CHINA:
1. Hong Kong healthtech investor Ori Capital hits first close on targeted $400m fund
2. Apple iPhone maker Foxconn teams up with Chinese automaker Geely to make cars for other companies
3. Chinese PC maker Lenovo soars 9.6% after saying it will list shares on Shanghai’s Nasdaq-style board
4. Chinese facial recognition unicorn Megvii prepares China IPO
5. Chinese Private Rocket Firm i-Space To IPO
6. Sequoia-backed Chinese cloud tech firm Yuntongxun weighs $500m IPO
7. Digital Earth PaaS Firm TerraQuanta Raises Funds From Shunwei Capital
8. Chinese Auto-Driving Company WeRide Raises $310M in Series B Financing Deal Led by Yutong Group
Check out our latest podcast about “Capping off 2020 with a Big Announcement” here
Check out our latest blog post about “Top 5 Podcasts to Understand How VCs Make Decisions” here
Apply for the Batch 19 program here
MOBILE-ONLY MARKETS:
1. PayTM says could turn profitable in 2021
2. Indian edtech major Byju’s to acquire offline tutoring center Aakash
4. Ex-WhatsApp, Google execs join $7m round for Indian public transport startup Chalo
5. InnoVen Capital invests $6.8m in Indian B2B construction marketplace Infra Market
6. India-based vehicle service startup ReadyAssist nets $1m in seed round
8. Sea Group acquires Indonesia’s Bank BKE to ramp up digital payments plan
9. Momo secures Series D to become Vietnam’s next super-app; plans to launch new startup fund
10. Be Group ties up with VPBank to launch digital bank Cake in Vietnam
CROSS-BORDER:
1. Trump administration shelves planned investment ban on Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu
2. Amazon takes on Netflix in India with cheaper mobile-only Prime Video plan
3. Amazon India launches online academy to coach future engineers
4. Tiger Global, others buy $50m shares in Indian edtech unicorn Unacademy
5. Tesla incorporates its unit in India, filing shows
6. Tencent leads $85m round in Germany’s digital insurance broker Clark
7. GIC backs $450m Series C funding in European payments firm Checkout.com
OVERSEAS
1. Shopify just made a $2 billion windfall on Affirm IPO, six months after their partnership
2. Dropbox to cut 11% of its global workforce
3. Qualcomm eyes challenge to Apple, Intel with $1.4 billion deal for chip startup
4. Intel’s self-driving car unit plans to step up use of its own radar tech by 2025
5. Walmart creates fintech startup
6. Delivery Hero launches USD 60 million fund for early-stage startups
7. SoftBank-backed online car dealer Auto1 to go public in first quarter, plans to raise $1.2 billion
8. Business trip platform TravelPerk buys YC-backed rival NexTravel
9. Payments start-up Rapyd doubles valuation to $2.5 billion as Covid turbocharges growth
10. Signal and Telegram downloads surge after WhatsApp says it will share data with Facebook
11. Digital lender Blend brings in $300M for lending
13. Iziwork raises $43 million for its temporary work platform
14. Vdoo raises $25M more to develop its AI-based security for IoT and connected devices
16. UK on-demand supermarket Weezy raises $20M Series A led by NYC’s Left Lane Capital
17. Stacklet raises $18M for its cloud governance platform
18. Foodtech company CookUnity serves up $15.5M for meal subscription
19. E-commerce optimization startup Tradeswell raises $15.5M
20. Rho Raises $15M Series A For Commercial Banking Platform
21. Gainful Powers New Hydration Drink Line With $7.5M Series A
22. LEX Lands $6M For Real Estate Securities From Investors Including Ric Clark And DeAndre Hopkins
Image Credits: CNBC