Indonesian Fintech Startup Cermati Raises Series B, Iceland’s TripCreator Secures USD 8Mn And More

Here is a quick recap of the last week’s highlights from the global startup ecosystem [03-07 Sep 2018]

ASIA 

Chinese coffee startup Luckin and Tencent have joined forces to fend off the Starbucks-Alibaba alliance that came into being just last month. Luckin sells on-demand coffee through its app that is delivered to customers under 30 minutes. 

Uber debuts taxi-hailing in Japan. The U.S. firm said it was working with Fuji Taxi Group, which has been operating for more than 60 years in the Nagoya area.  

Didi, China’s top ride-hailing app, lost USD 590 M in the first six months of the year, according to data seen by tech blog 36Kr.

Kuala Lumpur-headquartered e-commerce site Fave announced that it has raised a USD 20 M series B round. The site helps retailers reach consumers through special deals, a booking management and analytics tool, and cashback programs. That be cool.  

Cermati, an Indonesian fintech firm that helps customers research and signs up for credit cards, insurance, and loans, announced that it raised a series B round from Djarum Group, a cigarette manufacturer owned by the Hartono family. The size of the deal wasn’t disclosed.

Facebook has unveiled plans for its first self-owned and self-managed data center – a USD 1.02 B facility in western Singapore its first in Asia.

Frost & Sullivan opens accelerator has launched an accelerator program in Singapore. The business consulting firm will target startups in aerospace and defense, mobility, electronics, energy, and healthcare, among other areas. 

Online food-ordering and restaurant discovery platform Zomato has acquired TongueStun Food, a Bangalore-based startup which aggregates caterers and restaurants for office canteens.

 ZestMoney has banked USD 13.4 M in a Xiaomi-led series A round. ZestMoney will use the funds to develop AI facial and voice recognition tech to add users in lower-tier cities, for whom English is not the first language.

Servify, after-sales service for devices has bagged a USD 15 M funding. Iron Pillar led the series B round, an India focused venture investor. 

EUROPE

Location marketing startup Uberall from Berlin extended its Series B round by USD 25 M. HPE Growth Capital led the round. It also acquired Amsterdam based location data management startup Navdas.

EarlyBird ventures and AMRO’s DIF led an investment round worth USD 16.3 M for Berlin’s B2B startup CrossLends.

Peer-to-peer lending platform Funding Circle plans to go public with USD 350 M IPO at LSE at a valuation of USD 1.75 B.

Iceland travel planning startup TripCreator secured USD 8 M. This brings its total funding to USD 13 M.

Molmo based health-tech Joint Academy startup closed USD 7 M Series A round led by Alfven & Didriksson.

USA

US-based Branch, helping brands create links between websites and mobile apps, secured USD 129 M Series D funding led by Andy Rubin’s Playground Ventures at a valuation of USD 1 B.

Sonatype, a cyber-security focused open-source company landed USD 80 M from investment firm TPG.

Kids’ gaming platform Roblox raised USD 150 M at a valuation of more than USD 2.5 B.

MasterClass that brings celebrity-taught classes to the public secured USD 80 M in Series D round led by IVP.

Groq, secretive semiconductor startup raised USD 52 M from Social Capital in a USD 60 M round.

Location data platform Factual landed USD 42 M. Its total funding is now at USD 104 M.