Recent Deals – 26 July 2019
Agriculture & Food: |
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Joyn Bio announced a partnership with NewLeaf Symbiotics. Valued at $75 million, the deal will aim to bring forth a new microbe class that will benefit crop health and protection. Through this deal, Joyn Bio will gain access to NewLeaf’s library of proprietary, highly characterized strains of plant colonizing microbes.
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Energy & Power: |
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Innowatt, a developer of real-time energy monitoring and prediction software for energy retailers and utilities, raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Veronorte in an extension of its Series B round. The round was initially announced in May 2019, when $18.2 million was raised from Energy Impact Partners, Shell Ventures, Energy & Environment Investment, Evergy Ventures, and Iberdrola Ventures – PERSEO. | |
Materials & Chemicals: |
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Paragraf, a producer of ‘two-dimensional’ materials – primarily graphene – and electronic devices based on these materials, raised $16 million in a Series A round from Parkwalk Advisors, IQ Capital Partners, Amadeus Capital Partners, Cambridge Enterprise, and the University of Cambridge. For IQ Capital Partners, this news came on the back of an announcement that the investor had closed its third VC fund of $175 million and launched a $125 million growth fund. | |
Resources & Environment: |
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Hero Labs, a developer of AI-based leak detection for residential water users, raised $3.2 million in a combination of seed investment from Earthworm and a $374,000 grant from the European Union’s innovation agency. The new capital will be used by Hero Labs to accelerate development of its first product, a smart device dubbed “Sonic” that uses ultrasonic technology to monitor water use within a property, including the early detection of water leaks. | |
Transportation & Logistics: |
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Argo AI, a developer of AI software for autonomous vehicles and a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, raised $2.6 billion from Volkswagen. This investment is part of the extension of VW and Ford’s partnership to include electric and autonomous vehicles. VW will invest $1 billion in cash and $1.6 billion in assets, including VW’s Autonomous Intelligent Driving team. This deal will allow Argo to expand internationally and begin testing on European roads under VW’s guidance. | |
