Venture
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Singapore space junk start-up raises $7.7m Series A
Astronscale, a Singapore-based start-up that develops satellites to remove space debris, has raised $7.7 million in a Series A round of funding from JAFCO and nine entrepreneurs from Japan.
SAIF, Accion invest in India’s Aye Finance
SAIF Partners and Accion - a global non-profit organization - have invested $1 million in Aye Finance, an India-based lender that serves profitable micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Indian P2P rental property listings site NoBroker raises $3m
SAIF Partners and Fulcrum Ventures have taken part in a $3 million Series A round of funding for NoBroker, a Bangalore-based peer-to-peer (P2P) property listings site for renting homes.
Chinese K12 education site 17zuoye raises $100m
H Capital has led a $100 million Series D round of funding for 17zuoye.com, a Chinese K-12 online learning and teaching platform. Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, DST Advisors and Shunwei Capital Partners, also took part in the round.
Helion leads $5m round for Indian shopping app
Indian fashion discovery and shopping app Wooplr has managed to raise $5 million in a Series A round of funding led by Helion Venture Partners.
Shunwei closes first RMB fund at $160m
Shunwei Capital Partners, a Chinese VC firm set up by Lei Jun, a founder of mobile phone maker Xiaomi, has closed its first renminbi-denominated fund at RMB1 billion ($160 million).
VCs invest $34m in Japan online printing start-up
Japanese online printing service Raksul has managed to raise JPY4 billion ($33.7 million) from a slew of local venture capital investors.
China manicure service app raises $50m Series C from VCs
Helijia, a Chinese mobile app for booking manicure appointments, has raised a $50 million Series C round of funding from several venture capital investors, valuing the start-up at approximately $300 million.
Australia VC: Policy permutations
Plans to reinstate tax breaks for Australian start-ups that issue share options to staff rather than pay sizeable salaries has cheered VC investors. They are generally positive about the government role in fostering innovation
Tiger Global leads $4m Series A round for India news app
Tiger Global has led a $4 million Series A round investment in India's News In Shorts (NIS), a mobile-based service that aggregates shortened news stories.
Israeli Rainbow Medical raises $25m from Chinese investors
Rainbow Medical, an Israeli medical investment firm, has raised $25 million from a group of Chinese investors including Ping An Insurance and telecom giant ZTE Corporation,financial company Yongjin Group and undisclosed Chinese venture capital funds.
China’s two largest VC-backed taxi-booking apps to merge
Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache, China's two largest venture capital-backed taxi-booking app start-ups, are planning to merge to create one of the largest companies of its kind in the world.
Australia drafts new rules for VC investor visa scheme
The Australian government plans to change the current rules for its Significant Investor Visa (SIV) program as part of efforts to boost the availability of capital for local start-ups.
Sequoia, Matrix commit $30m to Indian doctor search site
Sequoia Capital India and Matrix Partners have invested $30 million in a Series B round of funding for Practo Technologies, an Indian start-up that provides a search portal matching patients and doctors.
NSI Ventures leads round for Singapore insurance marketplace
NSI Ventures, the VC unit of Northstar Group, has led Series A round of funding worth $8 million for Asian insurance and wellness marketplace CXA, alongside consumer and technology fund F&H and healthcare investor BioVeda.
YJ Capital invests $3.4m in Japanese online laundry service
WhitePlus - the Japanese start-up behind an online laundry service called Lenet - has managed to raise JPY408 million ($3.4 million) from Yahoo! Japan's corporate investment arm, YJ Capital.
Japanese app monetization platform raises $36m Series C round
Metaps, a Japanese start-up that provides an app monetization platform using artificial intelligence (AI), has raised a $36 million Series C round of funding.
KIP leads $10m Series A round for China cosmetics review app
Korean Investment Partners (KIP), South Korea’s biggest venture capital firm, has led a $10 million Series A round of investment for Cosmeapp, a Chinese mobile app that provides cosmetics reviews.
China B2B platform targets supply chain disruption
Chinese B2B trading platforms Zhaogang.com and Zhaosuliao.com share more than just a desire to bring about technology-enabled disruption of inefficient offline industry supply chains. They also have several backers in common: IDG Capital Partners, Matrix...
Singapore start-ups: Another option
The Singapore Exchange and Clearbridge Accelerator are launching a capital-raising platform for Asian start-ups. Does it represent a much-needed stepping stone between private and public markets?
Australian biotech start-up raises $20m Series B round
Vaxxas, an Australian biotechnology start-up developing a novel vaccination platform, has raised a A$25 million ($20 million) Series B round of funding from a group of new and existing investors led by OneVentures.
SAIF, Innovation Works back China healthcare start-up
SAIF Partners and Innovation Works have provided a Series A round of funding for Beijing Dnurse Technology, a Chinese company that develops technology used to track sugar levels in the body.
INCJ to invest up to $27m in Japan DNA research start-up
The government-backed Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) will invest up to JPY3.3 billion ($27 million) in Quantum Biosystem (QB), a VC-backed Japanese start-up that develops instruments used to automate the DNA sequencing process.
Japan messaging app Line launches $42m investment fund
Japanese messaging app developer Line Corporation has launched a JPY5 billion ($42 million) investment fund to invest in start-ups.