Snapchat is reportedly looking to raise up to $500 million in financing from Alibaba and Saudi Arabian investor Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, TechCrunch has reported. According to Bloomberg, Alibaba is set to invest $200 million into the ephemeral instant messaging service at a $15 billion valuation. Snapchat has raised $648 million to date.
Ride-hailing app Lyft has announced $530 million in funding, led by Rakuten. The latest funding values the company at $2.5 billion, according to TechCrunch. “We will accelerate more quickly toward a world where every seat is filled and every driver and passenger is empowered to join together in improving our economy, environment and local communities,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the news. Lyft’s main rival Uber has also raised significant amounts of money – $5 billion in total – and is valued at $40 billion. This latest round of financing brings Lyft’s total money raised to more than $850 million.
Memebox, a Korean cosmetics startup, has secured $29 million in funding from investors such as Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang, Formation 8, Goodwater Capital and Pejman Mar Ventures, Forbes reports. The company is aiming to move beyond the South Korean market in which it currently does 80% of its sales, targeting China and the U.S.
Rocket Internet has contributed to a $110 million investment in foodpanda, an online delivery marketplace. Other current and new investors also participated in the round. Foodpanda has now raised more than $200 million to date and recently acquired competitors in India, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia. “Over the last couple of months we have become the leading online food delivery marketplace across the most promising and fastest growing emerging markets. The new funding allows us to fully focus on user experience and customer service with the aim of completely disrupting the way people order food by establishing a real alternative to pizza flyers and phone calls,” said Ralf Wenzel, Co-Founder and CEO of the foodpanda group.