Funding Announcements: NSG BioLabs Secures USD 14.5 Million, SoftBank Heads Wayve's Series C Financing, and 12 Deals Between China and India

In the world of startups, the past few weeks have seen a flurry of funding activity across various industries. Here's a look at some of the most significant funding rounds that have taken place recently.

Fintech Startups Shine

50Fin, a fintech startup, has successfully secured USD 550,000 in its latest funding round. Meanwhile, Lendingkart, another fintech player, has raised USD 10 million via external commercial borrowing from a fund managed by BlueOrchard.

AI and Autonomous Driving Technology

Wayve, a British startup focused on developing AI technology for self-driving vehicles, has raised just over USD 1.3 billion in total funds. This represents the largest funding round to date for a British startup in this sector. The investment will enable Wayve to fully develop and launch the first embodied AI products for production vehicles.

Trunk, a Chinese firm developing Level 4 self-driving technology for trucking and port logistics, has secured an undisclosed amount in a funding round from the Civil Aviation Investment Fund, Shunchuang Investment Management, and Changzhou Zhonglou Holdings. These products will empower original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to upgrade cars to higher levels of driving automation, specifically achieving Level 4 autonomous driving.

Biotechnology and Medtech

NSG BioLabs, a biotechnology laboratory provider in Singapore, has completed a USD 14.5 million funding round. Astathera, a Ningbo-registered medtech company, has also secured an undisclosed amount of funding in a round jointly led by the Ningbo-Fudan Innovation Center and Junan Holding, with participation from various other investors.

Edtech and Logistics

GyanLive, an edtech startup, has received an undisclosed amount of investment from Classpass to expand its scope of services. Superplum, a Noida-based fruit supplier, has secured USD 15 million in a Series A funding round led by Erik Ragatz. Parseable, a Bengaluru-based log analytics company, has raised USD 2.75 million in a seed funding round jointly led by Peak XV Partners' Surge and NP-Hard Ventures.

Hardware and FPGA Technology

Rapid Flex, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology developer based in Shanghai, has bagged an undisclosed amount of angel funding from Chengwei Capital, PDVC, SND Financial Holdings, and other investors. Booster Robotics, a developer of humanoid robots, has snagged an undisclosed amount in a pre-Series A funding round led by Source Code Capital, with follow-on investments from Tsinghua Innovation Ventures and Green Harbor Investment.

Jewelry E-commerce

Eternz, a Bengaluru-based jewelry e-commerce company, has secured USD 1.15 million in a pre-seed funding round.

Investments in Southeast Asia

The investment in the Chinese startup Trunk was led by SGInnovate, with involvement from investors including Credit Saison's network across Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Southeast Asia. SoftBank Group has spearheaded a USD 1.05 billion investment in AI company Wayve. The funding round for CAS Linkfiber New Materials, a Changzhou-based company specializing in the production of carbon materials, was jointly led by Celadon Partners and Temasek's ClavystBio.

Orange's Manga Venture

Japanese startup Orange has raised JPY 2.9 billion (USD 18.7 million) in a pre-Series A funding round. The company plans to use the funds for the development of a localization product based on deep learning models and the launch of a digital manga store in the summer of 2024.

These funding rounds underscore the continued interest and investment in innovative startups across various sectors, from fintech and AI to biotechnology, edtech, hardware, and jewelry e-commerce. As these startups continue to grow and develop their products, we can expect to see even more exciting advancements in the near future.

Funding Announcements: NSG BioLabs Secures USD 14.5 Million, SoftBank Heads Wayve's Series C Financing, and 12 Deals Between China and India