Series A
FlightCar, a service which allows people parked in airports to rent out their cars to other travelers, has raised $13.5 million in Series A funding, led by GGV Capital. Previous investors SoftBank Capital, General Catalyst Partners and First Round Capital also participated. The service is currently only available in San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles but the company will use the new funds to expand to more airports.
Series B
Jimubox, a peer-to-peer lending company, has raised a Series B funding round worth $37 million, led by Xiaomi and Shunwei Capital Partners. Matrix Partners China, Vertex Venture, Magic Stone Alternative and Ventech China also invested in the Beijing-based company. Jiumbox has raised $47 million to date, having been launched in August. The new funds will be used for expansion and to develop new technology.
Funding
Pittsburgh-based 4moms, a robotics company which makes baby products, has raised $41 million in new funding from Bain Capital Ventures and Castanea Partners. The company, founded in 2005, will use the new funds to accelerate growth with a focus on new product development. “4moms represents a great opportunity given our investment and operating experience in branded consumer products,” said Robert Smith, Managing Partner at Castanea Partners. “The company is a category leader with an innovative and differentiated approach in the baby products and gear space which is enthusiastically embraced by retailers and customers alike.”
E-commerce company Elastic Path Software has secured CDN$5.35 million ($4.8 million) in a funding round led by BDC Venture Captial IT Fund, with participation from Yaletown Venture Partners and individual investors. A study from Forrester Research suggests e-commerce sales in North America will stand at more than $370 billion by 2017. “The last few years have seen a real shift from ecommerce to experience-driven commerce,” said Harry Chemko, CEO of Elastic Path. “Brands have been caught off guard with the buying power of Millennials, how they shop and use technology, and how quickly they will switch to a competitor if they have a poor experience.”
Light Cyber, an Israeli cyber security company, has secured $10 million in a funding round led by Battery Ventures, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Existing investors Gilot Capital Partners and Marius Nacht also participated. Light Cyber aims to detect cyber threats very early on, and was founded by former members of the IDF technological division. This latest funding follows investment deals into fellow Israeli cyber security startups ThetaRay and Guardicore in the past few months.