Cao Xudong turned up on the side of the road in jeans and a black T-shirt printed with the word “Momenta,” the name of his startup. Before founding the company — which last year topped $1 billion in valuation to become China’s first autonomous driving “unicorn” — he’d already led an enviable life, but he was […]
Category: News
Fintech Used To Be A Local Game. Today It Can Be Global
Historically, financial services was a local player’s game. Just look at the top 5 banks in Canada, US, UK, Canada, France and China in the chart below, ranked by total assets. There is nearly no overlap. In fintech, historically, the same appeared to be true. Outside of certain verticals like cross-border finance, most fintechs remained largely […]
Cathay Innovation Invests in KaiOS Technologies
May 22, 2019 KaiOS Technologies, maker of KaiOS, the leading mobile operating system for smart feature phones, announced today $50 million in a Series B funding round led by Cathay Innovation, with continued participation from Kai’s existing shareholders, Google and TCL Holdings. To date, more than 100 million devices running on KaiOS have been shipped, […]
KaiOS raises $50M, hits 100M handsets powered by its feature phone OS
While Android and iOS have locked up the market for smartphone operating systems, a feature phone platform that has the distinction of being the world’s third biggest mobile OS is announcing a hefty round of funding to continue its expansion. KaiOS, which makes the OS that powers devices like Nokia’s feature phones and Jio’s devices out […]
Heetch raises $38M to take on Uber in French-speaking countries
With Uber just days away from going public, a small challenger has raised some funds of its own to take it and the rest of the field on in francophone markets. Heetch, a ride-sharing platform based out of Paris with operations across France and French-speaking Africa, has picked up a Series B of $38 million, at […]
Africa Roundup: Jumia’s IPO, DHL launches Africa e-Shop, Cathay’s $168M VC fund, ConnectMed acquired
The biggest news in a month of weighty African headlines was Jumia listing on the New York Stock Exchange. After filing SEC IPO docs in March, the Pan-African e-commerce company’s shares began trading on the NYSE April 12, opening at $14.50 under ticker symbol JMIA. Jumia stock rose north of 70% on its first day of trading […]
Glovo, the on-demand ‘deliver anything’ local app, raises $169M Series D
Glovo, the Spain-headquartered on-demand delivery app that has similarities to Postmates in the U.S., has raised $169 million (€150m) in Series D funding. Lakestar led the round alongside Drake, owner of global pizza franchise Papa John’s. Idinvest Partners and Korelya Capital also participated, bringing total raised to approximately $322 million. The company last raised funding […]
Location de voitures entre particuliers: Drivy se vend à la start-up américaine Getaround
Drivy, la start-up française de location de voitures entre particuliers, passe sous pavillon américain. Mercredi 24 avril, Getaround, une plate-forme américaine d’autopartage, a annoncé le rachat de la pépite française pour 300 millions de dollars (267 millions d’euros). La société américaine, qui a levé en 2018 une somme équivalente auprès de Softbank, Toyota ou Shanghai Automotive, finance cette acquisition […]
Cathay-Backed Drivy Acquired by Getaround
April 24, 2019 Cathay Innovation today announces that Getaround, the US carsharing pioneer, has acquired for $300m its portfolio company Drivy, the largest and fastest-growing carsharing platform in Europe, in order to form the world leading carsharing marketplace, with more than 5 million users spanning over 300 cities in the U.S. and Europe. While Cathay […]
Car-Sharing Startup Getaround Drives Into Europe
A U.S. car-sharing powerhouse is expanding abroad. San Francisco-based Getaround Inc., backed by investors including SoftBank Group Corp., said it has acquired Paris-based Drivy SAS for $300 million, expanding the reach of a startup that has been pushing a vision of reducing car ownership in urban areas. […]