Expansion
CDC leads $20m round for Indian data annotation firm
UK-based development finance institution CDC Group led a $20 million funding round for iMerit, a firm that helps train artificial intelligence (AI) processes.
GGV, BII lead $60m round for Indian gold loan start-up
Rupeek, an India-based online gold loan marketplace, has received $60 million in a funding round led by GGV Capital and Bertelsmann India Investments.
Japanese investors commit $856m to Grab
Singapore-based ride-hailing and online-to-offline (O2O) services platform Grab has raised $856 million from Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and TIS Intec Group.
India’s BharatPe raises $75m Series C
BharatPe, a digital payment services provider for offline businesses, has raised $75 million to help fund a non-banking financial company (NBFC) that will issue loans to small businesses.
Prosus leads $113m Series I for Swiggy
Swiggy, an Indian food and grocery delivery platform, has received $113 million in a Series I round led by Prosus Ventures, formerly known as Naspers Ventures and Food.
Sequoia leads Series C for Indian onboarding SaaS
Sequoia Capital India has led a $32 million Series C round for Whatfix, an Indian software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm that helps enterprises increase digital adoption rates.
GP profile: DSG Consumer Partners
A relentless curiosity about the Indian consumer’s journey has helped DSG Consumer Partners carve out a niche in the early stage investment space for companies with emerging local brands
Deal focus: Circles.Life strives to be different
Circles.Life wants to think bigger, and broader, about its telecom offering than competing mobile virtual network operators in Asia. A $75 million investment from Warburg Pincus will fuel these ambitions
India’s Unacademy secures $110m round
Indian educational learning platform Unacademy has closed a $110 million funding round, bringing Facebook and General Atlantic on to its investor roster.
Affirma backs Vietnam recruitment business
Affirma Capital, a PE firm launched last year as a spin-out of Standard Chartered’s private equity business, has agreed to invest $34 million in Transcendental Human Resources, a Vietnam-focused online recruitment platform.
China technology training platform 51CTO raises $20m
51CTO, a Chinese online technology training platform, has raised $20 million in a Series C funding round led by Gaocheng Capital.
China logistics player Yimidida raises $140m
Yimidida, a Chinese logistics platform has raised RMB1 billion ($140 million) in an extended tranche of Series D funding. The round took place in parallel with the firm’s acquisition of Shanghai-based UC Express.
General Atlantic leads round for China's CANbridge Pharma
General Atlantic and WuXi AppTec, China’s leading contract research organization (CRO) WuXi AppTec, have led a $98 million Series D round for local drug developer CANbridge Pharmaceuticals.
Singapore solar energy firm raises $71m
Sunseap, a Singaporean renewable energy provider, has raised S$100 million ($71.9 million) in Series D funding from a coal producer in Thailand.
GGV leads $24m round for India's Vedantu
Indian online tutoring service Vedantu raised $24 million in an extended Series C round led by GGV Capital. It is the latest example of the primarily China-focused manager's push into India.
Eight Roads invests in Indian mobile marketing platform
MoEngage, an India and US-focused business that helps corporate clients improve mobile engagement with consumers, has received $25 million in Series C funding led by Eight Roads.
China B2B platform Yijiupi raises new round, buys Zskuaixiao
Yijiupi, a Chinese B2B e-commerce platform that initially focused on liquor products, has acquired local B2B consumer goods distributor Zskuaixiao. It has also secured a new round of funding backed by several Zskuaixiao investors.
Kedaara invests $28m in Indian health insurer
Indian private equity firm Kedaara Capital invested INR2 billion ($28 million) to acquire a minority stake in the healthcare insurance unit of Religare Enterprises.
Warburg Pincus backs Singapore's Circles.Life
Warburg Pincus has invested an undisclosed sum in Circles.Life, a Singapore-based digital-only telecom operator.
General Atlantic re-ups in India’s Byju’s
General Atlantic has made another investment in India-based online learning provider Byju’s.
India’s Lightbox invests in agritech player
Indian agritech startup WayCool Foods raised $32 million in a Series C funding round led by Lightbox Ventures.
Deal focus: Lightspeed targets solid-state LiDAR
Having assessed some 40 autonomous driving companies globally, Lightspeed China Partners decided that Hesai - a business born in the US and raised in China - is best-placed to take the technology forwards
IFU leads $23m Series B for Indian agrilogistics firm
Leap India Food Logistics (LIFL), an Indian agricultural warehousing and logistics firm, received INR1.64 billion ($23 million) in a Series B round led by the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), a Danish development finance institution.
Next Capital buys stake in Australian supply chain specialist
Australia’s Next Capital has acquired a stake in local supply chain services provider TM Insight as the company executes an Asian expansion.