CHINA:
1. EVs set to take off in China as rural consumers embrace USD 4,400 model
2. March rebound shores up Greater China PE-VC dealmaking in Q1, as startups raise $24
3. AUTOSHOW Chinese woman’s Tesla protest prompts 5-day detention, company apology
4. ByteDance seeks to launch payments platform to take on Ant Group
5. Tencent beats Alibaba in clean energy rankings among cloud providers in China
6. Sources: Alibaba-backed edtech major Zuoyebang mulls $500m US listing
10. China’s NextData nets $135m funding from Matrix, Hopu, others
11. Chinese data analytics firm Kyligence bags $70m in Series D round
12. China’s genome editing startup EdiGene nets $62m in Series B+ round
Check out our latest blog post about “Top 5 Podcasts to Understand How VCs Make Decisions” here
Subscribe to Daily Digest Newsletter here
MOBILE-ONLY MARKETS:
1. FreeAgent, a startup aiming to be Salesforce alternative nets $12.6m in series A round
2. Indian apps reach 97% of once-dominant TikTok user levels
3. Indian digital therapeutics startup Fitterfly nets $3.1m in a round led by BoAt investor
4. Singapore’s Temasek joins $80m round of Indonesian healthtech firm Halodoc
5. Play Ventures buys stake in LuneX Ventures to launch blockchain gaming fund
6. Ryde, a mobility app company based in Singapore, to launch new premium private car service
7. SEEDS Capital, others invest in B2B fintech firm TurnKey Lender
8. Indonesia’s MDI Ventures backs Waresix, Paxel in hushed logistics bets
CROSS-BORDER:
1. British fintech firm Revolut is laying the groundwork for an expansion into India
2. Batista brothers’ fintech PicPay files for IPO on Nasdaq
3. Chinese firms raise nearly 12x more money year-on-year in US markets
4. Taiwan’s Gogoro to enter India scooter market in JV with Hero MotoCorp
5. Ant Group agrees to buy 5% stake in Brazil loyalty program Dotz
OVERSEAS:
1. U.S. lawmakers back $100 billion science push to compete with China
2. New rules allowing small drones to fly over people in U.S. take effect
3. Tesla vice president of legal Al Prescott leaves to join Luminar, a lidar company
4. ActiveCampaign, a provider of customer experience automation tools, raises $240M
5. Online Grocery Deliverer Misfits Market Gets Its Horn With $200M Series C
6. Remote hiring startup Deel raises $156M at a $1.25B valuation after 20x growth in 2020
7. Peter Thiel-backed psychedelics start-up ATAI Life Sciences plans to raise $100 million in IPO
8. Expenses startup Pleo preps $100M Series C funding, launches new bill payments service
9. Hive gets $85M for AI tools
10. Deliverect gobbles up $65M for a platform that streamlines online and offline food orders
11. AppOmni Closes $40M Series B As SaaS Security Heats Up
12. Welcome Tech Brings In $35M Series B To Connect Immigrants To Financial Tools, Education
13. Tribal Credit, which provides credit cards to startups in emerging markets, raises $34.3M
14. Orca AI, which puts computer vision onto cargo ships, raises $13M Series A funding
15. Creator+ raises $12M to build a film studio and streaming service focused on digital storytellers
16. Plooto Banks C$8M Series A For Small Business Payments Automation
Image Credits: SCMP