Transportation takes the stage in this week’s fundraise

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Hello readers,

Xpeng’s US$500 million series C round this week has caught people’s attention.

Not only does the Chinese electric-car maker directly compete with Tesla, but it was also sued by the US company. Tesla claims that one of its ex-engineers had stolen its Autopilot source code and took it to Xpeng.

As the lawsuit continues, the rivalry between the two is expected to heat up, with Xpeng using its new funds for product development and manufacturing. It’s also likely to bankroll its first fully-owned car plant, which was granted a license earlier in May.

Tesla has an interesting update of its own: It’s reportedly hiring car service staff in Singapore. Might this move signal that it’s expanding outside China and into Southeast Asia?

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

Let’s dive into the biggest deals plus mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that recently took place.

The biggest deals by country

🇨🇳 Xpeng Motors: A Chinese intelligent electric vehicle company. Raised US$500 million from Aspex Management, Coatue Management, Hillhouse Capital, and Sequoia Capital.

🇮🇱 Gett (Get Taxi): An Israeli app for hailing rides on cabs, black cars, and limos. Raised US$100 million from all its existing investors as well as some undisclosed new backers.

🇮🇳 Vedantu: An Indian live online tutoring platform that enables personalized learning. Raised US$100 million from Coatue Management, GGV Capital, Omidyar Network, Tiger Global Management, and WestBridge Capital.

🇰🇷 Riiid: A South Korean edutech company that provides each student with an AI tutor. Raised US$40 million from IMM Investment Corp., Intervest Co., KDB Bank, and Nvestor.

🇯🇵 Oct Inc. (Andpad): A Japanese construction management app. Raised US$37.5 million from Beenext, DNX Ventures (Draper Nexus Ventures), Globis Capital Partners, and Salesforce Ventures.

Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: Over $1 billion in 120 deals. (🔒)

M&A

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