Crunchbase Daily: Improbable, Pocket Gems, Spring, Wealthsimple, Axoni, XSKY Data - May 12, 2017

?utm_source=cb_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20170512&send_email={EMAIL} May 12, 2017 [Share on Twitter ]( [Share on Facebook ]( /cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#57682422353d3234236a04323277233f327714252239343f353624327713363e3b2e773f2323276d7878353e23793b2e78663c3c0d182311 Improbable raises $502M for virtual worlds [Improbable]( a London-based startup that develops a platform for building virtual worlds, has raised $502 million in a SoftBank-led financing round that values the five-year-old company at close to $1 billion, TechCrunch [reports](. Waymo, Uber dispute headed to trial Alphabet-owned [Waymo]( lawsuit against Uber alleging theft of trade secrets is apparently going to trial, after a judge ruled [Uber]( could not force the case into private arbitration. Uber could also face criminal charges, as the judge asked the US Attorney to examine whether the company broke the law and stole technology to build self-driving cars. Tencent puts $90M into game studio Pocket Gems Game developer [Pocket Gems]( has raised $90 million in fresh funding from China’s Tencent at a reported valuation around $600 million. Tencent last put capital into San Francisco-based Pocket Gems in 2015, with a $60 million investment. Ag-tech deals rise sharply this year Venture capitalists are getting heavily into farming. So far in 2017, ag-tech startups raised more than $320 million, a more than three-fold increase over the same period last year, according to a [Crunchbase News analysis](. Funded technologies run the gamut from farm data aggregation tools to fruit-harvesting robots to next-generation feedstocks. [ ] Recent Activity on Crunchbase [206]( [Funding Rounds Added]( [353]( [Acquisitions Recorded]( [$2.2B]( [Fundings Captured]( [11,152](?utm_source=cb_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20170512&utm_content=recent_activity&utm_term=entities&send_email={EMAIL}) [Entities Updated](?utm_source=cb_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20170512&utm_content=recent_activity&utm_term=entities&send_email={EMAIL}) [ ] [Advertise on Crunchbase]( Crunchbase is Hiring! Our team is honored to work with innovators from all corners of the globe, & we’re building a team that reflects the diversity of our users. Join us! [ ] Featured Searches and Lists Name Type Entries [500 Startups Batch 20]( Companies 42 [Unicorns headquarted in China]( Companies 63 [Gaming companies funded in the last 6 months]( Companies 86 [More Featured Searches and Lists]( [ ] Recent Investments [Improbable]( [$502M]( / [Series B]( Improbable develops a platform for third parties to build vast virtual and simulated worlds. The London-based company is reportedly valued at around $1B. Categories: London GBR · Gamification · Software · Cloud Computing Founders: [Herman Narula]( [Rob Whitehead]( Investors: [SoftBank]( (Lead), [Horizons Ventures]( [Andreessen Horowitz]( [Pocket Gems]( [$90M]( / [Series C]( Pocket Gems is a mobile game studio. The San Francisco-based company reportedly has 300M downloads to date. Categories: San Francisco · Mobile · Virtualization · Gaming Founders: [Daniel Terry]( [Harlan Crystal]( Investors: [Tencent Holdings]( (Lead) [Spring Inc]( [$65M]( / [Series C]( Spring is a shopping app that sells apparel, home, and garden items. The New York City-based company has 2K clothing brands on its app. Categories: New York · Shopping · Apps · Retail · E-Commerce · Internet Founders: [Alan Tisch]( [Octavian Costache]( [David Tisch]( [Ara Katz]( Investors: [Fidelity Investments]( (Lead), [BoxGroup]( [Groupe Arnault]( [+ 1 more]( More Investments Company Amount / Round Lead Investor [Wealthsimple]( $37M / Series B [Power Financial Corporation]( [Axoni]( $20M / Series A [Wells Fargo & Company]( [Euclid Opportunities]( [XSKY Data Technology]( 120M CNY / Series B [Qiming Venture Partners]( [Lighthouse]( $17M / Venture [Eclipse]( [Twiggle]( $15M / Series B [MizMaa Ventures]( [Korea Investment Partners]( [Sidecar Interactive]( $11M / Series C [Osage Venture Partners]( [Harbert Growth Partners]( [Ascent Venture Partners]( [OnTruck]( $10M / Series A [Atomico]( [Idinvest Partners]( [Jinn]( $10M / Series B [STE Capital]( [All Recent Funding Activity]( [ ] Recent Acquisitions [MindMeld]( Acquired by [Cisco]( for $125M More Acquisitions Company Acquired by Amount [FreeCharge]( [Paytm]( – [All Recent Acquisition Activity]( [ ] Upcoming Tech Events [Techcrunch Disrupt NY 2017]( May 15-17, 2017 in Manhattan TechCrunch Disrupt is one of the most anticipated iconic startup and thought leadership events of the year. 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