A weekly newsletter summarizing recent activity and interesting startups in South East Asia.

INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

Eva (2015, Bandung) – DIY chatbot development platform. Global Comparables include Passage AI (2016, Mountain View, $3M) and Botworx (2016, Los Altos, $3M).

MicroMoney (2015, Yangon) – B2C micro loan marketplace. Global Comparables include YongQingBao (2013, Beijing, $90.7M) and IndiaLends (2014, Delhi, $5.26M).

SEA – FUNDING UPDATES

MyRepublic raises funding
MyRepublic (2011, Singapore), a fiber-optic internet services provider, raises $52M in Series C from Makara Capital.

Tiki.vn raises funding
Tiki.vn (2010, Ho Chi Minh City), an online retail platform, raises $44M in Series C from JD.com.

Tech in Asia raises funding
Tech in Asia (2009, Singapore), a tech blog and startup information provider, raises $6.6M in Series C from Hanwha Group, Walden International, East Ventures, and Eduardo Saverin.

KaHa raises funding
KaHa (2017, Singapore), a product development services provider for IoT-enabled wearables, raises $4.5M in Series A from SPRING Seeds Capital and Jungle Ventures.

Giztix raises funding
Giztix (2015, Bangkok), a marketplace for transporting freight through road, raises $1.65M in Series A from AddVentures, Wavemaker and 500 Tuktuks.

Vntrip raises funding
Vntrip (2014, Hanoi), an online travel and hotel booking site, raises an undisclosed amount in undisclosed Series from Hendale Capital.

IDN Media raises funding
IDN Media (2014, Indonesia), an Indonesian media startup, raises an undisclosed amount in Series B from East Ventures, and Central Exchange.

Bitcoin.co.id raises funding
Bitcoin (2013, Jakarta), a bitcoin exchange in Indonesia, raises an undisclosed amount in Seed round from East Ventures.

Tinkerlust raises funding
Tinkerlust (2015, Menteng), an online marketplace for women’s fashion, raises an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round from Merah Putih, and Danny Oei.

SEA – RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

LINE Indonesia acquires TemanJalan
LINE Indonesia, the Indonesian business unit of the messenger platform, acquires TemanJalan, an Indonesia based student-oriented carpooling platform, for an undisclosed amount.

Salarium aims to raise $50M via ICO
Salarium, a Philippines based payroll management system, aims to raise $50M via ICO.

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.

INTERESTING STARTUPS

thingTronics (2016, Bangalore), IoT-enabled solutions provider for smart cities and agriculture.Founders are ex-Samsung and Alcatel-Lucent. Local comparables are WiSig Networks (2016, Hyderabad) and Mymo Wireless (2009, Bangalore).Global comparables are Telit (1986, London) and Filament (2012, Reno, $35.6M).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Simply Braces (2017, Mumbai), chain of speciality clinics for braces, raises $1M in pre-Series A round of funding from undisclosed investors. Link

Stanza Living (2017, Delhi), managed accommodation provider for students, raises an undisclosed amount in funding from Matrix Partners and Accel. Link

AHA Taxis (2015, Kanpur), online taxi aggregator for one way outstation travel, raises an undisclosed amount in pre-Series A round of funding from Lead Angels and existing investor, ah! Ventures. Link

AuthBridge (2005, Gurgaon), employee background verification and risk mitigation services provider, launches VerifyMySchool (2017, Gurgaon), background verification services provider for schools, to create a safe environment for students by screening their staff. Link

Z Nation Lab (2016, Mumbai), startup investment fund provider, partners with 100 Open Startups to help Indian startups get access to a vast network of top global corporates. Link

Awfis (2015, Delhi), co-working space provider, launches new premium co-working space in BKC, Mumbai. Link

Amazon India (2012, India), online horizontal marketplace, partners with Kickstarter (2009, Brooklyn), online crowdfunding platform, and HAX, hardware accelerator, launches startup challenge “Startup C-Cube”. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Niantic (2010, SF), mobile game developer, raises $200M in Series B round of funding led by Spark Capital. Link

MoneyMe (2013, Sydney), lending platform for payday loans, raises $120M in funding from undisclosed investors. Link

Victoria Beckham (2010, London), online womenswear brand, raises $39M in PE round of funding from Neo Investment Partners. Link

ClimaCell (2015, Boston), weather forecasting tools provider, raises $15M in Series A round of funding led by Canaan Partners with participation from Fontinalis Partners, as well as existing investor Square Peg Capital. Link

Balderton Capital, London-based venture capital firm, closes new tech venture capital fund, at $375M. Link

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.

INTERESTING STARTUPS

AutomataPi (2017, Mumbai), cognitive business process automation engine.Founders are ex-Wadhawan TechSpaces and Mastek. Local comparable is Datoin (2014, Bangalore).Global comparables are Arago (1995, Frankfurt Am Main,$55M) and WorkFusion (2010, NYC, $71.3M).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Chumbak Design (2009, Bangalore), brand of lifestyle products, raises $13.2M in funding from Gaja Capital. Link

MobieFit (2014, Panaji), fitness related mobile apps developer, raises $1.35M in pre-Series A round of funding led by NB Ventures with co-investment from MediAssist. Link

Hector Beverages (2009, Bangalore), manufacturer of beverages and energy drinks, raises an undisclosed amount in funding from a few existing investors. Link

Remitware (2014, Mumbai), online platform cross border money transfer, launches global payments platform MoneyOS. Link

Indigo (2006, Gurgaon), low cost airlines service provider, partners with Zoomcar (2013, Bangalore), online self-drive car rental service provider, and Savaari cabs (2006, Bangalore), online car rentals platform, to offer airport transfers to its passengers from the airport and other locations in the city. Link

Boeing (1916, Chicago), aircraft manufacturing company, launches ‘HorizonX India Innovation Challenge’ for startups. Link

National Skill Development Corporation and the Tourism and Hospitality Sector Skill Council partners with Airbnb (2008, San Francisco), marketplace for vacation rental accommodations, to upskill hospitality entrepreneurs. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

1QBit (2012, Vancouver), hardware-agnostic platform for quantum computing, raises $45M Series B round of  funding led by Fujitsu Limited, with additional strategic investment by Accenture, Allianz, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and CME Ventures. Link

Doctolib (2013, Paris), healthcare service appointment booking platform, raises another $42M in Series D round of funding from Eurazeo and existing investor Bpifrance. Link

InstaCarro (2015, Sao Paulo), online platform to buy and sell cars, raises $22M in institutional round of funding co-led by FJ Labs and new investor Lumia Capital. Link

Here (1986, Berlin), developer of maps, acquires ATS (2013, Berlin), software providers for telematics and connected car, for an undisclosed amount. Link

NFX, Silicon Valley and Israel based venture capital firm, launches $150M Venture Capital Fund. Link

Soonicorn Club

• Soonicorn

  On Purple (2015, Alpine) – Direct to consumer mattress company
  Market: Online Retail > Home Decor & Furniture > Mattress > Private Label

Analyst Picks

• Snappy Gifts (2015, San Francisco) – Mobile-based marketplace for gifts
  Market: Online Retail > Gifting Products > Horizontal > Marketplace
• Filippo Loreti (2014, Florence) – High-end watch brand for men and women
  Market: Online Retail > Fashion > Accessories > Watches > Private Label

Funding Rounds

Series D, $100M
eMAG (2001, Bucharest, $100M) – Horizontal Online Retailer
Investors: Naspers

Series C, $44M
Tiki.vn (2010, Ho Chi Minh City, $61.0M) – Online retail platform
Investors: Jingdong Group

Series B, $19M
Pomelo Fashion (2013, Bangkok, $31.6M) – Fast-Fashion E-commerce for South East Asia
Investors: Jingdong Group, Provident Capital Partners, Lombard Investments

Series B, $15.3M
Collectabillia (2010, Bangalore, $25.5M) – Online platform selling sports and celebrity merchandise
Investors: Accel Partners

Series B, $10.6M
NEIWAI (2012, Shanghai, $10.6M) – Private label luxury brand of innerwear
Investors: Vertex Ventures China, ZhenFund, Kai Fu Capital

Series A, $10.0M
Trouva (2013, London, $13.8M) – Product discovery of independent boutique fashion items
Investors: Index Ventures, Octopus Investments, Business Growth Fund, Robin Klein, Playfair Capital, Downing Ventures

Series B, $7M
Althea (2015, Seoul, $10.5M) – Korean beauty products
Investors: FirstFloor Capital, Korean Development Bank, InnoVen Capital, Tekton Ventures

Series B, $3.9M
Brosa (2014, Melbourne, $5.9M) – Marketplace for furniture designers and creators
Investors: AirTree Ventures, Bailador, undefined

Conventional Debt, $3.6M
AMERICAN GIANT (2011, San Francisco, $11.1M) – Quality sweatshirts made in America

Series A, $3.5M
Flag & Anthem (2016, New York City, $3.5M) – Online private-label apparel brand for men

Series A, $3.0M
Totwoo (2015, Beijing, $4.6M) – Smart connected jewelry

Seed, $2.3M
GOTit (2013, Kfar Saba, $2.3M) – Mobile app based social marketplace platform

Seed, $2M
Oros Apparel (2013, Cincinnati, $3.2M) – Internet-first brand of performance apparel

Seed, $2M
Aday (2015, New York City, $3.1M) – Direct to consumer brand of activewear clothing for women
Investors: H&M, SoGal Ventures

Series A, $2M
HELM Boots (2009, Austin, $2.1M) – Men’s (and women’s) boots hand-crafted in the USA

M&A

• China’s HNA in talks to buy e-commerce firm Dangdang likely valued over $1 billionReuters
• A.C. Moore Acquires Blitsy, Invests In Zibbet PR Newswire
• Beauty Subscription Service GlamBox Gets Acquired By Saudi Group Inc. Arabia
• Procter & Gamble just bought this venture-backed deodorant startup for $100 million cash TechCrunch
• Threadless Acquires Bucketfeet SGB Media
• Petco Acquires Pet Subscription Service Company Featured on “Shark Tank”petproductnews.com
• Badger Sportswear to Acquire Alleson Athletic PR Newswire
• Global Partner Acquisition Corp. And Purple Innovation, LLC Announce Definitive Merger Agreement PR Newswire
• CSS Industries Acquires Simplicity Creative Group for $64M Citybizlist
• Xiaomi to buy Youmi Chinadaily

IPO

• Stitch Fix set to raise $120M from downsized IPO TechCrunch
• Online apparel retailer Stitch Fix IPO to be priced Nov 16; looks to deliver $2 bln valuation Indiatimes
• Farfetch Sales Jump in Road to Potential IPO Business of Fashion

New Fund Launch

• Myntra Launches Handloom Brand ‘Navibhu’ at its 6th Annual BW Businessworld

New Product Announcement

• Xiaomi Redmi Y1, Redmi Y1 Lite With 16MP Selfie Camera Launched Starting at Rs 6,999 News18
• OnePlus 5T coming to India on 16th November via Amazon The Indian Wire
• Flipkart to launch its own smartphone under the Billion brand Livemint
• OnePlus 5T flagship starts at $499, launches November 21 TechSpot
• Amazon Marketing Services Launches In Canada MediaPost
• Amazon launches Alexa-less Fire TV Stick for international users of its Prime video service TechCrunch
• Amazon takes on office supply retailers with launch of Business Prime ShippingTechCrunch
• Xiaomi India to Launch New Smartphone Series on November 2, Mi Note 3 ExpectedNew Delhi Television

New Market Entry

• JD.com marches into real estate market 4-Traders
• Amazon launches first own furniture brand Retail
• Kroger fights back at Amazon-owned Whole Foods and launches an apparel brand CNBC
• JD.com Enters Automobile Service Industry, Plans to Help Create at Least 100,000 Smart Repair Shops Yicai Global
• Scentbird expands into bath and body market with own-brand range Cosmetics Business

New Geo Entry

• China’s Xiaomi seeks to reignite global push with Spain launch Reuters
• Amazon launches its Echo devices and Alexa in Japan TechCrunch
• Amazon Australia Has Landed, First Sign Placed Outside Warehouse ChannelNews
• Amazon Echo and Echo Plus are now available in US The Bulletin Network
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 and Redmi Note 5A Prime Are Coming to Pakistan ProPakistani
• Xiaomi opens new flagship shop in Moscow Telecompaper
• Xiaomi opens its first Mi-branded store in Egypt T3 Middle East

Business Partnership

• Alibaba Group, Auchan Retail and Ruentex Form New Retail Strategic Alliance Business Wire
• Apple and GE team up on software to track power plants, machinery Reuters
• Qualcomm signs $12 billion in China deals amid Trump visit Reuters

Company Announcement

• Amazon will start delivering packages into the homes of Prime members Recode
• Apple Says iPhone X Will Be Available for Walk-In Customers at Stores on Launch DayMacRumors
• Xiaomi looking to invest $1 billion in Indian startups Nternet

Earnings Release

• Amazon.com Announces Third Quarter Sales up 34% to $43.7 Billion Business Wire

Earning Commentary

• Alibaba Q2 Profit Surges; Lifts FY18 Revenue Growth View RTTNews

Commentary on Company

• Amazon to end Fresh grocery delivery service in some areas financetime.org

New Feature Release

• Amazon revamps the Kindle app with a new design and deeper Goodreads integrationTechCrunch

Analyst Picks

• Devsupport AI (2017, Bangalore) – AI enabled programmer bot for API integration
  Market: Artificial Intelligence > Applications > Enterprise > Development & Testing
• Soul Machines (2016, Auckland, $7.5M) – Develops AI-enabled 3D virtual avatars
  Market: Artificial Intelligence > Applications > Enterprise > Customer Service > Virtual Agents
• Percily (2016, Noida) – AI-based platform to summarize, tag and search enterprise documents
  Market: Artificial Intelligence > Applications > Enterprise > BI & Analytics > Business Intelligence > Text Analytics
• Uncountable (2016, Sunnyvale) – Provides AI-enabled platform for material formulation
  Market: Artificial Intelligence > Applications > Industry > Manufacturing & Inspection > Materials Informatics
• Kneron (2015, San Diego, $10M) – Provides hardware and software solution for edge AI applications
  Market: Artificial Intelligence > Infrastructure > Enabling Technologies > Hardware > Processors

Funding Rounds

Series C, $460M
Megvii (2011, Beijing, $605M) – Facial recognition technology
Investors: Ant Financial, Foxconn Electronics

Series B, $220M
WeLab (2013, Hong Kong, $400M) – Alternate lending solutions for consumers
Investors: Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, IFC, CCB International, Credit Suisse

Series B, $75.4M
CloudWalk (2015, Beijing, $75.4M) – Facial and image recognition technology developer
Investors: Shunwei Capital, Oriza Holdings, Puhua Capital, Yuexiu Fund, Prosperous Investment, Jiandu Technology Co

Series C, $67.7M
DataRobot (2012, Boston, $125.1M) – Automated machine learning platform for data science applications
Investors: New Enterprise Associates

Series C, $55M
tuSimple (2014, Beijing, $55M) – AI based image recognition tool
Investors: Sina

Series C, $50M
Graphcore (2016, Bristol, $110M) – Machine learning processor for accelerating AI processing
Investors: Sequoia Capital, Atomico, Demis Hassabis, Amadeus Capital, C4 Ventures, Draper Esprit, Foundation Capital, Pitango Venture Capital, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, Dell, Samsung Catalyst Fund

Series A, $46.5M
Ada (2011, Berlin, $46.5M) – AI-driven healthcare app
Investors: Access Industries, June Fund, Cumberland VC, William Tunstall-Pedoe

Series C, $35M
Globality (2015, Menlo Park, $72.3M) – Artificial Intelligence with Domain Expertise
Investors: Raine Group

Series B, $30M
Arterys (2012, San Francisco, $42M) – SaaS analytics platform for Medical Image Analysis
Investors: Temasek, Northwell, NewYork-Presbyterian, GE Ventures, Varian Medical Systems, DNA Capital, Emergent Medical Partners

Series D, $30M
Instart Logic (2010, Mountain View, $170M) – Software defined application delivery
Investors: ST Telemedia

Series E, $25M
Recorded Future (2009, Somerville, $57M) – Real-time threat intelligence from the entire web
Investors: Insight Venture Partners

Series C, $23M
Logz.io (2014, Tel Aviv, $47M) – Enterprise grade ELK as a service
Investors: OpenView, 83North, Vintage Investment Partners, Giza Venture Capital

Series B, $22M
TrueAccord (2013, San Francisco, $27.3M) – Behaviorial Analytics based debt recovery solutions.
Investors: Arbor Ventures, Nyca, Assurant, Felicis Ventures, TenOneTen, undefined, Caffeinated Capital

Post IPO, $21.5M
BrainChip (2013, California) – Develops hardware system based on spiking neural network (SNN) technology

Series A, $20M
Behavox (2014, London, $21.6M) – Employee surveillance system
Investors: Citigroup, Index Ventures

M&A

• Delphi Closes Acquisition of nuTonomy PR Newswire
• Imagia Completes Acquisition of Cadens Medical Imaging PR Newswire
• Ford’s Argo AI buys VC-backed LiDAR startup Princeton Lightwave PE Hub
• Giaran Acquired by Shiseido Americas VentureFizz
• Cisco to acquire Perspica and merge it into its previous acquisition AppDynamics StartUP 360
• Workday acquires the team behind Pattern Techs Cloud
• Alternative Credit Scorers Lenddo, Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL) Merge MicroCapital
• DIY Robotic Toy Maker Dash Robotics Acquires Bots Alive to Improve Life-Like Nature of its Products Disruptor Daily

IPO

• China’s SenseTime plans IPO, U.S. R&D center as early as 2018 Reuters
• Credit Suisse, Li Ka-Shing-backed WeLab said to plan $500m IPO Deal Street Asia

Fund Raising Funds

• China’s CDH, SenseTime raising about $450 million AI fund Reuters

New Product Announcement

• Alphabet Inc’s Waymo working on self-driving trucks btvi.in
• Salesforce Introduces myEinstein, Empowering Everyone to Build Custom AI-Powered Apps PR Newswire
• NAVYA Unveils First Fully Autonomous Taxi Business Wire
• Xilinx Single-Chip Solution with On-Chip Redundancy for Functional Safety Speeds Up IEC 61508 Certification and Reduces Systems Development Cost PR Newswire
• Huawei Unveils Xilinx FPGA-Powered Cloud Server to North America at SC17 PR Newswire
• Blippar Launches App Allowing People to Navigate the World with Augmented RealitySector Publishing Intelligence
• SDL Launches SDL Tridion DX EContent
• Panaya Launches Release Dynamix for Salesforce.com, Augmenting its Cloud-based Solution for Application Delivery PR Newswire
• Cylance adds to home computer security options iTWire
• Clarabridge Adds New Crisis Management Solution to Social Customer Service EContent
• ThoughtSpot Announces SpotIQ is Now Generally Available, Putting the Power of 1000 Analysts in Every Businessperson’s Hands Business Wire
• Forter Expands Industry-Leading Fraud Prevention Technology With Launch of New End-to-End Solution Business Wire
• Leading Visual Recognition AI Company Clarifai Expands API Offering With Tools That Rate Image Quality; Recognize Textures & Patterns PRWeb
• Augury Unveils ‘Halo’ to Diagnose and Predict Mechanical Failures in Smart FacilitiesDATAVERSITY
• Anodot AI Analytics for Retail to Gain Online Retailers Millions in Otherwise Lost Revenue PR Newswire
• Netradyne Announces Data Services Platform for Advanced Transportation Technology Ecosystem PR Newswire

New Market Entry

• Shenzhen-listed tech major eyes medical sector after its AI robot aces exam to qualify as doctor South China Morning Post
• ZestFinance Preps for Powersports Debut PowerSports Finance

New Geo Entry

• US-based AI firm DataRobot sets up research centre in Singapore with $15 million investment Straits Times
• C3 IoT Establishes Regional HQ in Australia Business Wire

Business Partnership

• Salesforce and Google Form New Strategic Partnership PR Newswire
• AutoNation to maintain, repair Alphabet’s Waymo vehicle fleet Reuters
• Hyundai Motor Partners with SK Telecom, Hanwha and Element AI to Create ‘AI Alliance Fund’ finchannel.com
• Accenture Acquires Minority Stake In Paxata, Designates Big Data Startup A Strategic Partner CRN
• Zebra Medical Vision to Collaborate with Google Cloud to Bring a Transparent All-in-One Model to Healthcare Business Wire

Company Announcement

• Qualcomm announces investment in Mobike and eight other Chinese startups TechCrunch
• Alphabet looks to snowy Michigan to test self-driving cars Reuters
• Technology company Xilinx to invest $40m in Irish headquarters independent.ie

Earnings Release

• Salesforce earnings: 39 cents a share vs expected EPS of 37 cents CNBC

Key People Movement

• Salesforce appoints Bret Taylor as chief product officer xTechNews

Analyst Picks

• Medigate (2017, Tel Aviv, $5.3M) – Connected medical device cybersecurity platform
  Market: Enterprise Security > IoT Security > Anomaly Detection
• ReFirm Labs (2017, Howard , $1.5M) – Automated IoT firmware vulnerability discovery, assessment, and remediation
  Market: Enterprise Security > IoT Security > Anomaly Detection
• BanyanOps (2015, San Francisco) – Security and access enforcement solution for microservices and orchestration platforms
  Market: Enterprise Security > Cloud Security > Container Security

Funding Rounds

Series B, $44.8M
Kaseya (2000, Waltham, $44.8M) – IAM & IT asset management Software
Investors: Ireland Strategic Investment Fund

Series C, $30M
ThreatQuotient (2013, Ashburn, $54M) – Threat Intelligence Platform for enterprise
Investors: Adams Street Partners, Cisco Investments, NTT Docomo Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Silicon Valley Bank

Series E, $25M
Recorded Future (2009, Somerville, $57M) – Real-time threat intelligence from the entire web
Investors: Insight Venture Partners

Series C, $20M
JumpCloud (2012, Boulder, $33.3M) – Cloud based directory service for user & IT resource authentication; Devops Agent

Post IPO, $19.6M
Cyren (1991, Herzliya) – Cloud based endpoint security & threat intelligence
Investors: Warburg Pincus

Series B, $16.2M
EclecticIQ (2014, Amsterdam, $24.9M) – Threat intelligence management tool
Investors: Keen Venture Partners

Series A, $10M
SCADAfence (2014, Tel Aviv, $10M) – Network Intrusion Detection System for Critical Infrastructure
Investors: NexStar Partners, DS Strategic Partners, IAngels, Global Brain, Jerusalem Venture Partners, 31VENTURES

Series A, $7.5M
NS8 (2016, Herndon, $7.5M) – Anti-botnet platform for user experience protection and abuse and fraud prevention
Investors: Arbor Ventures

Series A, $7M
NeuVector (2015, San Jose, $7M) – Application aware run-time network container security solution
Investors: Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

Series A, $7M
Secturion Systems (2012, Clearfield, $7M) – MACsec encryptor for big data security

Series A, $6.2M
Thycotic (1996, Washington D.C., $6.2M) – Enterprise Password Management Software
Investors: Insight Venture Partners

Series B, $6.0M
Terbium Labs (2013, Baltimore, $16.1M) – Enterprise data breach discovery by monitoring, indexing and matching data from deep net

Seed, $5.3M
Medigate (2017, Tel Aviv, $5.3M) – Connected medical device cybersecurity platform
Investors: YL Ventures, Blumberg Capital

Series A, $4M
Enveil (2016, Columbia, $4M) – Homomorphic encryption based security of data-in-use
Investors: Thomson Reuters, USAA, DataTribe, Bloomberg Beta

Series A, $3.1M
Horangi (2016, Singapore, $3.1M) – Cloud-based cyber security assessment, threat detection, and incident response
platform
Investors: Monk’s Hill Ventures, Right Click Capital, 500 Startups, 6Degrees Ventures

M&A

• Lip-Syncing App Musical.ly Is Acquired for as Much as $1 Billion The Wall Street Journal
• Synopsys to Enhance Software Integrity Platform with Acquisition of Black Duck SoftwarePR Newswire
• Continental in talks to buy Israel’s Argus Cyber Security Reuters
• Cloudflare expands into mobile performance with Neumob acquisition TechCrunch
• Barracuda Acquires Sonian Inc. PR Newswire
• Proofpoint acquires Cloudmark for $110M in cybersecurity consolidation play TechCrunch
• Extreme Networks Completes Acquisition of Brocade’s Data Center Networking BusinessPR Newswire
• Symantec Announces Acquisition of SurfEasy, Inc. Business Wire
• BICS Completes Acquisition of TeleSign PR Newswire
• Two compliance companies merge to build a $100M firm TechCrunch

IPO

• Austin’s SailPoint plans to raise $200 million in upcoming IPO 512Tech
• Austin software maker SailPoint raises $240M in IPO, gets a warm welcome from Wall Street 512Tech
• Private equity owners of antivirus company Avast have hired Rothschild to check out a £3bn IPO City A.M.
• ForeScout Technologies prices IoT security IPO at $22 mmotimes.com
• Identity solutions business SailPoint up 9% following IPO mmotimes.com
• Zscaler puts weight into IPO Global Corporate Venturing

Funds Raising Funds

• Monk’s Hill leads $3.1m Series A in Horangi Cybersecurity Deal Street Asia

New Product Announcement

• Gemalto Launches First of its Kind On-Demand Security Platform to Protect Data Anytime, Anywhere PressReleasePoint
• ProtonMail launches an encrypted contacts manager to protect journalists’ sources The Verge
• UK Firm Yoti Launches Digital Identity App to Make Proving ID Simpler, Faster and SaferBusiness Wire
• Gemalto launches multi-band LTE Cat 1 IoT module with 2G/3G fallback Telecompaper
• Magic Software Announces Magic xpc, its New iPaaS Solution, Empowering Cloud Integrations PressReleasePoint
• Emirates NBD trusts Gemalto for Mobile Banking security in the Middle EastPressReleasePoint
• Perforce Helix Plugin for Microsoft Visual Studio Provides Tighter Integration for Developers PR Newswire
• AccessData Launches AD RTK™, New Tool to Identify and Remediate Problematic Data Across Enterprise Networks GlobeNewswire
• Druva Introduces Next Generation Cloud-to-Cloud Data Protection with Apollo for AWSDATAVERSITY
• Bracket tackles modern hack attacks with new immutable server protection SD Times
• Black Duck Launches OpsSight: Comprehensive, Automated Open Source Container Security for Production Environments Business Wire
• SlashNext Launches Revolutionary Internet Threat Protection System to Displace Aging Signature and Sandbox Technologies PR Newswire
• High-Tech Bridge Announces Free Application Discovery and Inventory Service Business Wire
• Fiorano Launches PSD2 Solution for Banks for Seamless Regulatory ComplianceBusiness Wire
• Avira SafeThings™ Reimagines Home Security in the IoT World: A House Without Extra Boxes Business Wire
• Free GoCrack password cracking tool helps test password security CSO Online
• WISeKey introduces WISeCoin Wallet, a contactless hardware enabled wallet to offer security and ease of use for cryptocurrency users GlobeNewswire
• Cheetah Mobile rolls out Artificial Intelligence in its apps bgr.in
• Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity, Napatech launch network threat detection platformTelecompaper

New Market Entry

• BluVector Debuts Security Industry First in Fileless Malware Detection Business Wire

New Geo Entry

• China’s Xiaomi seeks to reignite global push with Spain launch Reuters
• Amazon launches its Echo devices and Alexa in Japan TechCrunch
• Amazon Australia Has Landed, First Sign Placed Outside Warehouse ChannelNews
• Amazon Echo and Echo Plus are now available in US The Bulletin Network
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 and Redmi Note 5A Prime Are Coming to Pakistan ProPakistani
• Xiaomi opens new flagship shop in Moscow Telecompaper
• Xiaomi opens its first Mi-branded store in Egypt T3 Middle East

Business Partnership

• Votiro Joins the VMware Technology Alliance Partner Program Medianet
• Huawei and Gemalto team up to accelerate NarrowBand IoT deployments IoT Business News
• Tata Elxsi Partners With BlackBerry to Accelerate Innovation in Secure Embedded Designs PR Newswire
• Tenable and Siemens Form Partnership to Secure Critical Infrastructure Business Wire
• Veridium Brings Biometric Security to Unbanked Populations Through Zero-Fee Financial Services from Wala Business Wire
• Synacor and WOW! Launch New Customer Portal, Extend Partnership and Expand Cloud ID Offering Business Wire

Company Announcement

• BlackBerry Announces New Patent Licensing Partnership with Industry LeaderMarketwired
• Symantec Selects Amazon Web Services to Deliver Cloud Security to Global CustomersBusiness Wire
• Francisco Partners Announces Acquisition of Comodo’s Certificate Authority (SSL) Business Business Wire

Earnings Release

• Splunk Inc. Announces Fiscal Third Quarter 2018 Financial Results Business Wire

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.

INTERESTING STARTUPS

Rezo (2017, Noida), AI powered customer support ticket management platform. Founders are ex-WNS Global services, Absolutdata, GlobalLogic, Spice Digital and alumni of IIT Delhi.Global comparable is answeriq (2017, Seattle ,$5M).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

CleanMax Solar (2011, Mumbai), solar power project developer, raises $15M in funding from World Bank’s IFC. Link

AutoNebula, connected vehicle accelerator and investment fund, raises $7M in alternate investment funding headed by Milestone Trustees along with Sanjay Puri, Chairman and founder of AutoNebula. Link

Passion Gaming (2015, Chandigarh), parent company of Rummy Passion (2015, Chandigarh), online game for Rummy, raises $3.75M in funding from Stride Gaming. Link

Qwikcilver (2008, Bangalore), multi-brand gift card store and B2B backend technology provider, partners with Samsung (1969, Seoul), multinational conglomerate company, to launch a gift card store on Samsung Pay. Link

Uber (2009, San Francisco), mobile app that connects passengers with vehicle drivers for hire, selects 10 Indian startups for its UberEXCHANGE programme. Link

Wadhwani Foundation launches Wadhwani Global Network for Entrepreneurs. Link

T-Hub, Hyderabad based accelerator, launches T-Fund, an early-stage venture fund. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Waddle (2015, Surry Hills), provider of lines of credit to businesses provider, raises $38M in Debt round of funding from an investment management firm. Link

Thrive Global (2016, NYC), well­being and productivity platform, raises $30M in Series B round of funding led by IVP, with participation from Chairman and CEO of Salesforce Marc Benioff, Marketo co-founder and former CEO Phil Fernandez and existing investors. Link

ReversingLabs (2009, Cambridge), cyber threat detection, file reputation and file analysis tools provider, raises $25M in Series A round of funding from Trident Capital Cybersecurity and JPMorgan Chase. Link

Spot.IM (2012, NYC), technology to increase customer engagement using social networking features, raises $25M in Series C round of funding from Insight Venture Partners. Link

Seebo (2012, Tel Aviv), cloud based platform for IoT products’ lifecycle management, raises $8M in Series A round of funding led by TPY Capital and Viola Ventures, with participation from Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Global IoT Technology Ventures, Inc. Link

NetDocuments (1998, Lehi), cloud-based enterprise content management platform, acquires ThreadKM (2014, Atlanta), project management tool for lawyers, for an undisclosed amount. Link

Analyst Picks

• Servo Kiosk (2017, Istanbul) – IoT-enabled self servicing kiosk to buy food items
  Market: FoodTech > Hardware and IoT Solutions > Vending and Dispensing > Snacks
• MyTaste (2014, Stockholm) – Online recipe aggregator platform
  Market: FoodTech > Content > Recipe Aggregators

Funding Rounds

Series F, $98M
Deliveroo (2013, London, $957.6M) – Online platform to order food for delivery from partnered restaurants
Investors: T. Rowe Price, Fidelity Investments, DST Global, General Catalyst Partners, Index Ventures, Accel Partners

Seed, $4M
How Living (2015, Taipei, $4.3M) – Online platform for cooking recipes
Investors: Alibaba Entrepreneurs Fund, WI Harper Group, Cherubic Ventures

Seed, $3.8M
Eat and the City (2017, Kerava, $3.8M) – Online SaaS-based white label solutions for restaurant discovery
Investors: Gorilla Ventures, undefined, Arteel Ventures, Tekes

Seed, $3.4M
BottlesXO (2014, Shanghai, $6.4M) – Wine delivery service

Series A, $1.1M
Cheetay (2016, Lahore, $2M) – Online platform for ordering food from restaurants

Seed, $1.1M
Localvore (2012, Burlington, $1.1M) – Online restaurant discovery platform

Seed
Breadfast (2017, Cairo) – Internet first brand of baked products
Investors: 500 Startups

Seed
Biryani By Kilo (2015, Gurgaon) – Internet first restaurant focusing on Biryani and Indian cusine
Investors: Kunal Khattar, Manish Vij, Harish Bahl, Startup Equity Partners, KCT Group

Seed
Xinyisoft (2014, Beijing) – SaaS and POS tools for restaurants
Investors: BAIFU GROUP

Series C
Guoxiaomei (2015, Chengdu) – Smart vending machine for offices

M&A

• Zomato reportedly exploring merger talks with rival Swiggy The Indian Wire
• Just Eat’s £200m Takeover Of Hungryhouse To Complete In January Lunch Business
• Logistics firm VDeliver acquires food delivery app Towny Business Line
• Food Delivery App Otlob to be acquired by German Delivery Hero Egypt Today
• Oh My Green Announces Acquisition of Blissmo PRWeb

IPO

• Blue Apron competitor HelloFresh prices IPO, raising up to $369 million mmotimes.com

New Fund Launch

• HonestBrew launches craft beer investment fund The Drinks Business

New Product Announcement

• Zomato launches subscription-based ‘Zomato Gold’ in India Indiatimes
• Zomato Introduces Food Hygiene Ratings for Restaurants, Coming to India Soon New Delhi Television
• Mylan launches FDC of darunavir, ritonavir for HIV-1 treatment-experienced patientsPharma Biz
• TableSafe launches EMV on its Rail pay-at-the-table platform Hotel Management
• Delaget unveils QSR industry’s first end-to-end data management platform PR Newswire
• SlimFast® Launches Advanced Energy with an Upbeat New TV Commercial PR Newswire
• Bayn develops cloud-based platform for sugar reduction Food Ingredients First
• Mellow Revolutionizes Cooking With The Launch Of The World’s First Smart Sous-Vide Machine With Built-In Refrigeration Bringing Convenience To The Kitchen PR Newswire
• Huel launches ‘sport approved’ Huel Professional BikeBiz

Business Partnership

• TripAdvisor to offer Takeaway’s food delivery in Europe Reuters
• Amazon Fresh and Allrecipes team up Tamebay
• NCR and MonkeyMedia Software Collaborate to Help Restaurants Scale Off-premises Operations Business Wire
• Grubhub Announces Collaboration with IHG® (InterContinental Hotels Group) PR Newswire
• Skype Features SAVEUR Bot to Add Flavors to User’s Life TechGenYZ
• Tops to Sell Chef’d Meal Kits in Stores Progressive Grocer
• Foodpanda Opts for MyOperator To Strengthen the Delivery Recruitment ProcessDataquest
• VoucherCart and ResDiary Announce Cloud Tech Partnership Newswire

Company Announcement

• Swiggy sees a big pie in delivering ads to customers Indiatimes
• Freshmenu opens first front-facing kitchen, targets 2x revenue growth in FY18 Indiatimes
• UberEATS aims to expand to 200 cities by 2017-end Business Standard
• ezCater Expands Managed Office Meals Service, ezCater White Glove, to Full Nationwide Availability Business Wire
• foodpanda witnesses 500 pct surge in calls post partnership with MyOperatornewKerala.com

Earnings Release

• Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2017 Results Business Wire
• Germany’s Delivery Hero third-quarter revenue jumps 60 percent Reuters
• PAR Technology Corporation Announces 2017 Third Quarter Results from Continuing Operations Business Wire

New Feature Release

• UberEATS is launching virtual restaurants to bring you real food Fast Company
• FoodLogiQ updates traceability technology Food Quality News
• foodpanda Reveals an All New Look & Improved Features ProPakistani

Key People Movement

• Pact Coffee founder steps down from CEO role as London startup looks to B2B for growth TechCrunch

Lawsuit

• GrubHub made closing arguments defending 1099 independent contractor modelTechCrunch

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.

INTERESTING STARTUPS

Salestroopz (2016, Bengaluru), AI-enabled lead generation platform. Founders are ex-Saxon Global, Aricent and alumni of Manipal University. Local comparables are  Pipe Candy (2015, Chennai, $1.1M) and Clodura (2016, Pune).Global comparables are InsideSales (2004, Provo, $251M) and EverString (2012, San Mateo, $78.7M).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Nazara Technologies (2000, Mumbai), mobile game developer, raises $51.1M in Series B round of funding led by IIFL Special Opportunities Fund. Link

Befikr (2015, Noida), online portal to book home services, raises around $2M in Series A round of funding from undisclosed investors. Link

Uniphore Systems (2008, Chennai), speech recognition, voice biometrics and virtual assistant solutions provider, raises an undisclosed amount in Series B round of funding led by John Chambers, executive chairman of Cisco Systems. Link

AEON Learning Pvt. Ltd (2010, Bangalore), parent company of Avagmah (2010, Bangalore), online distance learning platform, acquires Acadgild (2014, Bangalore), online professional courses platform offering technical certifications, for $10M. Link

Amazon India (2012, Bangalore), online horizontal marketplace, launches Amazon Saheli to help women entrepreneurs sell products online. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Uptake (2014, Palo Alto), machine learning enabled predictive platform for multiple industries, raises $117M in Series D round of funding led by Baillie Gifford, with participation from Revolution Growth and GreatPoint Ventures. Link

Farmers Business Network (2014, Davenport), net-hwork based big data analytics platform for farmers to increase productivity, raises $110M in Series D round of funding led by T.Rowe Price and Temasek, with participation from GV, Kleiner Perkins, and Campbell Soup’s Acre Fund. Link

H2O.ai (2011, Mountain View), provider of open source machine learning platform, raises $40M in Series C round of funding led by Wells Fargo and NVIDIA with participation from New York Life, Crane Venture Partners, Nexus Venture Partners, Transamerica Ventures and Aegon Group. Link

Mojio (2012, Vancouver), platform for connected cars, raises $30M in Series B round of funding led by Toronto’s Kensington Capital. Link

Dropbox (2007, SF), cloud-based file sharing and synchronization software provider, acquires Verst (2011, NYC), website publishing and blogging platform, for an undisclosed amount. Link

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.

INTERESTING STARTUPS

Fulassure (2017, Bengaluru), platform enabling predictive maintenance for industrial IOT solutions. Founder is ex-Nokia Siemens network, Founder Institute and alumni of IIM Bangalore. Local comparables are   Covacsis (2009, Mumbai, $452K) and Zasti (2017, Chennai).Global comparables are Augury (2012, Haifa, $24M) and Predikto (2012, Atlanta,$7.6M).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

NestAway (2014, Bangalore), marketplace for furnished shared rentals, raises $50M in Series D round of funding from UC-RNT Fund, an investment vehicle sponsored by Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata and the University of California. Link

Graphic India (2011, Bangalore), character-based entertainment content provider, raises $5M in Series A round of funding from Liquid Comics with participation from Start Media LLC, 3One4 Capital, Julian Farrior, co-founder of Backflip Studios Inc., and Neeraj Bhargava, founder of Zodius Capital. Link

Rentickle (2015, Gurgaon), online portal for renting furniture and home appliances, raises $4M in Series A round of funding led by Ajay Relan, chairman of VC firm CX Partners and ThinKuvate. Link

Holachef (2014, Mumbai), online curated marketplace for chef prepared meals, raises $1.3M in Series B round of funding from individual investors and and corporate entities, including Rajasthan-based software publishing and consultancy firm IPI Technolab Pvt. Ltd. and Innoven Capital. Link

Strata Enviro (2016, Pune), manufacturer of outdoor air pollution controllers, raises an undisclosed amount in funding from ScaleMinds. Link

T-Hub, startup incubator, partners with CASHe (2016, Mumbai), platform for short term personal loan, and launches blockchain hyper hub. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Aaptiv (2016, NYC), audio-based fitness app, raises $38M in Series A and Series B both round of funding from led by Insight Venture Partners, along with existing investors Arena Ventures, Pear Ventures and Switch VC. Link

Deposit Solutions (2011, Humburg), open architecture platform for retail deposits, raises $20M in Series C round of funding led by existing shareholders e.ventures and Greycroft. Link

Canatu (2004, Helsinki), developer of transparent conductive films & touch sensors using carbon nanomaterial, raises $13.96M in funding from Denso Corporation and Ascend Capital Partners as well as existing investor Faurecia. Link

Mapbox (2010, Washington D.C.), tools provider for building custom maps, acquires Fitness AR, activity tracking app, for an undisclosed amount. Link

Edgewater, Chicago-based private equity firm, closes fourth growth fund at over $1B. Link

Analyst Picks

• Achain (2015, Beijing) – Smart contracts and Blockchain application development platform
  Market: Blockchain > Technology > Application Development Platform

Funding Rounds

Post IPO, $34.5M
HIVE Blockchain Technologies (2017, Vancouver) – Crypto-mining solutions

Series B, $25M
Blockstream (2014, San Francisco, $101M) – Blockchain development focused on sidechains innovation
Investors: G Lab

Post IPO, $12.0M
BTL (2015, Vancouver) – Blockchain based development platforms for businesses

Series A, $11.6M
Neufund (2016, Berlin, $13.7M) – Blockchain-based platform to offer inital coin offering to startups.

Series A, $7.8M
Libra (2014, San Francisco, $10M) – Compliance and audit solution for blockchain platforms.
Investors: Liberty City Ventures, Boost VC, undefined, Lee Linden

Grant (prize money), $6.2M
Power Ledger (2016, Perth) – P2P energy trading
Investors: Government of Australia

Post IPO, $6.2M
BTL (2015, Vancouver) – Blockchain based development platforms for businesses

Seed, $5M
Omniex (2017, San Francisco, $5M) – Crypto asset trading platform
Investors: Sierra Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Clocktower Technology Ventures, ThirdStream Partners

Conventional Debt, $1.5M
Salt lending (2016, Denver) – Blockchain asset backed loans.

Series A, $1.2M
Stratumn (2015, Paris, $9.7M) – Development platform for blockchain applications.

Conventional Debt, $700K
Salt lending (2016, Denver) – Blockchain asset backed loans.

Seed, $200K
Cognate (2013, Boston, $200K) – Crowdsourced Trademark Listing and Search

Series A
Bitspark (2014, Hong Kong, $68K) – Bitcoin exchange, payment processor and remittance service provider.
Investors: Reinsurance Group of America

New Product Announcement

Business Partnership

• Veridium Brings Biometric Security to Unbanked Populations Through Zero-Fee Financial Services from Wala Business Wire
• R3 and Microsoft expand tech partnership FStech
• Air New Zealand, Swiss travel platform Winding Tree in blockchain tie-up Reuters
• Digital Garage and Blockstream Expand Partnership to Accelerate Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Deployments in Japan PR Newswire
• SIA and R3 Partner to Accelerate the Adoption of Blockchain Applications by 600 Banks and Corporates Business Wire
• BlockEx Partner with OpenText to Develop Blockchain-Based Supply Chain Finance Solution PR Newswire
• BurstIQ Partners With Unified Signal to Launch Crypto-Wallet Integrated Mobile Phone Service HIT Consultant
• RSK Brings Blockchain Regtech Leader Coinfirm and its AML/CTF Platform Into its Federation PR Newswire
• Ammbr Partners with Rivetz for Enhanced Network Security PR Newswire

Company Announcement

• Amex launches blockchain-based business payments using Ripple Reuters
• Vela Sells Part Stake In Canadian Technology Firm BTL Morningstar
• Waves to Implement New Technology to Become Fastest Blockchain Platform in the World Crowdfund Insider
• Ethereum-based digital ID registration platform opens to Zug citizens EconoTimes

New Feature Release

• Top banks and R3 build blockchain-based payments system Reuters

Key People Movement

• Former T. Rowe Price Senior Executive Todd Ruppert Joins Swiss Tech Firm MelonportCrowdfund Insider

Board Updates

• Salil Donde Takes on Chief Executive Role at AlphaPoint GlobeNewswire
• Electronic Trading Veteran Jose Marques Appointed to Omega One Advisory Board PR Newswire

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.

INTERESTING STARTUPS

Sofocle Technologies (2016, Noida), blockchain based smart contract and supply chain solutions provider.Founder is ex-Prolitus Technologies and alumni of ICFAI University. Local comparables are QzIP (2017,Noida) and Chainflux (2017, Bangalore). Global comparables are InstaSupply (2014, London, $1.5M) and trakti.com (2013, Trento).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Shalby (1994, Ahmedabad), multi specialty hospital, raises $22.7M in funding from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Axis Mutual Fund and others. Link

Juggernaut Books (2015, Delhi), mobile first publishing platform for authors, raises an undisclosed amount in Series A round of funding from Airtel. Link

DailyHunt (2007, Bangalore), mobile application for news in regional languages, partners with YuppTV (2007, Atlanta), digital and mobile entertainment platform, to launch LiveTV. Link

Facebook (2004, Menlo Park), social networking site, partners with T-Hub (2015, Hyderabad), startup incubator, to work with 10 VR-focused indian startups. Link

Ola (2011, Bangalore), app-based asset-light cab operator, launches bicycle-sharing service Ola Pedal. Link

ADIA, Abu-Dhabi based sovereign wealth fund, acquires a minority stake in KKR India Financial Services, for an undisclosed amount. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Oakam (2006, London), lending platform for the unbanked and underbanked, raises $46.2M in Debt round of  funding from Victory Park Capital. Link

Contentful (2011, Berlin), content management platform API for web and mobile apps, raises $28M in Series C round of funding led by General Catalyst Partners, with participation from Benchmark Capital, Balderton Capital, and Point Nine Capital. Link

Simplus (2014, Sandy), salesforce implementation & consulting firm, raises $9.3M in Series B round of funding led by Epic Ventures with participation from existing investor Salesforce Ventures, newcomer Cross Creek Advisors, and others. Link

J.P Morgan Chase (1823, NYC), financial services provider, acquires WePay (2008, Palo Alto), flexible payments API for platforms, for $400M. Link

United Ventures, Italy-based venture capital firm, launches second tech venture fund; holds first close at $87.3M. Link

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.

INTERESTING STARTUPS

Techregis Solutions (2017, Ahmedabad), developer of environmental monitoring sensor boxes and smart street lighting systems.Local comparables are UtopiaTech (2017,Mumbai) and Wisys Technologies (2013, Bangalore). Global comparables are Sensity Systems (2010, Sunnyvale, $74M) and Petra Systems (2013, Trento, $54M)

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Dunzo (2015, Bangalore), mobile-based concierge services provider, raises $12.3M in Series B round of funding from Google. Link

Flintobox (2013, Chennai), theme based activity box for kids, raises $7M in Series A round of funding from venture capital firm Lightbox. Link

HandyTrain (2015, Goa), mobile platform for corporate training, raises $1M in pre-Series A round of funding led by NB Ventures. Link

Mobycy (2017, Gurgaon), mobile-based bicycle rental platform, raises $500k in Seed round of funding from a US-based angel investor. Link

Hello Curry (2013, Hyderabad), fast food delivery chain, partners with Food Advisr, to invest $2.7M in new food delivery venture. Link

Future Supply Chain Solutions, logistics arm of Future Group, raises $29.6M in funding from HDFC Trustee Co., Reliance Capital Trustee Co. Ltd, L&T Mutual Fund and IDFC Mutual Fund ahead of its IPO. Link

Edelweiss Alternative Asset Advisors Ltd, private debt investment platform of Edelweiss Group, closes real estate fund, at $5B. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Anaplan (2006, San Francisco), corporate performance management platform, raises $60M in Series F round of funding led by Premji Invest, along with Salesforce Ventures, Top Tier Capital Partners and other existing investors. Link

Sonim (1999, San Mateo), workforce-critical communication tools provider, raises $37M in funding from B. Riley Financial, Inc. Link

Nexenta (2005, Santa Clara), software-defined storage solution provider, raises $20M in funding led by SoftBank Corp., with participation from Javelin Venture Partners, SV Booth Investments, SAB Capital, Lake Trail Capital, TRB Equity, and Tarkan Maner. Link

Intuit (1983, Mountain View), business & financial management solutions provider, acquires TSheets (2006, Boise), time tracking software provider, for $340M. Link

Apple (1976, Cupertino), consumer electronics manufacturer, acquires Pop Up Archive(2012, Oakland), speech to text software provider, for an undisclosed amount. Link

A weekly newsletter summarizing recent activity and interesting startups in South East Asia.

INTERESTING COMPANIES FOUND

PopScoot (2017, Singapore) – App based platform for rent electric scooter. Global Comparable include Qdigo (2016, Shanghai, $7.26M) and Mute (2016, South Perth, $1.3M).

WhatTheFAQ (2016, Jakarta) – Widget for on-demand contextual help. Global Comparable include AnswerDash (2012, Seattle, $5.8M) and Elev (2014, Moonee Ponds).

SEA – FUNDING UPDATES

Ayopop raises funding
Ayopop (2016, Jakarta). an Indonesian bills payment mobile app, raises an undisclosed amount in Series A led by Finch Capital.

Pathao raises funding
Pathao (2015, Dhaka), an online platform for last mile delivery and ride-hailing, raises $2M in Series A from Go-Jek.

Digix raises funding
Digix (2014, Singapore), a P2P digital assets provider, raises $1.3M in Seed funding from Global Brain and Fenbushi Capital.

Change raises funding
Change (2016, Singapore), a cryptocurrency based wallet, raises $1.7M in ICO round.

Kryptos-X raises funding
Kryptos-X(2017, Singapore), an early-stage cryptocurrency exchange, raises $1M in Seed funding from Fatfish InternetGroup.

DedaaBox raises funding
DedaaBox (2016, Yangon), a mobile learning app, raises an undisclosed amount in undisclosed series from BOD Tech.

SEA – RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Blibli acquires Indonesia Flight
Blibli, an e-commerce company, acquires Indonesia Flight, a Jakarta based online travel agency, for an undisclosed amount.

Telkom acquires TS Global Network for $26M
Telekomunikasi Indonesia, a telco firm, acquires TS Global Network, a Malaysia based satellite operator, for $26M.

Analyst Picks

• Ubiquity6 (2017, San Francisco) – Stealth mode: augmented reality company
  Market: Augmented Reality
• 0Terra (2017, Los Angeles) – P2P decentralised AR network to interact and collaborate AR content
  Market: Augmented Reality > Development Tools > Streaming
• HUDWAY (2014, Marina Del Rey) – Head-up display for cars
  Market: Augmented Reality > Display Medium > Projection-based > HUDs

Funding Rounds

Series A, $7M
CY Vision (2016, Mountain View, $7M) – Vision systems for AR and VR
Investors: Intel Capital, Vestel Ventures

Series A, $6.7M
Varjo Technologies (2016, Helsinki, $14.9M) – Head mounted display with resolution matching human eye
Investors: Tekes

Series A, $6.5M
Light Field Lab (2017, San Francisco, $6.5M) – Light field display devices for holographic experiences

Series A, $5M
Lightform (2014, San Francisco, $7.6M) – 3D scanner for projected augmented reality
Investors: Lux Capital, Dolby Family Ventures, CrunchFund, Comet Labs, Presence Capital, Anorak Ventures

Seed
Play Shifu (2016, Bangalore) – AR based learning
Investors: Parampara Capital, IDG Ventures India

• Giaran Acquired by Shiseido Americas VentureFizz

New Product Announcement

• Blippar Launches App Allowing People to Navigate the World with Augmented RealitySector Publishing Intelligence

Business Partnership

• Memomi Labs and ModiFace Announce Strategic Partnership To Offer The Ultimate In-Store Augmented Reality Experience Sector Publishing Intelligence
• YouCam Makeup & 100% Pure Launch a Live Stream Beauty Experience for Natural Cosmetics Junkies Business Wire

Company Announcement

• Vuzix Blade™ Smart Glasses Developer Kit Pre-Order Program Officially Launches PR Newswire
• Vuzix M300 Programs Top 350 as Global Reach Expands Across 45 Countries Worldwide and Commercial PR Newswire
• Bent Image Lab Spins-Off YOUar Project into YOUar Inc. PR Newswire
• Dreamworld Augmented Reality Moves Forward after Settlement with Meta Business Wire

Earning Release

• Vuzix Provides Business Update and Reports its Third Quarter 2017 Financial Results PR Newswire
• Realfiction Holding AB: Announces Interim Report for January-September 2017 4-Traders

New Feature Release

• Atheer Releases Latest AiR Enterprise with Enhanced Enterprise Security, Taskflow Reporting, and Expanded Device Support PR Newswire
• ModiFace Upgrades Web-Based AR E-Commerce Try-On Technology in Partnership with Bobbi Brown Cosmetics Marketwired

Key People Movement

• Vuzix Appoints Joe Surprenant and Alex Kelly Citybizlist

Award

• Swiss Augmented Reality Developer WayRay Named Grand Prize Winner Of AutoMobility LA’s Top Ten Automotive Startups™ Competition PR Newswire
• YouCam Makeup Crowned “Best of 2017” by Google Play 4-Traders
• Vuzix Wins 4 CES 2018 Innovations Awards for the Blade™ Augmented Reality Smart Glasses PR Newswire
• NUVIZ Head-Up Display for Motorcyclists Named a CES Best of Innovation Awards Honoree Marketwired

Soonicorn Club

• Unicorn

           HeartFlow (2007, Redwood City, $316.8M) – Provides cardiovascular diagnostic support using analytics.
          Market: Healthcare Analytics > Clinical Analytics > Diagnosis > Image Analysis > Cardiology

Funding Rounds

Series E, $90M
HeartFlow (2007, Redwood City, $316.8M) – Provides cardiovascular diagnostic support using analytics.

Series B, $30.2M
12Sigma (2016, Nanjing, $31.7M) – AI based medical diagnosis system tools
Investors: SB China Capital, CDBI Partners, German Capital, ZhenFund, Matrix Partners China

Series B, $30M
Arterys (2012, San Francisco, $42M) – SaaS analytics platform for Medical Image Analysis
Investors: Temasek, Northwell, NewYork-Presbyterian, GE Ventures, Varian Medical Systems, DNA Capital, Emergent Medical Partners

Series D, $30M
Syapse (2008, Palo Alto, $69.5M) – Molecular profiling platform for diagnosing and treating patients
Investors: Ascension Ventures, GE Ventures, Intermountain Healthcare, Safeguard Scientifics, Social Capital, Medidata, Amgen Business Development, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Roche

Series B, $26M
LeanTaaS (2010, Santa Clara, $39.4M) – Tools for resource utilization and patient time optimization
Investors: Insight Venture Partners

Series C, $20.5M
Prognos (2010, New York City, $42M) – Analytics company utilizing lab data for improving care quality
Investors: Hermed Capital, Maywic Select Investments, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Safeguard Scientifics, GuardianLife, Cigna, Hikma Ventures

Series A, $17.3M
DeepWise (2017, Beijing, $22.6M) – AI-based radiology image solution primarily for cancer diagnosis
Investors: Danhua Capital, Tao Tong investment, Tongdu Capital, Kunzhong Capital

Series B, $15.1M
1MData (2015, Beijing, $15.1M) – Medical information management system and doctor assistant platform
Investors: Shenzhen China Venture Capital

Series B, $4.2M
Intervention Insights (2009, Cambridge, $11.4M) – Evidence-based decisions support tool for molecular oncology

Series A, $3.5M
DreamQuark (2014, Paris, $3.5M) – Uses machine intelligence to develop prevention and diagnostic systems
Investors: CapHorn Invest, Plug and Play Tech Center

Grant (prize money), $697K
GripAble (2016, London, $199K) – A Bluetooth-enabled personal rehabilitation device with a companion app
Investors: UK Government

Series B, $575K
WiserTogether (2008, Washington D.C., $19.3M) – Personalized treatment comparison and selection platform for patients through healthcare organizations or employer.

Seed, $199K
GripAble (2016, London, $199K) – A Bluetooth-enabled personal rehabilitation device with a companion app
Investors: Oxford Technology

Conventional Debt, $50K
Persivia (2005, Lowell, $5M) – Offers chronic care management by aggregating all types of data for patient stratification

M&A

• Roche to acquire Viewics, Inc. to provide data-driven lab business analytics and add further digital capabilities along the laboratory value chain PressReleasePoint
• Royal Philips : Philips expands its Radiology Solutions portfolio with the acquisition of Analytical Informatics, Inc. 4-Traders
• Imagia Completes Acquisition of Cadens Medical Imaging PR Newswire
• The Advisory Board Company Stockholders Approve Merger Agreement With Optum PR Newswire
• MYND Analytics Announces Acquisition of Arcadian Telepsychiatry Services to Expand AI & Data Analytics Platform in Telemedicine GlobeNewswire

New Fund Launch

• Optum Ventures is looking for startups that will make fundamental changes to healthcare system Healthcare Finance News

FDA Approval

• FDA Approves World’s First Digital Drug The Wall Street Journal
• MIM Software Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for Post-Treatment Dosimetry of Yttrium-90 Microspheres PR Newswire
• Arterys Receives FDA clearance for Arterys MICA, its web-based medical imaging analytics platform PR Newswire

New Product Announcement

• Infervision Launches First Artificial Intelligence Platform to Help Radiologists Diagnose Stroke Faster Using CT Brain Scans 4-Traders
• Innovaccer Announces the Launch of Datashop Beacon – a Product Offering Over 10 Million Data Points for Care Research PR Newswire
• Omnicell Introduces Revolutionary New Solution to Automate Critical Workflows in Central Pharmacy PressReleasePoint
• Lunit Unveils ’Lunit INSIGHT,’ A New Real-time Imaging AI Platform on the Web at RSNA 2017 PR Newswire
• Volpara Solutions Launches Two New Products at RSNA PR Newswire
• XIFIN Announces Next-Generation Revenue Cycle Management with RPM 9 to Help Laboratories Improve Revenue, Patient Engagement and Reporting During Unprecedented Market Disruption Business Wire
• Vital to Unveil Newest Vitrea® Advanced Visualization Release at RSNA 2017: Building Excellence for the Future GlobeNewswire

Business Partnership

• Change Healthcare Announces Strategic Relationship with Google Cloud PR Newswire
• Zebra Medical Vision to Collaborate with Google Cloud to Bring a Transparent All-in-One Model to Healthcare Business Wire
• DiA Imaging Analysis Enters Partnership with GE Healthcare on Automatic Imaging Analysis Tools PR Newswire
• NTT DATA Accelerates Adoption of Artificial Intelligence for Medical Imaging through Partnership with MD.ai Business Wire
• Change Healthcare Teams with Zebra Medical Vision to Bring Artificial Intelligence to Medical Imaging PR Newswire
• BurstIQ Partners With Unified Signal to Launch Crypto-Wallet Integrated Mobile Phone Service HIT Consultant
• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health Expands Relationship with Conifer Health Business Wire
• Sunquest Information Systems Partners with NGS Clinical Interpretation Leader, N-of-One PR Newswire
• Empiric Health Announces Strategic Partnership with Health Data Company BurstIQGlobeNewswire
• Elsevier and WiserCare Team up to Offer Patients Personalized Shared Decision Making with Trusted, Consistent Patient Information PR Newswire
• HealthTrust Teams with Valify for Purchased Services Benchmarking Business Wire
• CarePredict and LifeWell Expand Partnership to Implement AI Technology at New Senior Living Community PR Newswire

Company Announcement

• Aidoc Receives CE Mark for First Commercial Deep Learning Solution Streamlining Head and Neck Imaging for Radiologists PR Newswire
• Ventripoint Invents a New Way to Track Ultrasound Probes that will Speed up ExamsGlobeNewswire

Earnings Release

• NantHealth Reports 2017 Third Quarter Financial Results; GPS Revenue Doubles from Preceding Quarter Business Wire
• Tabula Rasa HealthCare Announces Third Quarter 2017 Results GlobeNewswire
• Evolent Health Announces Third Quarter 2017 Results PR Newswire

Key People Movement

• EarlySense Appoints New COO to Support Continued Global Growth PR Newswire
• CitiusTech Names William Winkenwerder, Jr., MD as Chairman of the Company Citybizlist
• Oncology Analytics Appoints Rick Dean as Chief Executive Officer Business Wire

A weekly newsletter summarizing recent activity in the Chinese startup ecosystem.

DEALS OF THE WEEK

Gaw Capital, Consortium Partners To Acquire 17 Shopping Centers in Hong Kong
Gaw Capital Partners, a Hong Kong-based real estate private equity firm, and a consortium of partners including Goldman Sachs have won a bid to acquire 17 shopping centres in Hong Kong from Link Asset Management Ltd for $3B.

INTERESTING FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY IN CHINA

China developer Kaisa unit makes $332m investment in Zhenxing biopharma
Zhenxing Biopharmaceutical & Chemical Co Ltd (1995, Taiyuan), a biopharmaceutical and chemical representatives provider, raised $332M in a funding round led by Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd.

Warburg Pincus Leads $227M New Round In Chinese Parking Service Company Sunsea
Sunsea Parking (2006, Beijing), a parking service company, providing consulting, finance, real estate, planning and design services related to parking, raised $227M in a strategic funding round led by Warburg Pincus, and China Red Star Macalline.

Alibaba Reportedly Invests $227M In Chinese Artificial Intelligence Firm SenseTime
SenseTime (2014, Hong Kong), an artificial intelligence company specializing in facial and image recognition technology and its applications, raised $227M in an undisclosed funding round led by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

China Reform Holdings Leads $101M Round In Chinese Precision Medicine Firm 3D Medicines
3D Medicines (2010, Shanghai), a healthcare firm developing precision medicine for cancer treatment, raised $101M in Series C round led by China Reform Holdings Co., Ltd.

Volkswagen China Joins $32M Round In EV Rental Platform Shouqi Zhixing
Shouqi Zhixing (2015, Beijing), the operator of electric vehicle sharing platform GoFun, raised $32M in Series A round led by Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., and Volkswagen China.

Shunwei Joins $30M Round In Chinese Power Bank Rental Firm Energy Monster
Energy Monster (2016, Shanghai), a portable power bank rental company, raised $30M in Series B round involving Shunwei Capital, Bluerun Ventures, Sky9 Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Crystal Stream Capital, Xiaomi Inc., Zimi Technology, and GF Xinde Investment Management.

Plum Ventures Leads $30M Pre-IPO Round In Chinese Drone Maker MicroMultiCopter
MicroMultiCopter (2010, Shenzhen), a high-tech enterprise provider specializing in researching and developing multi-rotor drones, raised $30M in a Pre-IPO round led by Plum Ventures.

INVESTMENTS BY CHINESE INVESTORS AND COMPANIES

FountainVest in advanced talks to buy billionaire-backed HK gym chain Pure Group
FountainVest Partners, a private equity fund dedicated to China, is in talks to acquire Pure Group, a Hong Kong-based gym chain, for over $400M.

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.

INTERESTING STARTUPS

O-Locker (2017, Mumbai), platform for digital record and insurance of personal jewellery.Global comparables are Juno (2016, Amersham) and Back Me Up (2016, Eastleigh).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Mswipe (2009, Mumbai), mobile-based POS solution provider, raises $10M in Series D round of funding from B Capital Group and DSG Consumer Partners. Link

Happay (2012, Bangalore), cloud based business expense management solution provider, raises $10M in Series B round of funding led by Sequoia Capital, Axiom Capital and AME Cloud Ventures. Link

AlmaMapper (2011, Ahmedabad), platform to connect students, teachers and alumni across campuses, acquires iTeknika, recruitment and assessment solutions provider, for an undisclosed amount. Link

Paytm (2010, Delhi), mobile wallet and payments bank, acquires and merges Little (2015, Bangalore), hyperlocal deals app and Nearbuy (2011, Delhi), online deals and coupons from nearby merchants. Link

Lenskart (2010, Delhi), online and offline eyewear brand, invests $1M in 6over6 (2013, Tel Aviv), developer of mobile apps for optometry. Link

Droom (2014, Delhi), online marketplace to buy and sell automobiles, extends fair price assessment tool service for used mobiles. Link

Tata Motors (1945, Mumbai), manufacturer of cars and commercial automotive vehicles, rolls out first batch of electric-Tigor for EESL. Link

Cyient (1991, Hyderabad), engineering, networks and operations solutions provider, announces an exclusive hackathon for UAVs called Hackadrone 2018. Link

Naresh Malhotra, former CEO of the Cafe Coffee Day, launches early stage fund, at $7.5M. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Moda Operandi (2010, NYC), online luxury fashion retail store, raises $165M in funding from Adrian Cheng and Apax Digital, with participation from Advance Publications Inc, New Enterprise Associates, Future Fund, LVMH and Fidelity. Link

Indigo Ag (2013, Cambridge), provider of selective plant microbes through seed coatings for resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, raises $47M in Series D round of funding from Investment Corporation of Dubai. Link

Fetch Robotics (2014, San Jose), developer of robots for logistics and light industrial markets, raises $25M in Series B funding led by Sway Ventures, with participation from O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and SoftBank’s SB Group US. Link

Apax Partners, London-based venture capital firm, closes tech-focused growth fund, at $1B. Link

Anzu Partners, Washington-based venture capital firm, closes first venture capital fund, at $128.4M. Link

A daily newsletter summarizing interesting Indian startups and recent activity both in India & globally.

INTERESTING STARTUPS

vDots (2017, Pune) IoT-based offline payments, physical authentication and other retail solutions. Founders are experienced professionals from technology companies. Local comparables are RedSky Technology (2016, Mumbai), Mobstac (2009, Bangalore, $2M). Global comparables are Swirl Networks (2010, Palo Alto, $32M) and Percolata (2012, Palo Alto, $5M).

INDIA INTERESTING NEWS

Inshorts (2013, Delhi), summarized news and infotainment content provider, raises $5M in funding from Tiger Global Management’s Singapore investment vehicle and Internet Fund III Pte Holdings. Link

MilkLane (2015, Mumbai), online platform for industrial-scale milk collection and supply, raises $4.09M in funding from Pioneering Ventures, Schreiber Foods and some ultra high net-worth families. Link

The Label Life (2012, Mumbai), online store for private label products across different categories with celebrity endorsements, raises $3.1M in funding from Kalpavriksh, Centrum group’s maiden private equity fund under Centrum Alternatives LLP. Link

eShakti (1999, Chennai), custom women’s apparel brand, raises $2.3M in Debt round of funding from BlackSoil Capital. Link

KiViHealth (2015, Ahmedabad), healthcare marketplace for appointment booking, raises $400k in pre-Series A round of funding from Claris Capital and Chandigarh Angels. Link

The Man Company (2013, Gurgaon), subscription-based men’s grooming brand, raises an undisclosed amount of funding from Emami, for 30% equity stake. Link

Cygnus Hospitals (2011, Delhi), chain of multi-speciality hospitals, raises an undisclosed amount in funding from undisclosed investors. Link

Ultraviolette (2014, Bangalore), developer of electric vehicle for personal mobility, raises around $774k in funding from TVS Motors Co. Ltd., for 15% equity stake. Link

Grofers (2013, Delhi), online horizontal retailer and on-demand delivery marketplace for groceries, enables postpaid billing for shopping for select users. Link

Indgrowth Capital, Mumbai-based venture capital firm, raises maiden fund, at $102M. Link

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

Compass (2012, NYC), technology driven online brokerage firm, raises $450M in Series E round of funding from SoftBank Vision Fund. Link

Movile (1998, Sao Paulo), provider of mobile apps/platforms and marketing for entertainment, raises $82M in funding from Naspers and Innova Capital . Link

WorldRemit (2010, London), online remittance platform provider, raises $40M in Series C round of funding led by LeapFrog Investments, with participation from Accel Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. Link

LaunchDarkly (2014, Oakland), early user feedback capture platform, raises $21M in Series B round of funding led by Redpoint Ventures and Vertex Ventures. Link

CGI (1987, Montreal), information technology and business process outsourcing solution provider, acquires Paragon Solutions, Inc (1982, Cranford), high-end commercial business consultancy firm, for an undisclosed amount. Link

A weekly newsletter summarizing recent activity in the Chinese startup ecosystem.

DEALS OF THE WEEK

Chinese PE major CDH Investments targets raising up to $2B for latest buyout fund 
CDH Investments, a China-based alternative asset management firm, seeking to raise up to $2B for its next flagship buyout fund.

INTERESTING FUNDRAISING ACTIVITY IN CHINA

Ant Financial Joins $350M Round In Chinese Bike Sharing Firm Hellobike
Hellobike (2016, Shanghai), a bike sharing firm, raised $350M in Series D round led by Ant Financial, WM Motor, Chengwei Capital and Fujita.

Coatue Leads $177M Round In Chinese Comic Art Platform Kuaikan Manhua
Kuaikan Manhua (2014, Beijing), an online and mobile platform for original comic artwork targeting young viewers, raised $177M in Series D round led by Coatue Management LLC.

Ping An Joins $150M Round In Chinese Auto Trading Platform Chexiang.Com
Chexiang.Com (2013, Shanghai), an online-to-offline automotive trading platform under Shanghai-based automaker SAIC Motor Co Ltd, raised $150M in Series B round led by Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd, China Taiping, and China Merchants Wealth.

Chinese Doctors’ Social Network Medlinker Raises $60M In Series C Round
Medlinker (2014, Chengdu), a social networking platform for doctors, raised $60M in Series C round led by China Electronics Corporation Data. China Renaissance and Medlinker’s existing investors Sequoia Capital China and Tencent Holdings also participated in the round.

Tasly Invests $50M In Chinese Biotechnology Firm Genova
Genova (2014, Nanjing), a biotechnology company focusing on development and production of insulin, raised $50M in a strategic financing round led by Tasly Holding Group.

Chinese EV Sharing Platform PonyCar Raises $37M Series C Round
PonyCar (2017, Shenzhen), an electric vehicle sharing company, raised $37M in Series C round led by Zhihe Chuxing.

GGV Co-Leads $15M Round In Chinese Industrial Robot System Provider Cobot
Wuhan Cobot Technology Co., Ltd (2016, Wuhan), an intelligent robot manipulation system provider, offering solutions for companies in the industry of electronics, food, apparel, grocery, pharmaceuticals to build industrial robots, raised $15.4M in Series B round led by Lan Fund, GGV Capital, and Matrix Partners China.

Sequoia China Leads Pre-A Round In Chinese New Energy Carmaker Leapmotor
Leapmotor (2015, Hangzhou), a new energy carmaker, raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A round led by Sequoia Capital China.

Morningside Joins New Funding Round In Chinese Precision Medicine Firm GenomiCare
GenomiCare Biotechnology (2015, Shanghai), a precision cancer medicine service company, providing personalized clinical precision medicine solutions and medical resources for Chinese cancer patients and doctors, raised an undisclosed amount in Series A round led by Morningside Venture Capital, Apricot Tree Capital, and Carebridge Holdings.

INVESTMENTS BY CHINESE INVESTORS AND COMPANIES

CDH Investments Reaches First Closing Of RMB3.2B For Fifth Mezzanine Fund
CDH Investments, a Chinese private equity firm, raised $484M for its fifth Mezzanine Fund.

Walgreens to buy 40% stake in Chinese pharmacy chain for $416M
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, a retail pharmacy company, acquired 40% stake in Sinopharm Holding GuoDa Drugstores Co Ltd., a China-based research & investing information company, for $416M.

Chinese business accelerator COMB+ raises $77M AI fund
COMB+, a Chinese business accelerator, and the Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation, jointly formed a $77M AI fund aimed at helping international AI firms enter China.

China-based ReTo Eco-Solutions raises $14M via US IPO
ReTo Eco-Solutions Inc, a China-based manufacturer and distributor of eco-friendly construction materials, raised $14M in US IPO.

China’s HNA Investment scraps $787M private placement plan
HNA Investment Group Co Ltd, a China-based property development and distribution activity provider, scrapped a private placement plan worth $786.57M after lack of approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.