Legend Capital-backed MicuRx has floated on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Intel Capital took part in Geek+’s $100m series E1 round.

M&A

Media and automotive group Cox Enterprises agreed yesterday to acquire portfolio company Axios Media, a US-based digital media platform. Axios was valued at $430m when it raised an undisclosed sum from Cox in a November 2021 series D round that followed at least $30m of earlier funding from investors incluidng media and entertainment group NBC Universal.

Beauty e-commerce marketplace Nykaa has agreed to buy Little Black Book, a digital content platform developer backed by video game publisher Akatsuki’s AET Fund, for an undisclosed amount. The company had closed a $5m series A round in 2019 featuring AET Fund that took its overall funding to over $7.3m.

Public markets

MicuRx Pharmaceuticals, a China-based antibiotic developer backed by conglomerate Legend Holdings’ Legend Capital affiliate, has listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market. The company raised RMB960m ($142.2m) by issuing 130 million shares priced at RMB8.16 apiece. It had secured about $255m in total pre-IPO, having received $107m in a series E round led by Legend Capital in late 2020.

Funding

Company Company description Sector Country Round Round size($m) Deal date Investors
Geek+ Autonomous mobile robot technology provider Industrial China E1 100 08/08/2022 Intel (Intel Capital); Vertex Growth, Qingyue Capital Investment
Betr Sports-focused micro-betting platform developer Media US A 50 08/08/2022 Simplebet, Stronach Group, Magic City Casino; Aliya Capital Partners (co-lead), Fuel Venture Capital (co-lead), Boston Celtics, Miami Marlins, Florida Funders, 8vc, FinSight Ventures, Travis Scott, Ezekiel Elliott, Richard Sherman, Dez Bryant, DeSean Jackson, Braxton Berrios, Palm Tree Crew, Roger Ehrenberg, Mark Wan, Russell Galbut, David Grutman, Deirdre Bigley, Gary Barber, Anti Fund, 305 Ventures, Elizabeth Street Ventures, Riverside Ventures, Gaingels, Moving Capital, Elysium Venture Capital, FJ Labs, Tampa Bay Ventures, Trog Hawley
Black Buffalo Smokeless tobacco alternative provider Consumer US A 30 08/08/2022 United Tobacco Company (UTC Ventures); The Pritzker Organization (lead), Listen Ventures, Watchfire Ventures, Vice Ventures
Utility Global Sustainable hydrogen system developer Energy and Natural Resources US B 25 08/08/2022 Samsung (Samsung Ventures), Saudi Aramco, Saint-Gobain (Nova); Ara Partners (lead)
Forage Grocery-focused food stamp payment processor Financial US A 22 09/08/2022 PayPal (PayPal Ventures); NYCA Partners (lead), EO Ventures, Apoorva Mehta
Bigspoon Foods Cloud kitchen group Consumer India A 12.9 09/08/2022 Nava (NB Ventures), GoTo (Go-Ventures); Indian Angel Network (lead), IndiePitch Solutions (LetsVenture), Grip Invest, Anicut Capital
Zap-Map EV charging point discovery app Transport UK A 10.9 08/08/2022 Good Energy, FleetCor
Stockmark Business text-based data analytics platform IT Japan C 8.2 09/08/2022 Digital Holdings (Bonds Investment Group), NTT Docomo (NTT Docomo Ventures), Hakuhodo DY (Hakuhodo DY Future Design Fund), United, Mitsubishi UFJ (Mitsubishi UFJ Capital); Tohoku University (Tohoku University Venture Partners), Daiwa Securities (Daiwa Corporate Investment), World Innovation Lab
Node.energy Energy transition software provider Energy and Natural Resources Germany A 7.2 09/08/2022 Helen (Helen Ventures); BitStone Capital (lead), 10x Founders, BonVenture, High-Tech Gründerfonds
OneOrder Online hospitality product marketplace Consumer  Egypt N/A 6.5 08/08/2022 Contact Financial Holding (Contact Factoring)
Apotekamo  Southeastern Europe-focused pharmaceutical marketplace Healthcare Sweden N/A 2.6 08/08/2022 EPTI; Angelgate, Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidzic
Medpeer Online medical physician community Healthcare Japan N/A N/A 09/08/2022 EPS Holdings
Sitateru Clothing production digitalisation service Consumer Japan N/A N/A 09/08/2022 Hokkoku Bank (QR Investment)/Mitani Sangyo (CarbonVentures) (Hokuriku Region Venture Fund)
Edison Fu

Edison Fu is head of Asia development at Global Corporate Venturing.