In addition, India ’s leading retail chain Future Retail plans to raise US $ 500 million; South Korean private equity firm VIG Partners has completed its fourth fundraising and raised a total of US $ 810 million.
India
Li Yanhong, the founder of Baidu, went to India for the first time. According to ET, Li Yanhong visited the Indian market for the first time. It is reported that India is home to the second largest group of Internet users, accounting for 12% of global users. Li Yanhong also said at the IIT-Madras conference that India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets in the world. According to reports, so far, Baidu has been focusing on China’s search engines and driverless cars, but the pace of global promotion has been slow. Compared to the layout of other Chinese technology giants in India, Baidu’s only application that has an important position in the Indian market is the Face Emoji keyboard launched in 2018. Therefore, Li Yanhong’s visit to India is also seen as Baidu’s move to “catch up.”
Future Retail, India’s leading retail chain, plans to raise $ 500 million. According to ET Tech, people familiar with the matter revealed that Future Retail, which runs the Indian supermarket Big Bazaar, plans to raise $ 500 million in its first overseas bond issuance. It is reported that Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan Chase will all raise funds for the company. In addition, it is reported that the company may start road shows in Singapore, London, Los Angeles and New York this week. These bonds may have maturities of three and five years and will be open for subscription in the next two weeks.
The Indian freight platform Rivigo has completed a $ 20 million Series F financing. According to Inc42, investors in this round of financing include Rivigo’s existing investors and investment agency Trifecta Capital. It is reported that Trifecta Capital invested $ 3.4 million this time. It is reported that the company raised $ 65 million in July last year. Established in 2014, Rivigo mainly provides freight services for companies in the e-commerce, pharmaceutical, automotive, cold chain and fast moving consumer goods industries.
Satin Creditcare, an Indian microfinance company, has raised $ 15 million. According to DealStreetAsia, this round of financing was invested by the Austrian Development Bank. It is reported that this is the third time Satin Creditcare has raised funds from foreign financial institutions. It is reported that the fundraising will help the Indian microfinance bank to strengthen its loan services to existing and potential customer groups, as well as IndiaBusiness expansion in the market.
Southeast Asia
Beyond Group applies for digital banking license in Singapore. According to Tech in Asia, Singapore luxury goods group V3 and Singapore e-wallet EZ-Link led the formation of the Beyond Group to apply for Singapore’s digital banking license. It is reported that real estate developer Far East, Singapore Business Federation (SBF), Japanese insurance company Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance and Temasek’s Heliconia Capital Management have all participated in the group. At present, companies that have applied for full digital banking licenses include the joint venture established by Grab and Singtel and Razer Fintech, a Fintech company owned by Razer, and companies that have applied for retail digital banking licenses, including Ant Financial and iFast Corporation A joint venture formed by the company, crowdfunding platform Funding Societies, Sheng Ye Capital, Phillip Capital, and AI startup Advance.AI. It is also reported that Byte Beat is also applying for Singapore Digital Banking License.
It is said that a $ 200 million transaction between Singapore shipping company Swiber and New York-listed shipping company Seaspan has been terminated. According to DealStreetAsia, if the transaction is completed, Swiber will be able to get a $ 200 million investment from Seaspan. However, the two sides failed to reach an agreement until the deadline, so the $ 200 million deal was stranded.
Latin America
BYD ’s first overall design of the cloud track overseas was approved and construction is about to begin. On January 3, 2020, El Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, Brazil, the overall design of the first overseas cloud track to be built by Chinese company BYD was officially approved by the state government. Office held. The permit for the first phase of the project was issued on December 10, 2019. The next two weeks, the second phase of the project was successfully signed, and the overall project is expected to officially begin in early 2020. This is the first cloud track project announced by BYD overseas. (World Wide Web)
Africa
Ghana’s retail technology startup KudiGO opens an office in Nigeria and enters the East African market. According to Disrupt Africa, KudiGO was launched in November 2018 as a consumer retailer for Ghana and NigeriaThe industry provides an analysis engine that integrates retail, payment, and accounting functions. Based on historical data, it helps more than 1,000 companies receive payments, track inventory, and establish a reasonable financial model. It is reported that in April 2019, KudiGO raised $ 450,000 in seed funding to expand its customer base and launch new products.
Others
South Korean private equity firm VIG Partners has completed its fourth fundraising and raised a total of US $ 810 million. According to DealStreetAsia, VIG Partners raised more than the expected $ 800 million. It is reported that VIG Partners Fund IV has received support from pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies from the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. Founded in 2005, VIG Partners invests in SMEs in many industries including financial services, consumer products, online and mobile commerce, and home appliances. The company currently manages more than $ 3 billion in funds across all funds.
Tencent is the second largest shareholder of South Korea ’s largest pure internet bank IPO at the end of 2020. On January 3, Li Yongyu, co-CEO of Kakao Bank, Korea’s largest pure internet bank, told the media that the company plans to IPO in South Korea by the end of 2020. According to public information, KakaoBank is a Korean Internet bank launched by Korean investment holding company and Internet company Kakao. Nine companies including Korean Investment Financial Holding Company, National Bank, and eBay have participated as shareholders, with a capital of 300 billion won (approximately RMB 1.836 billion), of which Tencent is its second largest shareholder. (Tencent Finance)
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