BA Capital announced the close of its third RMB-denominated fund while Horizon Ventures led a $48-million Series B round in AI firm Kneron. Separately, Leader Environmental Technologies has entered a definitive agreement with the special purpose vehicle of Chinese cleantech fund InnoVision Capital for a $15-million convertible bond investment.
BA Capital closes third RMB-denominated fund
Black Ant Capital, also known as BA Capital, has closed its third RMB-denominated fund at 2.5 billion yuan ($348.8 million), according to a report by Chinese online publication PEdaily.cn on Monday.
Limited partners participating in the fund included private fund-of-funds (FOF), insurance institutions, industry investors and government guidance fund, said the report. It added that the new fund started its fundraising in mid-2021 and locked its first close by the end of September last year.
Chow Tai Fook Jewellery, a Hong Kong-listed jewellery chain operator, as well as BA Capital’s existing portfolio companies, including China’s largest bar chain Helen’s; top maker Pop Mart; and NanJi E-Commerce, a Shenzhen-listed firm that provides brand licensing and e-commerce services; are some of the corporates that chipped in as limited partners, the report added.
Founded in 2016, Shanghai-based BA Capital focuses exclusively on consumer brands and products, counting some of the most notable consumer brands such as tea chain HeyTea and soft drinks brand Genki Forest in its portfolio. Currently, the firm has a total of 15 firms in its portfolio, according to its website.
Horizons Ventures backs Kneron’s Series B round
Kneron, a San Diego-based full-stack edge AI firm, has notched $48 million in a Series B round led by Horizons Ventures, the private investment arm of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, per a company announcement on Saturday.
A slew of Taiwanese tech firms have participated in the round, including Taipei-listed consumer electronics maker Lite-On; ADATA Technology, which manufactures and distributes memory modules, flash memory products and related products; and the family office of “a major Taiwanese financial institution” that has businesses in real estate and telecom. Apple supplier Foxconn, one of Kneron’s investors in its A2 funding round, also re-upped.
“Edge AI is key to enabling a whole array of devices, from edge servers to smart cameras, which will truly accelerate a proliferation of AI applications that require cross-vertical efforts. With new funding, we are prepared to tape out a next generation of innovative chips,” Kneron founder and CEO Albert Liu said in the release.
Founded in 2015, the firm has raised over $140 million to date, counting Alibaba, Qualcomm, Sequoia, Foxconn and Circle Investment among some of its backers. In January 2020, the firm bagged $40 million in a Series A2 round led by Horizons Ventures, totalling its Series A round to $73 million.
Leader bags $15m from InnoVision Capital
Leader Environmental Technologies, which provides high-tech environmental solutions to businesses, has secured $15 million in convertible debt investment from Beijing-based cleantech fund InnoVision Capital via its special purpose vehicle, InnoVision Pomelo LP.
The conversion price of S$0.1 per share represents a premium of 73.9% to the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of the last trading day of Leader Environmental Technologies prior to the announcement. Leader will not pay any annual interest for the zero-coupon convertible bond, which has a three-year tenure with an option for the firm to extend the maturity date further to two years or less.
When converted, the convertible bond holders will hold around 12.25% of the company’s enlarged share capital. This $15-million investment will support Leader in building a sizeable portfolio of sludge treatment projects and AI water management projects, per the company release.
Incorporated in August 2006, Leader, which provides sludge treatment, intelligent water and energy management, high-performance membrane products and greentech investments, was listed on Main Board of the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX) in July 2010.