VCs are people too

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Hello readers,

I’ve been speaking to a number of venture capitalists this week and I realized something: These investors are more than just the stern faces at pitch battles, grilling founders about their revenue and customer acquisition costs. (Side note, we’re in the midst of our Startup Arena semifinals, which you can still register to attend here).

It feels weird to say this, but investors are people too, with feelings and all.

One VC told me that he loves attending the birthday parties of his investees’ kids. I really felt for another investor who shared that there were several instances when founders would seemingly disappear for several months, only to drop him an email again because they needed more funding. He said he felt like an ATM machine.

So if you have investors who’ve chosen to believe in you and help you on your startup journey, take a few minutes today to catch up with them. Ask them how they’re doing – I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.

Anyway, this week’s funding was led by electric-car startup WM Motors, which raised US$1.47 billion for its series D round. 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

🇨🇳 WM Motor (威马汽车): Electric-car maker WM Motor bagged US$1.47 billion from undisclosed investors.

🇸🇬 AMTD Digital: The digital platform arm of Hong Kong-based investment bank AMTD Group secured US$285 million from Ariana Investment Management, Greater Bay Area Homeland Investments Limited, Maoyan Entertainment, Value Partners, and Vision Knight Capital.

🇮🇳 Mobile Premier League (MPL): The gaming startup received US$90 million from Base Partners, Go-Ventures, MDI Ventures, RTP Global, Susquehanna International Group, and Sequoia Capital.

🇭🇰 Green Monday: This plant-based food provider based in Hong Kong raised US$70 million from CPT Capital, Happiness Capital, Jefferies, Swire Pacific, and The Rise Fund.

M&A

Going deeper

Featured pitch deck

Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia