5M series A round

DocDoc, the Singapore-based startup that helps patients book doctor appointments online, announced it has closed
a US$8.5 million series A round. Hong Leong Financial Group, led the round, and SparkLabs Global Ventures is
participating. Co-founder Cole Sirucek says that the funding will be used to ramp up marketing. DocDoc matches
patients looking for care with doctors looking to fill up appointment space. The company charges a monthly
subscription fee for doctors that sign up. DocDocs basic premise borrows from ZocDoc, the New York-based
startup that has spread across the US. DocDoc currently employs 64 full-timers and has a presence in Thailand,
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines. Sirucek says that in the future, he hopes to boost DocDocs
popularity among medical tourists.

United States

Chartbeat raises US$15.5M and announces two products for publishers

Site monitoring startup Chartbeat announced a US$15.5 million raise from investors Harmony Partners, DFJ, Index
Ventures, Jason Calacanis, and others. The company says it raised these funds on a lofty goal: We want to make
sure that 10 years from now, its possible to build a sustainable business around quality content. This mission
arrives as classic editorial models ones led by ad dollars and intuition wobble online and across the social
Web.* In addition to the new funding, Chartbeat is raising the curtain on two new products, one for content creators
and another for advertisers. Specifically, theyre releasing a headline optimization tool and an ad serving tool, both
of which apparently consider user behavior (not just clicks).

Sherpaa carries in US$2.25M for employer telemedicine platform

Consumer-facing telemedicine platforms seemed to be coming out the woodwork last year, and funding for the
technology was abundant. However, some investors say that the smart play is telemedicine platforms that are tightly
integrated with employer benefits constructs. Sherpaa makes one such platform. It acts as an overlay on top of the
insurance plans that HR departments offer employees. The company has now raised a US$2.25 million round,
bringing its total funding to $8 million. The investors are OReilly AlphaTech Ventures, Softbank, and Draper
Associates. Sherpaa gives employees access to physicians 24/7 through phone or asynchronous text
communication. It also provides insurance navigators, human representatives who can help answer any questions
employees may have about their plan.
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Therapy app Talkspace lands US$9.5M in funding from Softbank and others
Therapy mobile app Talkspace just landed US$9.5 million in new funding with a lofty goal of bringing therapy to a
billion people. The funding round was led by Softbank Capital and Spark Capital. Talkspace connects users with
licensed therapists for mobile enabled text-based therapy sessions. The companys mission is to deliver affordable
therapy services, anytime, anywhere. Over the course of a year the company has ranked up 100,000 users across
the U.S. Despite operating entirely inside the States, Talkspace has also picked up users in other English-speaking
countries such as Canada and Australia. Talkspace is hoping to push its services more outside the U.S. The
company says it expects to expand into Europe and Asia by 2016. To date the company has raised a total of $13
million in funding.

Tim Draper leads US$1.2M investment in Bitcoin startup Hedgy

Hedgy, a Bitcoin company that hopes to tackle the cryptocurrencys volatility issues, has emerged from Adam
Drapers Boost accelerator with US$1.2 million in hand. In addition to the funding, the company also announced that
its block-chain enabled contracts are now available. Hedgy is collaborating with Bitcoin mining outfit MegaBigPower
to allow miners to sign smart contracts that hedge mining payments for a predetermined date and price. Hedgy
serves as a trusted third-party that helps to suss out the appropriate price using a weighted pricing index called the
TradeBlock XBX. Because of the increasing cost of mining, some miners are wary of continuing operations. Adams
father and longtime Bitcoin enthusiast Tim Draper led this round of investment, while Marc Benioff, Sand Hill Angels,
and others contributed.

Deep-learning startup Clarifai gets US$10M to make business hires, add features
Clarifai, a startup providing a cloud service for image recognition powered by artificial intelligence, announced that
its taken on US$10 million in new funding. The startup will be bringing on more engineers in order to broaden its
feature set, but it will also make its first business hires with the new money, Matthew Zeiler, Clarifais founder and
chief executive, told VentureBeat in an interview this week. Clarifai is in a small class of startups building software to
help companies perform deep learning, a type of artificial intelligence, to handle certain kinds of data. New Yorkbased Clarifai started in 2013 after spinning out of NYU. The startup currently employs 11 people. Zeiler wants to
bring the headcount up to 25-30 people.

Validic raises another US$12.5M for health integration platform, Kaiser buys in
Health information integration platforms, especially consumer-focused ones, were mostly talk last year, but in 2015
the technology is being put into practice. One platform company, Validic, has now secured a US$12.5 million
funding round led by Kaiser Permanente Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of managed care giant Kaiser
Permanente. A funding by Kaiser is seen as an important seal of approval in health circles. The companys
integration platform provides a common place where medical device and consumer biometric device data can be
collected, processed, and accessed by health care companies. Validic, headquartered in Mountain View, California,
and Durham, N.C., said itll use the new money to continue to add staff, build products, and increase the number of
devices reached by its platform.

Task management app Wrike takes on US$15M as enterprise revenue growth continues
Wrike, one of several companies with apps for tracking tasks for teams, announced that its taken on US$15 million
in new funding. Wrike now boasts more than 1 million users, and revenue from Wrikes enterprise tier of service,
introduced in December 2013, is growing 20 percent month over month. The company now counts 8,000 paying
customers, and around 30,000 people try the product every month. The thing is, Wrike competes with a few other
venture-backed startups with tools for tracking peoples tasks, including 6Wunderkinder (the company behind
Wunderlist), Asana, Redbooth, Trello, and Workfront (formerly AtTask), not to mention Citrix-owned Podio. Scale
Venture Partners led the new round. Bain Capital Ventures and DCM also participated.

Wide-area networking startup CloudGenix raises US$25M

CloudGenix, a Silicon Valley startup with software for managing networks across multiple data centers, announced a
US$25 million funding round, which allows the startup to spend more on sales and product development.
CloudGenix came out of stealth mode in April 2014. A competitor, Viptela, came out of stealth mode within a few
weeks, working with a $33 million funding round from Sequoia Capital. Now CloudGenix has pulled in more money.
CloudGenix determines what to do with traffic flows based on the needs of applications in order to meet servicelevel agreements for customers. Bandwidth plays a factor as well. Bain Capital Ventures led the new round in
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in
Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
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CloudGenix. Charles River Ventures and the Mayfield Fund also participated. To date the startup has raised $34
million. CloudGenix started in 2013 and is based in Santa Clara, California.

Media site Refinery29 closes US$50M funding round

Refinery29, a fashion media site, has raised a US$50 million funding round. The news brings Refinery29 into the
company of other extremely well-funded media companies: Vox Media, BuzzFeed, and Vice. Thats a reflection of
just how large the sites reach has become. Refinery29 claims that it receives 36 million visits per month, generating
258 million page views, and that its readers spend 3.6 million hours per month on the site impressive numbers for
any site. According to Re/code, which cited people familiar with the company, the new round values the company
at $290 million. The funding was led by Scripps Networks Interactive and WPP Ventures. Refinery29 is based in
New York and employs over 200 people. It was founded in 2005.

Investment app Robinhood snags US$50M, prepares for Australia launch

Robinhood, a mobile investment app that lets you invest small amounts of stock with a quick scan of your fingerprint,
announced a US$50 million raise. NEA Ventures led the round, which also saw participation from existing investors
Index Ventures, Social Leverage, and Ribbit Capital. Robinhood offers a free mobile investment tool on iOS that lets
anyone buy and sell stock for free. The app recently rolled out to the Apple Watch but has yet to come to Android.
Despite this, the company says it has accrued hundreds of thousands of users since going live five months ago. The
majority are millennials a coveted demographic. The funding will go toward growing the companys staff from 30
to 60 over the course of the year and to fuel expansion into new markets specifically Australia.

Banjo raised US$100M from SoftBank to build social crystal ball

Banjo, which lets you monitor social networking and media activity based on location raised US$100 million from
Japans SoftBank. We are building a crystal ball a way to see and know virtually everything happening across
the globe the moment it happens, wrote founder and chief executive Damien Patton in a blog post. This funding
will help make our vision to build the ultimate crystal ball a reality. By organizing the planets social signals by
location, weve changed the game for our customers, and we are just getting started. Over the past two years, the
company built out a social analytics platform service to focus on selling information to other businesses, rather than
fickle consumers. The company raised $16 million in March 2014 in a round led by Balderton Capital.

Blue Apron is cooking up a US$100M funding round on a US$2B valuation

The New York-based startup is in talks to raise US$100 million in capital, on a valuation of US$2 billion. Blue Apron
isnt new to this game. It raised $50 million from investors in April 2014 at a $500 million valuation. Before starting
the company, cofounder and CEO Matt Salzberg worked at Bessemer Venture Partners. Some of the other meal-kit
startups that have popped up in the last few years include Plated, HelloFresh, and Marley Spoon. The company
shipped a million meal kits last November, and that number has now doubled to $2 million. That amounts to about
$20 million in monthly sales at a cost of about $10 a meal, the WSJ speculates.

Verizon acquires TechCrunch and HuffPost owner AOL

Verizon, one of the biggest mobile carriers in the Americas, has acquired AOL, the owner of global online
publications like TechCrunch, The Huffington Post and Engadget, for $4.4 billion, or around $50 per share. Verizon
says the carrier will continue pushing for mobile-first content production and ad-tech which will further be boosted by
the acquisition of leading online platform in the country. The carrier hopes AOL will increase the share Verizon gets
from the $600 billion global ads market. AOL reaches to over 400 million viewers/readers today via the online
publications under its roof, the press release has disclosed. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, who will continue holding his
position, said AOLs strategy to further invest in mobile content will be strengthened. AOLs latest Q1 results has
gone beyond the expectations with $625 million of revenues.

Europe

Zesty, a startup offering a platform for booking medical appointments, raises US$7.2M in Series A
English doctor-booking service Zesty has announced that they have picked up US$7.2 million through a Series A
that includes participation from Innovation Capital, Mangrove Capital Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, and Maya
Capital. This is their third round, with Mangrove invested at every stage and the startup looking to the east in 2013,
when they picked up funding from Ukrainian investment firm TA Ventures and Russian firm ABRT Venture Fund.
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Though the startup has focused upon the United Kingdom since it launched in 2013, they have their sights set on
global expansion, stating that they intend to use this latest funding to secure their position in the domestic market
and to begin branching out into western Europe.

Finnish crowdfunding platform Invesdor sets its sights on the rest of Europe
Crowdfunding is increasingly popular, but allowing startups to offer equity to the masses in exchange for investment
has been a bit problematic, as there are barriers for a number of less-wealthy individuals to enter this market.
Nonetheless, startups, such as Finnish project Invesdor, have emerged to make it equity for ordinary people to
obtain shares in a company. The concept is not completely unique, but what is notable about this startup is that they
have just obtained an MiFiD-level license to operate as an investment firm, which means that they are able to
operate across Europe, becoming the first crowdfunding investment platform to do so. To date, the startup reports
that they have facilitated investment totaling 4.4 million Euro from non-professional investors since the service
launched in mid-2012, with more than a million of that being invested during Q1 2015.

Delivery Hero acquires Turkish food delivery leader Yemeksepeti at a total valuation of US$589M
Global food delivery giant Delivery Hero has acquired Yemeksepeti.com, the Istanbul-based food delivery network
that operates in 8 countries across East Europe and the Middle East. All Yemeksepeti shares will transfer to
Delivery Hero according to the deal that values the latter at US$589 million. The sides to the cash and shares deal
claim it is the biggest acquisition to date in the Middle East digital sectors but also the largest so far in the entire
online food delivery sector in the world. Nevzat Aydn, the CEO and co-founder of Yemeksepeti will keep holding his
present position at Yemeksepeti and assume active role in the leadership of Delivery Hero to grow the group
further across the world, according to a press announcement. The acquisition is said to be funded through cash and
Delivery Hero shares with selected shareholders of Yemeksepeti, including General Atlantic and Rocket Internet.

P2P lending service Assetz Capital raises just over US$4.7M through crowdfunding
British P2P-lending startup Assetz Capital has announced that they have raised just over US$4.7 million (3 million
pounds) through Seedrs, a crowdfunding startup that allows regular people to invest in various projects. Assetz
launched two years ago and currently counts nearly 8,500 lenders, but they have not previously raised funding. The
company said that they had received interest from their lending customers in financially supporting the startup,
which led them to decide to launch a crowdfunding investment campaign. They initially sought 2 million pounds, but
expanded their target to 3 million, which they hit with support from almost 800 backers. Supported by this latest
influx of funding, the startup intends to expand their team and begin to branch out other European markets.

Opera Mediaworks to buy leading Turkish mobile ads network Mobilike

Opera Mediaworks, the adtech subsidiary of Norways Opera Software, has agreed to acquire Mobilike, one of
Turkeys leading mobile ad platforms. The value of the deal has not been disclosed. The addition of Mobilike who
has just opened its country office in Greece, is expected to significantly expand Opera Mediaworks present
operations across 15 countries. Mobilikes network of publishers and advertisers will be integrated to Operas
platform. Mahi de Silva, the CEO of Opera Mediaworks, said that the acquisition will help Opera Mediaworks grow
further into Turkish and Middles Eastern markets where over 30% of internet traffic is coming from the mobile.
Founded in 2009 by ekip Can Gkalp and Volkan Bier, Istanbul-based Mobilike claims having the largest mobile
advertising network in Turkey today, with over 3 billion page impressions on mobile phones and tablets.

US$474M Fund Will Support Oxford University Spinouts

A new 300 million (just under US$474 million) U.K. fund has been set up to support high tech startups looking to
spin out of the University of Oxford. The fund is being raised by Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI), a newly formed
company that is working in partnership with Oxford University and its commercialization arm, Isis Innovation. The
two entities will work to establish new IP-driven businesses based on research conducted at Oxford University
providing investment capital and as well as advice to budding startups, they said today. OSI has been contractually
established as the Universitys preferred capital provision partner for spinout companies based on research from the
Mathematical, Physical, Life Sciences and Medical Sciences divisions. It noted that Oxford Universitys science
divisions have an annual research budget of more than 400 million.

Cloud-Based Sales Software Pipedrive Closes US$9M Series A

Pipedrive, which offers Software-as-a-Service designed to help small companies manage and increase sales, has
closed another deal of its own. The Estonia/U.S.-based startup and AngelPad alumni has raised a US$9 million
Series A round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, money it will use to accelerate growth and further build out its
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in
Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
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product. Paua Ventures also participated, along with existing investors, Rembrandt Venture Partners and AngelPad,
the latter of which incubated Pipedrive in all the way back 2012. The company, which now boasts 77 employees
based in the U.S. and Estonia (the latter is where its development office is located), has raised a total of $13.4
million.

Israel

Container security startup Twistlock launches out of Israel with US$2.5M

An Israeli startup called Twistlock just launched, with the words containers and security on the brain and US$2.5
million in funding. Twistlock has a long list of things in mind to make it easier for enterprises to adopt containers a
technology for storing up application code that can be easily moved from one server environment to another. In the
past two years, San Francisco startup Docker has made Linux container technology, an alternative to or
replacement for virtual machines that work with software from vendors like VMware, more accessible than it was
before. Twistlock is interested in hardening hosts and images by using quality gates that would test images
before they can be put into production and providing a central hub for authentication, authorization, and auditing.
YL Ventures led the round, with an unnamed angel investor also participating.

Three Israel hi-tech veterans launches a new fun, Eucalyptus Growth Capital
Three Israeli hi-tech veterans Dadi Perlmutter, Rami Hadar and Eldad Tamir have announced the launch of a new
fund, Eucalyptus Growth Capital. The fund is seeking to raise a total of US$300 million from investors around the
world and intends to invest in late-stage funding of startups. Hadar said that $10 million in annual sales would be a
good stage for their fund to come in at. The companies they are seeking to invest in are anything to do with digital
revolution, man-machine interface, artificial intelligence, machine vision, IoT, and mobile applications. We plan to
invest at the C stage and later, Rami Hadar, one of the funds founding partners, told Geektime. It has to be a long
way after product viability and sales. The fund will invest $15-$30 million in each company.

Australia

Australian task marketplace Airtasker raises US$5M, looks toward Asia

Australian local task services marketplace Airtasker announced that it has US$5 million in capital in a funding round
led by Shanghais Morning Crest Capital. Australias National Roads and Motorists Association (NRMA), and
venture capital firms Exto Partners, Carthona Capital, and Black Sheep Capital were also involved. The funds will go
toward product development, engineering, customer support, and new services in anticipation of a new projects.
Airtasker, like Taskrabbit, provides a marketplace for freelance tasks and odd jobs offered by anyone looking to
make extra income. Services cover areas from specialized tasks such as handyman work and photography to
simple delivery jobs. It monetizes by charging percentage-based commissions on completed tasks. Airtasker had
previously raised US$1.6 million in seed funding in a round led by Exto Partners and Bridge Lane Capital in 2013.

Canva brings graphic design app to businesses, raises another US$6M

Canva, a startup from Australia that makes graphic design simple for users through its web app, announced a
funding round of US$6 million and a whole new product aimed at companies, appropriately dubbed Canva for Work.
The round was led by Matrix Partners and Shasta Ventures from Silicon Valley, and Asia-Pacific firms Blackbird
Ventures and AirTree Ventures. While Canva for Work will charge a subscription fee for use by businesses, the
company will continue supporting Canva for individual users. While Canva for Work will charge a subscription fee for
use by businesses, the company will continue supporting Canva for individual users. Canva previously raised
US$6.6 million in two funding rounds.

SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in

Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
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