A $40m funding round, Snapchat’s poor results, Deliveroo’s first acquisition and more in The Week in Tech
Welcome to The Week in Tech, your roundup of the week’s top technology news. This week, we have just under £430m in UK tech investment, Snapchat’s dire financial results, Deliveroo’s first acquisition and more.
Investment news
Improbable’s $502m
Improbable raised $502m (£390m) in a round of Series B funding led by SoftBank.
A statement from the company said: “All the funds from the investment will be invested in developing Improbable’s technology, including its SpatialOS distributed operating system. Improbable’s plans include accelerated recruitment in its London and San Francisco offices, and investments to develop a vibrant ecosystem of developers and customers.”
StarLeaf’s $40m
StarLeaf, a cloud-based video conferencing firm, raised $40m (£31m) from investors including Highland Europe and Grafton Capital.
Founded in Cambridge in 2008 by three telecomms and video conference entrepreneurs, StarLeaf says it will use the funds to scale globally.
Headquartered in Watford, StarLeaf is the third company built by William MacDonald, chief technology officer; Mark Loney, chief executive officer; and Mark Richer, executive chairman.
Takumi’s $4m
Influencer marketing platform Takumi raised $4m (£3.1m) in Series A funding.
The round, which drew support from family offices and high-net-worth individuals, brings the company’s total raised to date to $7.1m (£5.7m).
Takumi, which has already launched in the US, Ireland and Germany, will use the cash to continue its expansion across the globe and further develop its product.
Clippings’ £2.8m
Clippings, a London-based firm seeking to disrupt the design industry by allowing consumers to buy furniture online, closed a £2.8m Series A led by European venture fund C4 Ventures.
C4 Ventures, which was founded by the former vice president and general manager of Apple, Pascal Cagni, was joined by Fiona Dent, group managing director at Time Inc.
Existing investors Spas Roussev (founding benefactor of the Serpentine Sackler Gallery) and Simon Clausen (founder of PC-tools) furthered their commitment in Clippings.
Hadean’s $2.6m
Hadean, a firm which seeks to allow developers to run algorithms at massive scale by using just their existing software toolkit, raised $2.6m (£2m).
The London-based company’s round was led by White Cloud Capital, also the lead investor in Funeralbooker’s Seed round, which closed last year.
Prominent investor Entrepreneur First, which has backed high-profile companies such as Magic Pony – sold to Twitter last year – also participated in the round.
InsureStreet’s £512,000
InsurTech startup InsureStreet raised £512,000 in Angel funding.
The London-based firm was backed by various investors including serial entrepreneur Vin Murria, Charles Burgess, Christopher Raymond McKee, Nick Martin and Catherine Hardiman.
The startup is regulated by the FCA and seeks to make it easier for ‘generation rent’ to gain access to ‘affordable and alternative’ housing deposits.
Care Sourcer’s £500,000
Care Sourcer, a platform that connects those seeking care with those providing it, raised a Seed round of £500,000.
The Edinburgh-based HealthTech firm secured the round from Accelerated Digital Ventures (ADV) and BGF Ventures.
Just Eat acquisition investigation
Just Eat’s acquisition of Hungryhouse is facing an ‘in-depth’ investigation unless the firm is able to address concerns over competition.
Headquartered in London, Just Eat announced its intention to acquire Hungryhouse, a UK-based platform owned by German firm Delivery Hero, in December last year.
At the time, Just Eat said it was looking to buy the rival firm for £200m and willing to spend an additional £40m if the company hit its performance targets.
Deliveroo acquires Maple
Deliveroo acquired New York-based food delivery firm Maple. As a result of the acquisition, some of Maple’s team will join Deliveroo’s operations in London.
The news comes after Deliveroo closed a $275m Series E in August last year, bringing its total raised to date to $474.59m.
Snapchat’s poor results
Overseas, Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc lost nearly a quarter of its value on Wednesday after the company reported a $2.2bn loss and slowing growth.
This was the first time Snap has published its earnings since its IPO in March, which valued the company at $28bn. Snap’s shares closed on Wednesday at $22.98.
Download of the Week
And finally, our download of the week is DrnkPay – a mobile payments system that stops you spending when you’re drunk.
The app connects your credit and debit cards to a breathalyser to limit certain purchases if you’ve had too much to drink!
That’s all for this week’s roundup. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more tech updates.
ARTICLE UPDATED: 09:00 on 12.05.17 to add Improbable’s monster funding round.
