Sectors
Navis backs Singapore expansion for family office software provider
Navis Capital Partners has led a USD 38m Series C round for Eton Solutions, a US software provider for family offices currently establishing a Singapore office.
Lightspeed raises $500m for India, Southeast Asia
Lightspeed India Partners, which also targets Southeast Asia, has closed its fourth early-stage VC fund with USD 500m in commitments.
Deal focus: Dayone champions lithium-ion alternative
In throwing its support behind Enpower Greentech, Dayone Capital hopes the Chinese company can turn solid-state batteries into a commercially viable reality for electric vehicles
Deal focus: GPs go big on China biosynthesis
Advances in synthetic biology and China’s carbon-neutral ambitions have prompted investors to re-examine bio-manufacturing plays. Mojia Biotech is among the beneficiaries
2Q analysis: Substituting China?
India and Southeast Asia come to the fore as China demonstrates weakness in both growth-stage investment and fundraising; exits continue to struggle amid reluctance from strategic buyers
Fund focus: Qiming picks its moment
China’s Qiming Venture Partners more than doubled its fund size from the previous vintage, having launched the vehicle prior to the recent chaos and leveraged LP demand for the familiar
Southeast Asia tech: Resilient with an asterisk
Southeast Asia’s booming tech space no longer lends itself to an easy narrative. As start-up fever cools globally, the region charges forward. Cracks are beginning to show but so are counterintuitive bright spots
India's Axilor targets $100m for second seed fund
Indian seed investor Axilor Ventures has launched its second fund with a target of USD 100m. This compares to USD 30m for its first fund.
Indonesia B2B agriculture marketplace gets $35m Series A
AgriAku, an Indonesia-based B2B marketplace that looks to improve agriculture supply chain efficiency for retailers of agricultural inputs, has raised USD 35m in Series A funding led by Alpha JWC Ventures.
Prosus leads $25m Series B for India's Vegrow
Prosus Ventures, a technology investment business controlled by Naspers, has led a USD 25m Series B round for Vegrow, an India-based marketplace that helps farmers sell their fruit crops into organised distribution channels.
China medical big data player Aden secures $30m
Aden Technology, a China-based medical big data company specialising in insurance, has raised an extended Series B round of CNY 200m (USD 30m) led by Haier Capital with participation from Xingtuo Capital.
Qiming raises $3.2b across dollar, renminbi funds
China-focused VC firm Qiming Venture Partners has closed its eighth US dollar-denominated fund at the hard cap of USD 2.5bn – more than twice the size of the previous vintage – and raised CNY 4.7bn (USD 701m) for its latest renminbi vehicle.
Singapore blockchain gaming start-up gets $20m
Singapore’s Oasys, a blockchain technology developer focused on web3 gaming, has raised USD 20m from several specialist crypto investors.
Korean GP backs $1.5b buyout of US-listed Meridian Bioscience
SJL Partners, a Korea-based private equity firm that specialises in cross-border transactions, has teamed up with domestic in vitro diagnostics business SD Biosensor to acquire US-listed peer Meridian Bioscience for USD 1.53bn.
India fintech player Cred closes $140m Series F
Cred, an India-based credit card rewards provider, has closed a USD 140m Series F round that includes a secondary component intended to facilitate exits for existing investors.
Korea's Kakao considers partial divestment of mobility spin-out
South Korean internet giant Kakao has indicated it may sell around 10% of Kakao Mobility, its transportation division, which has several private equity backers.
Quadrant exits Australia underwear brand to Swedish strategic
Quadrant Private Equity has exited Australian hygiene apparel brand Modibodi to Swedish strategic Essity for AUD 140m (USD 96m).
Accel-KKR targets Australia-listed SaaS player Damstra
Damstra Technology, a listed Australian software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider specialising in worker safety and risk management, has received an unsolicited buyout proposal from Accel-KKR.
Navis exits Hong Kong's Texon to global strategic
Navis Capital Partners has exited its entire controlling position in Hong Kong footwear components supplier Texon to UK-listed Coats Group for an enterprise value of USD 237m.
Government funds support China's Dark Matter AI
Dmai, a Chinese cognitive artificial intelligence (AI) platform also known as Dark Matter AI, has raised RMB 500m (USD 75m) in the first tranche of a Series B round from five state-backed investors.
Blackstone backs Australia, US clean commodities platform
The Blackstone Group has led a USD 400m investment in Xpansiv, an Australia and US-based marketplace for trading clean commodities such as carbon offsets, renewable energy credits (RECs), and low-carbon fuels.
Australian start-up wins backing for spider venom drug
Infensa Bioscience, a newly established Brisbane-based drug developer, has raised AUD 23m (USD 15.6m) in funding to support the licensing of a nascent treatment that uses spider venom to mitigate heart attacks and strokes.
Deal focus: Carlyle targets consumerism in ceramics
The Carlyle Group, like many investors, sees premiumisation as a natural outcome of the expansion of India’s middle class. It could be the first to test this thesis in the local building materials industry
Deal focus: India’s Shubham sees opening to accelerate
Shubham believes its long-curated datasets and institutional memory differentiate it from a growing pack of low-income housing lenders. Global impact investors appear convinced