India’s Poster Boy Startup Flipkart Agrees To Sell 75 Percent Stake To Walmart For USD 15 Bn And More
Find all top stories from around the world [ April 30 to May 4]
Asia
Flipkart has approved a deal to sell 75 percent equity for USD 15 Bn to a group of investors led by Walmart. Earlier this week, Amazon, the biggest rival to Flipkart in India had made a formal offer to Flipkart to buy a 60 percent stake.
Bizongo, a B2B portal for packaging solutions has secured US$22 million in series B injection from B Capital, the VC firm of Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin. Accel India, IDG Ventures, and International Finance Corporation also joined the round.
Singapore’s MC Payment has announced its merger with iFashion Group for USD 18.7 million. The firm also has also confirmed a reverse merger with Singapore listed tech firm Artivision technologies.
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A study reveals Beijing is the top city for Chinese unicorns. Sixty-six out of 151 of the country’s billion-dollar startups are located in the capital, says a study by the Hurun Research Institute and WalkTheChat. Shanghai follows with 38 unicorns.
Setting a new financing record for the largest investment raised in a single round by an AI company, China’s AI and humanoid robotic company Ubtech has secured USD 820 million in Series C funding round, led by Tencent.
Xiaomi, The Beijing-based tech company has filed for IPO and is expected to raise USD10 billion in its Hong Kong listing. That would make Xiaomi’s trade debut the biggest worldwide since Alibaba’s USD 25 billion float on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.
Baidu is setting up USD 500 million fund to invest in internet and AI companies named Changcheng Investment Partners; it will be the third tech-focused VC fund Baidu has established.
USD 1.9 Bn has been raised for Baidu’s newly created financial services company, Du Xiaoman, which will spin off in July.
Europe
Freeda Media, an Italian start-up offering premium content to support women, has recently raised USD 10 Mn in a series A round led by Alven Capital with participation from U-start.
Berlin-based Frontier Car Group, that operates used car marketplace has raised USD 41 Mn in its series B funding with participants including Balderton Capital and TPG Growth. The firm also announced that it has raised another USD 17 Mn in debt financing.
A new browser that unifies all office applications in a single platform has been developed by Paris based start-up, Station. It has secured USD 3.89 Mn in a seed round by Accel Partners with participation from Webb Investment Network and Kima Ventures.
UK based Zinc, an incubator that supports social enterprises, has raised USD 3.59 Mn in seed funding from LSE, Atomico, LocalGlobe and several angel investors.
Nestle’s Purina PetCare division has acquired a majority stake in Tails.com, a British tailor-made dog food company, from venture capital group Draper Esprit. No terms of the deal have been disclosed.
USA
California based, Lucidworks, a provider of AI-powered search and discovery, has secured USD 50 Mn in a series E funding round led by Top Tier Capital Partners, with participation from Silver Lake Waterman, others.
California based firm, Miramax that produces and distributes films and television series in the United States and internationally has secured a USD 300 Mn. Its a multi-bank revolving credit facility led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and MUFG Union Bank.
Miramax, a California based film and television series producer and distributor, has secured a USD 300 million multi-bank revolving credit facility led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and MUFG Union Bank.
New York-based Online wedding planning startup Zola has raised USD 100 million in a new round of funding led by existing investor Comcast Ventures, with NBCUniversal and Goldman Sachs Investment Partners also participating.
New York’s Bounce X which provides behavioral software to direct marketing campaigns raised USD 37 Mn in its series B funding led by Battery Ventures with participation from existing investors Contour Venture Partners and other investors.
San Francisco-based Salesforce.com Inc., producer of online customer-management software, has committed to invest USD 100 Mn in Canadian technology through its venture fund arm – Salesforce Venture, to support tech start-ups.
Global CRM leader Salesforce has launched the Canada Trailblazer Fund, a USD 100 million fund to invest in Canadian cloud computing startups. First-round funding recipients include Tier1CRM, Traction Guest, Tulip and OSF Commerce.
SoundHound, California based voice interface firm has received USD 100 Mn in new funding from Chinese tech giant Tencent, Daimler AG, Hyundai Motor Company, Midea Group, and Orange S.A.
