Alibaba and Tencent’s investments this week

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Hello readers,

Two familiar names were spotted making investments this week: Tencent and Alibaba. 👀

The intense rivalry between these Chinese giants isn’t dying down anytime soon. This week, the two unknowingly brought their clash to the companies they invested in, which were both the most-funded in China this week:

• Yipin Shengxian, a Chinese fresh food discount chain supermarket, raised US$362 million in a round led by Tencent.
• Xpeng Motors, a Chinese electric vehicle and technology company, which Alibaba invested in, raised US$300 million.

You can find all other important investment deals that happened in the last few days in our weekly funding news wrap-up.

Let’s dive into the biggest deals and M&As that recently took place.

The biggest deals by country

🇨🇳 Yipin Shengxian: A Chinese fresh food discount chain supermarket that raised US$362 million from Capital Today, Eastern Bell Venture Capital, and Tencent Investment.

🇯🇵 Photosynth Inc. (Akerun): A Japanese company that creates smart-lock devices. It raised US$33 million from 31Ventures, Globis Capital Partners, Japan Finance Corporation, Joyo Bank, Line Corporation, Mizuho Bank, NTT DoCoMo Ventures, Scrum Ventures, Shinsei Bank, The Norinchukin Bank, and Toppan Printing.

🇮🇱 Silverfort: An Israeli cybersecurity company that raised US$30 million from Aspect Ventures, Citi Ventures, Maor Investments, Singtel Innov8, StageOne VC, and TLV Partners.

🇰🇷 Skelter Labs: A South Korean AI company which raised US$13.6 million from BNK Securities, Iloom, KDB Bank, KDB Capital, Kakao Ventures, Korea Investment and Securities, Mirakle Lab, and Stonebridge Capital.

🇮🇩 Ayopop (Ayoconnect): An Indonesian bills payment app. It raised US$5 million from AC Ventures, Amand Ventures, BRI Ventures, Brama One Ventures, Finch Capital, Kakaku.com, and Strive (formerly GREE Ventures).

M&A

Going deeper

Pitch decks for your reference

Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia