Tag: Inke

23 July 2018 – First Half of 2018 Sets Up Record-breaking Spree for University-linked Deals

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Funds

Petrochemical group Sinopec is committing approximately $1.5bn to an investment firm that will back technologies in areas such as intelligent manufacturing, new materials and energy.

BlackFin directs fintech fund to $210m close

Cyberdyne assembles corporate venturing fund

The Motley Fool launches $100m fund

Anglo American Platinum has been an occasional VC investor but is now transferring its portfolio, along with $100m in capital, to AP Ventures, a newly-formed venture capital fund that will back developers of technologies that utilise platinum.

University

High Alpha reaches $102m

Deals

In this week’s Big Deal we examine the $500m invested by Booking Holdings, the travel services provider formerly known as Priceline Group, in ride hailing service Didi Chuxing as part of a strategic partnership.

SenseTime has already raised some $1.6bn in funding over the past year, but SoftBank Vision Fund is reportedly readying an investment of up to $1bn in the China-based facial recognition technology provider.

Suning’s sports asset management spinoff, Suning Sports, has meanwhile raised $600m in a series A round co-led by Alibaba and Goldman Sachs that included, interestingly enough, SenseTime.

Zuoyebang, a homework assistance service spun off from Baidu’s question-and-answer platform, has received $350m in series D funding, with Coatue Management leading the round.

Online Q+A platform Zhihu Technology has reportedly secured $300m in a Tencent-backed round that valued it at about $2.5bn, taking its overall funding past the $480m mark.

Ascentage Pharma, a cancer, hepatitis B and age-related condition drug developer spun out from Ascenta Therapeutics, has completed a $150m series C round co-led by YuanMing Prudence Fund and Oriza Seed Venture Capital.

Glovo’s on-demand delivery service now spans some 60 cities across 17 countries, and it plans to spend more on international growth after raising $134m in funding from investors including AmRest, which reportedly put up $29m, and existing backer Rakuten.

SoftBank Vision Fund has led a $121m series D round for advanced camera developer Light, which will use the funding to expand its imaging technologies into other sectors.

Social investment community Snowball Finance has raised $120m in series D funding from investors including Ant Financial, and will spend the money on recruitment and the expansion of a range of products that includes financial trading and private equity fundraising platforms.

BookMyShow secures $100m ticket

Unisound turns up the volume with $89m

Orbex orders up venture funding

University

Undo debugs $14m series B

Notre Dame breeds 27 companies in 2017-18

Exits

Group buying platform Pinduoduo is further along the IPO path, having just set terms for an offering that will net it more than $1.6bn if it floats at the top of its range.

Live game streaming platform Inke has secured $134m in its initial public offering despite floating at the foot of its range.

A third China-based company, business finance services provider Pintec, has meanwhile filed for its own IPO in the US.

Otsuka works out Recor Medical acquisition

Xilinx digs up DeePhi acquisition

University

Bossa Nova spots Hawxeye

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

02 July 2018 – AT&T Agrees Acquisition of AppNexus

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Exits

AT&T has agreed an acquisition of AppNexus reported to be priced around the $1.6bn mark, enabling WPP, Microsoft, News Corp and Deutsche Telekom to exit.

PayPal sinks $120m into Simility acquisition

University

TTTech sells stake to B&C

Xiaomi’s IPO has been a long, hard slog for the company. It had originally aimed to raise $10bn in a dual Hong Kong and Shanghai listing that would have valued it at about $100bn, but the Qualcomm-backed electronics producer has had to settle for a $4.7bn offering, solely in Hong Kong, which valued it at $54bn.

Chinese automotive e-commerce marketplace Cango has filed to raise up to $300m in a US-based initial public offering that will allow Tencent, Didi Chuxing and Taikang Life Insurance to exit.

A more recently thriving space involves livestreaming, and China-based Inke has set the terms for an initial public offering in Hong Kong that will net $167m if it floats at the top of the range.

Babytree, a China-based online platform that combines baby and child products, development advice and social networking for parents, has filed for an IPO in its home country.

Outside of China, life sciences companies are driving the US IPO surge, much as they did three three or four years ago. Some half dozen healthcare companies floated the previous week including Magenta Therapeutics, which secured $100m when it floated.

Cancer drug developer Constellation Pharmaceuticals has filed to raise up to $86.3m in an offering that will follow almost $230m in equity funding.

Translate Bio, a developer of messenger RNA drugs for diseases caused by gene or protein dysfunction, has raised over $121m in its own IPO, in the US.

Neon shows way to $100m IPO

Kezar kicks into public markets

Xeris reformulates path to IPO

ElectroCore enters public markets with $78m offering

Allakos aligns itself with $75m IPO

Deals

Transport services provider Go-Jek closed a $1.5bn round earlier this year at a $4.8bn valuation, and is now in talks to raise the same amount in a new round, according to The Information.

Evergrande Health Industry, part of property developer China Evergrande, has taken a 45% stake in smart electric vehicle developer Faraday Future, paying $860m for Season Smart, the investment entity that held a 45% stake in the company.

Showing once again that ride hailing continues to be a vibrant destination for venture funding, Lyft has raised $600m in a Fidelity-led round that valued it at more than $15bn post-money.

PolicyBazaar signs up SoftBank for $238m round

Helix has closed a series B round backed by Illumina and Mayo Clinic at $200m, and will use the funding to expand its personal genomics product marketplace.

Precision BioSciences has closed a $110m series B round backed by Amgen Ventures, Brace Pharma Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments, and will use the proceeds to expand the portfolio of products centred on its genome editing platform.

Advanced battery developer QuantumScape has largely operated in stealth since it was founded in 2010 but has received $100m from Volkswagen as part of a deal that will involve the companies forming a joint venture to bring solid-state batteries to the industrial-scale manufacturing stage by 2025.

AISpeech aces latest round

Cibus harvests $70m in series C funding

B-Stock beats its way to $65m

TouchBistro completes $54m series D order

Carisma charms investors in $53m series A

AIpark finds space for Nio in series B

University

Pennsylvania lines up $50m

Irish spinout generation slides in 2017

Funds

Dementia Discovery Fund delivers $350m close

Charles University spawns TTO

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