Deals Gogoro has developed an electric scooter that it sells alongside access to a network of stations where riders can swap batteries, and it’s raised $300m in a series C round featuring Sumitomo, Engie and Panasonic at a reported valuation of more than $800m. Slack has officially closed a $250m funding round led by SoftBank … Continue reading "25 September 2017 – Gogoro Raises $300m for Electric Scooter with Swappable Batteries"

Exits All eyes will be on Chinese online property and casualty insurance platform ZhongAn next week as it is lining up a Hong Kong IPO that could net it as much as $1.5bn. Advanced data centre developer and builder Switch is looking at its fifth straight profitable year, and has filed to raise up to $100m on … Continue reading "18 September 2017 – ZhongAn Lines up $1.5bn IPO"

Exits Johnson & Johnson is celebrating an exit with the acquisition of its portfolio company NeoTract by Teleflex for a total consideration of $1.1bn. Intel Capital also celebrated an exit as its portfolio company StarCash, a digital gift card service, was acquired by fintech company Blackhawk Network for $175m in cash. Madsack hails CleverShuttle Paytm to make … Continue reading "11 September 2017 – Judging Purchase Versus Investment"

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 … Continue reading "04 September 2017 – Expedia CEO Moves to Uber"

Funds China Life and Baidu combine for $1bn fund SparkLabs sets up $50m Seah-anchored fund Kuppam’s Epsilon anticipates $350m close Government Monash BDI joins MRCF Investments SoftBank ploughs $4.4bn into WeWork VIPKid is the latest participant to close a substantial round, pulling in $200m from investors including Tencent at a reported valuation of more than $1.5bn. Deep … Continue reading "28 August 2017 – VIPKid Closes Round with Reported $1.5bn Valuation"

We talked a lot about SoftBank’s Vision Fund last week and about how it invested $2.5bn in e-commerce marketplace Flipkart, led a $1.1bn round for life sciences and healthcare technology developer Roivant Sciences and hooked up with its parent company to inject $1bn into sports e-commerce platform Fanatics. But if you want more insight into … Continue reading "21 August 2017 – $1.7bn Chinese EV Investment"

Deals Flipkart’s prospective acquisition of SoftBank portfolio company Snapdeal may have broken down less than two weeks ago but the corporate has wasted no time coming up with an alternative. It has invested an amount sources told LiveMint is at least $2.5bn in Flipkart. We all marvelled at the size of SoftBank’s Vision Fund but … Continue reading "14 August 2017 – SoftBank/Flipkart Investment Following Acquisition Breakdown"

Funds The government of the UK revealed it is considering the creation of a National Investment Fund to support startups that could become unicorns. The Canadian government has announced it will make its visa scheme for entrepreneurs a permanent fixture. Singapore-based venture capital firm Prestellar Ventures has raised $100m for a fund that counts Nepal-headquartered … Continue reading "07 August 2017 – Possible UK National Investment Fund"

Deals Southeast Asian on-demand ride platform Grab confirmed it has raised $2bn in funding from SoftBank and Didi Chuxing, reportedly at a $6bn post-money valuation. And in other SoftBank news, the corporate has reportedly entered talks with bicycle sharing service Ofo to lead a $1bn round that could also include existing investor Didi Chuxing. Co-working … Continue reading "31 July 2017 – The SoftBank Show"

Deals One of the regional ride hailing platforms backed by SoftBank and Didi Chuxing is Southeast Asia-based Grab, which is reportedly in talks to raise up to $2bn in a round that will feature both. If you read the Big Deal, you’ll know that SoftBank already holds stakes in ride hailing unicorns Didi Chuxing, Ola … Continue reading "24 July 2017 – Those Who Rule Data Will Rule the Entire World"