India starts looking at ways to apply modern scientific techniques to ancient medicine with a memorandum of understanding between Pondicherry University and Central Council for Research.

Primarc iVenture will invest up to $150,000 in West Bengal startups developing ideas that are unique or which have the potential for social impact.

Existing investor Kunlun Tech has provided $27m for the round, which the instalment buying platform is raising as it gets ready for a flotation in China.

Travel agency UTour has led a fourth funding round for the Alibaba-backed travel and tourism website by purchasing both new and existing shares.

Liquor Easy offers express delivery of alcoholic drinks to consumers and will use the cash to expand further across China.

The business-to-business steel trading platform, which counts IDG among its investors, has now secured $290 in total and is gearing up for an IPO in China.

Alibaba's financial services affiliate, which closed funding at a $50bn valuation last year, is raising the capital ahead of a future initial public offering.

Cloud-based accounting platform Freee, already backed by investors including Recruit, took its total funding to $53m with an $8.4m round featuring SBI's FinTech Fund.

Wealth management services provider Jupai, which completed a $53m IPO in July 2015, is set to secure $22.9m from Sina and Julius Baer.

Joyoung has invested $30m in fresh produce e-commerce company Benlai Life and now holds a minority stake of approximately 3.8%.