This week’s family/private investment office deals

Our Deal of the Week involves a number of family offices co-investing with institutional money to back a novel fruit and veg technology company. More details here.

Unspecified Rounds

Vulcan Capital, Jody Allen’s investment group, along with Arnold Venture Group, owned by Robert Arnold, have invested in MDmetrix, a healthcare data analytics platform. Vulcan led the round, worth $1.1 million; two other investors participated in the round for the Seattle-based group. 

Toivo Annus, the co-founder of Skype, and probably through his investment group Ambient Sound Investments, has invested in Enview, a 3D geospatial analytics company. Toivo was one of five investors committing $12 million to the San Francisco-based group.  

Convertible Notes

Naya Capital, a UK investment group owned by hedge fund manager, Masroor Siddiqui, has signed a convertible note worth $100 million for Bolt, an Estonian-based transportation platform providing ride-hailing and scooter-sharing services.

Seed

Murray Capital, an investment group owned by the Scotland-based Murray family, has seeded Zumo, a Bitcoin and Ethereum platform. Murray Capital invested alongside Guy Berryman, the bassist for the band, Coldplay, and one other investor. The three investors committed an unspecified amount to the Edinburgh-based startup. 

District Capital, a Hong Kong-based social impact investment office owned by Michael Au, has seeded Turnkey Group, a sustainability and supply chain risk SaaS platform. District committed an unspecified amount to the Hong Kong-based startup.  

Omidyar Network, the impact-led investment group owned by Pierre and Pam Omidyar, has invested in GramCover, an online-based insurance brokerage marketplace. Omidyar was one of four investors committing an unspecified amount to the Indian startup. 

APX, a Berlin-based venture group set up as a joint venture by family-owned Axel Springer and Porsche, has seeded Purish, a cosmetics shopping platform. APX committed an unspecified amount to the Berlin-based startup. 

Series A

Schooner Capital, a venture group/private investment office owned by Vin Ryan, Moore Strategic Ventures, an investment group owned by hedge fund billionaire Louis Bacon, the Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Jack Ma-backed clean energy group Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and the private investment arm of the owners of Fidelity Investments, Devonshire Investors, have invested in Commonwealth Fusion. The four investment groups joined nine other investors with a commitment of $83 million to the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based fusion power developer. 

Patterson Thoma Family Office, owned by Dallas-based investor Dan Patterson, and MPK Equity Partners, an investment group backed by the Perot family of Texas, have invested in Cariloop, a caregiver support platform. Patterson led the round, worth $6 million; four others participated in the round for the Dallas-based group.  

Cavallo Ventures, an investment group linked to Wilbur-Ellis, a privately owned family business owned by the Wilbur family,  has invested in Beta Hatch, a company producing insects as a sustainable protein for animal feed. Cavallo led the round, worth $3 million, with one other investor; two others participated in the round for the Seattle-based group. 

Horizons Ventures, Li Ka-shing’s venture group, has invested in Bobobox Indonesia, a capsule hotel group. Horizon led the investment, worth $11.5 million, with one other investor; three others participated in the round for the Indonesian group. 

Series B

Vulcan Capital, Jody Allen’s investment group, along with Bezos Expeditions, Jeff Bezos’ investment group, have invested in Nautilus Biotechnology, a biotech group. Vulcan led the round worth $76 million; five other investors participated in the round for the San Carlos, Californian-based group. 

DNS Capital, the investment office of Gigi Pritzker and Michael Pucker, has invested in RapidAPI, an API marketplace platform. DNS joined four other investors committing $25 million to the San Francisco-based group. 

HOF Capital, a New York City-based venture group, set up by Onsi Sawiris, the son of Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, and Casdin Capital, owned by Eli Casdin, have invested in Insitro, a machine-learning biotech group. The two investors joined 11 other investors in a round worth $143 million for the San Francisco-based group.  

H14, an investment group controlled by the Italian Berlusconi family, has invested in Medwing, a healthcare group. H14 was one of five investors committing €23 million to the Berlin-based group. 

Series C 

Bezos Expeditions, Jeff Bezos’ investment group, has invested in Mindstrong, a mental healthcare group. Bezos joined seven other investors with a total commitment of $100 million to the Mountain View, California-based group. 

DNS Capital, the investment office of Gigi Pritzker and Michael Pucker, together with Pohlad Companies, the family investment group of the Pohlad family, and Jeff Skoll, likely through his investment group Capricorn, have invested in Aspiration, a socially conscious fintech platform. The three investment groups joined six others in a $135 million commitment to the Marina Del Rey, Californian-based group. 

Cavallo Ventures, an investment group linked to Wilbur-Ellis, a privately owned family business owned by the Wilbur family, has invested in Sound Agriculture, which uses molecular discovery to create climate-resilient crops. Cavallo was one of five investors committing $22 million to the Californian-based group.

Horizons Ventures, Li Ka-shing’s venture group, has invested in States Title, an insurtech platform. Horizon was one of nine investors committing $123 million to the San Francisco-based group.

Series E 

Sorenson Capital, an investment group backed by the Utah-based Sorenson family, has invested in Amplitude, a big data product intelligence platform. Sorenson was one seven investors committing $50 million to the San Francisco-based group. 

Series G

Sorenson Capital, an investment group backed by the Utah-based Sorenson family, has invested in Couchbase, a NoSQL cloud database. Sorenson was one of seven investors committing $105 million to the Santa Clara, California-based group.