Tag Archives: Venture Capital

AXA Venture Partners (AVP) raises $150 million for second Early Stage Fund.

AXA

AVP, a venture capital firm investing in high-growth technology companies, announces it has
completed the first closing of the second vintage of its Early Stage Fund (AVP Early Stage II)
with $150 million (€130 million). The first Early Stage Fund, a $110 million vehicle raised 2015,
has now been successfully deployed. The launch of the second Fund confirms AVP’s ambition
and commitment to early stage venture investing.

The fundraise has generated strong interest from existing and new investors and confirms the
differentiation of AVP’s approach to venture investment: strong team with deep sector
expertise, global presence and ability to add value beyond capital, notably through business
development opportunities with the investors of the Fund.
Similar to AVP Early Stage I, AVP Early Stage II will focus on North America, Europe & Israel and
will aim to invest in outstanding technology businesses, pre and early revenue, in enterprise
SaaS, consumer platform and SME solutions, with particular focus on fintech and digital health.
AVP Early Stage II will write initial checks up to $6 million and will support entrepreneurs in
their ambition by providing them business development opportunities with AXA and any other
relevant corporations.

AVP confirms with this fundraise, its position as a unique platform for investments in
technology with $600 million of assets under management (AUM) through three pillars of
investment expertise: Early Stage Fund, Growth Stage Fund and Fund of Funds, allowing its
investors to choose the most appropriate solution for tech investing.
AVP’s ambition is to become a preferred partner for entrepreneurs looking to grow their
business in Europe, North America and Israel. Since 2015, AVP has supported more than 40
companies in the Early and Growth stages with a focus on the following verticals: digital health,
cyber-security, enterprise software, artificial intelligence, fintech/insurtech, most recently
including investments in early stage companies such as Hackajob, K4Connect, Futurae and
growth stage companies like Zenjob, Phenom People and Happytal.
Francois Robinet, AVP Managing Partner, said: “This fundraise was completed at a record speed
with existing and new investors. This is a strong vote of confidence for our team and strategy,
and a recognition of what has been achieved with our first Early Stage Fund. We plan to hold
Paris – London – New York – San Francisco – Hong Kong
a second closing with additional new investors. This fundraise strengthens AVP’s positioning as
a leading player for ambitious entrepreneurs across Europe and North America.”

ABOUT AVP
AXA Venture Partners (AVP) is a venture capital fund investing in high-growth, technologyenabled
companies. AVP has built a unique investment platform specialized in tech investments
with $600 million of assets under management through three pillars of investment expertise:
Early Stage Fund, Growth Stage Fund and Fund of Funds. To date, AVP has invested in 40 Early
and Growth equity deals and 6 Fund investments. AVP team operates globally backed by offices
in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong. Beyond investments, AVP provides
access to business development opportunities helping portfolio companies to scale globally
and accelerate their growth.

ABOUT THE AXA GROUP
The AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 160,000
employees serving 105 million clients in 62 countries. In 2017, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro
98.5 billion and IFRS underlying earnings to Euro 6.0 billion. AXA had Euro 1,439 billion in assets
under management as of December 31, 2017.

For further information, please contact:
Sébastien LOUBRY
Partner, Business Development
sebastien@axavp.com
06.15.31.61.68

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First exit by EQT Ventures – sells stake in Small Giant Games at USD 700 million valuation

EQT Ventures

  • EQT Ventures sells its stake in mobile games company Small Giant Games to Zynga, a leading social games developer
  • EQT Ventures led a USD 5.7 million Series A round in March 2017 and an additional USD 41 million investment at the end of January 2018

The EQT Ventures fund (“EQT Ventures”) today announces that it entered an agreement to sell its ownership stake in the Finnish mobile gaming studio, Small Giant Games (“the Company”) to Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNGA), a leading social game developer, headquartered in San Francisco, California. The implied valuation of the Small Giant Games transaction is at USD 700 million. EQT Ventures led a USD 5.7 million Series A round in March 2017 and then led an additional USD 41 million investment in January 2018.

Founded in 2013, Small Giant Games’ team of 47 employees developed the hit franchise Empires & Puzzles. The game blends approachable Match-3 battles with deeper gameplay elements including Hero Collection, Base Building and Social Alliances. Just ten months after Empires & Puzzles’ launch in March 2017, the game had developed a strong new brand and loyal following, and Small Giant Games reported USD 33 million in revenues. In the first four months of 2018, the company had already exceeded 2017’s revenue. In addition, Empires & Puzzles has frequently made it into the the Top 10 Grossing Games on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store and has now been downloaded more than 26 million times.

In March 2017, EQT Ventures led Small Giant Games’ USD 5.7 million Series A round and has remained the largest individual owner in the Company since. Following the successful launch of Empires & Puzzles, EQT Ventures was dedicated to supporting the Company’s continued growth journey and, at the end of January 2018, the fund led an additional USD 41 million investment. During the investment period, EQT Ventures – with its team’s mobile gaming experience – supported the Company as it sought to scale Empires & Puzzles.

Timo Soininen, CEO at Small Giant Games, commented: “Our studio has always believed that small, focused and talented teams with a big vision can achieve huge things. EQT Ventures has supported us from the start – not just with capital, but also strategic advice and guidance. The EQT Ventures team’s extensive mobile gaming experience and entrepreneurial mindset has proved invaluable when scaling Empires & Puzzles and we’ve enjoyed working closely with Lars and the rest of the team. I’m confident that partnering with Zynga is now the right next step in our evolution.”

Lars Jörnow, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT Ventures, concluded: “Huge congratulations to Timo, Markus, Otto and the rest of the Small Giant team – this is a well-deserved milestone for everyone at the company. The Small Giant team checked all the boxes for EQT Ventures: small, passionate, agile, data-driven and determined to build a global hit game. The EQT Ventures team would like to thank Small Giant Games for letting us be part of their journey – it has been a true partnership and we look forward to the next phase!”

Contact
Lucy Wimmer, Communications Partner, EQT Ventures, lucy@eqtventures.com, +44 7551 289 177
EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT Ventures
EQT Ventures is a multi-stage VC fund with commitments of just over EUR 566 million. The fund is based in Luxembourg and has investment advisors stationed in Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco and Berlin. Fuelled by some of Europe’s most experienced company builders and scalers, EQT Ventures helps the next generation of entrepreneurs with capital and hands on support. EQT Ventures is part of EQT, a leading investment firm with more than EUR 50 billion in raised capital across 28 funds.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About EQT
EQT is a leading investments firm with more than EUR 50 billion in raised capital across 28 funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia and the US with total sales of more than EUR 19 billion and approximately 110,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtpartners.com

About Small Giant Games
Small Giant Games was founded in early 2013 with the belief that small, talented teams can do extraordinary things. We bring years of experience to the table, with a crew of top players in game development, software engineering and graphic design. We’re based right in the heart of downtown Helsinki, Finland.

More info: www.smallgiantgames.com

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Robert Bosch Venture Capital participates in Graphcore’s USD 200 million Series D

Robert Bosch

A world leading AI chipmaker valued at USD 1.7bn

  • Early backer Robert Bosch Venture Capital continues its support after leading Series A
  • Machine intelligence training and inference at 10x to 100x the speed of current solutions
  • Investment Partner Dr. Hongquan Jiang: “Graphcore is changing the paradigm of AI computing in the cloud and at the edge”
18 December 2018, Stuttgart. Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC), the corporate venture capital company, of the Bosch Group, participated in the just announced financing round of Graphcore. The AI (Artificial Intelligence) chipmaker just finalized a new USD 200 million funding round, which values the company at USD 1.7 billion

A new kind of processor

Graphcore has built a completely new kind of processor and software for AI and machine intelligence. It has been shipping first products to early access customers and generated first revenues this year, just two years after the company was founded. High volume production is now ramping up to meet customer demand for its Intelligent Processing Unit (IPU) PCIe processor cards. Graphcore’s IPU is the first processor to be designed specifically for machine intelligence training and inference and delivers an increase in speed of 10x to 100x compared to today’s hardware. “Graphcore is changing the paradigm of AI computing in the cloud and at the edge. The highly efficient and massively parallel IPU technology can significantly improve AI driven products in many categories such as autonomous driving and security”, says Dr. Hongquan Jiang, Investment Partner at RBVC and board member of Graphcore. “We are very excited to accompany Graphcore’s journey in becoming a global leading AI company”.

Rapid growth towards a global leading AI company

The company is currently in a stage of rapid growth and has tripled the size of its team in 2018. This rate of growth will now accelerate significantly driven by the new investment. The funding is a further step towards fulfilling the company’s ambition to build a global technology company, focused on this new and fast-growing machine intelligence market. RBVC led Graphcore’s Series A in 2016 and has continuously supported the company that has now raised over USD 300 million in funding. RBVC Managing Director Dr. Ingo Ramesohl says: “Graphcore is a perfect fit for the RBVC portfolio in artificial intelligence technologies. We see enormous business potential with Bosch.”

A new age of computing

Nigel Toon, CEO and co-founder of Graphcore, says: “Machine intelligence marks the start of a new age of computing which needs a radically different type of processor and software tools. This new, fast growing market creates the opportunity for Graphcore to build a major global technology company that can help innovators in AI achieve important breakthroughs.”

About RBVC GmbH

Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH (RBVC) is the corporate venture capital company of the Bosch Group, a leading global supplier of technology and services. RBVC invests worldwide in innovative start-up companies at all stages of their development. Its investment activities focus on technology companies working in areas of business of current and future relevance for Bosch, above all, automation and electrification, energy efficiency, enabling technologies, and healthcare systems. RBVC also invests in services and business models as well as new materials that are relevant to the above-mentioned areas of business.

Additional information is available at www.rbvc.com

About Graphcore
Graphcore’s Intelligence Processing Unit (IPU) hardware and software lets innovators create next generation machine intelligence solutions. The IPU is the first processor to be designed specifically for Machine Intelligence and delivers between 10x to 100x speed up compared to today’s hardware. Graphcore has raised over $300m in funding from leading financial and strategic investors and is headquartered in Bristol UK, with offices in London UK, Oslo Norway, Palo Alto USA and Beijing China.

The Bosch Group is a leading global supplier of technology and services. It employs roughly 402,000 associates worldwide (as of December 31, 2017). The company generated sales of 78.1 billion euros in 2017. Its operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility Solutions, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology.

As a leading IoT company, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, smart cities, connected mobility, and connected manufacturing. It uses its expertise in sensor technology, software, and services, as well as its own IoT cloud, to offer its customers connected, cross-domain solutions from a single source. The Bosch Group’s strategic objective is to deliver innovations for a connected life. Bosch improves quality of life worldwide with products and services that are innovative and spark enthusiasm. In short, Bosch creates technology that is “Invented for life.” The Bosch Group comprises Robert Bosch GmbH and its roughly 440 subsidiary and regional companies in 60 countries. Including sales and service partners, Bosch’s global manufacturing, engineering, and sales network covers nearly every country in the world. The basis for the company’s future growth is its innovative strength. At 125 locations across the globe, Bosch employs some 64,500 associates in research and development.

Additional information is available online at www.bosch.com, www.iot.bosch.com, www.bosch-press.com, www.twitter.com/BoschPresse.

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happytal raises €23 million to revolutionize hospital inpatient experience

AXA

Paris, November 29, 2018 – happytal, French startup specializing in enhancing inpatient experience, announces it
has closed a €20 million equity fundraising led by AXA Venture Partners (AVP) and backed by existing shareholders
Partech and Compagnie d’Anjou and new shareholder Alliance Entreprendre, together with a €3 million loan from
Bpifrance.

Funds raised will allow happytal to step up its roll-out in hospitals, medical centres and retirement homes in France
and abroad. As Pass French Tech prize-winner last July, happytal will also draw on funds raised to enhance its hightech platform, which is blazing a trail in making online patient procedures user-friendly and easy.
To support its growth, 200 new top-class staff will be hired in 2019, primarily for business development, tech and
operations.

happytal was founded in 2013 by health industry-savvy founders and strives to revolutionize patients’ quality of life
throughout their healthcare journey from pre-admission until they return home. Patients and their loved ones can
carry out pre-admission procedures online, request a private room, instantly give a satisfaction rating and enjoy a
broad concierge services offering to smooth and improve their inpatient stay, including wellbeing, delicacies,
flowers, health products and home help. To provide such services, happytal engages personally selected artisans
and carers from nearby the health establishment, thereby contributing to local economies.
Five years since it was founded, happytal is now present in over 70 healthcare establishments in France and
Belgium, and has so far created over 300 jobs in the regions and at its Paris head office. Over 25,000 patients, their
loved ones and hospital staff have been won over by happytal and use it every month with a 95+ per cent
satisfaction score!

Pierre Lassarat, happytal co-founder and CEO, said: “Our rapid growth testifies that our people-focused and techbased services are very popular with healthcare establishments, which increasingly need user-friendly and nimble
systems. Our vibrant and dynamic people and the trust our users have in us mean we can expand our offering, take
on more staff and continue to invest”.

Romain Revellat, happytal joint founder and chairman, exclaimed: “We are thrilled to welcome new investors – AXA
Venture Partners (AVP) & Alliance Entreprendre – while pursuing our new business venture with our existing
shareholders – Partech and Compagnie d’Anjou. Their trust in us and this additional big equity investment are
testimony to our success while also reflecting our determination to maintain growth and make happytal a partner
of choice for patients and their loved ones”.

About happytal
The startup Happytal seeks to revolutionize hospital inpatient experience end-to-end by helping patients through all procedures right from
pre-admission to returning home, while providing concierge services, which smooth their stay and make it easier for their loved ones to help
them remotely. happytal’s solution also extends to a broad range of hospital services designed to enhance hospitals’ appeal and put patient procedures online – online pre-admission, online private room request, discharge lounges, real-time satisfaction measures etc.
happytal was set up in 2013 by healthcare industry-savvy founders and is now present in over 70 healthcare establishments in France and Belgium and every month attracts 25,000-plus patients, loved ones and hospital staff users. To learn more go to www.happytal.com
happytal is a Silver Alliance member. Silver Alliance, comprising 18 companies engaged in old people care, was formed in 2018 to bring about teamwork among entrepreneurs in ways that will benefit society at large, stimulate the economy and create local jobs. To learn more go to www.silveralliance.fr

About AXA Ventures Partners
AXA Venture Partners (AVP) is a venture capital fund investing in high-growth, technology-enabled companies. AVP manages $450m broken down between $275m direct investments and $175m for its Fund of Funds business. To date, AVP has invested in some forty seed and growth equity deals. AVP teams operate globally backed by offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong.
To learn more go to www.axavp.com. Contact: François Robinet (francois@axavp.com) / Sébastien Loubry (sebastien@axavp.com)

About Partech
Partech is a big private equity investor in grand-breaking businesses from its offices in San Francisco, Paris, Berlin and Dakar. The firm’s people provide funds, operational experience and strategic advice to entrepreneurs at all stages of development including seed, venture and growth investments. The firm’s investment capacity exceeds €1 billion. Equity investments range from €200,000 to €50m and cover a broad range of technologies, goods and corporate and consumer services including IT systems, online brands, services, hardware and deep tech. To date,
Partech-backed companies have completed 20-plus IPOs and the firm has sold over 50 $100m-plus strategic investments. Partech’s current portfolio: https://partechpartners.com/companies/

Press Contact
Agence Ballou PR
Mickaël Barreteau & Isabelle Renard

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KPN Ventures sells minority stake in SecurityMatters to ForeScout Technologies

Kpn Ventures

KPN Ventures has sold its minority holding in its portfolio company SecurityMatters to ForeScout Technologies. The transaction is part of a successful bid by ForeScout Technologies to acquire full ownership of SecurityMatters. SecurityMatters is a global leader in operational technology (OT) network protection.

KPN Ventures invested in Eindhoven-based SecurityMatters in 2016, alongside other investors. Herman Kienhuis, Managing Director KPN Ventures states: “The SecurityMatters team has achieved great international success with their superior technology to protect critical infrastructure, and the acquisition by ForeScout Technologies allows them to expand that further. We’re proud to have supported them in their growth.”

“With KPN, we had a much needed investor with an outstanding knowledge of the services market, one who also was open to face with us the challenge of Industrial IoT,” said Sandro Etalle, co-founder and chairman of SecurityMatters.

KPN works together with SecurityMatters in providing their cybersecurity solution to industrial clients in The Netherlands and in developing an innovative office building automation security solution.

——

About KPN Ventures

KPN Ventures is the venturing arm of KPN, The Netherlands’ leading telecom & ICT company. KPN Ventures aims to build value-creating partnership with innovative technology companies, providing access to capital, expertise, network and customer channels. It focuses on direct and indirect (fund-in-fund) early growth-stage European companies in the segments: Internet of Things, Connected Home, Digital Healthcare, Cyber Security, Mobile/Video (OTT) Services, Cloud Computing, Data & Analytics and Networking Technology. KPN Ventures has its main office in Rotterdam and has invested a.o. Actility, EclecticIQ, Viloc, Sensara, CardioSecur, Sentiance, Nello, Zecops and CUJO.

www.kpnventures.com

About SecurityMatters

Founded in 2009, SecurityMatters provides organizations with device visibility, continuous network monitoring, and threat and anomaly detection specific to operational technology and industrial environments using passive collection techniques that don’t impact operations. Its solution protects networks from the widest range of threats utilizing patented technology and with a library of over 1600 ICS-specific threat indicators.

www.secmatters.com

About ForeScout Technologies

ForeScout Technologies, Inc. helps make the invisible visible. The company provides Global 2000 enterprises and government agencies with agentless visibility and control of traditional and IoT devices the instant they connect to the network. The technology integrates with disparate security tools to help organizations accelerate incident response, break down silos, automate workflows and optimize existing investments.

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Atomico invests in Beekeeper: Using Saas to connect the unconnected

Atomico

Two billion people – or 80% of the world’s workforce – do not spend their day at a desk. As a result, this massive scattered workforce is often forgotten when it comes to the rapid advances in workplace productivity software the rest of us often take for granted. In many industries, knowledge workers back at HQ get more and more productive while others in the field are often left to fend for themselves.

One of the core problems with workforce communication and management: in the absence of a a corporate email address, how does a security worker talk to HR? How does a cleaner reach out to a colleague or manager?

Aligning employees without email addresses or corporate devices with the entire organisation in a centralised, secure environment is a major challenge. 75% of the non-desk workforce currently use their personal mobile devices to communicate with co-workers, and the lack of functional tools usually forces employees to use consumer-based workarounds like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. Even aside from the obvious management & oversight challenges associated with this, cybersecurity scandals and GDPR compliance drive home the inadequacy of this approach.

Beekeeper has emphatically solved this problem. They’ve built the world’s most flexible secure communication and operations platform for non-desk based and on-demand workers. Powerful tools to allow communication between workers and managers means higher team engagement, a more cohesive culture and reduced turnover.

 

 

Over the last few years, we’ve watched Beekeeper founders Cris & Flavio and their team build a world-class product and exceptional culture. They’ve gone head-to-head with some of the world’s leading employee communications platforms, and won. Repeatedly. They are the perfect example of best in class SaaS products we believe will continue to emerge from Europe at an accelerating pace.

Beekeeper’s approach – which was designed for the hospitality, manufacturing, retail, construction, transport and logistics, food production, NGOs and healthcare industries – takes into account how diverse staff can be today. Employees and managers can communicate across languages and geographies using one unified app. Utilising the latest approaches in machine translation, Beekeeper can translate seamlessly across languages – a feat that would have been impossible just a few years ago.

We were impressed to see the team realize the importance of building security, compliance, and integration at the core of the app, making a point of hiring a veteran executive to lead compliance early in the company’s history. The result is a platform that consistently wins over security conscious yet user experience driven enterprises, from Hilton to Heathrow.

At Atomico, we back founders using technology to rewire the world towards something better for as many people as possible. We believe technology should make a positive impact on everyone’s lives and work.

This is why we are proud to join our friends at Keen Ventures and co-lead Beekeeper’s Series A extension. We’re in good company – a diverse group of strategic investors is enthusiastically joining us, including Samsung NEXT, Edenred Capital Partners and Swiss Post.

Beekeeper joins the stable of enterprise SaaS companies that Atomico is proud to support, including Pipedrive, Bitmovin, and Scandit. One thing they all have in common is that they’ve set the world in their sights from the get-go. Beekeeper calls Switzerland home but already serves customers in 130 countries.

We look forward to helping Cris and the Beekeeper build the category winning company we see them being. Now, more than ever, it’s critical that non “knowledge workers” aren’t left behind by the digital transformation occurring absolutely everywhere.

 

 

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IrisVR Brings VR to Construction Industry with First Ever Navisworks Integration to Support BIM

Azure Capital

NEW YORK, Aug. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — IrisVR, the leading immersive design review and collaboration software for the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industries, is thrilled to announce a new native Beta integration between Prospect and Autodesk Navisworks as part of their latest release.

As the first Navisworks plugin built for VR, this integration will deliver a premium immersive experience that puts comfort and performance first. You can expect:

Launch Navisworks files in VR with one click in IrisVR Prospect 2.3.
Launch Navisworks files in VR with one click in IrisVR Prospect 2.3.
  • Real time performance
  • Low latency
  • Locomotion best practices
  • Access to BIM metadata
  • Experiences running at 90FPS

This new Navisworks beta integration will let construction and engineering teams quickly launch 3D models in VR, meaning faster, more efficient model reviews. The ability to capture issues in the model before construction begins will save thousands of dollars and avoid delays.

While Prospect users have been exporting FBX files from Navisworks and importing them into Prospect for months, the workflow required extra steps that the IrisVR team wanted to eliminate. Now, engineering and construction firms can bring their 3D models into VR with just one click, so they can easily:

  • Perform visual clash detection and evaluate complex systems
  • Review models with accurate spatial relationships and true-to-scale layouts
  • Coordinate trades in 1:1 scale across the project
  • Collect feedback from construction and operations staff
  • Improve collaboration and communication among teams

“While the architecture community and some construction firms have been early adopters of VR, the Navisworks plugin now enables construction teams to perform design review, QA/QC, and coordination in 1:1 scale, taking out the ambiguity of 2D coordination and driving much clearer communication,” says IrisVR Co-founder and CEO, Shane Scranton.

The first beta release supports a basic geometry and file structure export that will allow you to select individual elements in VR. IrisVR is already working to expand these capabilities to provide support for full BIM data, advanced clash detection, project timeline tools, and more. For a look at how the Navisworks plugin works watch this quick video.

IrisVR Co-founder and CTO, Nate Beatty, says of the Navisworks integration launch, “Over the next few months the IrisVR team will continue investing in the development of this integration, focusing on improving the efficiency and expanding the capabilities. We strive to make VR model reviews and project planning as intuitive, efficient, and productive as possible – and we will do our best to deliver on that promise.”

The new Prospect release also includes other features beyond the Navisworks integration that enhance design review workflows for AEC professionals. A new feature will allow users to hide or unhide any selected element which provides greater visibility into the inner workings of a building. Improved teleportation with a door fade feature, section capping, and Multiuser Meeting host controls are also included in this launch.

Prospect is available on a monthly or annual subscription basis, with three pricing tiers starting at $50/month. The Navisworks plugin is available to customers on any tier.

AEC firms across 105 countries have been using Prospect to improve design communication internally and with clients, speed up design approvals, collaborate with teams all over the world, and coordinate across disciplines. For more information and to start a free 45-day trial of Prospect, visit irisvr.com.

About IrisVR

IrisVR creates the leading software tools for immersive design review and collaboration. Prospect by IrisVR is a desktop product used by design firms, BIM and VDC teams, and engineers to instantly communicate design intent and regularly collaborate with stakeholders around the world. Because IrisVR integrates with Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, Navisworks, and other 3D tools out of the box, you can generate immersive walkthroughs in less than 10 seconds. Try Prospect free for 45 days.

SOURCE IrisVR

Related Links

http://irisvr.com

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KPN Ventures leads investment in cyber security startup ZecOps

Kpn Ventures

ROTTERDAM, July 31, 2018 – Dutch corporate investment fund KPN Ventures announced today it has participated as lead investor in the $3.5m seed round of ZecOps, a cyber security startup based in San Francisco and Tel Aviv, focusing on automated threat analysis.

ZecOps seed round is supplemented by an investment from Evolution Equity Partners, a fund that specializes in cybersecurity, Plug and Play Silicon Valley, WISE Ventures, Array Ventures, and respected angel investors.

ZecOps was started in July 2017 by Zuk Avraham together with his wife & co-founder, Taly Slachevsky. ZecOps is Avraham’s second entrepreneurial journey. He founded his first company, Zimperium, in 2010, where he currently serves as its Chairman of the Board. Zimperium is the leading mobile threat defense solution on the market.

ZecOps products gained high traction during its first year, while still in stealth-mode, with well-known customers from the technology, finance and telecom segments. ZecOps is working with law enforcement agencies, banks, critical infrastructure, tech, payment solutions and telcos to solve major pain points in cyber security.

“Through KPN’s cooperation with Zimperium, We have got to know Zuk as a clear thought leader in cyber security” said Herman Kienhuis, EVP and Managing Director at KPN Ventures.“With ZecOps, he is taking on a new challenge: automating security breach analysis; we see great potential in enabling more companies to learn from attacks, generate new threat intelligence and substantially improve their security.”

Michal Pechoucek, Partner at Evolution Equity Partners, adds: “Increased efficiencies gained from automation in security operations is an important area in cybersecurity where Zecops have developed cutting edge technology. We believe the attributes of the Zecops technology are unique and provide the company with a cutting-edge advantage in the global marketplace. We welcome Zecops and its team of seasoned cybersecurity professionals to our portfolio.”

“We are extremely excited to welcome ZecOps into our family.  Out of the hundreds of cybersecurity startups we analyzed this year, ZecOps stood out as one of the most exciting,” says George Damouny, Partner at Plug and Play Ventures. “With their strong team and expertise in the cybersecurity space, we have high expectations for ZecOps as they continue to revolutionize the Security Operations market.”

Following this seed round investment, ZecOps will launch its products for general availability to help organizations hunt down attackers’ mistakes effectively.

“We were surprised with the overwhelming demand for our products. It can be exceedingly difficult to innovate in a crowded market like the cyber security space – but we were able to do it effectively. Consequently, the reactions from CISOs around the globe made our efforts worthwhile,” said Mr. Avraham. “In the last year, we detected multiple APTs for a variety of businesses, a rare achievement especially for a one year old company”.

About ZecOps, Inc.
ZecOps is a stealth mode cybersecurity automation company headquartered in San Francisco, California with R&D based in Tel Aviv, Israel. ZecOps learns from attackers’ mistakes with the goal of discovering the course of action and objectives of entire campaign, burn the threat actors exploits & persistence mechanisms and increase the attacker’s campaign costs for targeting a ZecOps protected company. To contact ZecOps, visit https://www.zecops.com. For press inquiries: mail ZecOps PR at media@zecops.com

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Our investment in Lime: Maximising micro-mobility

Atomico

Today, we’re delighted to announce our investment in Lime. Led by co-founders Brad Bao and Toby Sun, Lime is an organisation driving behavioural change at mass scale and lightning speed.

We set out to back founders who can address the world’s biggest challenges, and improve the way we live. Moving more people more frequently, decongesting cities, and improving air quality for those who live there, are certainly monumental challenges. Lime’s e-bikes and scooters tackle them in a sustainable, affordable, and convenient way.

At Atomico, as mobility continues to be disrupted, we are looking to back multiple solutions – especially if consumers love it and it is better for the city too. One of those areas is micro-mobility.

 

The ability to unlock, jump on and off Lime’s distinctive electric scooters anywhere is already delighting city-dwellers in over 70 locations across the US. In San Francisco, each of the company’s scooters is used an average of nine times a day.  It is clear the ‘form factor’ of the electric scooter is going to be a hit for shorter journeys where ride-hailing, public transport or even walking is not quite right.

The team has ambitious plans for European expansion, and we are proud to be their European investor as they scale to our continent. We’re joining the deal with other global investors GV, Andreessen Horowitz and Uber, whose excitement for Lime we share.

This is the ideal juncture for Atomico to partner with Lime. In the last decade, we’ve developed Atomico into a platform for sharing operational experience with our portfolio companies. We’re privileged to work with Brad and Toby, and excited to put our hard-won experience to work for Lime.

 

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KPN Ventures initiates Health Innovation Fund III, together with Menzis, Monuta and OostNL

 

After two previous successful funds, the third Health Innovations venture capital fund has been initiated to support innovative healthcare start-ups in developing their products and bringing them to the market. In the coming years, the fund will invest € 15 million in 10 to 15 starting tech companies. The fund is focused on innovative digital health solutions that keep healthcare affordable and improve the quality and accessibility of care.

Investors include KPN Ventures, Menzis, Monuta, Topfonds Gelderland, Oost NL and several private investors. The fund is further supported by the Ministries of Health and Economic Affairs. Together, they are investing 6 million euros from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency’s Seed Capital Scheme.

The investors will be contributing their expertise and networks to the fund and the health start-ups in order to increase their chances of success.

Focus on innovation in healthcare

The Health Innovation Fund III will invest in companies that have developed new products to make healthcare smarter, better and more accessible. These can be software, hardware and service solutions, as long as they are directed towards prevention, diagnosis, treatment or cure or care monitoring. Joris van Eijck, Director Healthcare at Menzis, emphasizes the importance of innovation in healthcare:

“The application of new technology means, for example, that patients can live at home longer or receive care in their familiar environment, rather than in the hospital. Technology gives healthcare a fundamentally different form and creates value for patients.”

This third Health Innovation fund will also explicitly target e-Health solutions that foster self-management, self-monitoring and self-reliance. The first two funds have already made 18 investments in promising companies, including Prolira, LivAssured, Nightbalance, ANW Nederland, Noviosense and Aidence.

According to the partners involved, innovation is not only required for keeping healthcare affordable, but can also further improve the quality of healthcare. As important stakeholders in the sector, they want to accelerate this process. That’s why, in addition to making resources available, they will also utilize their expertise and network to support the start-up enterprises. Herman Kienhuis from KPN Ventures confirms this: “Digital technology offers enormous opportunities to improve the quality and affordability of healthcare and to increase people’s self-reliance, also in the case of illness and old age. KPN wants to take on an important role in this field and seeks out and supports young tech companies to jointly develop innovations, also through its partnership with the Health Innovation Fund III.”

Organization

The Health Innovation Fund III is managed by Utrecht-based Health Innovations. The fund is supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Climate and by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. In December 2017, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency selected the fund for its SEED Capital arrangement by means of a tender process. Secretary of State Keijzer from Economic Affairs and Climate, responsible for financing: “The production of new medical devices, for example for making diagnoses or for carrying out complex medical analyses, is good for the quality of healthcare and for our economic development. Investing in e-Health benefits us all and especially the people who need this care. With the SEED Capital scheme, we are supporting innovative entrepreneurs who can develop these ideas.”

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