Indian Cab Aggregator Ola Plans To Enter New Zealand, Dutch Fintech Startup Cobase Secures USD 8.8 Mn From ING Ventures And More..

Here is a quick roundup of latest startup headlines from around the globe for last week [17- 23 September 2018]

ASIA

Ohmyhome, a DIY property marketplace has raised USD 2.92 M series A funding led by Golden Equator Capital (GEC). Oh my gosh.

Livspace, an e-commerce marketplace for home decor, has just banked USD 70 M in a series C funding round co-led by Goldman Sachs and TPG Growth. Based in S’pore, it is based on serving the Indian market. 

Grab Ventures, the venture arm of Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing giant Grab, has picked up a minority stake in grocery-delivery startup HappyFresh.  

Ola, the arch-rival of Uber in India, has raised USD 50 M at a valuation of about USD 4.3 B from two Chinese investors. The company has also headed to New Zealand, following launches in Australia & UK.  

Member.id, a provider of tech-based loyalty management programmes based out of Jakarta has secured an undisclosed amount of pre-series A funding led by East Ventures. 

China’s Cocos-BCX,  blockchain based game making platform has raised USD 40 M in financing from top blockchain funds and investors, including Binance Labs, NEO Global Capital, 500 Startups, others.

Hong Kong-based Freightos has raised USD 44.4 Mn in a series C round led by Singapore Exchange (SGX).  It runs an online marketplace for logistics services for importers and exporters.

Beijing based Hillhouse Capital, known for its investments in Tencent, Baidu, Didi Chuxing, and Meituan Dianping, has raised a record USD 10.6 B for its latest private equity fund. It’s the biggest ever focussed on Asian technology firms.

WHILL Inc, the developer of intelligent personal electric vehicles for people with disabilities, has closed a USD 45 M funding round.

Europe

US-based Vonage acquired cloud contact center company, NewVoiceMedia for USD 350 Mn.

Cleo closed USD 10 M Series A round led by Balderton. It is a London-based digital assistant platform.

Dutch fintech startup Cobase received USD 8.8 M funding from ING Ventures.

Finland-based e-commerce personalization startup Nosto has landed USD 7.4 M in a round led by OpenOcean, Tesi, and Idinvest.

Luxembourg-based medical booking startup Doctena secured USD 9.4 M in funding. Its total funding now stands at USD 14.7 M.

USA

Postmates, an on-demand delivery service, raised USD 300 M at USD 1.2 B valuation from Tiger Global Management.

Indigo Ag Inc., running a bacteria-based agriculture, landed USD 250 M in a round led by Baillie Gifford and Alaska Permanent Funds. The total funding now amounts to USD 650 M.

UiPath, a software company, closed Series C funding round at USD 225 M with investments from Google CapitalG, Sequoia, and Accel.

Roman, an erectile pharmacy app, secured USD 88 M, which it will use to launch its ‘Quit Smoking’ kit.

uBiome, a microbial genomics company, secured USD 83 M Series C funding in a round led by OS Fund.