Variety is the spice of life (and funding deals this week)

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Hello reader,

Even though I work in a relatively niche publication that focuses on tech and startups, I make it a point to have a broad range of interests and hobbies.

I write for work and leisure, study Japanese, and try to exercise about five times a week (and maintain a love-hate relationship with running). Recently, I’ve gotten invested in a K-drama – Mr. Queen, if you’re wondering which one – although I’ve never really watched South Korean shows before.

That kind of diversity is also present in today’s funding and M&A deals, with industries such as ecommerce, semiconductor, and hospitality all represented. Read on to find out what the others are.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

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

🇨🇳 Nowcoder is a repository platform of questions and interview topics for IT professionals and programmers. Based in China, it closed a US$50 million series B round from 5Y Capital (Morningside Venture Capital), Sequoia Capital China, Shunwei Capital, and Tiger Global Mauritius Fund.

🇸🇬 Una Brands is a Singapore-based company that acquires ecommerce brands based in Asia Pacific. It uses tech to optimize and automate company identification, product placement, and marketing across a broad range of distribution channels. It secured US$30 million in bridge funding from Northstar Group.

🇯🇵 Based in Japan, Not A Hotel sells villas that can also be used as hotels, with the vision of making the world more fun. It banked US$19.6 million in series A funds, with investors such as GMO Venture Partners, Globe Advisors Ventures, and Hiroshima Venture Capital, among others.

🇰🇷 Fadu is a system semiconductor company specializing in data centers. The South Korean startup raised US$9.6 million in bridge funding from Forest Partners and IBK Capital.

M&As

Startups that are raising funds

Killer pitch decks

Exclusive listicles

Thoughtful reads