Sailor’s Weekend Selected Readings.
Editor’s note: Weekly Venture Capital Weekly Report is a fixed column of Overseas Venture Capital (ID: wow36krchuhai). We have compiled the top 5 news, excellent articles, and investment and financing events that are worth watching this week.
Top 5 news this week
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.”
AMC has led the establishment of Singapore Digital Bank in conjunction with New Energy Group and Xiaomi Finance. It is learned that AMTD Group, New Energy Group, Xiaomi Finance and Funding Societies jointly announced the establishment of an exclusive strategic partnership today, and formally applied to the Singapore Monetary Authority of Singapore for the establishment of the Singapore Digital Wholesale Bank on December 31, 2019.
Tencent-backed Sea applies for a full digital banking license in Singapore. Sea runs game company Garena and e-commerce platform Shopee. Tencent Holdings is its largest external shareholder. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Tuesday that 21 entities have applied for digital licenses, of which 7 entities have applied for full digital banking licenses and 14 have applied for digital wholesale banking licenses. (Sina Finance)
Bounce India’s shared electric motorcycle company has completed a Series D financing of approximately $ 97 million. According to Yourstory, this round of financing was led by B Capital and Accel. In addition, investors such as Chiratae Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Omidyar Network and Qualcomm Ventures also participated in this round of financing. It is reported that the company raised $ 72 million in its Series C financing in June last year.
Paytm will not be available soon. According to KrASIA, Vija, founder of PaytmShekhar Sharma told reporters in Mumbai that the company will not seek a public listing in the short term. It is reported that at the end of last year, Paytm raised $ 1 billion at a valuation of $ 16 billion. The round was led by T Rowe Price, with existing investors such as Ant Financial and SoftBank Vision Fund participating. In November last year, SoftBank issued a clause requiring Paytm to apply for an IPO within five years from the date of investment, or the company would be free to sell its shares to competitors. Just as investors and entrepreneurs were discussing exits, Paytm stated that it would not consider listing in the near future.
Recommended articles in the maritime circle:
India’s founder builds 2020’s first unicorn, HighRadius B round of financing 125 million USD
On January 7, HighRadius, a fintech company that provides SaaS services, announced that it has received a US $ 125 million Series B financing led by ICONIQ Capital. According to its founder and CEO Sashi Narahari, the company was valued at more than $ 1 billion after the completion of this round of financing. This also means that the first unicorn will be born in 2020.
On January 9th, Indian unicorn Byju ’s, invested by Tencent, received a USD 200 million investment from Tiger Global with a valuation of USD 8 billion. Byju ’s valuations are skyrocketing at a “rocket” rate. In July last year, the company completed its Series F financing, which took eight months, and the company’s valuation also increased from $ 3.5 billion to $ 5.5 billion.
Investment and financing events
The following investment and financing events are worth watching this week:
India
Future Retail, India’s leading retail chain, plans to raise $ 500 million. According to ET Tech, the company may begin 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.
Ant Financial ServicesZomato in India invested $ 150 million. Bloomberg quoted Indian media ET as saying that the deal valued Zomato at $ 3 billion. This round of transactions is likely to be part of a $ 500 million funding plan to be completed in the next two months.
American venture capital fund Mantra Capital has launched a $ 60 million technology fund for startups in India and the United States. According to Tech in Asia, the fund focuses on deep technology investments. It is reported that Mantra Capital has made initial investments in international markets including Singapore, India and the United States, mainly seed and pre-A rounds. Financing startups provide funding.
The Indian freight platform Rivigo has completed a $ 20 million Series F financing. According to Inc42, Rivigo was established in 2014 and 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.
Southeast Asia
Elara Technologies, a Singapore-based digital real estate company, has raised $ 70 million in financing. According to Yourstory, Murdoch’s Australian real estate and media group REA participated in this round of financing. It is reported that Elara Technologies has also received support from investors such as SoftBank, Accel and SAIF Partners.
Singapore investment agency Antler completed a $ 50 million fundraising for its funds, with Facebook co-founder and Credit Saison participating. According to DealStreetAsia, early-stage Singapore venture capital Antler raised $ 50 million for its funds in Amsterdam, London, New York, Stockholm, Sydney, Nairobi and Singapore.
Temasek leads New Zealand AI company Soul Machines’ $ 40 million Series B financing. According to DealStreetAsia, the company was$ 7.5 million was raised in a Series A round led by entures.
Africa
Data shows that Kenya’s venture capital agencies raised 400 million + US dollars in 2019. According to WeeTracker, WeeTracker’s 2019 financing report shows that venture capital institutions in Kenya raised $ 421.91 million in 2019. It is reported that startups across Africa received $ 1.34 billion in investment last year.
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 was founded in 2005 and 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.
Japan Amoy cross-border e-commerce “Princess Princess” completed a new financing of 5.3 billion yen (about 48 million U.S. dollars) . It is learned that the investors are SBI Holdings Co., Ltd., Japan’s large drug and cosmetics chain Sugi Holdings Co., Ltd., and CITIC Group’s cross-border investment platform, Shinkin Holdings (referred to as Shinkin Holdings).
Lunit, a Korean AI medical startup backed by SoftBank, has completed a $ 26 million Series C financing. According to Tech in Asia, the startup has raised $ 50 million in funding to date. It is reported that Lunit was established in 2013, and its business has covered Mexico, UAE, China, Thailand and South Korea markets.
文 | 郭 沈 @ 出海
Edit | 赵小 纯 @ 出海
Picture | Pexels
