Here’s a list of today’s tech funding stories, updated as the day unfolds. Tip us here if you have a deal to share.
Sequoia Capital reportedly mulling new $800M India fund, may start raising October
The rumor mill is churning at full speed today, with reports that one of the world’s largest and most-respected venture capital firms may be getting serious — really, really serious — about India. As if it weren’t serious enough already.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1799651,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,entrepreneur,","session":"A"}']Sequoia Capital, with about $2 billion under management increasingly going to big rounds in emerging markets like China, India, and Southeast Asia, may be about to kickstart efforts to raise a new $800 million fund for India.
AI Weekly
The must-read newsletter for AI and Big Data industry written by Khari Johnson, Kyle Wiggers, and Seth Colaner.
Included with VentureBeat Insider and VentureBeat VIP memberships.
A unicorn is born: BlaBlaCar may be closing France’s largest VC round at $160M
Ride-sharing giant BlaBlaCar has reportedly raised $160 million, an amount that would set a new record for a French company and usher it into the increasingly less-exclusive club of tech unicorns.
TechCrunch today said that, according to its sources, Paris-based BlaBlaCar closed the round led by Insight Venture Partners at a valuation of $1.2 billion. Bloomberg had previously reported this summer that BlaBlaCar was seeking to raise a new mega-round that would value it at over $1 billion.
BlaBlaCar has said it has no immediate plans to launch in the U.S. But the new round would likely help it continue to add new countries elsewhere.
Update: In an email, BlaBlaCar spokesperson Eliza Dabney wrote, “We can confirm that BlaBlaCar’s founders are speaking with investors, and we’ll be in touch when there is news to share.”
Uber China raises $1.2B as rival Didi Kuaidi reportedly about to close $3B round
The car-hailing landscape in China is on absolute fire today, with reports coming in that both Uber and its main rival in the country, Didi Kuaidi, have together raised (or are very close to raising, in the latter’s case) a combined $4.2 billion in additional funding to fuel their all-out war.
[aditude-amp id="medium1" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1799651,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,entrepreneur,","session":"A"}']
Uber founder Travis Kalanick told Chinese news website Sina.com (link in Chinese) that the company’s China entity, Uber China, has closed $1.2 billion as part of an ongoing fundraising round. Reuters had already caught wind of the deal at the end of August.
Meanwhile, Didi is reportedly raising an additional $3 billion at a $16.5 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg. It’s not clear whether that’s on top of the $2 billion the company raised in July or an extension of it.
Devops software company Chef raises $40M with HP Ventures participating
Chef, a startup with devops software for automating the management of the infrastructure that applications run on, announced today that it has raised $40 million in new funding.
[aditude-amp id="medium2" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1799651,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,entrepreneur,","session":"A"}']
The money will help Seattle-based Chef expand internationally, according to a statement.
DFJ Growth and Millennium Technology Value Partners led the new round. Battery Ventures, Citi Ventures, DFJ, Ignition Partners, and Scale Venture Partners also participated, along with new strategic investor Hewlett-Packard Ventures. At one point, HP held a prominent role in the business of configuration management, thanks to its $1.6 billion Opsware acquisition in 2007. Now Chef and Puppet regularly get attention in the category of devops, which stands for the fusion of developers and operations in the same person or team.
Formerly known as Opscode, Chef started in 2008 and has now raised at least $103 million, including a $32 million round in December 2013.
[aditude-amp id="medium3" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1799651,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,entrepreneur,","session":"A"}']
500 Startups adds 6 new venture partners, expands focus to Japan, UK, MENA, Turkey
500 Startups is drastically increasing its global presence with the addition of six new investment partners. This new group will help the venture capital and accelerator program reach new rapidly growing markets, including Latin America, Southeast Asia, India, East Asia, and the Middle East/North Africa (MENA).
The company has rounded up new partners to tackle these targeted markets. ZeptoLab’s former chief revenue officer Diana Moldavsky will focus on Eastern Europe and Tel Aviv, Israel. Cofounder and former chief executive of Binpress Adam Benayoun will help Moldavsky in the Tel Aviv market. AngelList’s former European liaison Philipp Moehring will lead investments in Germany. Former Yandex product manager Erhan Erdogan will run operations in Turkey. Former DeNA venture capitalist James Riney will look at the Japanese ecosystem. And ex-PayPal’er Matt Lerner will not only look at the U.K. community, but will lead the recently established Distro Dojo.
[aditude-amp id="medium4" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1799651,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,entrepreneur,","session":"A"}']
This list will be updated with breaking funding news all day. Check back for more.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More