Post-pandemic global commerce is looking fairly promising as many regional blocs and individual countries are planning and executing unprecedented financial recovery plans. Germany giving its economy (the largest in Europe) a boost with almost $150 dollars stimulus package is a very welcomed news this week. Likewise, private equity and venture capital firms are also pumping money into companies to expand and operations around the world and here is our top picks.
Ghanaian startup mPharma, which manages prescription drug inventory for pharmacies and their suppliers, has raised $17 million in its latest funding round and announced the appointment to its board of Helena Foulkes, former president of CVS, the largest pharmacy retail chain in the United States. Read more here.
Bangalore-based fertility platform IVF Access has secured US$5 million Series A funding from Vertex Ventures SEA & India. With the investment, the VC firm’s Managing Partner, Ben Mathias, will be joining the board of IVF Access. Read more here.
ONLINE lending startup Oriente has secured a capital injection of about US$50 million in its ongoing Series B funding round led by Peter Lee, the co-chairman of Hong Kong property developer Henderson Land. Read more here.
JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce site, has filed confidentially for a second listing in Hong Kong, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The offering could raise at least US$2 billion (S$2.8 billion), the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The Beijing-based company, which currently trades on Nasdaq, has a market value of US$64 billion. Read more here.
Vention has reportedly raised $38 million in Series B funding led by Georgian Partners and with participation of existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and White Star Capital.
Montreal based Vention is a next-generation digital manufacturing platform for machine design, enabling engineers and other manufacturing professionals to design, order, and assemble custom factory equipment in just a few days. Vention’s AI-enabled, cloud-based MachineBuilder 3D™ integrates a comprehensive library of modular parts for applications such as robot cells, tooling, and automated equipment. Read more here.