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U.K. development finance institution British International Investment (BII) will invest between $1.82B (£1.5B) to $2.4B (£2B) yearly into regions of “Africa, parts of Asia, and the Caribbean.” The organization will invest a total of $6B until 2026. BII, formerly known as Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) Group, has already invested $2.4B (£2B) in the last two years in over 600 businesses. The current value of its portfolio investments is estimated to be $4.2B, of which Nigeria accounts for $570M. More: - The Development Finance Institution (DFI) has highlighted key sectors, namely infrastructure, financial services, manufacturing, agriculture, health, education, and real estate construction, where it intends to focus its investments.
- BII has participated in funding rounds, most notable of which include contributing $5M into TradeDepot’s $100M Series B round, $5M into TeamApt’s $30M Series B funding, and $20M into Moove’s recent funding.
- It has also contributed to funds of venture capital firms such as Sawari Ventures, AfricInvest, Novastar Ventures, Verod Capital, Ezdehar Management, and TLcom as a limited partner.
- TLcom’s $150M second fund, announced in January this year, received $10M financing from BII.
- BII had already contributed $15M for TLcom’s $71M first fund.
- Over the next five years, almost a third of BII’s investments will be focused on the climate tech sector.
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Sequoia Capital is soliciting investments for its two new U.S.-focused funds totaling $2.25B, per The Information. The funds include a $1.5B growth fund and a $750M early-stage fund. The funds will be stacked under its evergreen flagship fund named Sequoia Capital Fund. More: - Despite the industry-wide funding retrenchment from limited partners, Sequoia has been able to generate significant interest for its new funds, which are expected to close in July.
- Sequoia's new growth fund will be its 10th growth fund to date, while the early-stage fund would be its 18th fund.
- The California-based venture capital firm has over $85B worth of assets under management.
- It has been involved in 40 transactions since the beginning of this year, most notably The Boring Company's $675M Series C investment, Glean's $100M fundraising round, and Front's $65M Series D round.
Zoom out:
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 Chinese VC funding for last 12 months Chinese venture capital firm IDG Capital is looking to raise a $900M fund to back technology startups in China. Sources told Bloomberg that the majority of IDG’s existing backers have contributed to the new fund. Venture funding into Chinese technology firms has slowed in the recent months due to the nation’s regulatory crackdown and economic slowdown. More: - According to data reported by Prequin, in the first five months of this year, deal values totaled $34B, representing a 40% decline from a year ago.
- Venture capital and private equity firms were only able to raise $6.2B in funds in the same time period.
- The capital raised was 90% lower than the funds raised in the same time last year.
- Since 1993, IDG Capital has invested in over 1,300 Chinese firms and has had successful exits from 400 startups.
- Notable portfolio investments include Baidu, SenseTime, Xiaomi, and Tencent.
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Twelve closed its Series B funding round with $130M in capital led by DCVC. The California-based company is pioneering a technology that could reduce 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions by transforming CO2 into essential products for automotive, households, and apparel manufacturing companies. More: - The company will use the proceeds from the current financing to scale its carbon transformative technology.
- Mercedes-Benz, P&G, Shopify, and the U.S. Air Force are a few of its notable customers leveraging Twelve's technology to create "CO2Made products."
- The company has manufactured CO2Made sunglasses for PANGAIA and carbon-neutral aviation fuel for E-Jet.
- Capricorn Technology Impact Fund, Carbon Direct Capital Management, Breakout Ventures, Munich Re Ventures, Elementum Ventures, and Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund participated in the Series B funding round.
- To date, the firm has raised close to $200M in funding, with the firm netting $57M in its Series A funding round in July last year.
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Massachusetts-based "Activated Silk" producer Evolved By Nature received $120M in financing from its Series C funding round, bringing its total funding secured to date to $190M. Canadian pension organization Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board's affiliate Teachers' Venture Growth (TVG) led the funding along with Senator Investment Group. More: - Evolved By Nature has developed "Activated Silk," derived from silkworm cocoons, which replace fossil fuel-derived petrochemicals used in apparel, personal care, and medicinal products.
- With the new funding, the firm intends to increase its production output and develop products for the regenerative medicine industry.
- Its Massachusetts production facility, which opened in May this year, has an annual output of 150 metric tons of "Activated Silk," 500% more than the firm's production capacity last year.
- The facility is forecasted to increase its yearly production rate to 900 metric tons in 2024.
- French fashion house Chanel backed the funding, joined by Mousse Partners, The Kraft Group, Roy Disney, and Emerald Development Managers.
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British BNPL startup Zilch secures $50M (£41M) in Series C extension funding, bringing total funds raised in the round to $160M. Zilch’s valuation at the fundraise was $2B, the same as it was during the initial $110M Series C funding round in Nov. 2021. The current funding brings the total funds raised by the company to date to over $460M. More: - Zilch will divert the incoming funds toward growing its business in the U.S.
- The London-headquartered company recently opened its Miami branch and has already seen over 150,000 pre-registered customers on its platform.
- U.S. customer figures are growing four times faster than the growth rate seen in the U.K.
- Zilch has over 2.5 million customers currently in the U.K.
- The firm will also use the funds to acquire startups in the adtech and open banking domains and expand its team by 50 members by the end of the year.
- Names of investors in the current funding round were not disclosed.
- The previous Series C round was led by Ventura Capital and Gauss Ventures.
Zoom out: - BNPL competitor Klarna is looking to raise $1B in funding at a reduced valuation of $30B.
- It was valued at $46B last June.
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- San Francisco, Calif.-based Faeth Therapeutics secured $47M from its Series A funding round. S2G Ventures led the funding, joined by Khosla Ventures, Future Ventures, Digitalis, KdT Ventures, AgFunder, and Cantos.
- British behavioral data creation platform Snowplow closed its Series B funding round with $40M in funding led by NEA.
- Brazilian motorcycle rental platform Mottu raised $30M in equity financing and $10M in debt financing from its Series B financing round. Base Partners and Crankstart co-led the equity tranche, while Verde Asset provided the debt financing.
- Battery Ventures led a $30M fundraising into British restaurant operations management and digital ordering platform Vita Mojo.
- GV led a $30M seed funding round into next-generation AI developer platform Modular. Greylock, The Factory, and SV Angel participated in the fundraiser.
- 1-on-1 digital coaching platform TaskHuman nabbed $20M financing from its Madrona-led Series B funding round. Other participants in the funding include Impact Venture Capital, RingCentral Ventures, Sure Ventures, U.S. Venture Partners, Gaingels, PeopleTech Angels, Zoom Venture, and Margo Georgiadis.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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