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Nasdaq has successfully completed 90 Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) initial public offerings (IPOs) raising USD15.3 billion in total.
Since the adoption of new listing rules in 2011, Nasdaq has consistently been the exchange of choice for SPACs, attracting 96 per cent of all SPAC IPOs listing on a national exchange.
Thus far in 2017, Nasdaq has welcomed 18 SPAC IPOs, which eclipses the 13 SPAC IPOs that took place in 2016. The average proceeds raised amongst those deals in 2017 has been USD254 million, which would represent the largest annual average deal size on record. Top listings for
The boom in venture capital activity in Asia reached new heights in Q2 2017: with a record USD47 billion in deals announced during the quarter, including the USD5.5 billion financing of Didi Chuxing, which became the largest venture capital deal ever.
In 2017 so far, Asia represents almost half of global venture capital deal value, the largest proportion of any region. However, fundraising and exit activity is not showing the same level of growth: Asia-focused venture capital fundraising peaked at USD11 billion in Q3 2014, but since then has trended downward, and in Q1 2017 venture capital funds secured just
Artificial intelligence company Appier has secured Series C investment of USD33 million from SoftBank Group Corp, LINE Corporation, NAVER Corporation, Singapore-based EDBI and Hong Kong-based AMTD Group.
This fundraising round brings the total amount of investment in the company so far to over USD82 million.
Appier believes AI can help enterprises deal with today’s rapidly changing business environment, helping them process enormous amounts of data to identify patterns and make intelligent decisions. The additional funds will enable Appier to expand its portfolio of AI solutions and build more functionality for enterprises who want to take advantage of recent advances
CloudScale Capital Partners has appointed private equity veteran Kim Perdikou as a Partner.
“We are thrilled to welcome Kim to our team,” says Stephen Diamond, managing partner of CloudScale Capital Partners. “She brings a wealth of experience mentoring entrepreneurs and helping build great tech Companies.”
“I am excited to be working with such a strong team at CloudScale,” says Perdikou. “This is a great time to be investing in transformative start-ups in the Cloud and Internet of Things.”
Perdikou brings a long track record of leadership positions in both startups and large Companies. Most recently Executive Vice President
Private equity firm May River Capital has completed its acquisition of BJM Pumps. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
BJM Pumps represents the first acquisition that will form a new Industrial Pump Platform build out by May River. Brad Sterner, a member of May River’s Executive Resource Group, will serve as Executive Chairman of the Pump Platform as well as interim CEO of BJM Pumps. This is the second May River investment platform involving Sterner, whose prior career included leadership roles with Emerson, Danaher, IDEX, Rexnord and Colfax.
BJM Pumps provides submersible pumps for demanding applications in
Palatine Private Equity has invested in Trade Skills 4U, a market leader in electrical training courses in the UK.
This marks the first deal from Palatine’s Impact Fund, an investment vehicle targeting profitable growth companies that can deliver a private equity return, and a positive social or environmental impact.
Established in 2005, the Gatwick and Warrington based business provides a range of electrical courses for individuals who have little or no electrical knowledge who want to become electricians, whilst also providing further training to those already in the profession or associated trades.
Trade Skills 4U focusses on the
Sapience Analytics has secured a majority investment from Credit Suisse Asset Management’s NEXT Investors. The NEXT investment will be primarily used to accelerate Sapience Analytics’ expansion into the US market.
Founded in 2009 with the vision to transform people, processes and productivity, Sapience Analytics is a market leader in People Analytics and provides a unique enterprise workforce analytics and efficiency solution. Sapience delivers unprecedented visibility into work patterns and behaviour in an organisation, which is being used by leaders of over 70 major customers to make better informed decisions and improve operating efficiencies across their enterprises. The Sapience platform focuses
Seyfarth Shaw has added corporate partner Raymond Wong in Hong Kong as the firm continues to scale its International Corporate and Commercial practice in the Asia-Pacific region.
Seyfarth announced its launch in Hong Kong on 27 February through partner Julia Gorham, former head of DLA Piper’s Asia Employment Law practice and now part of Seyfarth’s International Employment practice.
“Working with many of the world’s leading companies, we are committed to addressing their growing cross-border transactional needs in the Asia-Pacific region,” says Pete Miller, Seyfarth’s chair and managing partner.
A corporate and commercial lawyer, Wong joins Seyfarth from King
Vulog has raised USD20 million in Series B funding with the participation of Frog Capital (UK), Inven Capital (Czech Republic), as well as historic investors Bpifrance (France) and ETF Partners (UK).
These funds will be used to strengthen the company’s leadership in the mobility space, both to grow its sales and marketing teams and further the development of its technology.
Vulog offers a comprehensive and customisable SaaS solution that enables mobility operators — such as car rental companies, car manufacturers or any other corporation, whether a startup or global group — to launch and operate shared mobility services, including
Independent fund, trust and corporate services provider Crestbridge has appointed Michael Newton (pictured), as Head of Fund Services in Jersey and John MacFeeters as Client Director.
Newton and MacFeeters will join current Crestbridge Directors Sarah Rayson, Elliot Refson and Alex Le Quesne with a remit to develop the firm’s international funds proposition from its Jersey office.
Newton has over 20 years of experience in fund administration and in providing high quality services to multi-jurisdictional fund investment structures. He takes on responsibility for clients and growing and developing the firm’s fund services business from Jersey, a business that spans the
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