Catherine Badour

Japan’s SoftBank Group (9984.T) will invest just over $100 million in a joint venture with the international arm of China’s ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance (6060.HK), a ZhongAn executive said.

Venture firm Lead Edge Capital, which has backed companies such as Uber [UBER.UL] and Spotify, has raised its largest fund to date in the latest sign of the rush of capital flowing into private tech companies, Reuters reported.

Anglo-American biotech company Orchard Therapeutics has raised a further $150 million to fund its work in gene therapy, building on earlier fundraisings worth more than $140 million, Reuters reported.

Online furniture retailer Westwing, backed by German ecommerce investor Rocket Internet, is reviving plans for a Frankfurt stock market listing which may come in late 2018, sources told Reuters.

Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures said on Friday it will launch a $10 million fund to invest in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology startups.

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing and Alibaba’s (BABA.N) Ant Financial are in talks with bike-sharing startup Ofo for a joint buyout offer that could value Ofo at up to $2 billion, a source told Reuters.

Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing and Alibaba’s (BABA.N) Ant Financial are in talks with bike-sharing startup Ofo for a joint buyout offer that could value Ofo at up to $2 billion, Reuters reported.

Cisco Systems Inc said on Thursday it would buy Duo Security, a venture capital-backed cyber security company, for $2.35 billion in cash, as it seeks to expand its offerings in cloud computing.

Wefox, one of Europe’s fastest-growing insurance technology firms, is close to settling on a new “triple-digit million” euro funding round, with Softbank’s (9984.T) Vision Fund among the suitors, Reuters reported.

Israel’s Redkix, whose product combines email and team messaging, said on Thursday it has agreed to be acquired by Facebook, where it will join the Workplace team to help companies collaborate.