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Bi-monthly Highlights

Global Trends

VC funding hits 2-year low, drops 18% to $14.4 billion as unicorns retreat
At long last, venture capitals long-awaited return to normalcy appears to be happening. VC funding for the
third quarter of 2016 slid for nearly every key metric: a smaller number of deals, less total funding, fewer
+$100 million mega-rounds, and just eight unicorns created. And that was globally. Its worth noting that a bit
of sobriety is a good thing. 2015 funding levels were irrationally high with a new unicorn being birthed every
3rd day as investors were keen to force-feed perceived startup winners with cash. That was not sustainable,
wrote Anand Sanwal, CEO of CB Insights, in Venture Pulse, a quarterly report published by KPMG
International and CB Insights that was released today.

North American deals have steadily declined this year, with only 1,127 venture financings worth $14.4 billion
during the third quarter of this year, according to the report. U.S.-based startups received the lions share of
this investment, albeit at a snails pace in the aftermath of the 2015 fourth-quarter slowdown. Investment
tumbled 18 percent from the previous quarter, down to $14 billion. Without the outsized rounds to companies
like Uber and Snapchat, VC funding for U.S. companies slid to the lowest total since the third quarter of 2014.
It will be interesting to see the impact from the IPOs of Nutanix and Line, as well as the pending debut
of Snapchat, on venture activity for the rest of 2016

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.
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Venture Capital hits a wall in Q3 as investments tumble 28% YOY

According to a new report from the National Venture Capital Association, startups in the U.S. raised $15 billion
in venture capital during the third quarter ending September, down 28.6 percent from $21 billion for the same
period one year ago. Its also a big drop from the $22 billion invested second quarter of 2016, ending in June,
according to the report known as PitchBook-NVCA Venture Monitor. However, the even worse news is that
there was a stepper drop in number of companies raising money. In the third quarter, 1,800 companies raised
funds, down 30% from the same period a year ago. However, 2015 was a massive year for venture capital
investing. If things continue at the current pace, according to NVCA, 2016 would be on track to see $74 billion
in VC investment, as much as we saw in 2014. Thus it is also worth noting, the slowdown hasnt impacted the
raising of new venture funds. According to the NVCA, $32.4 billion has been raised by 201 funds so far in
2016, which could lead to a new record this year.

4 tech trends to look out for in 2017

As we move towards a digitally connected world, here are four tech trends you should keep your eye on in
2017.
1. AI will improve consumer experience
Brands have only begun to scratch the surface for applying AI and machine learning to the customer
experience. Personalized customer interaction, increased social presence and immediate answers to
consumer queries these are just a tiny portion of the multitude of ways businesses are using AI to enhance
consumer experiences. While the use of AI seems to radically simplify our lives, it is still a big challenge to
avoid the uncanny valley that actually repulses consumers.
2. More help for cross-browser compatibility
In the past decade, there has been a surge in the number of browsers used for web-surfing. With plethora of
options, its pretty much impossible to judge each visitors browser preference. Which is why, as complicated
and frustrating it may be, cross browser compatibility is always at the top of web developers heads. However,
Browsers have begun to step up their game in following W3C specification and (possibly) with better
JavaScript libraries, cross-browser compatibility issues may become a thing of the past.
3. More startups enter the VR arena
VR has taken the tech world by storm. With already emerging many uses such as psychological therapy to
gaming, and also being backed by tech giants such as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, there is still plenty of
room for innovation in this space. Tech startups have also jumped on the bandwagon, joining forces with
bigger companies, startups are getting their VR content in front of people all around the world. Without
question, VR technology is set to reach consumers in new ways.
4. Mobile is still the future
Yes, 2017 will still be the year of mobile. The number of smartphone users is estimated to reach 6.1 billion by
2020. Thats roughly 70 percent of the world population! While the complete transition from PCs to mobile
devices might take a while longer, the over-dished advice for businesses to optimize their product for mobile
viewing still stands. Several sources have also confirmed that the mobile web brings in more traffic compared
to the app.

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.
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Asia Pacific
China

This awesome Hover Camera drone goes on sale today

The Chinese startup Zero Zero Robotics, that came out of hiding in April after two years to show off the indoor
Hover Camera drone, has now started production with sales opening today and deliveries beginning
immediately. The self-flying, selfie-taking, face-tracking drone, with its rotors safely tucked inside a carbon
fiber mesh bodywork, costs US$599. While the CEO admits that people are not going up Everest with the
Hover Camera in the same way they might with a rougher and tougher DJI drone, its still being used to great
effect for things like BMX biking and skateboarding. Unlike most new hardware startups, the Zero Zero
Robotics crew has avoided taking the gizmo to Kickstarter or Indiegogo. However, instead have eaten into
their US$23 million series A fund, with heavy financial pressures from the manufacturing process.
Nonetheless, it was the right thing to avoid taking money from people so as to focus on doing things their
way to under-promise and over-deliver, CEO Meng Qiu explains.

Chinas bike-sharing battle looks a lot like its ride-hailing war

Beijing-based, bike sharing startup Ofo announced a US$130 million series C round its fifth round of funding
since the service went online 13 months ago. The latest round includes funding from ride-hailing titan Didi
Chuxing announced just two weeks ago as well as fresh capital from a hodgepodge of investors, including
Chinese unicorn Xiaomi, Shunwei Capital (a venture capital firm co-founded by Xiaomis founder Lei Jun), and
Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. Ofo is part of Chinas burgeoning bike sharing industry, where users park their
bikes wherever they want and use an app to find available bikes parked nearby. The startups services are
targeted at university students, but that could change very soon. The latest round of funding will go towards
growing Ofos team and improving its hardware. Ofo is teaming up with Xiaomi to upgrade its bikes and plans
to incorporate its service into Didis ride-hailing app.

Baidu sets up $3b fund to throw money at later-stage startups

Baidu, Chinas top search engine company, announced the establishment of a brand new investment fund
worth US$3 billion. This new fund will mix Baidus moolah with cash from an array of undisclosed sources,
such as insurance funds, securities companies, and some government-backed investment institutions. The
Beijing-based internet giant, valued at US$62 billion, set up Baidu Venture last month with US$200 million at
hand to invest in earlier-stage startups focused on AI, AR, and VR. This new fund will allow Baidu Capital to
invest in mid and later-stage startups, with most rounds being in the range of $50 million to $100 million.
Despite Chinas gradual economic slowdown, funding for the nations startups is still exploding. A record high
US$37 billion was put into startups in the first six months of the year, double the tally of the same period in
2015.

Japan

Japanese fintech company Money Forward grabs another $11M

Money Forward, a personal financial management and cloud-based accounting software service, today
announced a series D round of funding today for roughly US$11 million. Investors include Mizuho Capitals
fintech fund and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings. Current investors Fenox Venture Capital and Toho Bank also
participated with anticipation of a global explosion. Local banks and new business partners North Pacific
Bank, Gunma Bank, Fukui Bank, and Shiga Bank got into the action as well. Money Forward offers several
services. Besides accounting, users can do payroll, payment collection, expense reporting, send invoices, and
of course see financial projections among other things. The service is currently used by four million individuals
and over 500,000 businesses in Japan. With more money flowing and changing laws, fintech is poised to be
the hottest tech vertical in Japan this year.

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.
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Line is building a Slack rival

Line, one of the worlds biggest chat apps with just over 200 million active users, is working on a workplace
messaging app like Slack. Itll be out in Japan in the spring. To speed up the development, Line has tapped a
team called Works Mobile that, just like Line Corp itself, is a Japan-based offshoot of the Korean web giant
Naver. Works Mobile came out with its own team messaging app at the start of the year. There are a ton of
enterprise-oriented apps out there including Facebooks Workplace, which came out last week but with
businesses having such a diverse range of needs, theres scope to support a crowded, pluralistic market. The
news comes as Lines messaging app is struggling up against the might of Facebook Messenger and
WhatsApp, plus newcomer`s like Snapchat. Valued at US$9.4 billion after its recent IPO, Line added only 10
million monthly active users last year while Facebooks steamrolling duo welcomed in hundreds of millions of
newcomers.

Singapore

AI and data analytics startup Nugit secures $5m from Sequoia

Marketing professionals usually spend half their time extracting cleaning, and combining data before they can
analyze how a campaign has performed. Perceiving a gap in the industry, as the volume of data and
marketing channels continue to multiply, entrepreneur Dave Sanderson decided to start Nugit. Nugit has
developed artificial intelligence that extracts and integrates data from different sources in real time. It also has
a natural language generation technology, which adds insight to the data and translates it into smart,
beautifully-designed reports. The company announced today it has raised US$5.2 million in funding from
Sequoia India to further develop its platform and double its team size. Nugit currently manages over 146,000
advertising accounts on platform such as Google, Adobe Analytics, Facebook, and Doubleclick for over 500
brands in 34 countries. Its key clients include Facebook itself, Johnson & Johnson, Digi, Group M, Startcom,
and Publicis.

This dating app for investment banking is going places

BankerBay, a deal-matching platform that uses algorithms to match institutional investors with corporate deals,
re looking to set up headquarters in New York and Shanghai by the end of this year. With also plans for a
London office next year is already underway. Since its launch two years ago, the startup has seen monthly
deal flows on its platform increase from $75 million to $10 billion. Currently BankerBay has raised $4 million in
funding so far, half of which was secured in a pre-Series A round in July 2016 from private investors.
Bankerbay has grown its staff size to 30 employees across Singapore, India, and New York. The startup
includes a core team of ex-bankers called transaction management analysts, who assess deals submitted to
the platform to ensure quality. While the initial outlook for the platform has neem a huge success, CIMB
economist Song Seng Wun claims that the platform would have to adopt to various market environments
depending on the region it operates in.

India

Shenzhens hardware accelerator HAX funds its first Indian startup

HAX let out today that it has accepted Bangalores Riot into its latest cohort. Riot creates baby monitoring
devices. Its first product is a device that monitors the sleep of babies without touching them. The lack of
contact makes it safer to use and easier for parents to trust, explains Aardra Kannan Ambili, whom co-founded
the startup. Riot will receive US$100,000 in funding as well as an office space in Shenzen with access to a
laboratory. The program will also put it in touch with design experts and local manufacturers that will help
produce a working prototype. It is a 111-day long program and will culminate in presentations across the
globe, including a demo day at the CES conference in Las Vegas. Riot is now working rapidly with local
manufacturers to create a prototype.

Chinas ByteDance leads $25m funding for Indian local language news app Dailyhunt
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Indias leading app for news and other content in local languages, Dailyhunt, has aannounced a series D
funding round of US$25 million led by ByteDance. Former CEO of Vodafone Arun Sarin and existing investors
Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital India, Omidyar, and Falcon Edge participated in the round. Dailyhunt, which
had earlier raised US$37.5 million in its series C round led by New York-based hedge fund Falcon Edge
Capital, is the most-used app for news and eBooks in India with 28 million monthly active users. That is nearly
a third of the 90 million monthly active users that the leading global news aggregator Flipboard gets. Today
Dailyhunt publishes 35,000 items a day, including news, eBooks, magazines, comics, and video, in the various
local languages. They also claim to have 4.5 billion page views in a month.

Bangalores Postman bags $ 7 million from Nexus

Postman, which lets developers build, test, and share APIs, today announced a series A funding round of
US$7 million from Nexus Venture Partners. The latest infusion of capital will go into development work and
marketing. Postman provides free apps for Chrome, Mac, and Windows to build APIs. For cloud-based API
access, theres payment, and theres also an enterprise option. However, for the paid product, Postman Cloud,
a subscription service that provides additional collaboration, testing, and documentation tools for both small
and large development teams. It also provides access to API libraries. Postman was incorporated in 2014 and
has a 15-member team across Bangalore, Austin, and San Francisco. It claims to have over 3 million active
installations and more than 1.5 million active monthly users at 30,000 companies. Jishnu Bhattacharjee, the
MD of Nexus Venture Partners, claims the startups growth mirrors the huge growth of the API industry.

Furlencos $30 million raise shows furniture rental is working for Indian millennials
Furlenco is announcing that it just closed a large fundraise consisting of $15 million of equity, led by Lightbox
Ventures and Axis Capital and $15 million of debt, from banks, NBFCs, individuals and family offices, for a
total haul of $30 million. A raise of this size in the United States would signal product market fit but in India
thats a far understatement. Debt rounds of that size are rare in the country and hint that Furlenco is not only
right so far about consumer behavior, but right that the rental model can be cashflow positive in serious way.
Furlenco has shipped $20 million worth of furniture to date to 15,000 homes. And despite that fast growth rate,
furniture utilization remains above 95 percent, which means that the company doesnt need large warehouses
to store unrented items that are losing money.

Thailand

Tripadvisor dishes out series B to Eatigo to connect empty stomachs with empty tables
Eatigo, which came into the limelight in May last year as a contestant in Tech in Asias Arena pitch battle,
specializes in off-peak bookings in order to help restaurants fill tables that are usually empty. It operates in
Singapore and the Thai cities of Bangkok and Pattaya. The aim, the team says, is that the service connects
empty stomachs with empty tables. No coupons or pre-payment of any sort is required. This funding will be
used for expansion, explains Michael Cluzel, Eatigos CEO and co-founder, speaking over Skype from the
crews Bangkok HQ. That means more Southeast Asian nations, but hes keeping mum on which country is
next. Michael says the service now has 700 restaurants listed across its three cities. He adds there are ways
that his startup and Tripadvisors TheFork might work together in future, and therell be an active dialogue
about that in due course. However, Michaels startup is up against Offpeak, which has expanded from its
native Malaysia to cover Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore.

Hong Kong

Fashion startup Grana closes $10m series A led by Alibabas fund

Fast fashion startup Grana has raised US$10 million for ites series A round, led by Alibabas US$130 million
The Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund. Existing investors, Golden Gate Ventures and Hong Kong- based Mind
Work Ventures, also joined the round. The company ships no-label wardrobe essentials to customers across
12 countries from its centralized warehouse in Hong Kong within one to two days and for low prices. The team
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is looking to move into a new 18,000 square-foot centralized warehouse in Hong Kong to manage its growth
and plans to double its headcount to 100 by the end of 2017. It has seen a 15 percent increase in month-onmonth sales across key markets Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and the US. With the new round of funding,
Grana plans to bolster its foothold in the US by setting up its first pop-up showroom in New York for customers
to try clothes offline and buy online. It will also build a team there to cater to its growing customer base. It says
it will make a foray into mainland China through a tie-up with Alibaba.

United States

Snapchat reportedly hires Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to lead IPO
Photo sharing app has chosen Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs as the lead underwriters for an IPO that
could come around March 2017. The banks were awarded one of the most coveted and potentially lucrative
IPO mandates in recent years, as the California-based company vies for a $25 billion valuation in the stock
market. Snapchat, whose parent is Snap Inc., started in 2012 as a free mobile app that allows users to send
photos that only lasts a few seconds. The company raised $1.81 billion in May and included General Atlantic,
Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price and Lone Pine. Investors are worried that the only significant revenue source
is Snapchats advertising sales, which began last October. In an attempt to diversify, Snap announced it will
be releasing its first physical product a video camera embedded glasses that allows up to 10 seconds of
recording, which can then be synced to their smartphones.

Tinder rival Hinge ditches swiping, relaunches as a serious relationship app at $7 per month
New York founded company Hinge recently announced their rebrand as a paid service and a shift-away from
the swipe-obsessed mobile dating culture. Since its inception in 2011, the company has raised around $20
million in funding to date. Its main point of difference from competitor app Tinder is that while Tinder is more
about hooking up with strangers, Hinges uses Facebook to match users with friends of friends. As Hinge
began rebuilding its brand last year, their research showed that users wanted a more serious relationshiporiented service. The company will charge $7 per month, as it pushes to become the relationship app - an
affordable destination where people can find more meaningful dating experiences.

Noodle Partners raises $4 million to help colleges deliver degrees online

Noodle Partners Inc., a new education venture from the founder of The Princeton Review and 2U Inc., John
Katzman, has raised $4 million in venture funding to help colleges and universities deliver high-quality
certificate and degree programs online. The startup offers the educational institutions help in setting up an
online degree program, institutional design for courses within the program, recruiting, tech support and
measuring student engagement along the way to complete the course. The investor expects Noodle Partners
to use its funding to roll out its OPM services and technology to top colleges and universities in the U.S., and
expand enrollment in online programs at the schools where the company is already working today.

L Squared Commits $40 Million to Edlio

L Squared Capital Partners announced a $40 million growth investment in Edlio, a leading provider of cloudbased software to the K-12 market. Built on a Software-as-a-Service platform, Edlios content management
system facilitates connections and interaction among teachers, administrators, parents and students through a
variety of different modules. It allows schools to easily manage and update their website to facilitate interaction
among users. In addition, the company also offers individual class websites that allow teachers to
communicate with students and parents in each class, managing homework, announcements and class
activities. Edlio is seeking to acquire complementary EdTech companies across the K-12 administrative
software landscape such as CRM, athletic department modules, data management and payments. The
investment by L Squared will enable the company to further invest in sales and marketing, international growth
and new product development, and support strategic acquisitions across the education technology landscape.

Kindly Care launches with $3.1M to help loved ones access vetted caregivers

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A new startup, Kindly Care, has recently launched with a $3.1 million investment led by MHS Capital, with
participation from Floodgate and Jackson Square Ventures. The company, co-founded by startup veterans Igor
Lebovic and Erik Fantasia, is rolling out a new marketplace that pairs up caregivers and care-managers so that
loved ones do not have to be left behind simply because they cannot afford one-on-one attention from
traditional care providers. To date, there are 5,000 people on the platform offering their care to those in need
across California and Texas. Growth is currently restricted by statewide regulations, but that does not put
future international expansion out of the question.

Restless Bandit raises $8M to help companies dig through their old resume piles
Restless Bandit raised $8 million in a financing round from GGV Capital and Toba Capital, and it previously
raised $2 million in a seed-funding round. The startup aims to give companies a way to easily find the best
candidates that have already applied, rather than companies having to sift through those existing resume piles
with keywords and the like. Restless Bandit finds the highest-potential candidates for roles with statistical
modeling, essentially trying to draw correlations between the candidates and a set of generalized candidate
spaces that might suit the needs of employers. It is important to note that as much machine learning and A.I. is
being used, Restless Bandit does not promise that it will provide a perfect list of applicants. However, by
automating the filtering process, the company believes it is increasing the likelihood of filling the position faster,
more cheaply, and with a higher quality hire.

Remote Year raises $12 million to combine remote work and global travel
Highland Capital Partners led a $12 million Series A funding round in Remote Year, a business that sends
people to work abroad for a whole year, moving to a different city and country each month. Founder and CEO
Greg Caplan aims to use the new funding to expand the program by increasing Remote Years team and the
capacity of travelling professionals. Remote Year will also be building its own physical infrastructure.

Ollie raises $4.4M to become the Sprig of dog food

Primary Ventures and Lerer Hippeau Ventures co-led a $4.4 million round of funding for Ollie, a new startup
that aims to disrupt the premium pet food space by offering customized, healthy and natural meals to dog
owners across the country. To combat the alarming statistics of diabetes, cancer and liver failure in pets, Ollie
uses real ingredients to produce food for dogs that is fit for human consumption. The premium dog food market
has grown to become a $13 billion market, and shows no signs of stopping. Double-digit growth has attracted a
slew of startups for dogs, but very few have achieved the scale that would signal a mature, saturated, market.

Rover.com fetches $40 million to grow its dog-sitting platform

Rover.com raised $40 million in a Series E round by Foundry Group and Menlo Ventures, with participation
from Madrona Venture Group. Founded in 201, the online platform connects dog owners with a range of
services such as dog-boarding, house-sitting and drop-in visits. Rover has now raised around $90 million in
funding to date, garnering around $50 million over a number of rounds dating back to 2012. Its latest cash
injection will be used to continue redefining the pet care space through product developments, geographical
expansion and continued market growth. Additionally, the company may pursue mergers and acquisitions.

Biotech startup Zymergen nabs $130 million from Softbank

Zyrmegen, a startup that produces crazy new materials from genetically altered microbes, raised $130 million
in Series B funding from Softbank. During its last round of funding, the company bought robots to make these
microbes for mass production of various materials. CEO Josh Hoffman now plans to use the new funding to
continue to grow the business including adding a bunch of new staff and big name partners. This is the
round that allows us to continue gathering talent, add customers and invest in the long-term as well.

Levchins Affirm secures $100M credit line from Morgan Stanley

Fintech startup Affirm announced a new $100 million credit line from Morgan Stanley, which will go directly to
supporting the companys current financial products that help customers purchase goods and spread their
expenses over a period of time. CEO of Affirm, and former co-founder of PayPal, Max Levchin has steered
Affirm since its founding in 2012, raising $525 million along the way. The company has tripled its transaction
volume over the last year. To date, all loans remain on the companys balance sheet.
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Airbnb sues New York City

Airbnb sued the city of New York, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Mayor Bill de Blasio over
legislation that would make it illegal to advertise accommodations that cant legally be rented out for less than
30 days. The bill was passed in June and signed into law by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in October
21st. New York housing law restricts short-term rentals for certain housing, and housing advocates in the city
argue that many of the units listed on Airbnb are illegal. Although these hosts can already face steep fines, the
new law would make it illegal for Airbnb to allow listings for these units on their platform. Airbnb claims the law
is a violation of the Communications Decency Act, which protects internet companies from liability for content
posted by their users. In the suit, Airbnb says that application of the law to Airbnb would hold Airbnb liable for
the content of rental listings created and posted by third-parties on Airbnbs platform. As such, the Act
unquestionably treats platforms such as Airbnb as the publisher or speaker of third-party content and is
completely preempted by the CDA.

Canada

TouchBistro raises $13 million to serve restaurants with iPad-powered point-of-sale smarts
In a Series B round led by BDC IT Venture Fund, the POS technology provider raised CDN$17 million
(USD$13 million). Founded in Toronto in 2011, TouchBistro iPad point-of-sale apps and analytics for cafes,
bars, restaurants and anyone operating in the food-and-drink realm. The CEO, Alex Barrotti, indicated that it
would use its new cash injection to expedite growth by expanding their focus on sales and marketing, and
building their platform through partnerships with industry leaders and by integrating innovative and valueadding features to restaurants. There have been multiple investments recently across the culinary-tech space,
including Squares announcement to integrate with TouchBistros technology.

FlashStock raises $1.5 million for on-demand marketing service

Toronto-based startup announced that it raised $1.5 million for its latest round of funding. A group of angel
investors, including Vedanta Capital operating partner Bill Campbell and former Anheuser-Busch InBev CMO
Chris Burggraeve, participated in the investment. To date, Flashstock has raised at least $3 million in funds.
The company creates customised marketing material on demand, and its content as a service (CaaS) platform
hires independent photographers, videographers, and designers all over the world to create ad campaigns that
can better reach audiences across markets and platforms. With brands like Samsung, Mercedes-Benz, and
MasterCard on its customer portfolio, the fledgling startup aims to use the capital to double its team from 50 to
100 employees.

Clearpath Robotics raises $30 million to become a Tesla for the factory floor
Ontario tech firm Clearpath Robotics has raised $30 million in a Series B round of venture funding to scale up
production of its self-driving vehicles. The startup makes vehicles that move boxes and pallets around
factories, warehouses and distribution centres. It intends to use a portion of its new funding for hiring in sales,
marketing and customer support staff the company will need to serve larger customers. The funding will
also allow Clearpath to develop software that can differentiate its robots in the world of materials handling, and
to develop new robots appropriate for different jobs. INovia Capital led the Series B, joined by Caterpillar
Ventures, GE Ventures, Eclipse Ventures, RRE Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank. Clearpaths equity funding
to date is around $41.5 million since it started in 2008.

Europe

Pluto TV, a free streaming service for cord cutters, raises $30 million more
Pluto TV raised $30 million in Series B funding, valuing the business at $140 million. The new funding comes
from ProSieben of Germany, one of Europes largest independent media companies, and lifestyle media
company Scripps Networks Interactive. The company raised $13 million in Series A funding in late 2014. The
additional capital will help to fuel Pluto TVs expansion into the European market, the company says. The
startup offers a video streaming service targeting cord cutters by offering a TV-guide like experience that
connects users to hundreds of online channels. The co-founder and CEO states that they plan to use the new
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funds to further invest in product, content and marketing, while also moving toward the goal of becoming a
global destination for free television.

ComplyAdvantage raises $8.2M Series A to help firms manage compliance

ComplyAdvantage announced a $8.2 million in Series A funding led by Balderton Capital, and plans to use the
money to grow and expand across Europe and the U.S, including opening a New York office. The Londonbased startup claims to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to help firms manage compliance
obligations at a reduced cost. It originally launched to help a small number of businesses meet complex antimoney laundering (AML) and counter financing of terrorism (CFT) requirements. It has since developed its
product to also cover things like Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) lists and other risk and compliance areas
that are hard to scale. The VP of Sales & Marketing believes that ComplyAdvantage is at the forefront of a
regtech revolution, unleashing the power of AI and ML to change the way compliance is done.

Swedens Soundtrap raises $6 million to expand its online music recording platform
The latest round of funding for Soundtrap was led by Nordic venture capital firm Industrifonden and included
money from Peter Sterky, a former executive at Spotify. The online music and audio recording studio
announced it has raised $6 million to help it expand into new countries and languages. Soundtrap has now
raised a total of $8.5 million. The idea behind the company was to create a simple, online collaborative
recording service for amateur musicians. The cloud-based service works across all mobile and desktop
operating systems. The service now has 750,000 users and is rushing to keep up with demand.

Payfit grabs $5.6 million to manage French payrolls

Payfit, a French startup that began in April 2016, raised $5.6 million (5 million) from Otium Venture and Xavier
Niel. Its goal is to modernize the good old paychecks in France, by providing a software-as-a-service that
allows employers to manage everything from a browser. Employees are able to log into Payfit to download
paychecks and request a vacation. The product is only available in France, as this type of product tends to be
very specific to one market. However, the startup could eventually expand to other European countries.

Car rental comparison site HappyCar picks up 2.6M funding as Rocket Internets GFC quietly exits
European car rental comparison startup Happycar has raised a further 2.6 million in funding. Backing the
companys third round are lead investor Creathor Venture, HR Ventures, Capnamic Ventures, NWZ Digital,
and TruVenturo. Operating in various European countries but targeting car rentals worldwide Happycar is
a typical metasearch engine play. It partners with around 1,000 international and local car rental companies to
let you search and compare offers in order to find the best price. In addition, users can also filter results by
type of car and insurance packages. The funding will be used to further expand operations into new markets,
and continuously improve their products to maximize customer satisfaction.

IBM to pour $200 million into Watson Internet of Things A.I. business in Munich
IBM announced that it will invest $200 million in a new global headquarters for its Watson Internet of Things
business in Munich Germany. The move is part of the strategy of combining Watson the supercomputer that
beat the worlds best human Jeopardy player with the Internet of Things (IoT), or using sensors to make
everyday objects smart and connected. Its also part of a global plan to invest $3 billion to bring Watsons
cognitive computing to IoT. The investment in Munich is one of the companys largest ever in Europe and is in
response to growing demand from customers who want to transform their operations with A.I. and IoT.

Softbank and Saudi Arabias PIF planning $100BN tech fund

Softbank has announced it is creating a new global tech investment fund, seeded with $25 billion of its own
money. The fund, which will be London, UK based - with a working title of the Softbank Vision Fund is
also set to be bolstered with up to $45BN from the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi PIF
recently ploughed $3.5BN into Uber, of course, as part of an economic strategy to reduce its reliance on oil
over the next 15 years. Getting involved with a general global tech fund would spread the kingdoms bets
further. The investment period for the fund is pegged at five years, meaning it will potentially be investing
$20BN into tech startups globally each year. A figure that would make Greylocks newly closed $1BN
und seem modest.
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.
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SparkLabs Global Ventures Technology

and Internet Market Bi-Monthly Review
th

October 24 , 2016

Middle East

Hyperloop One gains $50 million in funding from DP World Group of Dubai
Hyperloop One is a futuristic transportation system that aims to ship things and people faster than a speeding
plane, and just pulled in $50 million in strategic investment led by DP World Group of Dubai, bringing up the
total raised to $160 million. The new $50 million is a convertible note and will be a part of an ongoing raise
towards a Series C round, which is expected to conclude in 2017. DP World Group is the third-largest ports
operator in the world, and has been working with H1 to pursue development of a Hyperloop in the Gulf. Dubai
Future Accelerators recently agreed to work in conjunction with H1 to build the first Hyperloop for cargo in the
region. H1 plans to use the cash to continue making progress on the development in Dubai and throughout the
world.

Iranian startup Snapp scoops up $22.3 million investment from ZA-based MTN to boost ride-sharing in
the Islamic Republic
Snapp announced a $22.3 million (20 million) investment round, during a time when Irans taxi industry is
facing a financial crisis. South African mobile conglomerate MTN led the round as the sole investor, with the
money going to the Iran Internet Group, which owns Snapp. MTN, already a prolific investor in Iranian
telecoms, has a partnership with Rocket Internet in the Islamic Republic and also holds shares in Iran Internet
Holdings and Irancell. Snapp has challenges and protections unique to Iran. So far, they are operating only in
the capital, Tehran, though with 8 million residents, the market is huge. The startup is planning to use the
funding to invest in their current operations, expand to other cities, introduce different services such as
premium vehicles and offer new features.

Israel

SimpleOrder raises $2.75 million to automate restaurant supply chains

SimpleOrder has raised $2.75 million in a first round of funding to help restaurants manage their supply chain
with a cloud-based platform. The round was led by Lazarus Israel Opportunities Fund and Foodlab Capital,
with participation from existing investors Cyrus Angel Fund and private angel investors. The Tel Aviv, Israelbased startup recognizes that 50 percent of restaurants fail within the first 12 months of opening, and many do
not have a systematic way of tracking their inventory on digital platforms. The company announced the release
of its Automated Inventory System, a platform that calculates and manages inventory levels in real time based
on purchasing and sales. The aim is to digitize the Back of House, helping managers streamline their inventory
and purchasing operations. The application provides enterprise-level capabilities to restaurants and chains of
all sizes, which ultimately increases their likelihood of success.

Payoneer announces colossal $180 million financing round led by TCV

Israeli-American money transfer startup Payoneer has raised a $180 million Series E funding round, which was
led by TCV and previous investor Susquehanna Growth Equity. The entity boast the ability to move cash
across the borders of over 200 countries, covering most of the world. Payoneer spent the last year opening
new offices in Japan, India and the Philippines, the latest in an international network of offices with
headquarters in New York City. Earlier this year, they acquired escrow startup Armor Payments. Payoneer also
announced a new partnership with Japanese e-commerce powerhouse Rakuten.

eBay to acquire Israeli startup Corrigon for reported $30 million

eBay is laying down a reported $30 million for Israeli startup Corrigon, incubated in Tel Avivs The Time
incubator. The value of the acquisition is reportedly upwards of $30 million, though the companies would not
confirm exact figures. Corrigons technology is built on deep neural networks and fine-grained object
detection, a highly precise form of image recognition. This would allow eBay users to search for items that
appear in given photos e.g designer handbags owned by celebrities. Corrigon represents eBays third
acquisition in the structured data space this year. The startup will move into eBays Israeli Development Center
and will focus on image processing, data enrichment and creating product experiences.

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