Funding
Chipone Technology, a China-headquartered manufacturer of chips for electronic display panels, has raised in excess of RMB6.5bn ($1bn) in series E financing from investors including smartphone producer Vivo at a valuation of over $4.7bn, DealStreetAsia has reported. Oceanpine Capital led the round, which also featured Unic Capital Management, CCB Private Equity Investment Management, GGV Capital, Prosperity Investment, Citic Private Equity, Beijing Singularity Power Investment Management and Silk Road Huachuang Investment Management.
India-based automotive e-commerce marketplace Cars24 has secured $300m in series G equity funding and $100m in debt financing from investors including telecommunications and internet group SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, e-commerce firm Alibaba and internet and gaming group Tencent, TechCrunch has reported. The round was led by Alpha Wave Global (formerly known as Falcon Edge Capital) and also backed by Exor Seeds, a vehicle for holding group Exor, in addition to DST Global, Raptor Group and approximately 20 other participants.
Agribusiness ADM has co-led a $347m series B round for Future Meat Technologies, an Israel-based developer of cultivated meat creation technology, through subsidiary ADM Ventures, Bloomberg has reported. The round was co-led with an undisclosed other investor and included Tyson New Ventures and Rich Products Ventures – on behalf of Tyson Foods and food ingredient wholesaler Rich Products Corporation – as well as the Menora Mivtachim pension and insurance fund, Manta Ray Ventures, Emerald Technology Ventures, ADM Capital’s Cibus Fund, Bits x Bites and Sander Group. Sources told Globes the round valued the company above $900m and its technology is based on research at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Internet and telecoms conglomerate Softbank’s Vision Fund 2 has co-led a $325m series G round for India-headquartered industrial equipment and services marketplace OfBusiness valuing it at about $5bn, Entrackr has reported. The round was co-led by Alpha Wave Ventures II and Tiger Global Management and it also featured Norwest Venture Partners, Matrix Partners India, Zodius Technologies, Pantherea Growth Fund and Marshall Wace, while $140m of the figure represented a secondary share sale.
Vastai Technologies, a China-based developer of semiconductors for artificial intelligence, has raised RMB1.6bn ($251m) in series B1 and B2 rounds, both of which were led by e-commerce group Alibaba, DealStreetAsia has reported. Participants across the rounds included insurers PICC Group and China Life – through PICC Capital and China Life Investment Management – as well as Matrix Partners China, 5Y Capital, Mirae Asset Global Investments, CoStone Capital, Tsinghua Holding’s THU Capital vehicle, Redpoint China Ventures, Glory Ventures and Yuan Capital.
China-based bioprocessing equipment maker Shanghai LePure Biotech has closed a series B-plus round featuring Legend Capital, the venture capital firm formed by conglomerate Legend Holdings, sized in the hundreds of millions of dollars range, according to DealStreetAsia. Hillhouse Capital, TMT Investments, New Alliance Capital and HM Capital filled out the round.
Facilities management services provider Sodexo has supplied an amount of funding for online catering service Meican through corporate venturing unit Sodexo Ventures, allowing it to close its series E round at RMB1bn ($157m), DealStreetAsia has reported. Investment management firm Centurium Capital provided $100m for the round last month while Sodexo Ventures first invested in the company in 2019, reportedly providing tens of millions of dollars.
Airbyte, a US-based developer of data integration software, has secured over $150m in a series B round that included Salesforce Ventures, the investment arm of enterprise software producer Salesforce. The round was co-led by Altimeter Capital and Coatue Management and also featured Thrive Capital, Benchmark, Accel and SV Angel.
Investment firm Tiger Global Management has led a $110m round for India-based textiles and packaging supplies marketplace Bizongo backed by building materials provider SCG’s AddVentures unit, Inc42 has reported, citing a regulatory filing. The cash was secured at a valuation estimated by Inc42 to be $570m and the round included B Capital, CDC Group, International Finance Corporation, Chiratae Ventures and Castle Investment.
NorthSea Therapeutics, a Netherlands-based developer of treatments for metabolic diseases such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, raised $80m in series C financing from investors including Novo Seeds, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical firm Novo. The round was co-led by Ysios Capital and Forbion Growth and included an undisclosed managed care provider as well as Hercules Capital, Forbion Ventures, VenBio, Sofinnova, BGV and New Science Ventures.
Singapore-headquartered blockchain analytics software provider Nansen has received $75m in a series B round featuring financial services firm Siam Commercial Bank’s SCB 10X unit. VC firm Accel led the round, which included GIC, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global Management, Amplify Partners, L1 Digital, Skyfall Ventures, Folius Ventures, Old Fashion Research and private investors Cristóbal Conde, Adam White, Ryan Rabaglia, Prabhakar Reddy, Anastasia Andrianova and Ameet Patel.
Sary, the Saudi Arabia-based operator of an e-commerce marketplace for businesses, has secured SAR281m ($75m) in a series C round featuring STV, the VC firm backed by telecoms firm Saudi Telecom, and diversified holding company Almajdouie’s Ra’ed Ventures subsidiary. The round was led by Sanabil Investments and included Wafra International Investment Company, Endeavor Catalyst, MSA Capital, Rocketship.vc and VentureSouq.
BandLab, a Singapore-based music creation tool provider subsidiary of music technology provider Caldecott Music Group, has raised $53m from investors including its parent company at a post-money valuation of $303m. Vulcan Capital led the round – the first external round for the spinoff – which also featured K3 Ventures.
Share management services provider Computershare, financial exchange operator Deutsche Börse and financial services firms Citi, State Street and Deutsche Bank have taken part in a $31m series B round for Proxymity, the UK-based operator of an online communication platform for investors. They were joined in the round by investment banking firms BNY Mellon and JP Morgan.
Alameda Research Ventures, the VC arm of quantitative trading firm Alameda Research, has led a $30m series B round for Stocktwits, the US-headquartered operator of an online social investment platform. Media group Bennett Coleman & Co’s Times Bridge unit also invested in the round, as did existing backers including True Ventures, Foundry Group, FFVC and Social Leverage.
Full Harvest, the US-based operator of an online marketplace for fresh produce, has closed a $23m series B round led by telecoms firm Telus through its Telus Ventures subsidiary. Financial services firm Citi’s Impact fund also took part in the round, as did Rethink Impact, Doon Capital, Stardust Equity and Portfolia Food & AgTech Fund in addition to existing investors including Spark Capital, Cultivian Sandbox, Astia Fund and Radicle Growth.
Quantitative trading firm Susquehanna International Group has invested £14m ($18.5m) in Famly, a Denmark-based developer of business management software for early years learning providers, through its Susquehanna Growth Equity (SGE) subsidiary. SGE partner Noa Wolfson is joining the company’s board of directors in connection with the round.
Web management software provider ADX Labs has supplied $10m in seed capital for Vū Studio, the US-based creator of an LED alternative to green screens, Axios has reported. The company acquired a 20% stake for the money, which will support technology development and the launch of two new studios to add to an existing facility in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Termo, the Italy-based developer of a digital servicing platform for heating, ventilation and air conditioning maintenance, has raised $8.5m in a series C round featuring mass media group Mediaset. The round was led by Fondo Italiano d’Investimento and included Mercurio Holding – Proximity Capital as well as AATech, Termo CEO Gabriele Basile and private investor Pierluigi Di Paolo.
Mana Interactive, a US-based startup developing a digital rewards product for online gaming, has received over $7m in seed funding from investors including cryptocurrency exchange OKEx’s BlockDream Ventures unit. It was joined by One Way Ventures, Pillar, Quasar Holding and angel investors Sundance DiGiovanni and Sandeep Nailwal.
Video game publisher Krafton has led a $6.5m series A round for India-based social network operator Frnd, VCCircle has reported, citing a company statement. India Quotient and Elevation Capital also participated in the round, both as existing investors.
Blockchain app developer Dapper Labs has contributed to a seed round for SportsIcon, the operator of a non-fungible token creation platform for athletes, that is sized at over $5.6m, Coin Telegraph has reported. AU21 Capital, 4th Revolution Capital, Elefund and angel investors Craig Clemens, Vinny Lingham, Nas, Andrew Bogut, Roham Gharegozlou, Nihal Mehta, Mike Edwards and Chad Hurley.
Telecoms firm Bharti Airtel’s accelerator subsidiary has invested an undisclosed amount in Vahan, the India-based creator of an artificial intelligence-equipped recruitment software tool, to increase its stake from 8.8% to 11.7%, Business Standard has reported. Airtel had previously taken part in Vahan’s $8m series A round in September this year.
M&A
Online lender MoneyMe has agreed to acquire Australia-based peer-to-peer lending platform developer SocietyOne in a A$132m ($94.1m) all-share deal, Startup Daily has reported. Reinventure, the VC vehicle funded by financial services firm Westpac, together with media companies News Corp, Seven West Media and Consolidated Press Holdings, and Australian Capital Equity jointly hold about 60% of SocietyOne’s shares and are set to own between 18.3% and 18.7% of MoneyMe once the transaction closes early next year.
Travel technology provider Yanolja Cloud has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire Dable, a South Korea-based content discovery platform developer that counts payment services provider NHN Payco, internet group Kakao and electronics producer Samsung as investors, according to Funtitech, which cited a company statement. Dable had raised over $20m as of a $12m series C round in January this year valuing it at $90m.
Public Markets
US-headquartered online community operator Reddit has confidentially filed for an initial public offering that could enable internet and gaming group Tencent to exit, CNBC has reported. Investment and financial services group Fidelity provided $410m in series F funding for the company in August this year at a $10bn post-money valuation, pushing its overall funding past $1.3bn.
