Reuters News

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will invest US$600 million in a unit of Jack Ma’s Ant Financial Services Group, operator of China’s biggest online payment platform, Reuters reported. CPPIB’s investment is part of Ant’s US$14 billion fundraising announced on Friday. Ant Financial, spun off from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd before the e-commerce company’s 2014 listing, has played a major role in shaping China’s financial technology landscape.

White Star Capital, the startup funder co-founded by ex-technology deals banker Eric Martineau-Fortin, has raised a second, US$180 million fund that was significantly oversubscribed, Reuters reported. The fund, which had originally aimed to raise US$140 million, will look to invest US$1 million to US$6 million in about 20 new companies and has already invested in eight. White Star, which has its Canadian office in Montréal, said it would continue to focus on companies that use data as a competitive advantage and which it can help grow globally.

Ping An’s Good Doctor online healthcare platform has raised US$1.12 billion in its initial public offering, pricing its shares at the top of its range in Hong Kong’s largest new listing this year, sources told Reuters. Founded in 2014, the company was among several tech startups backed by Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd. Its IPO attracted more than 200 investors, a source said. The offering had seven cornerstone investors, among them Singapore’s GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and U.S.-based BlackRock.

JPMorgan Chase & Co has tested a new blockchain platform for issuing financial instruments with the National Bank of Canada and other large firms, seeking to streamline origination, settlement, interest rate payments and other processes, Reuters reported. The test this week mirrored the Canadian bank’s US$150 million offering of a one-year floating-rate Yankee certificate of deposit. The platform was built over more than a year using Quorum, a type of open-source blockchain that JPMorgan has developed in-house and is in discussions to spin off.

Vancouver's Enterra Feed Corp, one of an emerging crop of insect growers, processes bugs into protein-rich food for fish, poultry - even pets, Reuters reported. The company is part of a small but growing insect farming sector that has captured attention and investments from some heavyweights in the US$400 billion-a-year animal feed business, including U.S. agricultural powerhouse Cargill Inc. Enterra's backers include Calgary-based venture capital firm Avrio Capital and U.K.-based Wheat Sheaf.

Stratford, a Canadian town known for its annual theatre festival, is emerging as a hub of “snowtonomous” research, as automakers face demands to produce self-driving cars that can perform in snow and sleet, Reuters reported. The province of Ontario is counting on the lure of its snowy winters and the strength of its automotive and software engineering sectors to establish a “Silicon North.” Since 2016, Ontario has attracted about $1 billion in private-sector investment for autonomous and connected cars.

Canadian automotive parts supplier Magna International Inc said this week it will invest US$200 million in Lyft Inc and work with the U.S. ride-hailing company to manufacture self-driving cars, Reuters reported. The news comes three months after San Francisco-based Lyft made its international debut in Toronto, taking on much bigger rival Uber Technologies Inc, which has been operating in Canada for over five years. Lyft has previously secured investments from Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments).