The payment services provider's Saison Ventures unit will oversee the microfinance initiative, which is targeting Southeast Asia.

Coloridoh, Ellie, Hakken, Greenspoon, TechMagic and Lyxis will all join the five-month programme overseen by Ajinomoto Group Accelerator powered by 01Booster.

Each Friday the Global Corporate Venturing Deal Net rounds up the week’s smaller deals and tracks the emerging companies accessing corporate funds.

SoftBank Ventures Asia formed part of a round that will help the retail digitalisation software provider expand overseas and grow its team.

Sistema Asia Fund put up a share of the cash, helping to push construction industry supplies marketplace Infra.Market's overall funding to about $35m.

The CCC Marketing-backed salon operator has set a range for an initial public offering set to net it between $16.8m and $19.2m.

Tencent invested $15.3m in gene therapy-focused research services provider Obio Technology in its third funding round of 2020.

Access Ventures' second Asia-focused venture capital fund added Line Ventures and Manahusa Capital to an LP list already containing F&F and Nodo.

State-backed investors have provided late-stage funding for the online groceries delivery service, which is backed by Lenovo and Tencent.

Konruns Pharma came on board as Nuance closed a round that will fund the clinical progress of its small molecule anti-tumour drug candidate.