Ant Financial, the affiliate of China’s biggest e-commerce firm Alibaba, has closed a $4.5 billion funding round, reportedly the largest private fundraise of internet company ever. The investment values Ant Financial at close to $60 billion. China Investment Corp Capital and CCB Trust participated in the Series B round. The company has confirmed plans for an IPO but has not revealed a timeline yet. “The capital raised in Series B will allow us to invest in the infrastructure, such as cloud computing and risk control, that will underpin our long-term growth in rural and international markets,” said Eric Jing, Ant Financial’s president, in a statement.
Smart climate control company tado°, has closed a $23 million round of funding from INVEN Capital, the venture capital arm of the CEZ Group. The company has now raised $57 million to date and will use the latest funds to drive global expansion, especially in the U.S. market. “It’s expected that a whopping 32 million smart thermostats will have been installed worldwide by 2020, and there’s no reason why those without central heating or AC should be left out in the cold. The fact is, millions of window, portable, and wall units use infrared remote controls that just don’t work with Nest and others like it,” said Christian Deilmann, Co-Founder and CEO of tado°. The new round of financing will be instrumental in fueling tado°’s rapid expansion in the US market.”
Remitly, an independent digital money transmitter, has closed a $38.5 million Series C funding round led by Stripes Group. Vulcan Capital, a new investor, also joined the round as did existing backers DFJ, DN Capital, Bezos Expeditions and Trilogy Equity Partners, among others “Since day one our strategy has been to bring our service to the largest addressable remittance markets in the world,” said Remitly CEO Matt Oppenheimer. “With this new financing, we are able to continue executing against that strategy by building a global footprint in the largest remittance corridors.”