China Digest: China Renaissance bags CMS licence; EVAS Intelligence, ClinBrain raise funds

Hong Kong-listed financial institution China Renaissance has secured a capital market service licence in Singapore; while self-driving chip startup EVAS Intelligence and healthcare big data provider ClinBrain bagged funds. 

China Renaissance secures CMS licence in SG

Hong Kong-listed financial institution China Renaissance has secured a capital market service licence in Singapore, following which the firm can deal in securities products in the city state’s capital market, the firm said in a statement on WeChat.

The company also announced two new appointments — Gan Wee Leong, its former head of equities ASEAN has been promoted as the CEO of its Singapore entity; while Qin Chuan, who previously led the corporate services of the investment banking department at the firm has been named as the head of private equity ASEAN.

China Renaissance had acted as the financial advisor in Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab’s $2.5 billion funding round in June 2017. Most recently, the firm acted as the financial advisor for a slew of Southeast Asian firms such as fintech firm Akulaku and e-commerce enabler Jet Commerce.  

China Renaissance was established in 2005 by Bao Fan, one of China’s most famed rainmakers. It is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange after a $346-million IPO in September 2018. The firm’s businesses include private placement advisory, M&A advisory, and direct investment to equity underwriting, asset management, and wealth management.

With offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and New York, the firm had assets under management (AUM) of over 49 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) as of 2021.

Self-driving chip firm EVAS Intelligence bags $41m

EVAS Intelligence, a Chinese developer of chips for autonomous driving, has notched over 300 million yuan ($41.1 million) in a pre-A round, led by Chinese state-owned automaker Guangzhou Automobile Group’s investment arm GAC Capital, as well as VC firm Oriental Fortune Capital.  

The round was participated by Yuexiu Industrial Fund and CDB-CDC Capital, while previous backers include CTC Capital, Sunic Capital, Volcanics Venture, and Seaway, a firm that offers edge computing and IoT services to businesses. After the funding round, the firm plans to target the global market to sell its auto-driving chips, per the statement.

Since its inception in January this year, the Guangzhou-based firm has formed a team of 150 people, and has raised a total of over 500 million yuan ($68.5 million) so far.

Healthcare big data provider ClinBrain bags $27m

ClinBrain, which provides healthcare big data for hospitals and universities, has secured 200 million yuan ($27.4 million) in a Series C round led by Legend Capital, the fund management arm of Chinese conglomerate Legend Holdings. The net proceeds will enable the firm to continue to explore the potential of big data and AI in the healthcare sector.

Founded in 2013, the firm leverages natural language processing technology to process text-based medical data such as medical records, pathology reports, and medical research publications. It offers clinical data repository (CDR), operational data repository (ODR), as well as research data repository, among others to its clients.  

Previously, the firm snapped funds in a Series B+ round in January 2021 led by Shenzhen-headquartered Fortune Venture Capital, without divulging the financial details.

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