Overseas:
1. PowerPlant Ventures Raises $165M Fund To Keep Betting On Plant-Based Nutrition
2. Investors bet another $50M on Clearbanc’s revenue share model
3. Verizon adds Washington, DC, Atlanta, Detroit and Indianapolis to list of 5G cities
4. The maker of popular selfie app Facetune just landed $135 million at a unicorn valuation
5. Spotify revenue beats on higher subscriber addition
6. Snapchat launches ‘instant’ tool for creating vertical ads
8. Prodly announces $3.5M seed to automate low-code cloud deployments
9. Dgraph raises $11.5 million for scalable graph database solutions
10. HR Tech Startup TalentGuard Snags $4M To Help Companies Keep Employees Longer
11. Cognition IP raises $2.8 million for AI to help patent startups’ inventions
China:
1. Didi and Tencent to set up cybersecurity lab as government oversight intensifies
2. JD spins off group buying platform, JD Pingou, 京东拼购, as Pinduoduo competition intensifies
3. NetEase Games is testing membership model, including exclusive content and discounts
Cross-Border:
1. Aspire raises $32.5M to help SMEs secure fast finance in Southeast Asia
2. Amazon buys Israeli storage technology startup E8 Storage
3. Tencent-backed iDreamSky and Russia’s Mail.ru to tie up for gaming growth in China
4. GOJEK-backed Rebel Foods, Indian cloud kitchen company, to build 100 Indonesian cloud kitchens
5. Startups BRCK and Swvl partner on free Wi-Fi for Kenyan ride-hail buses
Emerging Market:
2. Singapore wealth management startup Bambu secures $10m
4. Singapore-based IoT startup HOMI SmartHome nets US$1.3M seed funding
Image Credits: PYMNTS.com