Early stage
VCs invest $25m in Japan's Plaid
Japanese digital marketing services provider Plaid has raised JPY1.5 billion ($25.1 million) from a group of VCs including existing investor Eight Roads Ventures Japan and Femto Partners.
Softbank leads $25m round for Singapore fintech player
Softbank Ventures Korea has led a $25 million Series B round for Funding Societies, a Singapore-based financial technology company focused on crowdfunding and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending.
VCs back $12m Series B for Japan's Optical Comb
Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) has joined a group of VCs in a JPY1.3 billion ($12 million) Series B round for Optical Comb, a Tokyo-based auto industry supplier that uses advanced 3D scanning technology.
China-Indonesia VC: Biding their time
Investments by China's tech giants becoming more prominent in Indonesia's tech space, but Chinese VC investors continue to tread cautiously in the country for the most part
VCs invest $12m in US, Southeast Asia-based Element
A number of Asian VCs including MDI Ventures, a unit of Telkom Indonesia, have joined a $12 million Series A round for Element, a biometrics technology developer based in New York, Jakarta, and Singapore.
China’s Meiliche Jinrong raises another $38m
Meiliche Jinrong, the online auto finance unit of Chinese consumer loans site Meili Jinrong, has raised an additional RMB239 million ($37.88 million) for its Series B round.
China's CMAB Biopharma gets $34m Series B
CD Capital, a Chinese healthcare-focused VC also known as CDBI Partners, has led a $34 million Series B round for CMAB Biopharma, a manufacturing services provider for biologic product developers.
VCs back $60m round for US, China-based Singlera Genomics
Chinese VCs Green Pine Capital Partners and Prosperico Ventures have led a $60 million Series A investment in US and China-based cancer diagnosis specialist Singlera Genomics.
VCs invest $15m in Australian space, IoT start-up
Myriota, an Australian space technology company focused on orbital internet-of-things (IoT) connectivity systems, has closed a $15 million Series A round led by Main Sequence Ventures and Blue Sky Venture Capital.
Deal focus: SBI helps Japan AI player smarten up the road
SBI Investments backs a Japanese start-up focused on improving decision-making technology in self-driving cars
China B2B consumer goods distribution platform raises $33m
Zskuaixiao, a China-based business-to-business (B2B) consumer goods distributing platform, has completed a RMB205 million ($33 million) Series B round led by warehouse operator Global Logistics Properties (GLP) and Longzhu Capital – a corporate investment...
Australia virtual data room provider gets $18.5m
Australia’s Ellerston Capital has led a A$24 million ($18.5 million) Series A round for Ansarada, a domestic business services company that provides virtual data rooms and artificial intelligence-enabled due diligence.
China’s CHJ Automotive raises $474m Series B
Chinese electric vehicle maker CHJ Automotive has completed a RMB3 billion ($474 million) Series B round led by Matrix Partners China and Shougang Fund, an investment firm backed by state-owned steel producer Shougang Corporation.
Shunwei leads $25m Series B for US, China-based ScaleFlux
Shunwei Capital has led a $25 million Series B round for ScaleFlux, a hardware firm based in the US and China.
Hong Kong pledges to foster local start-up ecosystem
Hong Kong plans to increase funding to two local incubation programs – Cyberport and Hong Kong Science & Technology Park (HKSTP) – in the expectation they will play a leading role in the drive to turn the territory into an innovation hub.
Singapore, Australia VCs team up for $125m fund
Singapore-based VC firm Hatcher and Australian accelerator BlueChilli will jointly invest a $125 million exchange-traded fund that will back 240 start-ups globally over the next three years.
VCs in $47m round for Chinese AI medical imaging firm
Beijing Infervision, a Chinese company that develops medical imaging technology empowered by artificial intelligence (AI), has raised RMB300 million ($47 million) in funding from investors including Xianghe Capital.
SBI backs Japan autonomous driving start-up Ascent
SBI Investment has made the first investment from its artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technology fund, leading a JPY1.1 billion ($10.3 million) round for Japan’s Ascent Robotics.
Deal focus: Qutoutiao finds its own news angle
With a market focus and a user acquisition mechanism that differentiate it from other Chinese news and video apps, Qutoutiao impressed Tencent Holdings enough to secure a $200 million Series B round
Redpoint China closes debut RMB fund at $110m
Redpoint China Ventures has closed its debut renminbi-denominated VC fund at RMB700 million ($110 million).
Tencent leads $200m round for China’s Qutoutiao
Tencent Holdings has led a Series B round worth more than $200 million for Qutoutiao, a Chinese mobile news reading app. The round gives the company a post-money valuation of $1.6 billion.
Australia invests $12m in domestic agtech ecosystem
The state government of Victoria in Australia has confirmed a plan to invest A$15 million ($12 million) in the local agricultural technology sector.
Singapore's GTR Ventures invests five fintech companies
GTR Ventures, a Singapore-headquartered VC firm launched last September, has made its debut investments in five financial technology companies.
MDI leads $10m round for Australia's Whispir
MDI Ventures, the corporate VC arm of state-controlled telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia, has led a $10 million funding round for Australian communications platform Whispir.
