Naspers invested the first $150m of the cash this summer, it revealed, and has pledged another $350m to bring the e-commerce platform's total funding to $975m.

Alibaba spinoff Koubei could merge with another subsidiary, Ele.me, as SoftBank Vision Fund enters talks to lead a round of up to $5bn.

E-commerce marketplace Linio had raised $230m from investors including Tengelmann, Access Industries and Rocket Internet.

The exercise equipment and service provider has raised series F financing from investors including Comcast NBCUniversal at a $4.15bn valuation.

Apeel has taken its total funding to $110m after raising $70m in a series C round led by Viking Global Investors.

SoftBank Vision Fund led a GV-backed series C round for consumer goods producer Brandless that valued it at more than $500m.

The pay-as-you go consumer product supplier has raised $14m in series A funding from investors including Samsung Next alongside more than $29m in debt.

Cosmetics-focused retail software provider Pekon has raised $13.3m in an Alibaba-led round backed by existing investor LightHouse Capital Management.