Consumer

Rakestraw said Temasek has had an existing agriculture business area for some time but the venture capital investment was new.

Ultimately, those unwilling or unable to compete at the top end of creating market-leading companies risk effectively bringing a knife to a gun fight - they can win sometimes in some areas, but the chances might be against them.

The local services platform is exploring an IPO in Hong Kong at a $60bn valuation, setting up Tencent, Priceline, Xiaomi, Fosun and Wanda for exits.

Fireside Ventures has closed a $52.3m fund backed by corporate limited partners Unilever, ITC, RP-Sanjiv Goenka, Hero Enterprise and Emami.

The SoftBank-led series D round is indicative of a startup space where logistics, buying and transport are moving closer together.

Fidelity subsidiary Eight Roads Ventures has attracted $375m for a Europe and Israel-focused fund that will target enterprise, consumer, fintech and healthcare IT.

Vermouth brand Belsazar is the first portfolio company of Diageo-backed accelerator Distill Ventures to be acquired by the corporate.

SoftBank invested $40m to lead a $61.4m funding round for Grofers that valued it at $300m, increasing its stake in the online grocer to between 35% and 40%.