There was an abundance of big deals in December, as stand-out high-growth companies continued to attract huge cash piles from investors. The three biggest investments were all in taxi-sharing companies. Notably, US-based ride-sharing company Uber, backed by Google Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the internet company, secured $1.2bn in series E financing from undisclosed investors, and separately revealed it would be forging a strategic partnership with China-based search engine Baidu.
China-based taxi-hailing app developer Didi Dache raised $700m in a series D round featuring internet company Tencent, and the third-largest deal was Malaysia-based taxi-booking app operator GrabTaxi raising $250m in series D funding from internet and telecoms firm SoftBank, which became the company’s largest investor.
Germany-based online retailer Lazada secured €200m ($240m) in a series F round. Investors included corporate-backed incubator and venture capital firm Rocket Internet. Past corporate investors in Lazada include retail chain Tesco and Tengelmann Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of the German retail conglomerate.
China-based microfinance provider Fenqile closed a $100m round led by investment firm DST Global that included media company Bertelsmann, according to Chinese startup news source iHeima.
The largest exit was Lending Club, a US-based online credit marketplace backed by Norwest Venture Partners, which raised $870m in its New York Stock Exchange initial public offering (IPO). Norwest, which is backed solely by bank Wells Fargo, remains Lending Club’s largest shareholder, with a 14% stake after the IPO. Google Capital, the growth equity arm of the internet company, is also an investor.
US-based credit platform OnDeck Capital secured a $200m IPO. Sapphire Ventures, the corporate venturing affiliate of software company SAP, retained an 8.4% stake, down from 9.9%, while Google Ventures stake was diluted from 6.2% to 5.3%.