Singapore’s Carousell Secures USD 85 Mn, Berlin’s Dashdash Picked Up USD 8 Mn and More…

Here is a quick roundup of global startup news this week [May 14 – 18]

ASIA

Singapore’s e-commerce site for new and used goods Carousell has picked up USD 85 Mn in a series C in a round co-led by current shareholder Rakuten Ventures, and the investment arm of Singapore’s Economic Development Board, EDBI. 

Carro, an online marketplace for used cars and auto finance secured USD 60 Mn funding in a round co-led by B Capital, Insignia Ventures Partners, and SoftBank Ventures Korea. 

M17 Entertainment, the parent company of Singapore-based dating app Paktor, has filed for US IPO and is hoping to raise USD 115 Mn in a US listing. While the dating service forms only a small part of M17’s income, so it’s capitalizing on its live-streaming video service. 

Medisix, a biotech firm, which develops cellular therapies for leukemia and lymphoma, has secured USD 20 Mn series A round led by Lightstone Ventures. Temasek Holdings and Osage University Partners also participated. 

JustCo has partnered with GIC and Frasers Property on USD 177 Mn co-working investment. The three firms will use the funds to co-invest in shared workspaces across Asia. 

Droom, India’s online marketplace for new and used cars has received USD 30 Mn funding in a series D round led by Toyota Tsusho, part of Japan’s Toyota Group and Tokyo-based Digital Garage. The company plans to go public in 2019.

Indian online hotel brand OYO has entered the Chinese market, adding seven properties in Shenzhen to its aggregator site. This follows the startup’s expansion to Dubai last month. It also has a presence in Malaysia and Nepal in addition to its home market.

Healthcare data analytics startup Innovacer has nabbed a USD 25 Mn Series B investment in a round led by Westbridge Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Ventures. Innovacer provides organizations with healthcare insights through its product, Healthcare Data Platform. 

The online beauty product marketplace Nykaa raises USD 24.5 Mn in series D funding from returning investors including Hero Corporate Service chairman Sunil Kant Munjal, the family office of Harsh Mariwala, and private equity veteran Dalip Pathak, among others. 

Indonesia’s beauty marketplace Sociolla gets USD 12 Mn backing in a round led by EV Growth. Other participating investors were Japanese beauty and fashion firm iStyle and an unnamed party from Singapore. 

China’s Tianjin city is going to establish a USD 15.7 Bn fund to push AI. Focusing on a variety of areas including robotics augmented reality, and connected cars, the fund could help Tianjin match other major Chinese tech centers like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. 

China’s Roadstar.ai, the maker of self-driving cars, has raised USD 128 Mn in series A round led by Shenzhen Capital Group and Wu Capital. The investment will be used to bankroll Roadstar’s driverless vehicle fleet operations and data collection. 

SoftBank CEO, Masayoshi Son has said that a second Vision Fund will be set up “in the near future,” with backing from previous investors. The first SoftBank-led Vision Fund for emerging technology companies secured about USD 100 Bn in commitments.  

Tencent has got a green light to test self-drive cars from Shenzhen government, on designated roads in the city. Ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing too got a similar permit from California. 

USA

Georgia based firm LendingPoint has announced it has secured USD 600 Mn credit facility committed and arranged by Guggenheim Partners. In less than one-year LendingPoint has secured up to USD 1.1 Bn of credit financing.

California based firm, Arevo raised USD 12.5 Mn in a series B round was led by Asahi Glass with participation from Sumitomo Corporation of Americas, Leslie Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

Maryland based venture capital, New Markets Venture Partners recently closed USD 68 Mn fund. It plans to invest USD 1-5 million per deal into Series A, Series B and recapitalization rounds.

San Francisco based blockchain startup, Compound has raised USD 8.2 Mn in seed funding. The financing was led by Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital.

New York-based collaboration and communication platform startup, Workframe has received USD 9.5 Mn in its series B funding round. The round was led by Newmark Knight Frank (NKF), with participation from MetaProp, as well as Venrock.

EUROPE

London based IP security company, INCOPRO has raised USD 21 Mn from Highland Europe in an equity funding. Sam Brooks and Gajan Rajanathan from Highland Europe will join the INCOPRO board.

Paris based startup, Aircall, a cloud based call centre software, has received USD 29 Mn recently in a round led by Draper Esprit.  

French e-commerce startup, Vente Privee has  acquired Spanish martech startup QaShops from VC firm Axon Partners Group. This is Vente Privee’s second acquisition in Spain and transaction amount wasn’t disclosed.

Iceland’s gaming startup Teatime Games has secured USD 9 Mn across a seed and a series A funding round. Lead investors in the round were Index Ventures and Atomico. I need ice tea now. 

Berlin and Porto based startup dashdash, which allows anyone to create an app using just spreadsheet skills, has raised USD 8 Mn in its series A funding round led by Accel.