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: Portfolio News
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
Getaround acquires European car rental platform Drivy for $300M
Getaround, the peer-to-peer car-sharing startup that launched at TC Disrupt back in 2011, is making moves to become a global car rental service. […]
Owkin Closes A New Venture Round Led By F-Prime Capital And Eight Roads Ventures
Owkin, a company which builds machine learning technologies and infrastructure to enable breakthrough medical research, today announced a funding round led by F-Prime Capital and Eight Roads Ventures. The round was joined by GV, Cathay Innovation and NJF Capital. […]
Pinduoduo sold RMB 65 billion in goods from anti-poverty program in 2018
Chinese social e-commerce platform Pinduoduo said on Tuesday that it earned sales revenue of more than RMB 65 billion (around $9.7 billion) in 2018 from a special program that sells farm produce from poverty-stricken regions. The report on the program is a timely response to announcements made during the central government’s annual Two Sessions meetings, promoting new […]
Online bank Chime now valued at $1.5 billion after new funding round
Digital bank Chime has tripled its valuation, officially passing the $1 billion-mark this week. The San Francisco-based company announced a $200 million Series D financing round that brings its new valuation to $1.5 billion. Investors were led by DST Global, which also participated in earlier fundraising rounds, and new investors Coatue, General Atlantic, Iconiq Capital […]