Weekend Edition. Uber's IPO valued at $75.5 Billion

VC Deals

Health coaching app developer Noom announced today that it has raised $58 million led by Sequoia Capital. Other participants include Aglaé Ventures, the tech investment arm of French holding company Groupe Arnault, WhatsApp co-founder and former CEO Jan Koum, DoorDash co-founder and CEO Tony Xu, Oscar Health co-founder Josh Kushner, SB Project co-founder Scooter Braun and returning investor Samsung Ventures. More

India has a new unicorn after BigBasket, a startup that delivers groceries and perishables across the country, raised $150 million for its fight against rivals Walmart’s Flipkart, Amazon and hyperlocal startups Swiggy and Dunzo. More

Cross-border fintech continues to be an area of interest for venture capitalists. The latest deal sees GGV Capital — the U.S-China firm that’s backed Xiaomi, Airbnb, Square and others — lead a $10 million investment in Singapore-based startup Thunes.Other investors in the Series A round are not being disclosed at this point. More 

Chinese electric-car startup Byton is close to clinching funding from investors led by state-owned China FAW Group Co., as it prepares to begin sales in the country’s burgeoning new-energy vehicle market, according to people familiar with the matter. More

Index Ventures, the venture capital firm backing Asos, Farfetch and Net-a-Porter, has invested 7 million euros (approximately 7.8 million US dollars or 6 million pounds) in Otrium, a Dutch marketplace where brands can sell their unsold stock with discounts of up to 75 percent. In addition, Index partner Danny Rimer is set to join Otrium’s board of directors. More

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Exits 

Industrious has acquired TechSpace, an office-space provider for tech-related companies with locations in California, New York City, Texas and Virginia for an undisclosed amount in a deal that closed yesterday, according to a company release. The acquisition will add seven new locations to the Industrious portfolio. More 

IPOs 

Luckin Coffee, the Chinese challenger to Starbucks, is looking to raise up to $586.5 million, its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange on Monday showed. The company said it expects to offer 34.5 million American depository shares (ADS) priced between $15 and $17 per ADS in an initial public offering. Each ADS represents eight Class A shares, it said. More 

Uber priced its initial public offering at $45 per share, the company announced Thursday evening. This price is at the low point of the $44 to $50 range previously set by the company in earlier financial documents. The price would give Uber an initial market cap of $75.5 billion, significantly below the $120 billion price valuation that some of the company's bankers reportedly sought at the beginning of the IPO process. More 

New Funds 

Philippines-based Kickstart Ventures, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom, was selected by Ayala Corporation (AC) to manage its new US$150m venture capital fund.  More 

Gainline Capital Partners LP, a Stamford, CT-based private equity firm that invests in U.S.-based lower middle-market companies, closed its $155m debut fund.  More 

Acquisitions 

Edgewell Personal Care, the conglomerate that owns Schick razor and other brands, announced on Thursday that it is buying shaving start-up Harry’s, in a $1.37 billion deal. About 79% of the deal is cash and the rest is stock. More 

People 

 Sequoia Capital China, widely viewed as a bellwether for Chinese tech investment, is set to lay off as much as 20 percent of investment staff as a slowdown in the country's tech sector saps appetite for risk, said two people with knowledge of the matter. More 

AI News 

Today, at Google’s annual I/O developer conference in Mountain View, California, Jeff Dean, a senior fellow in Google’s Research Group and the head of Google’s AI division, gave an overview of the company’s efforts to solve challenging scientific problems with AI and machine learning. More