The Enterprise Goes High-Tech (And VCs Like It)

Oracle may have grabbed headlines with its $9.3 billion takeover of NetSuite earlier this week, but another technology giant is also making big moves in its investment game.

Intel Corporation’s VC arm, Intel Capital, made not one but two of the largest venture capital investments this week, both of which landed at startups using high-tech Software-as-a-Service solutions for the enterprise.

The SaaS segment scored the highest volume of venture capital, but investors across Asia were particularly active, with half of the investments coming from this region, including a whopping $125 million private equity investment in an Indian logistics firm.

We break down the investment activity below.

Alternative Lending

Funding Societies

Singapore’s Funding Societies, which positions itself as a “peer-to-business” lending marketplace, announced a $7.45 million funding round led by Sequoia India on Thursday (Aug. 4). According to the startup, the funding makes for Southeast Asia’s largest-ever investment in a venture capital company.

Harvard University experts and Alpha JWC Ventures also participated in the funding, reports said.

Funding Societies focuses its services on SME borrowers. With new funding, the company said it plans to “strengthen the customer experience” and focus on regulatory compliance across Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in order to “cement its position” as a reliable alternative lender in the region.

Software-as-a-Service

Velostrata

The enterprise is shifting to the cloud, but the transition isn’t always easy. Velostrata revealed on Wednesday (Aug. 3) that it secured $17.5 million, led by Intel Capital, for its service that helps businesses manage both internal computing loads and external public cloud computing. Velostrata recently announced the capability of moving workloads between private data centers and cloud-based Amazon Web Services; now, it can do the same with Microsoft Azure public cloud, reports said.

“Velostrata’s patent-pending technology uniquely decouples compute from storage, making it possible to move compute to the cloud in minutes, while controlling and automating where storage resides — whether in a private cloud, public or a combination of both,” the company said in its announcement.

Reports said this hybrid-cloud offering is attractive to enterprises with major cloud computing names, including IBM, Microsoft, HP Enterprise and others, promoting the concept as a more secure way to operate.

The California-based firm also has research and development offices in Israel.

CognitiveScale

Reports on Tuesday (Aug. 2) said CognitiveScale nabbed $21.8 million in Series B funding, with investors backing its solution that provides artificial intelligence for the enterprise. The Texas-based startup targets the commerce, health care and financial services market to strengthen customer data analytics; it also offers an API for developers of business applications or smartphone apps.

The funding is impressive considering a recent decline in venture capital investments in software startups, reports said. The funding for CognitiveScale was led by Norwest Venture Partners and Intel Capital (the latter’s second investment in our B2B Venture Capital roundup).

IBM’s Watson, Microsoft and Google Services are all used to round out the company’s artificial intelligence capabilities for customer analysis, reports said.

Logistics

WING.ae

Based in the United Arab Emirates, WING.ae says that the majority of delivery vehicles in the country are traveling at less than half capacity; more than 30 percent travel with empty cargos entirely. The startup wants to make use of this space for SMEs and other businesses in need of goods transport and just announced a seed funding round to help grow its solution.

Provided by Souq.com, the seed funding will help WING.ae provide technology to companies across verticals and offer firms an opportunity to launch eCommerce operations by providing shipping services, reports said last weekend. The firms did not reveal how much WING.ae raised, however.

Stellar Value Chain Solutions

The investment boom within India’s logistics industry continues thanks to a $125 million deal for Stellar Value Chain Solutions. Private equity firm Warburg Pincus provided the funding, reports said on Wednesday.

“We believe there is a shortage of high-quality providers of outsourced logistics services, such as warehouse management and distribution, to a wide range of sectors in India,” said Warburg Pincus Managing Director Viraj Sawhney. Stellar Value Chain Solutions uses technology to provide warehousing, distribution, digital fulfillment and other solutions for companies in the country.

Misc.

City Pantry

Over in the U.K., a startup that focuses on meal delivery for businesses and offices said it raised $1.4 million for its solution. City Pantry said on Wednesday that Angel Co Fund and The London Co Investment fund participated in the investment round. With a 400 percent growth rate over the last year, City Pantry touts top names, like BuzzFeed and Facebook, as clients.

“Our mission is to help the world’s best companies work better by eating together,” said City Pantry Founder Stuart Sunderland in a statement. With the new backing, the firm said it plans to focus on expansion across Europe.