Q-CTRL, a Sydney-based startup that provides quantum control engineering solutions, announced today it has raised a $25 million Series B led by Airbus Ventures with participation from Ridgeline Partners, Main Sequence Ventures, Horizons Ventures, SquarePeg Capital, Sierra Ventures, DCVC, Sequoia Capital China and InQTel. The latest funding will support hiring staff and enable new data-as-a-service […]
LG Energy Solution gets Korea Exchange’s nod for planned IPO
LG Energy Solution, the battery unit wholly owned by LG Chem, received preliminary approval for an initial public offering, the Korea Exchange said in a statement on Tuesday. LG Energy Solution is reportedly planning to submit its IPO application to Financial Supervisory Service as early as this week, aiming to list at the end of […]
Forest bags $8M seed round to acquire Japanese e-commerce brands
Japan has been the birthplace of traditional arts and crafts since ancient times. Craftmanship, meticulous attention to detail and balance of design and functionality have contributed to creating unique Japanese products like pottery, traditional fabrics, washi (paper), woodwork, glasses, bento-boxes and more. This craftsmanship continues to be passed along from generation to generation and live […]
Practice Ignition lands $50M to scale globally
Practice ignition, an Australia-based client engagement and commerce platform for professional service businesses, has raised $50 million (65 million AUD) in a Series C round to accelerate its growth and expand globally. It brings the startup’s total raised to $75 million, said Guy Pearson, CEO and founder of Practice Ignition. The fresh funding was led […]
Indonesia’s GoTo Group raises over $1.3B in first pre-IPO close
Indonesia-based startup GoTo Group announced today it has secured more than $1.3 billion in the first close of its pre-IPO funding. The latest round was led by Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), with participation from Avanda Investment Management, Fidelity International, Google, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), Primavera Capital, SeaTown Master Fund, Temasek, Tencent and Ward Ferry. […]
Apple removes a popular Quran app in China after request from local regulators
Apple has removed Quran Majeed, a popular app for reading the Islamic religious text and other prayer-related information, in China, in compliance with Chinese government requests, according to a report by BBC. The move comes as part of a bigger shift in the country to crack down on foreign content, or simply making it harder […]
Korean robo-advisor Fount bags $33.4M to advance its AI-based platform
Fount, a robo-advisor startup in South Korea, has raised a $33.4 million Series C round to beef up its machine learning-based platform development and hire staff. The latest round was led by Hana Financial Investment, along with Nice Investment. Returning backers Smilegate Investment, KT Investment, Shinhan Capital and Korea Development Bank also participated. The […]
SoftBank-backed Korean edtech startup Riiid acquires Langoo, expands in Japan
Riiid, a South Korea-headquartered AI-powered edtech company, acquired its Japanese distribution partner Langoo to expand its Japan footprint. The acquisition comes after the company’s latest $175 million Series D round from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 in May. Riiid has said it will continue to fuel its global expansion with the funding. Langoo, Riiid’s partner in […]
South Korean ISP SK Broadband counterclaims against Netflix for bandwidth usage fees
South Korean internet service provider SK Broadband, a subsidiary of South Korean telco company SK Telecom, has filed a counterclaim against Netflix to demand payment for the bandwidth the streaming platform has used for the last three years. This case comes in the wake of the South Korean court siding against Netflix in June in […]
Thailand’s fintech startup Ascend Money lands $150M at a $1.5B valuation
Ascend Money, the Thailand-based fintech startup behind TrueMoney, an e-wallet service, announced today it has raised a $150 million Series C round at a valuation of $1.5 billion. The Series C round was led by Charoen Pokphand Group, which is a major shareholder of Ascend Money, with participation from Bow Wave Capital Management and returning […]