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Ascent Capital Reaches Final Close for Second East Africa Fund
AsAscent Capital reached a final close for Ascent Rift Valley Fund II. The vehicle, which reached a USD100m first close in May 2021, acquires large minority or majority stakes in Eastern Africa-based SMEs. Read More
Lightspeed Venture Partners Leads USD25m Series A for UK and Estonia’s Lightyear
Lightspeed Venture Partners led a USD25m Series A for Lightyear, a UK- and Estonia-based multi-currency investment app, with participation from Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and follow-on from Mosaic Ventures, Taavet+Sten, Metaplanet and angels. Read More
Axxon Group To Invest ~USD28m in Brazil’s Alper Seguros
Axxon Group agreed to invest BRL150m (~USD28m) in Alper Seguros, a Brazil-listed insurance company specializing in corporate risk, bringing its stake in the company to 8%. Read More
Temasek’s MacRitchie Investments Leads USD100m Series D for India’s OneCard
FPL Technologies, an India-based fintech that operates credit card brand OneCard, raised a USD100m+ Series D led by Temasek subsidiary MacRitchie Investments at a USD1.4m reported valuation, with participation from Sarv Investments and follow-on from QED, Sequoia India, Matrix India, and Hummingbird Ventures. Read More
The Rohatyn Group Acquires Bugaria’s Leader 96 from KJK Capital
The Rohatyn Group acquired Bulgaria-based electric bike maker Leader 96 from KJK Capital for an undisclosed amount. Read More
KKR Reaches USD2.1b Final Close for Asset-Based Finance Partners Fund
KKR reached a USD2.1b final close of its Asset-Based Finance Partners fund. The fund will target global private credit investments backed by large and diversified pools of financial and hard assets. Read More
Owl Ventures Leads USD50m Series C for Ukraine’s Preply
Owl Ventures led a USD50m Series C for Preply, a Ukraine-based language learning marketplace, with participation from Swisscom Ventures, Orbit Capital and Przemyslaw Gacek (Grupa Pracuj) and follow-on from Diligent Capital, Hoxton Ventures, Educapital and Evli Growth Partners. Read More
Financial Street Capital, Hopu Investment and HOPU-ARM Innovation Fund Lead ~USD149m Series C+ for China’s Iluvatar CoreX
Beijing Financial Street Capital, Hopu Investment and HOPU-ARM Innovation Fund, a joint venture fund launched by Hopu and semiconductor company Arm Holdings, led Series C extensions totalling CNY1b (~USD149m) for Iluvatar CoreX, a China-based semiconductor manufacturer. Read More
Valar Ventures Reaches USD665m Final Close for Eighth Venture Fund
Valar Ventures reached a USD665m final close for its eighth venture fund. While the fund is US and Europe-focused, recent investments include ShopUp(Bangladesh), XanPool (Singapore), and Velocity and Simpl (India). Valar Ventures is backed by Peter Thiel (PayPal). Read More
Proparco and Ascent To Acquire Majority Equity Stake in Kenya’s Diani Beach Hospital
Proparco and Ascent, through its Ascent Rift Valley Fund II, have acquired a majority stake in Kenya-based Diani Beach Hospital for an undisclosed amount. Read more here and h Read More
Lightspeed India IV Reaches USD500m Final Close
Lightspeed Venture Partners reached a USD500m final close for its new early-stage fund focused on India and Southeast Asia. The close was part of a USD7.1b fundraise across four Lightspeed funds.. The firm also announced the launch of Lightspeed Faction, a crypto JV that will be run by Sam Harrison, a venture partner at Blockchain.com’s venture arm, and Banafsheh Fathieh,… Read More
Alpha Capital SPAC To Merge with Brazil’s Private Capital-backed Semantix at~USD1b Equity Value
Nasdaq-listed SPAC Alpha Capital has agreed to merge with Semantix, a Brazil-based integrated data software developer, at an implied equity value of ~USD1b. Investors in Semantix include Banco Bradesco-backed 2bCapital, Crescera Capital and InovaBRA. Read More