- Biotech: Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) was a strategic investor in a $59.6M Series C round in Hookipa Biotech. The clinical stage biotech has a cytomegalovirus vaccine in phase 2 and cancer candidates derived from two arenavirus-based vector platforms. Hookipa has raised $100.2M to date, according to Crunchbase.
- The round was led by an unnamed blue chip public investment fund. New investors include Hillhouse Capital and HBM Partners that join current investors Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, and Takeda Ventures (OTCPK:TKPHF).
- New media: Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) Video participated in a $45M Series A round in Chinese new media company 36Kr Media, which was spun off from entrepreneur and SME service provider 36Kr. The Media arm has now raised $45.4M.
- The round was led by Chinese venture capital firm Gobi Partners and private equity fund China Prosperity Capital. Other participants: Focus Media Information Technology and Hangzhou Finance Investment Group.
- VR: Location-based VR startup Dreamscape Immersive raised $30M in Series B funding led by AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC). AMC contributed $20M to the round, which was announced in September. The additional $10M announced this week came from new investors Nickelodeon (NYSE:VIA), VRSense Solutions, and returning investors 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA) and Warner Bros (NYSE:TWX). The round brings Dreamscape up to $37M in investments.
- Dreamscape creates untethered VR experiences with body mapping that allows users to have a more immersive experience in cinematic worlds. Dreamscape will open its flagship location next year in Los Angeles and has partnered with AMC to operate up to six VR centers within AMC theaters.
- Sales training: MindTickle, creator of a sales team training platform, raised $27M in Series B funding led by Canaan Partners with participation from existing investors Accel Partners, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates. MindTickle has raised $41.3M to date.
- MindTickle’s platform allows for data-driven onboardings, skills development, and coaching. Current customers include Symantec, Phillips, Cloudera, and Nutanix
- Cloud security: ShieldX Networks closed a $25M Series B round of funding that brings total investments up to $34M. The round included new investors Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) Ventures and FireEye founder Ashar Aziz. Participating existing investors: FireEye (NASDAQ:FEYE), Bain Capital Ventures, Aspect Ventures.
- Energy: Ess, a provider of all-iron flow batteries, raised $13M in Series B funding that lifted total fundraising to $17M. The round was led by BASF (OTCQX:BASFY) and joined by new investors Cycle Capital Management, InfraPartners Management, and Presidio Partners Investment Management.
- Ess said the investment would enable a 900 MWh per year production capacity.
- SaaS: Active strategy management SaaS company Workboard raised $9.3M in Series A funding from Floodgate and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Ventures.
- Current Workboard customers include IBM (NYSE:IBM), Samsung (KS:005930), and Catalina. Workboard’s total fundraising now totals $13.6M.
- Reservations: Reservation and guest management software company SevenRooms raised $8M in new VC funding. The funding was led by Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Ventures. As part of the investment, Comcast Ventures Managing Director Dinesh Moorjani will join the SevenRooms’ board.
- SevenRooms has customers in over 100 cities and the new investment brings total funding up to $16.4M.
- Seed funding: 3TEN8, which predicts wireless outages using AI, raised $2M in seed funding from leader Social Capital with Citrix (NASDAQ:CTXS), 500 Startups, The Alchemist, and Cloudera CTO Amr Awadallah also participating.
- Conversational AI company Kami raised $1.7M in seed funding from SoftBank (OTCPK:SFTBF, OTCPK:SFTBY) subsidiary ARM Innovation Ecosystem Accelerator Limited with X Technology Fund and Tin Fu Fund. ARM Electronic Technology’s strategic business development director, Carl Chen, will join Kami as a strategic advisor.
- Previously: Venture capital deals of the week (Dec. 10)
- Now read: Upcoming Conversation With An Expert: Highlights In CAR-T
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