04 September 2017 – Expedia CEO Moves to Uber

Funds

University

OSI secures Legal & General backing

Imperial gives founders a choice

Government

Vertex pushes beyond $150m

Széchenyi gains $31m

St Louis hammers out fund details

Exits

Dara Khosrowshahi, the new chief executive of Uber, did not waste any time in making clear his ambitions for the ride-sharing company: in an all-hands meeting ahead of officially taking over – he starts his job on Tuesday – he declared not only that he is committed to paying the bills and taking big shots to secure the company’s future, but also that he intends to take Uber public within 18 to 36 months.

Best, a supply chain services provider backed by Alibaba, Cainiao and, reportedly, Foxconn, has increased the stakes of its initial public offering by filing an updated regulatory document that puts the figure at $1bn, up from $750m.

Berry Genomics has completed its reverse merger with Shenzen-listed Chengdu Tianxing Instrument and Meter, first announced in December 2016.

Synlogic processes Mirna merger

CSL accesses Calimmune for $91m

Western Digital gets Upthere

University

Big deal: Nightstar to light up stock market

Investments

Singapore-based Grab is slowly inching towards its $2.5bn goal for a series G round that already stood at $2bn thanks to commitments from SoftBank and Didi Chuxing.

GoGoVan reaches for 58 Suyun

Food delivery is hotly contested sector and many of the startups involved have changed hands – be that for example TastyKhana being purchased by Food Panda, which in turn was later acquired by Delivery Hero, or Just Eat subsidiary Hellofood Brazil becoming part of iFood. Now another one is joining the list: Waimai has been acquired by Ele.me for a reported $800m (which would be down significantly from the estimated $2.5bn valuation last year).

Alibaba and Yunfeng Capital, the investment vehicle of the e-commerce group’s founder Jack Ma, have put $152m into cloud computing business Qiniuyun.

Freenome, a healthtech developer has added $7m to its series A to close the round, already backed by GV, at $72m.

Armo Biosciences has added $67m to its coffers in a series C1 round that featured GV and Celgene, who both also participated in a $50m series C in February last year.

The biggest deal of the day comes from the US, where Qadium has amassed $40m in a series B round led by Institutional Venture Partners.

In China, Abcfintech has added $30m to its coffers thanks to investors such as Susquehanna International Group’s SIG Asia Investment. Abcfintech operates cloud-based AI platforms that help financial services firms visualise their data and predict the performance of public stock.

Alice, the developer of a hotel management platform, has secured $26m in series B funding from Expedia in a deal facilitated by Khosrowshahi before he stepped down to join Uber.

VideoAmp, the developer of an advertising technology platform that tracks the impact of campaigns across television, video on-demand, over-the-top and digital content, has secured $21.4m in series B capital from Mediaocean and returning backer RTL, among others.

Government

Vulog eyes $20m series B

University

CureFit exercises with $25m


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

01 August 2016 – Asian Funds, MyTaxi hails Hailo, University Record Breaking and more

People

Intel Capital has chosen Christine Herron and Trina Van Pelt to manage its $125m Intel Capital Diversity Fund.

A former startup CEO, Herron joined Intel Capital in 2010 after a combined five years as a venture investor at First Round Capital and Omidyar Network.

Funds

Rozenfeld’s new firm targets $30m fund

Alibaba Pictures is set to go into corporate venturing, providing $75m for a $300m fund that will target strategic investments in companies in partnership with asset manager Gopher Asset.

Another Chinese media player, outdoor advertising company Focus Media, is initiating its own strategic investment activities, raising four $75m funds, each of which will be a collaboration with a different investment firm.

Pharmaceutical company Astellas has formed a joint venture called DigiTx Partners with life sciences venture firm MPM Capital in order to invest in digital health technology.

My Home looks to construct $75m fund

Siam Commercial Bank forwards corporate venturing plans

Corporates okay second KK Fund

University

NYU computes AI accelerator

SNÉ attracts $2.5m

New Zealand researches $150m Australian fund

Government

Taiwan upgrades economy with $3.1bn

Big deal: German startups to benefit from $1.1bn

Flanders helps expand IoT fund

Exits

India-based online fashion retailer Jabong was said to be in talks for a $1.2bn acquisition by Amazon less than two years ago, but how times have changed for the e-commerce sector since then. The company, part of Rocket Internet’s Global Fashion Group stable, is set to be acquired by Flipkart for only $70m in a bid to stem GFG’s losses.

Chinese internet, media and electronics group LeEco has grown at an astounding rate over the past two years through some large-sized investments, and now it is looking to expand into the US through the $2bn acquisition of consumer electronics producer Vizio.

Unilever is set to exit social marketing platform Olapic in a $130m acquisition by Monotype.

Platfora gets up for Workday acquisition

MyTaxi gets a friendly Hailo in merger deal

Government

Talend recruits $94.5m for IPO

Investments

Mitsui already holds stakes in numerous Asian healthcare companies, and now it has invested $101m in Columbia Asia, the Asian branch of US-based care provider Columbia Pacific Management.

UBtech interacts with investors for $100m

Hero Sports, the eSports company spun out by Chinese game publisher Hero Entertainment in May, has raised $96m in a round led by outdoor advertising group Focus Media, which invested $45m.

Upthere launched its personal cloud storage service yesterday, at the same time revealing it has raised $77m in a round led by strategic investor Western Digital and venture firm KPCB.

Mobile gaming company Scopely has taken its total funding to just short of $100m in a $55m series B round that included game developer and publisher Take-Two Interactive.

EverFi, the operator of a critical skills and compliance learning platform with more than 14 million users certified, has raised $40m in capital from investors including Advanced Publications.

Wonder Workshop, an Alphabet-backed developer of educational robots that can help teach kids about coding and fundamental computer skills, has secured $20m in a series B round that will enable it to enter Asia.

Government

Byju’s to educate itself with $50m

University

Big deal: Universities keep breaking records


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