Tag: “Beyond Meat”

06 May 2019 – Rappi Raises $1bn from Two SoftBank Vehicles

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

The Big 3

Colombia-based on-demand delivery service Rappi has raised a total of $1bn from two SoftBank vehicles: the $5bn Innovation Fund managed by company COO Marcelo Claure, and its $98.6bn Vision Fund.

Beyond Meat has had quite a week, first upgrading the range for its IPO and then floating at the top of the range to raise approximately $241m.

Philippine conglomerate Ayala is looking to put together $150m for a corporate venturing fund and is planning to source the money from its range of subsidiaries.

On GUV, FutureLearn, the UK-based massive open online courses provider set up by Open University (OU), obtained $65m from online education and recruitment firm Seek Group.

Deals

Robotics programming software provider UiPath has carried on its funding form, securing $568m in a series D round that represents its fourth round in just two years.

GetYourGuide was initially reported to have raised approximately $556m in series E funding from SoftBank, but the company has came out a couple of days later to label the report as inaccurate.

NTT Docomo has become the largest corporate investor in augmented reality technology developer Magic Leap, providing $280m in connection with a strategic partnership deal.

Glovo, the Spain-based last-mile delivery platform that’s expanded into the Latin American market and is a rival to the aforementioned Rappi, has also just raised some big money, having received $168m in a series D round.

Indian trucking services marketplace BlackBuck has raised more series D funding to close out the round at $150m, at a valuation just shy of $1bn. Goldman Sachs co-led the round, bringing BlackBuck’s overall equity financing to $230m.

Business management software producer Deskera has raised about $40m from Mirae Asset – Naver Asia Growth Fund to take its series A round past the $100m mark.

US-based online education platform Coursera secured $103m in a series E round led by online education and recruitment firm Seek Group. Future Fund, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, also took part in the round, as did venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA).

Funds

Toyota formed its Toyota AI Ventures unit in mid-2017 with $100m of capital and now, almost two years later, it’s pumped the same amount into a Fund II.

Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF), an Australian government-backed initiative investing in technologies from more than 50 Australia and New Zealand-based research institutions and hospitals, has raised an initial A$210m ($148m) for its fifth fund.

Exits

Slack has officially filed for its direct listing, putting up an initial $100m target.

The We Company (née WeWork) has revealed it confidentially filed for an initial public offering in December last year.

Chinese cosmetic procedure booking service SoYoung went public in the US on Friday, after pricing a $179m initial public offering at the high end of the range.

Codiak Biosciences has filed to raise up to $86.3m in its IPO, having already secured more than $168m in venture funding from investors including Alexandria Venture Investments.

Telecommunications company Axiata has built up a corporate venturing portfolio worth $140m through its Axiata Digital unit but has now decided to divest it to Pegasus 7 Ventures, a newly-formed independent fund run by one of its former executives.

“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

26 November 2018 – Coupang Gains Second SoftBank Investment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Deals

SoftBank invested $1bn in online marketplace Coupang three years ago, and has returned to provide another $2bn in funding through its Vision Fund at a $9bn valuation. South Korea-based Coupang expects to generate about $5bn in revenue this year and will use the funding to upgrade its end-to-end fulfilment system and add new features to its platform.

It looks like a busy week for SoftBank, as the Coupang agreement was disclosed shortly before news that SoftBank has reportedly also led a $1bn round for another Asian e-commerce platform, Indonesia’s Tokopedia, this time at a $7bn valuation.

Walmart completed its $16bn acquisition of a 77% stake in Indian e-commerce platform Flipkart in August, and it has now reportedly increased that stake to 81.3%.

Leap Motor has become the latest Chinese smart electric car startup to raise big money, taking in $288m through a series A round co-led by corporates Shanghai Electric and CRRC Corporation.

Visa has invested $200m in Billdesk and bought between $80m and $100m in secondary shares, in a deal that reportedly valued the Indian bill payment platform at $1.8bn.

Golden Education, a China-based provider of professional trading for members of the financial services industry, has raised $115m in a series C round that was co-led by investment bank Morgan Stanley and Hillhouse Capital.

Xiaoqule launched its community-based e-commerce platform in August and is so far present in 30 Chinese cities. It has also secured $108m in series A funding from investors including Ping An Ventures and SIG Asia.

On Global University Venturing, OMass Therapeutics, a UK-based biopharmaceutical spinout of University of Oxford, closed $17.9m series A round featuring university venture fund Oxford Sciences Innovation and Syncona, which led the round.

On Global Government Venturing, Geek+, a China-based developer of artificial intelligence and robotics services, has raised $150m in a series B round backed by Vertex Ventures, the venture capital arm of Singaporean state-owned investment firm Temasek.

Funds

Applied Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of semiconductor producer Applied Materials, has teamed up with New York State’s Empire State Development vehicle in a drive to invest in companies based in upstate New York.

Japanese telecommunications company NTT has closed its newly formed Silicon Valley VC fund, NTT Venture Capital, at $500m.

On Global University Venturing, Chinese Academy of Sciences and financial services holding company Guangzhou Finance Holdings have launched a $43.2m fund partly focused on commercialising the academy’s research.

Exits

Rocket Internet has had several of its e-commerce entities go public in recent years, and the latest looks likely to be Global Fashion Group, the entity that operates five online fashion retailers in different territories.

Autodesk has agreed to acquire construction management software provider PlanGrid for $875m in an all-cash deal that will provide healthy exits for Alphabet’s CapitalG unit as well as Box. PlanGrid had raised less than $70m and both the corporates invested at seed stage.

Babytree is meanwhile set to raise $217m in its own IPO, in Hong Kong. The China-based media and e-commerce platform will be valued at $1.5bn, a drop of around 30% from June when Alibaba subsidiary Taobao invested a reported $214m.

Online travel services provider Tongcheng-eLong has floated in Hong Kong, in a $180m initial public offering that represents a downturn from the reported $1bn target the company initially set as well as the $233m target it put up earlier this month.

Vegan meat substitute developer Beyond Meat has filed for a $100m initial public offering that would enable Tyson New Ventures and the General Mills-owned 301 Ventures to exit.

On Global University Venturing, Synthorx, a US-based immuno-oncology drug spinout of Scripps Research Institute, has filed for a $100m initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market.

“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0