S&P Global Market Intelligence provides a roundup of recent investment deals and updates in the Asia-Pacific technology, media and communications sector.
Top news
* Tencent Holdings Ltd. raised US$6.5 billion via a dollar loan, surpassing its earlier US$5 billion target, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The club loan drew nine lenders, including Bank of America Corp. and Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. The capital will be used for refinancing and general corporate purposes. The five-year credit facility pays an all-in pricing of 85 basis points via an interest margin of 80 basis points over Libor.
* GrabTaxi Holdings Pte Ltd. will invest US$500 million in the Vietnam market over five years to expand its transport, food and payments networks in the South Asian country, the company announced Aug. 28. The Singaporean ride-hailing company, which will use the investment to launch new services in the country, will also be eyeing new opportunities in new mobility solutions, fintech and the wider logistics industry.
* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s mobile internet business sector will invest 1 billion Chinese yuan this year to enhance content creation, Jiemian reported. The company has also pledged a viewership of two billion and 10 billion yuan of resources for the project.
Startup funding
* DG Daiwa Ventures, a joint venture of Daiwa Securities Group Inc. and Digital Garage Inc., set up DG Lab Fund II, a ¥20 billion fund that will be used to invest in startups in areas including blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual reality.
* Chinese short video app Kuaishou invested an undisclosed sum in local manga startup Crossingstar, KrASIA reported.
* HTC Corp. led a US$3 million funding round for Bitmark Inc., a Taiwanese digital property rights startup. The series A round also saw participation from existing and new investors including Alibaba, venture capital firm WI Harper Group and crypto-focused investor Digital Currency Group.
* Tokyo-based IT services company SCSK Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. established a corporate venture capital fund called Presidio SCSK Digital Fund in the Silicon Valley. The two companies plan to invest in startups involved in core technologies that will assist in promoting digital transformation of businesses. Financial details were not disclosed.
* Uhuru Corp., an internet of things startup backed by SoftBank Group Corp., is expected to raise at least ¥5 billion ahead of its London listing on Oct. 23, Reuters reported, citing a source.
* Tiger Global Management LLC is in advanced discussions to invest in three Indian startups, The Times of India reported, citing two people aware of the matter. MyGate, formally known as Vivish Technologies Pvt Ltd., is set to receive a US$50 million investment. Tiger Global is also expected to inject less than US$10 million into Infra.Market and UrbanPiper Technology Pvt. Ltd.
Capital investments
* PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk infused 255 billion rupiah into state-owned digital wallet service PT Fintek Karya Nusantara, Warta Ekonomi reported. The Indonesian bank said there will be another round of capital injection in December but did not disclose the amount of the upcoming investment.
* Chinese smartphone maker vivo is looking to invest 75 billion Indian rupees in a bid to expand local manufacturing in India, The Economic Times (India) reported. The company is planning to quadruple its present local production capacity of 25 million phones a year to more than 100 million devices.
* SoftBank's SoftBank Vision Fund LP is in advanced talks to close investments in Indian eyewear retailer Lenskart's US$400 million funding round and local language-based news and content platform Dailyhunt, The Economic Times (India) reported. SoftBank is expected to invest about US$150 million in Dailyhunt.
Other funding
* Indonesian online beauty portal Social Bella secured US$40 million in its series D funding round, which was co-led by Singapore's Temasek Holdings (Pte.) Ltd. and venture capital fund EV Growth Fund, DealStreetAsia reported.
This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.
- Author
- Jibran Ali Mirza
