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Global Trends
Venture capitalist investments rise 44% to US$128B in 2015, but Q4 ends with a whimper
Venture capitalists invested US$128 billion worldwide in 2015, up 44 percent from US$89 billion 2014 and the
a biggest amount since the dotcom bubble year of 2000, according to the 2015 Venture Pulse Report by data
analysis firm CB Insights and accounting/consulting firm KPMG. What sets 2015 apart, however, lies in the
size and scope of the venture capital investments that were made, the report said. From healthcare to
FinTech, and retail to education, companies sparked changes that could affect every sector and every
business moving forward. Investors saw this potential and made significant investments. The report said that
71 VC-backed companies achieved unicorn status, or valuations in excess of US$1 billion, compared to 53 in
2014. There were a total of 7,872 deals struck in 2015, but only 1,742 deals in the fourth quarter. Big corporate
investors participated in 25 percent of all deals.
Esports viewership is up 100% in the U.S. over the past two years
The number of U.S. gamers who watch esports has grown 100 percent over two years, according to a national
study by market researcher Frank N. Magid Associates. The study showed that fans are into watching
competitive video games such as the online strategy games League of Legends and Dota 2, team shooter
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and card-battler Hearthstone. Esports has been a big phenomenon in Asia
for years, but only now is starting to really break out in the West, Magid said. ESPNs new esports effort this
week and Activision Blizzards New Years acquisition of event organizer Major League Gaming show just how
important esports is becoming to some of the biggest media companies in the world. About 70 percent of
Americans ages 8 to 64 say they play video games. Of that group 18 percent have watched esports
programming online or attended any events, the survey said. Last year, that number was 12 percent, and in
2013 it was only 9 percent. In other parts of the world, esports took off earlier and is much bigger. In 2013, 40
percent of the 600 million in China with smartphones said they had attended or viewed esports events.
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in
Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
1
Asia Pacific
China
Chinese Gaming Firm Buys 60% Of Gay Dating App Grindr For US$93M
Grindr, the social network for gay men, has sold a majority 60 percent stake to Chinese gaming company
Beijing Kunlun Tech for US$93 million. The deal, which values six-year-old Grindr at US$155 million, is the
first time that the U.S. company has taken outside investment. The New York Times reported that Grindr has
two million daily users, who spend an average of 54 minutes inside the app. Those are impressive
engagement rates, and the company is reported to have generated US$32 million in revenue in 2014, up from
US$25 million one year previous. Grindr founder and CEO Joel Simkhai described the investment as a huge
vote of confidence in our vision to connect gay men to even more of the world around them, but stressed that
it would be business as usual despite the influx of capital.
Wearable IoT World raises US$4.5 million, launches accelerator in Hong Kong
San Francisco-based accelerator Wearable IoT World announced the launch of the U.S.-Pan Asia IoT
Superhighway, an IoT (Internet of Things) and emerging technologies accelerator in Hong Kong. The official
launch came after a US$4.5 million funding round led by China-based investor Radiant Venture Capital.
Superhighway, WIoTW said, will help early-stage Asian startups develop wearable and IoT technologies. This
marks a long-awaited milestone in our continued quest to build the easiest pathway to product creation, market
awareness, investment and distribution for related startups around the world, said WIoTWs CEO, Redg
Snodgrass. Wearable IoT World also announced a partnership with Hong Kongs Cyberport Management
Company. The Chinese communications company will house WIoTWs labs and offices. TEEC Angel Fund
and W Capital are also investors.
Chinese investment firm launches US$715 million fund for European startups to grow in China
A Chinese investment firm has launched a new 500 million (US$715 million) investment fund specifically for
European startups. London-based Cocoon Networks is a spin-off from China Equity Group, one of the first
investors in Baidu, Chinas Google-equivalent, and Hanxin Capital, a firm with a track record in biotech and
cloud computing investments. The ultimate aim of the new fund is to invest in startups whose products and
services show promise and potential for growth in the Chinese market, across medical, fintech, biotech,
fashion tech, and more. In addition to funding, Cocoon Networks is also launching an incubator space in the
U.K. capital. Many companies struggle to gain a foothold in the Chinese market due to regulatory and
legislative hurdles, with the likes of Google and Netflix currently facing resistance. Aid in circumventing such
obstacles will be part of what Cocoon Networks can offer startups it invests in.
A Chinese tech firm just raised a world record funding round: US$3.3 billion
Chinese daily deals company Meituan-Dianping has confirmed that the company has raised a US$3.3 billion
round. That makes it the largest non-IPO funding round ever raised in the tech industry. The new round was
led by Tencent and Trust Bridge Partners, with additional participation from CDB Capital, Capital Today, Baillie
Gifford, Temasek Holdings, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, among others. MeituanDianpings valuation is now pegged at at US$18 billion. Meituan also raised one of the biggest investment
rounds of 2015, but that US$700 million series D from Sequoia Capital, Northern Light Venture Capital, and
Alibaba (among others) pales in comparison to this new round. Meituan merged with competitor Dianping last
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in
Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
2
Korea
Japan
Tokyo VR Startups sets up an incubator and funding for Japanese virtual reality
Tokyo VR Startups has launched a incubation fund program with leading virtual reality figures as mentors. The
Tokyo-based incubator will invite Japan-based startups to develop prototypes of VR products and services in a
six-month program from January through June. Participants will receive seed funding, work space, and backoffice services. The program will also provide mentors, staff assistance, and guidance from Japans Gumi
mobile game publisher. Hironao Kunimitsu, CEO of Gumi and Tokyo VR Startups, said in a statement, With
the rising demand for virtual reality technology across a wide variety of verticals and solutions, we believed it
was the right time for us to support the advancement of this market by bringing together the financial and
mentorship resources needed to accelerate open innovation in the Japanese technology industry. As such,
weve brought together some of the leading minds in the industry to help Japanese VR upstarts expand
globally, and were looking forward to the growth of this market in the coming years.
India
More Money For Indias On-Demand Economy: Swiggy Raises US$35M For Food Delivery
Swiggy, a restaurant delivery startup that claims to be the largest in India after passing Rocket Internet-backed
Foodpanda last month, has raised US$35 million in a Series C round. The funding, which brings the total
raised up to just over US$53 million, included investment from SAIF Partners, Norwest Venture Partners,
Accel Partners, Harmony Partners, RB investments and an undisclosed global investment entity. Swiggy is
planning to use the new cash injection to expand its business in its home market, where the food delivery
business is estimated to be worth US$15 billion, it says. Swiggy is live now in eight cities Bangalore,
Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai but is still relatively small in size, with
some 5,000 restaurants on its platform and approaching 1 million orders each month. The plan is to invest in
hiring more engineering talent, expanding its platform and trying to crack delivery times, which today average
at around 36 minutes.
Indian E-commerce Platform Shopclues Claims US$1.1B Valuation After New Funding, Plans IPO
Indian e-commerce company Shopclues has raised a Series E that the company claims boosts its valuation to
US$1.1 billion. The round was led by GIC, the Singaporean governments sovereign wealth fund, with
participation from returning investors Tiger Global and Nexus Venture Partners. Shopclues says that this is the
last round of venture capital it will raise before holding an initial public offering next year. Though the exact
amount of the Series E was undisclosed, a source close to the company says it is in the range of the US$150
million to US$200 million that Shopclues was reportedly seeking this fall. Its new unicorn valuation puts
Shopclues in the same league as competing Indian e-commerce companies Flipkart (another GIC and Tiger
Global portfolio company) and Snapdeal.
Indonesia
Gold farming marketplace Itemku snaps up seed funding from 500 Startups
FiveJack, the maker of Indonesia-based online game item and currency marketplace Itemku, announced a
seed funding round of US$225,000 from US-based venture capital firm 500 Startups. 500 Startups made the
investment through its Korea-based fund 500 Kimchi and Southeast Asia fund 500 Durians. The site allows
gamers in Indonesia to compare prices and trade in-game currency via an otherwise traditional marketplace
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in
Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
5
Hospital tech firm Medico catches a case of seed funding from East Ventures
Indonesia-based hospital management software (HMS) startup Medico announced that it closed a seed
funding round from venture capital firm East Ventures. The deal size was undisclosed. Medico is still in
development phase, with plans to officially launch in the second quarter of this year. The startup is co-founded
by Grace Tahir and Jonathan Sutantyo, two individuals with a combined 30 years of experience in the
healthcare industry. Grace is a relative in the family-owned conglomerate Mayapada Group, where she is the
director of Mayapada Hospital. This is not her first foray into tech entrepreneurship, however, as she also cofounded PilihDokter (now Dokter.id) in 2014, a platform that connects people with doctors and offers health
and medical advice.
Philippine
Airbnb for office spaces FlySpaces takes off in Singapore with US$500k seed funding
FlySpaces, which bills itself as an Airbnb for office and retail spaces, received a capital injection of
US$500,000 from a group of investors, including Future Now Ventures, COENT Venture Partner, and Narra
Ventures. Aside from the three investors, prominent European entrepreneurs Michael Brehm and Thomas
Baum, who have been early backers of ecommerce sites like Ensogo, Dealguru, and Foodrunner, contributed
some of the seed cash. Plus, one of Germanys leading real estate broker and service companies, Rubina
Real Estate, also took part. The company launched in the Philippine market last October, then went live in
Singapore in December after having acquired a good number of merchants in the Lion City. FlySpaces offers
offices, meeting rooms, and commercial spaces that businesses and entrepreneurs can lease for short
periods or whenever they need them.
Singapore
Serviced apartments site MetroResidences raises funds from investors led by 500 Startups
MetroResidences, a Singapore-based startup that just raised funding, rents out fully furnished apartments to
corporates without the steep markups that landlords usually charge business-class travelers.
MetroResidences just raised a S$1 million (US$695,000) seed funding round, led by Silicon Valley-based
venture capital firm 500 Startups. Participating investors include Phey Teck Moh, ex-CEO of Pacific Internet;
Lim Dershing, ex-founder of JobsCentral; Linus Lim, co-CIO at Phillip Capital Management; and Ashok
Melwani, CEO of A B Melwani. With the funding, MetroResidences wants to grow its reach, with the aim of
capturing 10 percent of the serviced apartment market in Singapore. It also plans to expand to another Asian
city this year, but it didnt specify exactly where. The company was founded by James Chua and Lester Kang,
who also created the Airbnb clone PandaBed.
Food delivery startup Grain gets funding from NSI, 500 Startups, DMP, Thai Express founder
Grain, a food delivery startup in Singapore that promises healthy food in a heartbeat, has raised an
undisclosed amount of funding in a series A round led by NSI Ventures. 500 Startups, Digital Media Partners,
and Thai Express founder Ivan Lee also participated. A source familiar with the deal tells us its worth S$2.45
million (US$1.70 million). This means we will be able to build up better infrastructure to help everyone eat
better and conveniently, it said about how it intends to use the funding. The company is looking out for a
marketer, web and mobile developers, and an office manager. The slate of investors includes strong expertise
in the F&B industry. NSI Ventures founding partner Hian Goh sold off the Asian Food Channel before starting
NSI.
United States
Envelop VR adds Google Ventures to US$5.5 million round for enterprise virtual reality
Envelop VR, which is creating virtual reality software for enterprises, has closed its Series A round of US$5.5
million. The newest investor in this round is Google Ventures, which recently branded as GV. Envelop VR
previously announced the initial investors in the round, which was led by Madrona Venture Group. Envelop VR
is creating productivity software that allows enterprises and consumers alike to create, work, and play in a
virtual reality environment. The company previously raised US$2 million, bringing its total raised to US$7.5
million. The Seattle-based company is continuing to work on its software, the Envelop Virtual Environment
(EVE) and plans to make that software publicly available when virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift
(targeted for March 28) and HTC Vive come to mass market later this year.
Mitu raises US$27M from AwesomnessTV, Verizon for its Latino digital media company
Mitu announced that it has raised a US$27 million Series C round of funding, bringing in new investors
AwesomenessTV, WPP Digital, and Verizon. The latest investment gives the company capital to further
develop its products and technology, while also expanding its content publishing platform and audience data
tools. It also plans on launching its influencer marketing platform soon. Specializing in producing digital
content for Latino youth, Mitu has emerged as a popular destination for this demographic. It currently has 2
billion monthly views worldwide and a community of more than 6,000 Latino creators.
Legal tech startup Everlaw raises US$8.1 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in
Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
7
Data analytics startup Looker raises US$48 million, led by Kleiner Perkins
Looker, a startup selling data analytics software, is announcing a US$48 million funding round led by Kleiner
Perkins Caufield & Byers. Looker can visualize data from many sources, including Amazon Web Services
(AWS) Redshift, Cloudera Impala, HP Vertica, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Snowflake. Its available as onpremises software or as a cloud service. Looker started in 2012 and is based in Santa Cruz, California. The
startup says it has more than 450 customers, including Cigna, Docker, Etsy, Jet, Lyft, Sony, and Yahoo. The
startup has raised US$96 million since launching in 2013, including the US$30 million round from last year.
Alongside Kleiner, Meritech Capital Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and Sapphire Ventures also participated in
Lookers new funding round. Kleiner has previously backed data analytics startup Ayasdi.
President Obama proposes spending US$4B over 10 years for self-driving cars
The Obama Administration has announced that the United States Department of Transportation will be making
it easier for companies to innovate around driverless vehicles. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said
that the president proposed spending nearly US$4 billion over the next decade to make autonomous cars
safer. We are on the cusp of a new era in automotive technology with enormous potential to save lives,
reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and transform mobility for the American people, said Foxx in a statement.
As part of the administrations plans are milestones that state within six months, the National Highway and
Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) will collaborate with those in the industry on standards to safely
deploy and operate autonomous vehicles.
With US$90 Million In New Funding And Unicorn Status, Anaplan Looks Ahead to IPO
Anaplan announced a US$90 million round at a valuation of US$1.09 billion after funding, putting the company
squarely in unicorn territory, those companies with valuations of a billion or more. Whats more, CEO Fred
Laluyaux said this will be the last private round prior to an IPO some time in the not-too-distant future. To that
end, he announced that the company has hired James Budge, former Genesys and Rovi CFO and COO, as
its Chief Financial Officer. The round was led by Indian firm Premji Invest with help from Baillie Gifford (a
Scottish firm), Founders Circle Capital, and Harmony Partners, as well as Anaplans current investors
Brookside Capital, Coatue Management, DFJ Growth, Granite Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners,
Salesforce, Sands Capital Management and Shasta Ventures. Anaplan, which sells financial planning as a
service to large organizations, tends to compete with more traditional vendors like Oracle, IBM and SAP. Over
the next year, as they prepare to go public the company will continue to expand internationally and plans to
add more engineering and go-to market personnel as well as build up the cloud infrastructure that supports the
product.
Jawbone confirms US$165M funding round and president Samats departure to Google
Jawbone has raised a new round of funding, bringing in US$165 million from The Kuwait Investment Authority
to fund its operations. The company also revealed that president Sameer Samat will be leaving to take another
job at Google. However, hell remain associated with Jawbone both as an advisor and investor. Itll use the
new investment to fund operations and growth and bring new products to market. Additionally, in an effort to
retain its talent, Jawbone has also created a 30 percent equity pool for its current employees. Although the
company declined to provide information about its valuation for this round, its size is almost half of the one it
raised in April 2015. Previous rounds had pegged Jawbones valuation at around US$3.3 billion. Previous
investors in Jawbone include Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Deutsche Telekom, JP Morgan, Khosla
Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake Waterman, SV Angel, and Wells
Fargo. To date, it has raised more than a billion in funding.
Norwest Venture Partners raises US$1.2 billion for its 13th fund
Norwest Venture Partners announced that it has raised US$1.2 billion for its 13th fund, which itll use to
support its sector and stage independent investment strategy. With this fund, the firm now has a total capital
and commitment size of more than US$6 billion. Started more than 55 years ago, Norwest Ventures Partners
functions differently from most investment firms in that it doesnt break its fund into specific groups. Instead, its
focus is on the entrepreneur and supporting them throughout the startups growth. In the past, Norwest has
made investments in the health care, consumer Web, infrastructure, and enterprise spaces, and it doesnt
show any signs of slowing down. This is the third consecutive US$1.2 billion fund that Norwest has raised. The
firm has made investments in companies like Blue Jeans Network, Casper Sleep, Honybook, IFTTT, Jet,
Lumosity, Modcloth, Spotify, Uber, and Udemy. Norwest said that in the past 18 months, its portfolio has seen
seven public offerings in the United States, India, and Israel, and 15 acquisitions.
FreedomPop raises US$50 million to take its free mobile SIM plans global
FreedomPop, a wireless Internet provider whose SIM cards include free basic mobile service plans, has raised
a fresh US$50 million in capital, taking its total funding to almost US$110 million. Founded out of Los Angeles
in 2011, FreedomPop has built its mobile offering around giving away free mobile data, text messages, and
talk time, in the hope that those who require more than the bundled allowance will pay to upgrade. This cash
influx represents FreedomPops biggest funding to date, almost doubling the US$30 million it raised from
Partech Ventures last June. But more importantly, the funding will be used to expand its footprint into new
markets. While the service is still limited to members in the U.S. and U.K. for now, FreedomPop is introducing
a new global hotspot and SIM, meaning its users can roam free in 25 countries, including France,
Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Portugal, Finland,
Norway, Greece, Denmark, and the U.S. and U.K.
Europe
Scottish tech titan Skyscanner raises US$192 million to grow its travel search engine globally
Skyscanner, one of the oldest and largest flight search engines on the Web, has raised its first major round of
funding, to the tune of 128 million (US$192 million). Before this announcement, Skyscanners biggest
investor was Scottish Equity Partners, which had previously plowed US$4 million into the company. Sequoia
had also invested an undisclosed amount in a secondary round back in 2013, purportedly valuing Skyscanner
at US$800 million. There are five new participants in this latest round: Artemis, Baillie Gifford, Khazanah,
Vitruvian Partners, and, somewhat interestingly, Yahoo! Japan, which is already a strategic partner for
Skyscanner in Japan. The latest investment values Skyscanner at US$1.6 billion, conferring on it the muchcoveted unicorn status (a private company with a US$1 billion+ valuation) and making it one of Britains
biggest tech companies. Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams says the company plans to use its latest cash
influx to accelerate growth in the US$500 billion online travel market, and to build more new products and
tools for its customers.
Vivino raises US$25M round, led by Moet Hennesseys CEO, for its wine discovery app
Finding a good wine to pair with your food can be difficult, but thats what Vivino is banking on. It specializes in
technology to turn you into a wine connoisseur, and its success has attracted the attention of investors outside
of the United States. The company disclosed that it has raised a US$25 million Series B round, led by SCP
Neptune International, the investment arm of Moet Hennessys global CEO Christophe Navarre. Originally
based in Copenhagen, Denmark, Vivino established a U.S. presence in 2014. Its app utilizes image
recognition technology to identify the wines youre drinking by scanning the bottles. With this new investment,
Vivino stated that it will expand its marketing efforts in the worlds top wine consumption regions, including the
U.S., Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, and Germany. It currently counts 13 million users across 228 countries. A
company spokesperson said that Vivino has aspirations to reach 25 million users by the end of 2016 and
expand by 50 million per year after that.
Deezer raises US$110M to keep pace in music streaming wars with Apple and Spotify
Three months after Deezers scrapped IPO raised questions about its future, the Paris-based music streaming
company announced it had raised US$110 million in a critical vote of confidence from its partners. We can
see that we are still at the beginning of a very fast-growing market, said Deezer CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht.
SparkLabs Global Ventures (http://www.sparklabsglobal.com) is a global seed-stage fund with partners in
Silicon Valley, Chicago, London Tel Aviv, Singapore, and Seoul.
10
Glu announces US$7.5M investment in QuizUp developer ahead of TV show, may lead to a full
acquisition
Mobile-game publisher Glu Mobile (Glu) has announced its investing up to US$7.5 million in Plain Vanilla,
the Icelandic game studio behind popular multiplayer trivia game QuizUp. As part of the deal, Glus CEO and
chairman, Niccolo de Masi, will join Plain Vanillas board of directors. And Glu has also confirmed that it has
the option to acquire the company outright at an undisclosed pre-agreed price if the partnership goes well.
Based out of San Francisco, Glu has a number of well-known brands in its free-to-play mobile-gaming arsenal,
including Kim Kardashian, James Bond, The Terminator, RoboCop, and Dragon Slayer. The company went
public on the NASDAQ in 2007. Headquartered in Icelands capital of Reykjavik, Plain Vanilla launched in
2012. This news takes the companys total amount raised past the US$40 million mark.
Israel
Neura raises US$11 million to create digital identities from consumers connected lives
Neura, an Israeli Internet of Things startup that pulls together data from users connected devices, has raised
US$11 million to expand its business reach and make the service ubiquitous. The Series A round was led by
AXA Strategic Ventures and Pitango Venture Capital, with participation from Liberty Israel Venture Fund and
Lenovo Group. Founded in 2013, Neura launched in the U.S. out of UpWest Labs, a Silicon Valley-based
accelerator specifically for Israeli startups. The following year, Neura announced a US$2 million funding round.
Neuras core raison dtre is to serve up back-end analysis to the Internet of Things industry, and its
technology can gather data on individuals from a range of connected devices, including phones, tablets, apps,
and more. Neuras artificial intelligence recognizes and analyzes human behavior and develops what it calls a
digital identity for each person, insight that can be used to personalize applications, services, and devices.
TravelersBox raises US$10M series A to help tourists with their leftover foreign change
Israel-based TravelersBox, which provides a solution to the pesky foreign currency left in your pocket after a
holiday or business trip, announced that it has closed a US$10 million series A round led by Arbor Ventures.
Existing investors including Pitango Venture Capital, IPE Ventures, Pereg Vent ures, iAngels, and Global Blue
also participated. The startup did not disclose post-money valuation figures. Through the startups kiosks,
travelers can deposit their leftover foreign currency and redeem it for a multitude of things, such as Skype
credit, Paypal, Nike gift cards, or charitable donations. In Israel, its also possible to process direct bank
transfers. Theres no minimum amount necessary. TravelersBox kiosks are currently present in Italy, Canada,
Turkey, Georgia, Israel, and the Philippines. Theres a range of currencies supported, including US dollar,
Euro, British pound, Phillipines peso, Russian ruble, Turkish lira, and Georgian lari.