- launch of a $50 million sports tech fund, backed by LeAD Sports, an accelerator spearheaded by grandchildren of the Adidas family
- formation of a $100 million AI-focused Cognitive fund
FUNDING / M&A DEALS
Another Chinese electric vehicle startup, LeapMotor in Hangzhou, has closed financing. Sequoia Capital China, which has invested in two other Chinese new energy automotive companies, led the financing that amounted to $62 million.
Zeroing in on India, Alibaba unit
Ant Financial has invested $200 million in India's restaurant search and food delivery service Zomato, in a unicorn-sized deal that values the startup at more than $1 billion.
Chinese livestreaming app Kuaishou has wrapped up a $1 billion funding round led by Tencent with the aim of expanding its empire overseas. Plans are reportedly afoot to go public this year.
Google and Tencent have teamed up with Sequoia Capital China to co-invest $15 million in Chinese artificial intelligence pharmaceutial startup XtalPai, based in Boston and Shenzhen.
China's PingAn Global Voyager Fund has led a $25 million investment in New York-based telehealth innovator TytoCare. The funding from the large insurance group will be used to enter China markets and grow U.S. sales of its products that allow for common medical tests at home without visting a doctor. Strategic investors included Walgreens and OrbiMed.
An unnamed Hong Kong blockchain fund has acquired Chinese crypto exchange BTCC, originally funded by Lightspeed China in a deal that Silicon Dragon highlighted on stage with founder and investor way back in 2013.
FUNDS
Baidu Ventures has marked the first close of a second AI-focused fund at $317 million. The venture arm of Baidu has made several bets on medical and robotics startups.
Sequoia Capital China is planning to raise a mega $8 billion fund to invest in later stage deal that are closer to an IPO.
Israel was the place to be last week with multiple investor/innovation events going on such as the OurCrowd equity crowdfunding event held in Jerusalem.