Israel hits the high notes

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Hello reader,

When I first read about Apple buying Q.ai, I got a sense that this was a huge move many of us wouldn’t completely understand until a few years down the road.

On paper, Q.ai is an Israeli audio AI startup whose tech can read facial micro‑movements and whispered speech. But the deal, which values the company at nearly US$2  billion, suggests its solution would likely give Apple some serious upgrades in the years ahead.

What will these be? Who knows – all we can do is wait.

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

Let’s dive into the biggest deals and M&A that have recently taken place.

— Jonathan

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The biggest deals by country

🇮🇱 Upwind is a cloud security platform based in Israel, which is located in West Asia. It has raised US$250 million in series B money from Bessemer Venture Partners, Picture Capital, and Salesforce Ventures.

🇨🇳 LimX Dynamics, an AI robotics firm from China, has secured US$200 million in a series B funding round. Participating investors included CCMC, CoStone Capital, GF Xinde Investment Management, Hefei Innovation Investment Fund, and JD.com.

🇮🇩 FinAccel is a fintech company headquartered in Indonesia. It has secured US$178 million in debt funding from DBS Bank.

🇦🇪 Based in the United Arab Emirates, Kitopi is a foodtech platform. It has scored US$50 million in series D funding from EvolutionX Debt Capital.

🇯🇵 Akari is an AI startup based in Japan. It has bagged a US$35 million strategic investment from Mitsubishi Electric.

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M&As

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