The Chinese unicorn, last valued at $2.8bn, will back AI and robotics startups through two funds under the newly formed Empyrean Venture.

Finno Efra will invest in Thai and Southeast Asian seed to pre-series A tech startups, supplying up to $1.2m per deal.

A growing wave: corporate-affiliated capital for startup investments has gone from $140m in 2013 to $3.4bn, according to a recent survey.

Indian state-backed petroleum company Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) has announced a five-year growth plan which will establish a corporate venture capital arm.

CDIB Capital Group, a subsidiary of Taiwan's KGI Financial Holdings, has launched a $62m joint fund with a Japanese state-backed investment company.

Dennis Chang will lead investments in Asia excluding India and Japan.

SoftBank joins a number of South Korean conglomerates in contributing to SBVA's new AI startup fund, Alpha Intelligence.

Linq is building a vector database management platform to help large companies use large language models based on their internal information.

In partnership with VC firm Hiroshima Venture Capital, the Hirogin Innovation Fund will target regional economy revitalisation startups.

After her role in Cambridge's technology transfer office, Elena Watts-Pass has made her first move into corporate venture capital at TDK Ventures.