India’s PayTM Raises USD 445 Mn, Belgian TextMaster Gets Acquired By Technicis and More….
Here’s what happened last week in the world of startups around the globe.
Europe
Comatch, Germany’s online marketplace for consultants and industry experts, has completed a USD9.8 Mn Series B financing round. This was led by Acton Capital Partners with participation from Atlantic Labs and btov.
Careship, a marketplace for in-home senior care, has raised USD 7.3 Mn in a funding round led by Creandum with participation from new and existing investors Ananda Ventures, Spark Capital, Atlantic Labs, and Axel Springer’s accelerator programme Plug and Play.
InVision, the digital product design platform used to make the world’s best customer experiences, has acquired Wake, a design visibility tools. Already used companies like Airbnb, Capital One, Eventbrite, Facebook and Spotify, a free version of Wake would now be offered for the first time.
Belgian translation startup TextMaster is acquired by Technicis for an undisclosed amount. This is Technis’s third acquisition in the last two years ─ in its pursuit of a larger market share.
Global ride-hailing giant Uber announced that it was suspending its services in Greece following the approval of a legislation that imposes stricter regulations. The new rules force companies like Uber to require each trip to start and end in the fleet partner’s designated headquarters or parking area.
Online music streaming startup Spotify took a non-traditional route to going public with a direct listing on New York Stock Exchange. The IPO fetched it a USD 32 Bn valuation, while the share value has only slightly increased from an initial USD 132.
Asia
Meituan Dianping, China’s largest provider of on-demand online services, has acquired bike-sharing firm Mobike for USD 3.7 Bn. This brings together two of the country’s biggest start-ups, both of which are backed by Tencent.
Youxia Motors e-mobility startup closed series B funding. The funding round was joined by 12 institutional investors. The company had raised USD989 Mn in its series A funding at the end of 2017.
China’s AI developer SenseTime has raised USD 600 Mn in its series C funding round led by Alibaba. Singapore’s state investment fund Temasek and Chinese retailer Suning also took part in the funding. The company makes facial recognition software that is used by Chinese police.
Online retail giant PayTM Mall has raised USD445 Mn in funding from Softbank and Alibaba at a valuation of about USD1.6 – 2 Bn, thereby gaining ‘unicorn’ status. This is India’s eleventh unicorn, where five of these belong to the e-commerce sector.
Indian venture capital firm Saama Capital has closed its fourth fund with a corpus of USD 100 Mn. 59 LPs invested in the company’s latest fund. With this, the firm will continue to invest in e-commerce, hardware, software and fintech spaces.
Singaporean E-commerce startup Zilingo received USD54 Mn in a series C fundraise co-led by Sofina, Burda Principal Investments, and Sequoia Capital.
South Korean content streaming startup Watcha, previously known as Frograms, has completed a series C funding of USD12 Mn, from existing investors, led by Sofina, Burda Principal Investments and Sequoia Capital India.
USA
Bitmovin, the provider of video streaming infrastructure, has raised USD 30 Mn in Series B funding. Highland Europe led the funding round with participation from Constantia New Business, Dawn capital, Y Combinator and Atomico.
Real estate startup Selina has picked up USD 95 Mn from Abraaj Group and Wework founder Adam Neumann. Selina operates mainly in Latin American countries offering co-working spaces and hostels including tour services and surf camps.
Digital currency wallet service provider Coinbase launched new fund Coinbase Ventures. The step is taken to invest in blockchain startups and initial stage cryptocurrencies to boost their growth. Coinbase is America’s largest bitcoin exchange platform.
Fashion products platform Ssence has acquired Polyvore, a social commerce website, from Oath ─ a subsidiary of Verizon. Ssense immediately shut down the Polyvore website after taking over, leading to outrage among its users.
Instacart- one the biggest e-grocery startups in USA, has got USD 150 Mn in a financing round led by Coatue Management. This is over and above the USD 200 Mn raised recently in February. This brings its total Series E round to USD 350 Mn with a valuation of USD 4.35 Bn.
AI-driven platform for procurement, Suplari has received USD 10.3 Mn in Series A round. The financing has been led by Shasta Ventures with participation from new investors including Two Sigma Ventures, Workday Ventures, and others.
The world’s first and only collaborative fulfillment solution, 6RS- 6 River Systems Inc. has grabbed USD 25 Mn in Series B round. The round was led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from all existing investors including Norwest Venture Partners, Eclipse Ventures, and iRobot.
GoFundMe, world’s largest social fundraising platform, has announced the acquisition of personal fundraising site YouCaring, furthering the company’s mission to help people turn compassion into action. The terms of the deal remain undisclosed.
