News
BlackRock wants to create an ETF that holds Ethereum's ether (ETH), a plan that deepens the world's largest asset manager's commitment to cryptocurrencies.
Following the news, ETH's price surged to its highest level of the day near $2,100, up about 3% versus just before the filing came out. It later gave back about half that gain, though it remains up about 9% versus 24 hours earlier.
The company's plan was revealed in a filing by Nasdaq, the U.S. exchange where BlackRock will seek to list the product – which will need regulatory approval. Earlier Thursday, it emerged that the corporate entity "iShares Ethereum Trust" had been registered in the state of Delaware; iShares is the name of BlackRock's ETF division.
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UK-based Ooodles raises a $12 million funding round, led by Paris-based asset manager, Smart Lenders Asset Management (SLAM). Founded in 2021 by Leonardo Poggiali, a veteran of Sony Mobile and Jawbone, Ooodles leases high-end laptops, phones, and other such hardware on a monthly, Pay-As-You-Go subscription model.
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LHL, a UK based company, is proud to announce a significant capital commitment of £20 million from Nimbus Capital, a private investment group that specializes in financing in transformational change and dynamic growth. Nimbus Capital manages a diverse portfolio of investment vehicles, providing flexible and innovative funding solutions to growing businesses worldwide.
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Byju's is in talks to sell its kids' digital reading platform for $400 million to Joffre Capital Ltd, in order to raise funds to pay down a disputed $1.2 billion term loan. Other bidders, including Duolingo Inc, have also expressed interest in buying the platform.
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Huel, the leading sustainable nutrition brand, is pleased to announce an investment by Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s (MSIM) 1GT climate private equity strategy which will see the two parties work in close collaboration. Huel has raised £82.5m from Morgan Stanley.
Huel, which is the second investment made by 1GT, has been hailed as a best-in-class addition to its portfolio given the strength of Huel’s sustainability commitments and position as a nutritionally complete food. 1GT aims to provide insight and expertise from across the Morgan Stanley business to enhance Huel’s sustainability agenda and capture growth opportunities in the United States and globally.
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Carepatron is a New Zealand-based healthcare management system that works with medical practices that range in size from five to 100 practitioners. The platform is now used in about 50 countries and recently launched in Spanish.
Carepatron’s platform has tools for providers to manage their entire practice, including appointments, telehealth consultations, patient records, payments and communicating with other providers in a secure environment. It also has a patient app that lets users see their health records and talk with their providers who use Carepatron.
To support its expansion, Carepatron has raised $4 million in seed funding from Blackbird and TQ Ventures.
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Major Wall Street firms said a dismal year of dealmaking appears to have hit a trough, and now some companies are looking to merge, offering hope that investment banking revenues could pick up after a disappointing third quarter.
Dealogic data showed that globally, investment banking revenue tumbled 16% in the third quarter from a year earlier. But lately, bankers have been sounding more positive on the transaction pipeline after Exxon Mobil and Chevron both announced acquisitions for more than $50 billion.
Those takeovers, alongside a nascent revival in initial public offerings (IPOs), should bolster investment banking revenues next year.
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Espresa, a personal benefits platform designed for global enterprises, announced the completion of its Series A funding round totaling $23 million led by Clear Ventures. All existing investors participated, including Crosslink Capital, New Era Capital Partners, Moneta Venture Capital, Ridge Ventures and Westwave Capital. The new investment enables scaling and expanding sales and marketing, platform development, and further building the global support infrastructure.
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Kasa Living is a leading technology powered hospitality brand. Kasa has built a truly differentiated proprietary hospitality operating system that materially improves profits for owners and enhances the experience for today's modern travellers across a diverse range of investor-owned accommodations, including multifamily apartments, single-family homes and boutique hotels. Kasa consistently improves property profitability by >50% and uplevels property review scores meaningfully across a wide range of channels.
Kasa has recently raised $70 million Series C fundraising. Citi Ventures and FirstMark Capital led the all equity round with participation from new investors New York Life Ventures and Fireside Investments. All major existing investors including RET Ventures, Zigg Capital, and Ribbit Capital participated in the twice upsized and oversubscribed round.
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Tabby, previously headquartered in Dubai but now based in Riyadh, has raised $200 million in its Series D funding round, achieving a valuation of $1.5 billion. This positions the shopping and financial services app as the first fintech startup unicorn in the Gulf, underlining its substantial growth and market importance in how customers shop and pay.
This is coming less than a year after Tabby’s $58 million Series C round led by Sequoia Capital India and STV, both of whom participated in this recent unicorn round. Existing investors like Mubadala Investment Capital, PayPal Ventures and Arbor Ventures joined. At the same time, new backers include the lead investor Wellington Management, one of the world’s top independent investment management firms, and growth equity investor Bluepool Capital.
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