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Have a Wonderful and Happy 2020!

Dear Friend,

We wish you and your loved ones an amazing 2020. May the new year bring you more happiness and prosperity.

In this upcoming year full of promises, we hope to continue to strengthen your trust in us and bring you joy and helpfulness.

In today’s fast-paced world — it’s often difficult to pause for reflection. And while we all have our ideas or “resolutions” about how we can improve and be better for the coming year — it’s equally important to reflect on the positive outcomes from the last year, to be even more optimistic about the new year to come. At Cathay Innovation, 2019 was an exciting year of growth not only for our portfolio but for our firm and global partners who have joined us on our mission in supporting innovative entrepreneurs and driving change through technology. 2020 and the next decade look even more optimistic as we see many new opportunities in linking global startup centers, investors, and corporations as well as through participating in the rise of a more sustainable economy through the new technologies developed by our partner entrepreneurs.

We are humbled and grateful for all of your support this past year and look forward to doing more together in 2020.

Again, we wish you and your loved ones health, happiness, and prosperity in the coming New Year!

Cathay Innovation
www.cathayinnovation.com
www.cathay.fr

Cathay Innovation 2020 and Beyond

Mingpo Cai, Chairman and Founder of Cathay Capital, and Denis Barrier, Co-founder and CEO of Cathay Innovation, at Cathay Innovation's San Francisco office

Cathay Innovation continued to accelerate its growth in 2019 with the first closing of Cathay Innovation Fund II (500M Euro) and the launch of Cathay Africinvest Innovation, our partnership with Africinvest to create the largest Pan-African venture capital fund.

Several of our portfolio companies continue to gain momentum with their new financing rounds such as Glovo's $167M Series E, Chime's $500M Series E, and Drivy's acquisition by Getaround.

As we close the book on 2019, we’re looking forward to seeing what 2020 has in store and how the technology landscape will continue to evolve and impact the world in meaningful ways. Specifically, here’s three areas we see taking flight in 2020 and beyond:

Tech Investment Evolved — The Shift Towards A Global Platform Approach
The Rise of Impact Tech: Tech for Good Moves Beyond Hype to Tackle Real World Issues
Fintech Unleashed: Collaboration and Connectivity as the Catalyst to Mainstream Fintech

Insights & Outlook

3 Predictions for 2020

Denis shares his view about 3 trends he believes will become more and more important in 2020, especially the rise of global investment platforms and how tech is empowering the sustainability of the economy.

Read more about Denis' take on the rise of the global platform approach

The Shift Towards A Sustainable Economy: It Takes A Village

Denis shares his view on why impact is trending and what it will take for startups to create a sustainable economy.

Read Denis' take on why creating a sustainable economy takes a village

How Logistics is Changing

Earlier this year, Simon wrote an article for TechCrunch titled, “How retailers can survive the Amazon era,” Here is a more in-depth dive on how the logistics landscape is changing the US, including discussion on how all retailers need to reinvent their logistics value chains to remain relevant and fulfill new omnichannel strategies.

Industry Insights: How Logistics is Changing

Pourquoi les startups sont devenues la clé vers une économie durable

Denis shares his view on why the combination of new emerging technology fields and the distribution capabilities of a platform will enable startups to be key players in the transition towards a more sustainable economy.

Read Denis' take on the next generation of the most impactful technology companies

Portfolio News & New Investments

Glovo raises $166M Series E and becomes "2nd ever Spanish Unicorn"

Glovo, an on-demand delivery app platform which operates in Europe, LatAm and Africa delivering food but also other urban conveniences from groceries to pharmaceuticals, raised €150 million (~$166M) in a fast-following Series E round led by Abu Dhabi state investment company, Mubadala. The raise follows a €150M in Series D that was announced in April and $134M in Series C in mid-2018. Glovo was founded in 2015 and has now raised around $488M. This latest raise pushes its valuation past $1BN.

Read more about Glovo and its Series E round

Chime raises $500M Series E at a $5.8B valuation

Chime, the leading U.S. digital bank, raised a $500M Series E at a $5.8B valuation led by DST Global. General Atlantic, ICONIQ Capital, and Coatue Management also participated in the round. Chime targets disaffected customers of traditional banks with no-fee accounts, free overdrafts and early direct deposits of paychecks. The number of accounts has grown from 1 million (2018) to 6.5 million (2019 YTD).

Read more about Chime and its Series E round

FinAccel raises $90M Series C to expand its credit lending platform

FinAccel, the credit lending platform, has secured $90 million in one of the largest funding rounds for a fintech startup in Southeast Asia. It is also Cathay Innovation's first investment in this up-and-coming technology hub. The financing round was jointly led by Asia Growth Fund and Square Peg. Singtel Innov8, TMI (Telkomsel Indonesia), Cathay Innovation, Kejora-InterVest, Mirae Asset Securities, Reinventure and DST Partners participated in the round. FinAccel has evaluated more than 3 million applications and distributed nearly 30 million loans to date.

Read more about FinAccel and its Series C round

Iziwork, leading temporary staffing platform, raises $12M Series A

Iziwork, the leading temporary staffing marketplace in France, raised $12M Series A co-led by Cathay Innovation and Global Founders Capital. Only one year after Iziwork's launch, it has become the digital leader of temporary employment in France with 200,000 temporary workers and more than 200 enterprise clients in about 100 cities.

Read more about Iziwork and its series A round

Terminal, platform for remote workforce, raises $17M Series A

Terminal, a San Francisco-based startup and platform that lets companies build out remote engineering teams in international locations, raised $17M in funding. Terminal’s hubs are currently in Guadalajara, Mexico and Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo in Canada, and the company is going to use some of the funding to expand to 10 other cities globally over the next two years. The round was co-lead by Cathay Innovation and 8VC. Atomic, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Craft Ventures, and Cherubic Ventures also participated in the round.

Read more about Terminal's Series A

Fundbox raises $176M Series C to build 'Visa' for B2B payments

Fundbox is transforming B2B payments by creating a Visa-like payments network that allows businesses to transact with each other without having to know counter-party risk while also getting everyone paid faster. Fundbox's core product is a revolving line of credit for small businesses. The company raised a $176M Series C led by HarbourVest, Allianz X, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, and several other funds including Cathay Innovation.

Read more about Fundbox and their Series C round

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Please follow us on our social networks