Byton
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Byton, backed by Apple assembler Foxconn, talks to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Byton, whose key shareholders also include China’s state-owned automaker FAW Group and EV battery maker CATL, is in talks with potential SPAC companies and investors about the listing and plans to go public as early as this year, two sources, who declined to be named as the talks were private, said. Byton was launched in 2017 by Future Mobility Corp, and a company co-founded by former BMW and Nissan Motor executives. But it has been facing cash flow problems since 2019 as investors were cautious plowing money in a crowded sector when EV sales growth was slowing in the world’s biggest car market. The embattled company was building a car factory in the eastern city of Nanjing but suspended the endeavor in July to reorganize the firm. www.reuters.com/article/us-byton-m-a/chinese-ev-startup-byton-explores-listing-via-spac-deal-sources-idUSKBN2A80N4
LG
LG Display raises investment at Vietnam factory by $750 million to $3.25 billion: media Vietnam has awarded a license to South Korea’s LG Display Co. to raise its investment in the country’s northern port city of Haiphong by $750 million to $3.25 billion, local media reported on Monday. www.reuters.com/article/us-vietnam-lg-display/lg-display-raises-investment-at-vietnam-factory-by-750-million-to-3-25-billion-media-idUSKBN2A80HK
SoftBank
Analysis: Vision Fund, which posted a record annual loss last March, returned ~$18B to investors by the end of 2020, up from $13.4B it reported in Q3 2020 In January, the Vision Fund sold just over 17 percent of its Uber shares for about $2bn, and the rest of its stake is currently worth around $10.5bn, leaving the technology-focused investment fund with a near $5bn profit on paper. t.co/tSLZ9jzbzG
The UK angel investors
Meet the UK-based angel investors who backed the most startups in 2020. The last 12 months have seen Britain’s brigade of angel investors continue to back early-stage businesses. Overall, venture capital investment hit a record €14.1bn in the UK in 2020. sifted.eu/articles/uk-angel-investors-2020/
Commsor
The company, which gives companies insights about employees using data from tools like Slack and GitHub, raises $16M Series A at a valuation “well north of $100M” venturebeat.com/2021/02/04/commsor-raises-16-million-to-unlock-insights-from-companies-online-communities/
