Financial

The animal-free protein producer raised a series C round from investors including Prosus Ventures. This sizeable round is indicative of the upward pressure on valuations and increased deal making activity in the space.

SoftBank helped e-commerce brand aggregator Merama hike its series B round to $285m while Koch Industries took part in a round valuing supply chain finance provider Tradeshift at $2.7bn.

Cerebral, Robotic Research, ABclonal Technology, Ola and RainMed Medical all pulled in nine-figure rounds, the first two featuring SoftBank Vision Fund 2.

Corporate-backed digital banking platform operator Nu Holdings priced its offering at the top of its range in New York, representing the first Brazil-originated flotation in three months.

The mobile banking platform developer's latest round, co-led by Tencent, is the latest in a busy 2021 for the French tech sector.

Tyme has taken funding from Tencent and CDC to close a series B round highlighting the appeal of digital banking in emerging markets.

Since its passage, the Bayh-Dole Act has bolstered US economic output by up to $1.7 trillion, supported 5.9 million jobs and helped lead to more than 14,000 spinouts.

Professional education provider Platzi pulled in $60m through a Prosus-led round while e-commerce software producer Marketplacer took in $38m from investors including Salesforce Ventures.

Already active in blockchain gaming investment, the corporates are teaming up to accelerate the monetisation of the sector.

Hometap's home equity finance model - part of a wave of digitisation in the property finance space - has been validated again by an American Family-led round.

Salesforce Ventures helped supply $62m for business intelligence software developer Klue while GS Retail invested $55m in mobility services provider Kakao Mobility.