Overseas:
- SoftBank-backed Nuro launches autonomous grocery delivery service in Houston
- HotelTonight, Slack stakeholder Accel stays on top with $2.5B fund
- AI photo startup Polarr raises an $11.5 million Series A led by Threshold Ventures
- ProdPerfect, which automates QA testing for web apps, gets $2.6 million from Seed Round co-led Eniac Ventures and Fika Ventures
- UK startup Breedr raises £2M led by LocalGlobe for its livestock data and trading platform
- Microsoft launches Microsoft Game Stack which combines all of its company’s gaming-related products for developers
- Sweden’s AstaZero created self-driving highway software to produce safer roads for driverless car
China:
- China Completes World’s First 5G-Powered Remote Surgery
- Chinese digital lender, Lufax, nets US$1.3b series C funding, brings valuation to $39b
- yiqiyin.com 一起印, an Internet printing and packaging platform obtained 60 million yuan from Series A funding
- 三感video, specialized in making short emotional videos, completes the tens of millions of A+ rounds of financing
- China’s e-commerce players, Alibaba, JD, Pinduoduo, and Vishop look to smaller cities to help drive consumption, growth
- Barclaycard and Alipay expand partnership for UK payments
- Proud Kids aims to provide online children’s English teaching for the 2nd to 4th tier markets
Cross-border:
- Line Ventures to put in US$20M to back Thai startups
- Bangladeshi job portal Kormo enters Indonesia to provide access to informal sector opportunities
Blockchain:
Emerging Market:
- Singapore’s Nutrition Innovation raises $5m funding led by VisVires New Protein, its first investment in a Singaporean company
- Philippine-based insurtech startup gets $1m seed funding from Sage Venture, Talino Venture Labs
- Hostel startup Tribe Theory secures US$739,165 seed funding from Aurum Investments
Cover picture credits from South China Morning Post.