AAA Daily Deal Round Up: January 3, 2023

Daily Deal Round Up: January 3, 2023

inflammatory drug
inflammatory disease

M&A

Antibiotic drug provider Forge Therapeutics has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to acquire Blacksmith Medicines, a US-based inflammatory diseases therapy developer spun off by the corporate in early 2021. It had received an undisclosed amount of seed financing from investors including pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly and Evotec as well as Alexandria Venture Investments, a subsidiary of life sciences real estate investment trust Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

Meta, the owner of social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, has bought Luxexcel, a Netherlands-based smart eyewear provider that counts process control equipment manufacturer KLA Tencor, for an undisclosed amount, De Tijd has reported. The corporate invested through a series C round which stood at $16.4m as of 2017, lifting Luxexcel’s total funding to over $24m.

Fund

KuCoin Labs, the Seychelles-based incubation and research subsidiary of cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, has formed an incubation initiative called KuCoin Labs Incubation Program to build blockchain startups. Smartphone producer Vertu has backed the scheme, as have MoonRock Capital, CDH Investment, IOBC Capital, Matrix Partners and unnamed other investors.

Funding

CompanyCompany descriptionSectorCountryRoundRound size($m)Deal dateInvestors
Zhejiang Sinopont TechnologySolar photovolatic film manufacturerEnergy and Natural ResourcesChinaD14502/01/2023State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC Industrial Fund Management); GGV Capital, Citic Securities (Citic Goldstone Fund Management), Source Code Capital, China International Capital Corporation (CICC Capital)
HyseimSemiconductor technology developerITChinaPre-A14.530/12/2022XinComm; Sunic Capital (co-lead), C&D Fund (co-lead), Weed Venture Capital, Clivia Capital
Legit GroupCloud kitchen operatorConsumerIndonesiaA9.402/01/2023Telkom Indonesia (MDI Ventures), Sinar Mas (SMDV); East Ventures
ElchemyOnline chemical marketplaceIndustrialIndiaPre-seed201/01/2023Info Edge (Info Edge Ventures) (lead); unnamed angel investors
TSG TherapeuticsInfectious disease therapy developerHealthcareSingaporeN/A1.603/01/2023Daehan New Pharm
FinAccelMobile financial services providerFinancialSingaporeN/A1.303/01/2023Westpac (Reinventure)
Clean Max ThanosRenewable power providerEnergy and Natural ResourcesIndiaN/A<1 (460,000)02/01/2023Welspun
DecansOrthopaedic surgery technology developerHealthcareChinaB+N/A30/12/2022Zhejiang Jiaxin Silk Corp; ZSCO (Guogai Capital) (lead), Suzhou Huanxiu Lake Venture Capital Center, Everchanting Fund, Lishui Fuchu Fund
Hongxin BiotechGynaecological mRNA drug developerHealthcareChinaAngel+N/A30/12/2023Hinova Pharmaceuticals, Dongbao Enterprise Group; Hongtao Fund Management, Nanling Fund, Shenzhen Credit Guarantee Group, Goldport Capital
Fande TechnologyEnterprise automation system providerIndustrialChinaAngelN/A30/12/2022Infaith Group; Sinovation Ventures (lead), Tsinghua University (TusStar)

By Edison Fu

Edison Fu is a reporter and Asia liaison at Global Corporate Venturing.