Tinnitus Treatment Solutions and food standards and sanitation company RF Biocidics are among the casualties of the $146.6m writedown, with capital being diverted to more promising subsidiaries.

Ankebox, which operates a network of charging points for mobile devices, has collected $14.4m in series A funding from Sunwoda Electronic and IDG Capital.

Microsoft, Tencent and eBay are now set to invest $1.5bn in Flipkart, which is in talks to acquire rival Snapdeal and possibly also eBay's Indian business.

Petco has purchased petcare services platform PetCoach for an undisclosed sum, providing an exit to corporate investors Comcast and Pet360.

Indian e-grocer BigBasket has entered talks with Tencent, Fosun and Amazon for a round sized between $110m and $150m that could value it at $1bn.

SoftBank, which holds 33% of Snapdeal, has reportedly rescinded an agreement to provide up to $200m in debt and is said to be negotiating a merger with its rival, Flipkart.

The two dogsitting services providers have joined forces in a bid to accelerate international expansion efforts.

The online meat retailer will use the funding, provided by investors including Sistema and Doosan, to expand geographically and improve its back-end technology.

The electronics producer will put an initial $100m into a California-based unit called Panasonic Ventures in order to access new business models, products or services.