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Charoen Pokphand Group Leads USD150m Series C for Thailand’s Ascend Money
Charoen Pokphand Group led a USD150m Series C for Thailand-based fintech Ascend Money at a reported USD1.5b valuation, with participation from Bow Wave Capital and follow-on from Ant Group. Read More
Alibaba, GeoPost, B Capital and Monk’s Hill Invest USD578m Series E for Singapore’s Ninja Van
Singapore-based logistics platform Ninja Van raised a USD578m Series E from Alibaba Group and existing investors GeoPost’s DPDgroup, B Capital Group, Monk’s Hill Ventures and Zamrud. Read More
Flat6Labs Reaches USD10m Close for Tunisia Seed Fund
Flat6Labs reached a USD10m close for its Anava Seed Fund targeting early-stage investments in Tunisian startups, surpassing its initial target size of USD3m. Read More
DFC, FSD Africa and EDFI-ElectriFi Invest USD23m in Africa-Focused Nithio FI
Nithio FI, an Africa-focused, AI-enabled clean energy financing platform, raised USD23m from DFC, FSD Africa Investments and EDFI-ElectriFi. DFC invested USD10m in the round. Read More
DFC Commits Combined USD35m to Atlantica Ventures and Blue Earth Capital
DFC committed USD25m to PG Impact Credit Strategies, a fund managed by Blue Earth Capital (formerly PG Impact Investments) targeting credit investment opportunities in SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia. DFC also committed USD10m to Altantica Ventures’ early-stage VC fund targeting seed through Series B investments across sub-Saharan Africa. Read more here and h Read More
DST Global, CE Innovation Fund, B Capital Invest USD158m Series B for Singapore’s Aspire
Aspire, a Singapore-based neobank for SMEs, raised a USD158m Series B comprising USD58m in equity and USD100m in debt led by an undisclosed growth equity investor, with participation from DST Global, CE Innovation Fund and B Capital, and follow-on from MassMutual Ventures, Picus Capital, AFG and Hummingbird Ventures. The debt capital was provided by Fasanara Capital. Read More
Nio Capital, Yunfeng Capital and Hongtai Capital Lead USD100m Series C for China’s Nreal
Nio Capital, Yunfeng Capital and Hongtai Capital led a USD100m Series C for Nreal, a China-based manufacturer of augmented reality glasses, with participation from CPE and follow-on from GP Capital, GL Ventures and Sequoia Capital China. Read More
Vinci Partners Acquires Brazil’s Farmax
Vinci Partners, through its Vinci Capital Partners III, agreed to acquire Brazil-based cosmetics platform Farmax for an undisclosed amount. Read More
TotalEnergies Ventures Leads USD45m Round for Africa-Focused Zola Electric
Zola Electric, a renewable energy provider founded in Tanzania and headquartered in the Netherlands, raised USD45m in equity led by TotalEnergies Ventures, with participation from DBL Partners, Helios Investment Partners, Vulcan Capital and Electron Capital Partners. FMO and SunFunder provided an additional USD45m in debt. Read More
Carlyle Sells 3.4% Stake in India’s SBI Cards for USD442m
The Carlyle Group sold a 3.4% stake in India-based credit card issuing company SBI Cards & Payment Services for ~INR32.7b (~USD442m) in a bulk deal. Carlyle previously sold a 5.1% stake for ~INR48.1b (~USD650m) in June 2021 and a 4% stake for ~INR39b (~USD540m) in March 2021. Read More
Alfa Collab To Invest Up to ~USD120m in Brazil’s E-ctare
Alfa Collab, the CVC arm of Brazilian insurance holding Conglomerado Alfa, announced an investment of up to ~USD120m over three years in E-ctare, a credit platform and digital wallet for rural producers in Brazil. Read More
Softbank Vision Fund 2 and Warburg Pincus Lead USD400m+ Series D for Singapore’s Advance Intelligence Group
Warburg Pincus and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a USD400m+ Series D for Advance Intelligence Group, a Singapore-headquartered, AI-driven tech startup, with participation from Northstar, Vision Plus Capital, Gaorong Capital and EDBI, at a reported USD2b+ valuation. Read More