This week’s family/private investment deals

Private Equity

Alessi, a prominent Italian-based homeware designer business owned by the Alessi family, has brought in an outside investor. UK-based private equity group has acquired a 40% stake for £6 million in the Omegna-based company, famous for its lemon juicer and kettles. 

Unspecified round

F-Prime Capital, a venture group owned by the Johnson family, owners of Fidelity Investments, has invested in Even Financial, a US-based fintech group. F-Prime was one of eight investors committing $25 million to the group. 

Yuj Ventures, an investment group owned by Sid Yog, founding partner of the Singapore-based Xander Group, has invested in Suzette Gourmet, an Indian-based organic food brand. Yuj invested $1.3 million alongside one other investor. 

Seed

Omidyar Network, the impact investment group owned by Pierre and Pam Omidyar, has invested in Yelo, a consumer help platform. Omidyar was one of four investors committing an unspecified sum to the Indian startup. 

LocalGlobe, an impact investment-led group set up by father and son combo Robin and Saul Klein, has invested in Residently, a UK-based property management group. LocalGlobe invested £7 million alongside two other investors. 

Jefferson River Capital, a family office owned by Hamilton (Tony) James, vice chairman for the Blackstone Group, has invested in Alto Solutions, a fintech platform. Jefferson led the round in the US-based startup worth $5.4 million; four other investors participated.  

Octava Foundation, which is owned by Octava Capital, a Singapore-based family office owned by an unidentifiable family, has invested in Team Flash, an esports group. Octava committed $1.5 million to the Singapore-based group. 

Interdomus Capital, an investment group set up by Richard D. Adler, who sold tech platform Vrvana to Apple, has invested in US-based Nectar Technologies, which helps bees and beekeepers communicate with each other. Interdomus led the round worth C$1.1 million; five other investors participated.

Series A 

Revolution, Steve Case’s venture group, has invested in 75F, a predictive and proactive IoT-based building automation system. Revolution was one of five investors committing $18 million to the US-based group. 

Cavallo Ventures, an investment group linked to Wilbur-Ellis, a privately owned family business owned by the Wilbur family,  has invested in AgroSpheres, which is developing nanotechnologies in the food sector. Cavallo invested $4 million alongside Ospraie Ag Sciences, a venture group set up by hedge fund manager Dwight W. Anderson.

Candy Ventures, an investment group owned by UK real estate developer Nick Candy, has invested in Arctic Shores, a behavioural assessment platform. Candy invested $5.5 million alongside one other investor in the UK-based group. 

Series B

Grok Ventures, the family investment group of Australian billionaire and a co-founder of tech group Atlassian, Michael Cannon-Brookes, together with IPGL, the investment office of Michael Spencer, a well-known London financier, have invested in Juvenescence. The Isle of Man-based Juvenescence is a bio-pharma development group involved in life extension research, which was set up by Jim Mellon, a prominent UK-based investor. Grok, which led the round, and IPGL invested $100 million in Juvenescence. 

Len Blavatnik, likely through his investment group Access Industries, has invested in Passage Bio, a US-biotech group. Blavatnik led the $110 million round; ten other investors participated. 

Kinnevik, the Swedish investment group owned by the Stenbeck, Klingspor and von Horn families, has invested in VillageMD, a US healthcare group. Kinnevik led the $100 million investment, with three other investors participating. 

Third Lake Capital, an investment group set up by furniture tycoon Ronald Wanek, has invested in Credijusto, an online lending platform. Also participating in the round was the Wolfson Group, a family office of the real estate Wolfson family, and financier John Mack, probably through his investment group John Mack Family Office. The 11 investors committed $42 million to the Mexican-based group.  

Series C

Omidyar Network, the impact investment group owned by Pierre and Pam Omidyar, has invested in Vedantu, an edtech platform. Omidyar was one of five investors committing $42 million to the Indian-based group. 

Series D 

KCK, the family investment group of Nael Kassar, has invested in Sight Sciences, a developer of glaucoma implants for the treatment of irreversible blindness. KCK committed $31 million to the US-based group. 

DST Global,  the Hong Kong-based investment group owned by Yuri Milner, has invested in Udaan, a B2B trade platform. DST jointly led the round with one other investor, which was worth $300 million; five other investors participated in the round. 

Weatherford Capital, owned by brothers Will, Sam, and Drew Weatherford, has invested in OpenGo, a cloud platform for public sector budgeting, performance management, and citizen engagement. Weatherford led the $51 million round with one other investor in the US-based group; one other investor also participated. 

Series E

Two prominent family offices have invested in Australian-based Culture Amp – more details here.