Funding
China-based tea brand Chali has raised tens of millions of dollars from investors including Country Garden Venture Capital, the corporate venturing arm of real estate developer Country Garden, DealStreetAsia reported today, citing a company statement. VC firm GGV Capital led the round, which included WeiVC and CEC Capital. Chali secured about $1.6m from unnamed investors in 2014 and the same the following year, and DealStreetAsia identified Country Garden Venture Capital and CEC Capital as existing investors.
STV, the venture capital firm backed by telecommunications firm Saudi Telecom, has led a $27.5m series B round for Floward, the Kuwait-based operator of an online florist and gifting platform, Menabytes reported yesterday. Asset manager Impact 46 also participated in the round, having led a $2.75m series A round for the company in October 2020 that also featured Faith Capital and BNK, taking its total funding to almost $7m.
Japan-based digital travel agency Reiwa Travel received ¥2.25bn ($20.4m) in seed funding today from investors including mobile game publisher Akatsuki’s Heart Driven Fund. The corporate was joined by Anri, Chiba Dojo Fund, Global Brain, Jafco Group and angel investors Keisuke Honda, Jun Nishikawa, Roi Shigematsu, Tomohiro Somehara, Shōko Takahashi and Makoto Takeuch.
News aggregation app developer Gunosy has joined VC firm Blume Ventures to provide $20m for Slice, the India-based operator of an online platform which helps users pay off credit card bills, the Economic Times reported today. Gunosy led a $6m round for the company in June 2020, investing alongside EMVC, Better Capital, Das Capital and Kunal Shah to increase its overall funding to $23.5m.
Automotive manufacturer SAIC’s corporate venturing unit, SAIC Capital, has co-led a series A round for China-based automotive safety technology developer Enjoy Move Technology through its Hengxu Capital vehicle, DealStreetAsia reported on Friday, citing a WeChat post. The round was co-led by VC firm Sequoia Capital China and also featured automotive chipmaker Horizon Robotics and Legend Star, a subsidiary of conglomerate Legend Holdings. It followed a $1.4m seed round co-led by Legend Star and BAIC Capital, a subsidiary of carmaker BAIC, in April 2020.
Ubco, a New Zealand-based producer of electric motorcycles, has secured $10m in a funding round co-led by touch panel manufacturer TPK Holdings. VC funds Seven Peak Ventures and Nuance Capital co-led the round with TPK, and it included GD1, Snowball Effect and Enterprise Angels. The company had previously raised $2.7m from investors including Spring Capital in 2017.
Digital currency exchange operator Huobi provided an undisclosed amount of funding for Beyond Finance, the US-based operator of a trading platform for synthetic financial products, yesterday, through corporate venturing unit Huobi Ventures. Beyond Finance had agreed a $60m senior credit facility with Comvest Credit Partners in April 2019 and a $110m credit facility with Comvest Credit Partners in February this year.
India-based esports and livestreaming platform developer Loco has received $9m in seed capital from investors including video game developer Krafton, VentureBeat reported today. Lumikai, Hashed, Hiro Capital, North Base Media, Axilor Ventures and 3one4 Capital also contributed to the round, which funded the spinoff of Loco from its parent company, digital content studio Pocket Aces.
Gas utility Tokyo Gas invested an undisclosed amount in Ubiden, the Japan-based provider of electric vehicle charging service WeCharge, today. The cash was supplied in connection with a business and capital partnership and came in the wake of WeCharge being launched earlier this month.
M&A
E-commerce group Amazon’s cloud services subsidiary, AWS, has paid an undisclosed amount to acquire Wickr, a US-based a secure messaging platform developer that had raised about $88m from investors including networking technology provider Juniper Networks, video game developer Wargaming and financial exchange operator CME Group, it revealed on Friday. The company last raised money in 2018 when it secured $6m according to a securities filing, following $8.75m from similarly undisclosed investors the previous year.
Healthcare data and analytics software producer Health Catalyst has agreed to purchase US-based patient engagement software developer Twistle in a deal of undisclosed size which will allow healthcare providers MemorialCare Health System, Providence St. Joseph Health and ChristianaCare to exit. The company closed a series A round featuring all three in January 2020 – with MemorialCare investing through its Innovation Fund – in addition to private equity firm Health Enterprise Partners. It had previously received $820,000 in 2011, $330,000 in convertible debt financing in 2015 and $1.5m in convertible debt two years later, according to securities filings.
Telecoms firms Telkom Indonesia and Telstra have exited Australia-based organisational data platform developer Panviva in an acquisition of undisclosed size by digital transformation software provider Upland. The company raised $4m from SBI Jefferies Asia Fund, a joint venture formed by financial services provider SBI Group and investment bank Jeffries, in 2013 before adding an undisclosed amount from Telstra unit Telstra Ventures the following year. It is also listed as a portfolio company by Telkom subsidiary MDI Ventures.
