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The Big Ones
Tokopedia is already one of the biggest companies to have emerged from Southeast Asia’s increasingly vibrant startup scene, but it is reportedly approaching the close of a $1.5bn round that would include existing investors SoftBank and Alibaba. The round is set to value the e-commerce marketplace at $8bn to $9bn and be led by a $500m investment from Singapore’s Temasek.
UCloud is one of several Chinese companies to have gone public in recent days (for some more, look below), raising $284m in an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market. The cloud services provider counts Bertelsmann Asia Investments among its backers and reportedly landed on Star Market because it allows a dual-class share structure for listed companies, meaning founders can retain substantial voting rights post-IPO.
There have been cases of some prominent corporate investors putting together dedicated impact or diversity-focused funds in recent years but it seems as if this might be a trend that’s picking up steam. Citi and Nestlé have both made steps to join in, Citi putting up $150m for a vehicle called Citi Impact Fund which is tasked with backing companies with a positive impact on society, while Nestlé has earmarked approximately $258m for a fund that will invest in startups operating in the sustainable packaging space.
In crossover news, Skylo Technologies, a Stanford spinout, has emerged from stealth with $116m, $103m of which was recently raised in a series B round led by SoftBank. Stanford spinout Skylo has developed an internet-of-things system designed to work in remote areas while utilising off-the-shelf cellular network components in order to offer a more affordable service.
Deals
GoPuff has not been a big name on the startup scene despite reports that it had raised money at a $1bn valuation in late 2018, but the snack delivery service received $750m six months ago, in a round led by SoftBank Vision Fund, it has emerged.
Berkshire Grey, a US-based robotic fulfilment systems developer, may have come out of stealth 13 months ago but when it came to funding, the company has continued to fly under the radar. That’s now changed, to a degree, with a $263m series B round led by SoftBank.
Two weeks ago, a regulatory filing told us that Mastercard-backed AvidXchange had secured $130m in fresh funding from two unnamed investors, but it looks like the company was much further ahead in discussions: it’s actually raised $260m in funding – though it’s only revealed TPG Sixth Street Partners as an investor. Notably, AvidXchange has been around much longer than most companies we come across in the daily newsletter, having been founded in 2000 and already clocking 5,500 clients for its automated invoicing and payment processing platform.
Doing even better when it comes to a large customerbase is AppsFlyer, a marketing platform that serves more than 12,000 brands including many well-known companies, such as eBay, Macy’s and HBO. That alone was likely reason enough for Deutsche Telekom Capital
The meat alternatives sector is one that’s really picking up pace on the funding side, though most of the capital has so far gone to plant-based meat substitute developers. However, Memphis Meats is pursuing meat that is grown directly from cells and has raised $161m in a series B round co-led by SoftBank.
Qonto has raised almost as much, $115m, in a series C round it claims is the largest ever for a French fintech company. Tencent co-led the round with DST Global, and the business banking platform developer is seeking a full European licence while boosting its staff numbers from 200 to 300.
Electric scooter and bike rental service Bounce has secured $105m in series D funding from investors including Qualcomm Ventures at a valuation that sits around the $500m mark.
Goldman Sachs has invested in cloud cybersecurity platform developer Sysdig as part of a $70m series E round that increased its overall funding to more than $200m. US-headquartered Sysdig disclosed the round, which was led by venture firm Insight Partners, on the same day as the launch of a dedicated Japanese subsidiary that comes in the wake of offices opening in Spain and Italy.
Elsewhere in Asia, LivSpace has lifted its latest funding round to $60m as it moves towards the close of a round reportedly expected to reach $90m to $100m next month. The interior design services marketplace reportedly boasts Ikea franchisee Ingka as an investor, the company having invested an amount between $10m and $15m in the company last May that looks as if it could have been part of the ongoing round.
Funds
MassMutual Ventures, US-based insurance firm MassMutual’s corporate venture capital arm, has launched a $100m Southeast Asia fund, bringing the unit’s overall capital under management to $350m. Founded in 2014, MassMutual Ventures invests in areas such as fintech, digital health, cybersecurity and enterprise software.
Exits
Uber divested several regional services prior to going public, through mergers with local operators that gave them sizeable stakes in the buyers. Now it looks to be repeating the trick with its Uber Eats food delivery business. The company has sold its Indian Uber Eats operation to food listings and ordering platform Zomato in a transaction that gave it a 10% stake. Considering Zomato is raising money at a reported $3bn valuation, that isn’t a bad chunk of change.
Revolution Medicines, a US-based cancer treatment exploiting research from multiple universities, has filed for a $100m initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Market. Revolution was established by biotech company builder Third Rock Ventures and co-founded by Martin Burke from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Michael Fischbach from Stanford University and Kevan Shokat from University of California, Berkeley. Sanofi is also in line for an exit here, as the pharma company obtained series B shares in Revolution Medicines when the latter acquired US-based genomic medicine developer Warp Drive Bio, which was co-founded by Sanofi, in an all-share deal in 2018.
E-commerce firm Mercari has agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to acquire Origami, the developer of QR code-based mobile payment app that will be integrated into the Merpay platform Mercari launched in 2017. Origami had raised $88m in funding and typically for a Japanese company, it had a substantial amount of corporate backers including SoftBank, KDDI, Nihon Unisys, Mitsui Sumitomo Card Company, Union Pay International, JCB, Credit Saison and several banks.
“Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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