Legend Capital Portfolio: Japan’s NO.1 VTuber Operator ANYCOLOR Lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange

HONG KONG, Jun 9, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – On June 8th 2022, Legend Capital's portfolio company ANYCOLOR, a leading Virtual YouTuber (VTuber) management company in Japan, was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. At the market close today, ANYCOLOR's share price rose more than 3 times compared to the issue price and its market capitalization exceeded 165.2 billion yen (about 1.239 billion US dollars).

From left are Itochu Manager Takaki Yasuhiro, ANYCOLOR CEO Tazumi Riku, ANYCOLOR CFO Taurui Shinya and Legend Capital Managing Director Joon Sung Park.

Established in May 2017, ANYCOLOR was founded by Tazumi Riku who was at that time a student at Waseda University in Japan. The company officially announced the launch of a VTuber project "NIJISANJI" in January 2018 as one of the first major VTuber agencies in Japan. After years of continued success, ANYCOLOR as of today is managing around 200 VTubers with over 35.72 million fans, making it the largest VTuber operator in Japan.

According to ANYCOLOR's IPO Prospectus, in 2021 revenue reached 7.63 billion yen and operating income of 1.45 billion yen. This is over 100% growth from 3.5 billion yen revenue and 42.3 million yen operating income in 2020. Revenue in 2022 is expected to reach 13.2 billion yen while operating income is expected to grow to 3.7 billion yen.

With the introduction of Japan partner ITOCHU Corporation, Legend Capital led ANYCOLOR's Series B financing round in April 2020.

Joon Sung Park, Managing Director of Legend Capital, said: "Virtual YouTuber is a concept that Japan pioneered and this is a model that can scale outside of Japan because VTubers are not bound by physical limitations, and many of them engage in activities that are unconstrained by their real-world identity. ANYCOLOR is very unique because their focus on livestreams set its members apart from other early VTubers who primarily made pre-recorded videos. Based on Nijisanji's initial success in Japan, ANYCOLOR expanded its business to China, Korea, Indonesia, as well as English-language branches targeting a global audience. VTuber's popularity began to expand internationally through their appeal to the existing animation and cartoon fandom. Going forward, as 2D/3D technology will become more sophisticated, I firmly believe that ANYCOLOR's potential of becoming the internationally recognized leading platform for VTubers and animated influencers, who target worldwide audiences."

In China, ANYCOLOR has established a joint venture with Legend Capital's portfolio company Bilibili, a leading video and contents sharing platform in China and most of NIJISANJI's VTubers are active on the Bilibili platform. ANYCOLOR's VTubers started to broadcast livestreaming through Bilibili's platform and was able to successfully operate its Chinese VTuber group "VirtuaReal Project''.

Legend Capital also invested in HYBE in early 2016, the management agency of K-pop sensation BTS, and one of the world's "100 Most Influential Companies" as named by Time magazine. Korea's entertainment giant HYBE became the first in the K-pop industry to record 1 trillion won ($839.4 million) in sales in 2021. The unprecedented 100 times revenue growth from 2015 to 2021 was fueled by the agency's effort to build an internal distribution platform, various strategic initiatives for global IP expansion. It also acquired Ithaca Holdings, a well-known US based entertainment agency that manages popular artists like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and J Balvin, which helped HYBE to diversify its revenue stream.

As an active investor, Legend Capital shared HYBE's growth history and its monetization diversification efforts to ANYCOLOR management team. In addition, Legend Capital introduced the CEO of HYBE to the CEO of ANYCOLOR to share HYBE's experience, and discuss potential cooperation in the future.

"ANYCOLOR's successful listing under the current capital market situation is not only about fundraising but also about introducing ANYCOLOR to the public and showing a more interesting world of VTuber to the upcoming new generation. Legend Capital will continue to focus on cross-border investment opportunities in Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and other countries, to explore more investment opportunities in emerging industries, especially in technology, consumption, and contents. We will also continue to utilize our comprehensive resources derived from our existing domestic and international portfolios, to provide value-added services for our portfolio companies." Joon Sung Park added.

Legend Capital is an independent and seasoned fund manager with deep roots in China and long coverage of local Chinese investment opportunities stemming from the strong innovation power in the country. With over two decades of expertise, Legend Capital has cultivated profound understanding of the technology and innovation drives of China, accumulated rich resources around industries, and built a powerful portfolio ecosystem. It is now recognized as a valuable partner for overseas investors and enterprises to access the market.

For overseas investors, Legend Capital can provide support on knowledge of China's technology innovation and access to technology investment opportunities for sustainable returns. For overseas enterprises, Legend Capital can help expand business on the Chinese market, and bridge key resources in China such as R&D and supply chain, for expedited value creation. Guided by such approach, Legend Capital has made a number of successful investments in Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and India.

On the other hand, by leveraging its "China Insights", Legend Capital also helps portfolio companies and entrepreneurs in China to "go global" and achieve strategic objectives across the border by integrating overseas resources and opportunities, helping portfolio companies to respond to complex changes in global industry landscape, and meanwhile generating new investment opportunities.

Legend Capital has invested numerous successful foreign companies: HYBE (KOSPI.A352820), world's leading entertainment company in Korea; Zinus (KOSPI.A013890), the largest mattress brand in Amazon; DEXTER (KOSDAQ.A206560), Korea's leading movie production and VFX company; NexImmune (NASDAQ: NEXI), the global next-generation immunomodulatory cell therapy company; Axonics (NASDAQ: AXNX), the global developer of new implantable neuromodulation technologies; Singular Genomics (NASDAQ: OMIC), the leading company in NGS testing; Lunit, the global leading AI medical diagnosis company; Mathpresso, the largest education technology company in Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia; Vedantu, India's largest K12 Online tutoring company; and Akulaku, the leading fintech company in Southeast Asia.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Hong Kong Investment Promotion Chief visits Middle East and Europe to promote Hong Kong’s long-term business opportunities

HONG KONG, May 29, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – The Director-General of Investment Promotion of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mr Stephen Phillips, today (May 29) started his duty visit to Doha, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait in the Middle East, and Amsterdam, Lisbon and Madrid in Europe as part of the latest efforts of Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) to promote Hong Kong's business attractions.

Mr Stephen Phillips

During the visit, Mr Phillips will meet with business leaders from various sectors including innovation and technology, financial services and family offices, fintech, business and professional services, tourism and hospitality, and transport, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing. He will also speak at three events in Abu Dhabi, Lisbon and Madrid, giving updates on Hong Kong's latest business environment and opportunities, highlighting the city's strategic role in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Mr Phillips said, "Hong Kong is an ideal location for overseas and Mainland companies, as well as entrepreneurs from around the world, as a base to set up or expand their business in Hong Kong, the GBA, China, and Asia more widely. The facts speak for themselves: in two surveys conducted last year, we saw a record number of businesses from overseas and the Mainland come to Hong Kong, as well as the largest number of start-ups in Hong Kong."

He added, "Hong Kong offers to companies a wide range of routes to growth opportunities. I look forward to sharing with representatives of companies and entrepreneurs the up-to-date and real situation in Hong Kong, and particularly how they can use Hong Kong to seize opportunities, including those arising from the GBA."

About InvestHK

InvestHK is the department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government responsible for attracting foreign direct investment and supporting overseas and Mainland businesses to set up or expand in Hong Kong. It provides free advice and customised services for overseas and Mainland companies. For more information, please visit www.investhk.gov.hk.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Legend Capital’s Portfolio Company Feima Robotics Assists China’s 38th Antarctic Expedition with a Series of Civilian UAV Products

HONG KONG, May 27, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – On April 26, 2022, the expedition ship Xuelong 2 for China's 38th Antarctic expedition berthed at the Shanghai base dock. So far, China's 38th Antarctic expedition, which lasted 174 days and traveled more than 33,000 nautical miles, has ended successfully.

Expedition Ship Xuelong 2 (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

V10 is taking off in Antarctica (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

D2000 Antarctic aerial photography operation (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

V1000 in preparation for takeoff (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

V100 in preparation for takeoff (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

For the 38th Antarctic expedition, the Polar Surveying and Mapping Engineering Center of Heilongjiang Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information Bureau, the School of Surveying and Mapping of Sun Yat-sen University, and the Third Institute of the Ministry of Natural Resources both chose drones from Feima Robotics, a civilian UAV manufacturer in China, to assist in polar aerial photogrammetry. According to media reports, the 38th Antarctic expedition successfully completed the tasks of material supply and personnel rotation at the Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station in Antarctica and achieved many scientific research results.

Since the 33rd Antarctic expedition in 2016, the civilian UAV intelligent aerial survey remote sensing system series from Feima Robotics has successfully assisted China's 33rd, 34th, 36th, and 38th Antarctic expeditions. Different from the previous three Antarctic expeditions, Feima civilian UAV took over the honored F-series civilian UAV in the 38th expedition, and dispatched V10, D2000, V1000, V100 and other civilian models currently in mainstream service, becoming the only civilian UAV manufacturer in China that has a full range of civilian UAV products to serve polar scientific expeditions and has successfully obtained large-scale effective aerial photography results. As of the completion of the 38th Antarctic expedition in 2022, the Feima civilian UAV has completed nearly 150 total historical and effective flights over the polar regions of the South and North Pole, achieving a veritable "Feima Antarctic Era".

Feima Robotics was founded in 2015 and is a company with more than 15 years of extensive experience in the civilian drone industry. Legend Capital is the very early-stage investor of Feima Robotics as Legend Capital led the Feima Robotics' Series A financing round in June 2016 and has long supported the company's development. Since the establishment of Legend Capital in 2001, it has been systematically investing in the field of science and technology, including new generation display materials, IoT, autonomous driving, AI pharmaceuticals, etc. At present, the investment portfolio has reached more than 100 companies. Legend Capital's technology investments closely follow the national industrial planning and policy guidance and majorly focus on cutting-edge technology fields.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Legend Capital’s Portfolio Company Feima Robotics Assists China’s 38rd Antarctic Expedition with a Series of Civilian UAV Products

HONG KONG, May 26, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – On April 26, 2022, the expedition ship Xuelong 2 for China's 38th Antarctic expedition berthed at the Shanghai base dock. So far, China's 38th Antarctic expedition, which lasted 174 days and traveled more than 33,000 nautical miles, has ended successfully.

Expedition Ship Xuelong 2 (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

V10 is taking off in Antarctica (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

D2000 Antarctic aerial photography operation (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

V1000 in preparation for takeoff (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

V100 in preparation for takeoff (Image Source: Feima Robotics)

For the 38th Antarctic expedition, the Polar Surveying and Mapping Engineering Center of Heilongjiang Surveying and Mapping Geographic Information Bureau, the School of Surveying and Mapping of Sun Yat-sen University, and the Third Institute of the Ministry of Natural Resources both chose drones from Feima Robotics, a civilian UAV manufacturer in China, to assist in polar aerial photogrammetry. According to media reports, the 38th Antarctic expedition successfully completed the tasks of material supply and personnel rotation at the Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station in Antarctica and achieved many scientific research results.

Since the 33rd Antarctic expedition in 2016, the civilian UAV intelligent aerial survey remote sensing system series from Feima Robotics has successfully assisted China's 33rd, 34th, 36th, and 38th Antarctic expedition. Different from the previous three Antarctic expeditions, Feima civilian UAV took over the honored F-series civilian UAV in the 38th expedition, and dispatched V10, D2000, V1000, V100 and other civilian models currently in mainstream service, becoming the only civilian UAV manufacturer in China that has a full range of civilian UAV products to serve polar scientific expeditions and has successfully obtained large-scale effective aerial photography results. As of the completion of the 38th Antarctic expedition in 2022, the Feima civilian UAV has completed nearly 150 total historical and effective flights over the polar regions of the South and North Pole, achieving a veritable "Feima Antarctic Era".

Feima Robotics was founded in 2015 and is a company with more than 15 years of extensive experience in the civilian drone industry. Legend Capital is the very early-stage investor of Feima Robotics as Legend Capital led the Feima Robotics' Series A financing round in June 2016 and has long supported the company's development. Since the establishment of Legend Capital in 2001, it has been systematically investing in the field of science and technology, including new generation display materials, IoT, autonomous driving, AI pharmaceuticals, etc. At present, the investment portfolio has reached more than 100 companies. Legend Capital's technology investments closely follow the national industrial planning and policy guidance and majorly focus on cutting-edge technology fields.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Society Pass Inc (Nasdaq: SOPA) Reports 1Q 2022 Financial Results, Sees 4,582% Year on Year Revenue Growth and Cash on Hand Growth of 33% from year 2021

SINGAPORE, May 12, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Society Pass Incorporated (Nasdaq: SOPA) ("SoPa" or the "Company"), Southeast Asia's leading loyalty and ecommerce ecosystem, announced that first quarter 2022 revenues grew 4,582% year on year (from $9,506 for first quarter ended 31 March 2021 to $445,090 for first quarter ended 31 March 2022). The Company also reported cash on hand grew over 33% from $23.3 million on 31 December 2021 to $31.0 million on 31 March 2022.

With the closed acquisitions of the Pushkart and Handycart business units, SoPa has amassed over 1.6 million registered consumers and 5,500 registered merchants/brands onto its ever expanding ecosystem.

Society Pass expects to file its 1Q 2022 Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission later this month. During the first quarter 2022, the Company completed the corporate restructuring of its subsidiary Leflair's Vietnam operations into Leflair Group, an integrated lifestyle retail ecosystem to capture Southeast Asia's fast growing 100B+ USD retail market, as well as the integration of its recent food and beverage delivery acquisitions, Pushkart and Handycart, onto the SoPa ecosystem.

Commenting on Society Pass' strong business growth and future plans, Dennis Nguyen, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Society Pass said, "Our robust revenue growth validates our acquisitions focused operating model. Leflair continues to be our main revenue contributor as we gear up our latest acquisitions Pushkart and Handycart to become leaders their respective markets. As a result of our corporate restructuring process, Leflair Group is now set to become Southeast Asia's next lifestyle retail super distributor nexus, evolving from a single discounted platform to a lifestyle retail ecosystem. We are poised to achieve new highs in 2022 as we build out our next generation loyalty platform as well as opportunistically acquire market leading companies in the food & beverage delivery, travel, digital advertising and telecoms verticals."

The Company plans to launch Society Pass loyalty platform in 2Q 2022, which it expects to drive customer retention for merchants. In addition, SoPa plans to make additional acquisitions in 2Q 2022 that will generate increased revenues and optimise cost efficiencies as part of the expanding SoPa ecosystem.

Society Pass leverages technology to tailor a more personalised experience for customers in the purchase journey and to transform the entire retail value chain in Southeast Asia. Through the acquisitions of market-leading companies and partnerships with visionary entrepreneurs in six distinct B2C e-commerce verticals: lifestyle, food & beverage delivery, travel, digital marketing, telecoms and food and beverage ordering, the Company meets SEA's growing demand for better and more convenient online services.

About Society Pass

As a loyalty and data marketing ecosystem, Society Pass operates multiple e-commerce platforms across its key markets in SEA. Its business model focuses on collecting user data through the expected launch of its Society Pass loyalty platform and circulation of its universal loyalty points, which seamlessly connects consumers and merchants across multiple product and service categories to foster organic loyalty. Since its inception, SoPa has amassed over 1.6 million registered consumers and over 5,500 registered merchants/brands on its platform. It has invested 2+ years building proprietary IT architecture with cutting edge components to effectively scale and support its consumers, merchants, and acquisitions.

Society Pass provides merchants with #HOTTAB Biz and #HOTTAB POS – a specialized POS technology solution, a comprehensive system for payment, loyal customer management, user profile analytics, and convenient financial support packages for small and medium-sized enterprises.

In addition, SoPa operates Leflair.com, Vietnam's leading lifestyle e-commerce platform, Pushkart.ph, a popular grocery delivery company in Philippines, and Handycart.vn, a leading online restaurant delivery service based in Hanoi, Vietnam. For more information, please check out: http://thesocietypass.com/.

Forward Looking Statements

The information contained herein may contain "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements reflect the current view about future events. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "future," "intend," "plan," or the negative of these terms and similar expressions, as they relate to us or our management, identify forward-looking statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements contained in this press release relating to the view of management of the Company concerning its business strategy, future operating results and liquidity and capital resources outlook. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and assumptions regarding its business, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. They are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees of assurance of future performance. We caution you therefore against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. Factors or events that could cause the Company's actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of them. The Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States, the Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.

Media Contacts:
PRecious Communications
sopa@preciouscomms.com

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Soluna Raises $35M from Spring Lane Capital to Build Green Data Centers for Crypto, Machine Learning

ALBANY, NY, May 12, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Soluna Holdings, Inc. ("SHI" or the "Company"), (NASDAQ: SLNH), the parent company of Soluna Computing, Inc. ("SCI"), secured $35 million in project financing to develop green data centers co-located with renewable energy assets. Spring Lane Capital, a private equity firm, invested private funds in Soluna as a part of their strategy focused on hybrid project capital for sustainability solutions in the energy, food, water, waste and transportation industries. The capital will help develop three behind-the-meter (BTM) projects designed to convert wasted renewable energy into clean computing services such as bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence.

"Soluna is the only true green bitcoin company we've yet seen," said Rob Day, Spring Lane Capital Partner and Co-Founder. "Going after wasted renewable energy 'spilled power' is a compelling solution and fixes both bitcoin's climate problem and wind power's grid problem."

Michael Toporek, CEO of Soluna Holdings, Inc. said, "Consistent with our previously articulated strategy, we continue to pursue opportunities that we believe enable us to optimize our cost of capital. The Spring Lane Capital approach helps us develop a mature repeatable model that can be scaled."

The first of the three projects, Dorothy, named in honor of African American mathematician and human computer Dorothy Vaughan, is expected to be energized later this summer and coincide with the launch of a local STEM program. The Dorothy project is a 100 MW data center with a 50 MW initial phase, connected to a Texas wind farm that produces more electricity than the grid can consume. Soluna's data center is currently estimated to create between 25 to 50 highly skilled jobs for technicians, security and electrical staff.

The other two projects funded by the new capital will come from Soluna's robust pipeline.

John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna Computing, Inc., said, "We are honored to have a pioneering sustainability project finance firm like Spring Lane Capital back our vision. Our model of leveraging excess clean energy to generate low-cost computing is the future of green bitcoin mining and green data centers."

Spring Lane Capital has a successful track record helping sustainable technology companies raise capital to build flagship projects. Their 'hybrid project capital' approach provides project equity along with additional growth capital.

Added Day: "Soluna is driving demand for clean power by giving a floor price and improving the bottom line of the renewable power partners they work with. The ultimate result is more wind farms and solar farms that would not otherwise be built."

At power plants like the wind farm where the Dorothy project is under construction, excess energy is wasted when the grid becomes overloaded or demand is too low. Soluna's scalable solution allows every excess megawatt to be used for batch-oriented, computing-intensive processes, such as cryptocurrency mining and machine learning. Additionally, flexible demand consumers help stabilize the grid by preventing power overload, which can otherwise lead to blackouts and grid malfunction.

Last month, Soluna Holdings (SCI's Computing's parent company), sold its Albany-based MTI Instruments subsidiary for $10.75 million, expanding its focus on helping the modern grid absorb more renewable energy through flexible green data centers.

About Soluna Holdings, Inc.

Soluna Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SLNH), which operates through its subsidiary, Soluna Computing, Inc. is the leading developer of green data centers that convert excess renewable energy into global computing resources. Soluna builds modular, scalable data centers for computing-intensive, batchable applications such as cryptocurrency mining, AI and machine learning. Soluna provides a cost-effective alternative to battery storage or transmission lines. Up to 30% of the power of renewable energy projects can go to waste. Soluna's data centers enable clean electricity asset owners to 'Sell. Every. Megawatt.' For more information about Soluna, please visit solunacomputing.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Investor Relations:
Kirin Smith, President
PCG Advisory, Inc.
646.823.8656
Ksmith@pcgadvisory.com

Media contact:
Bridgette Borst Ombres, Tigercomm
(304) 546-3788
bombres@tigercomm.us

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Legend Capital’s Portfolio Company Xbiome Acquires Clinical-Stage Program Targeting Ulcerative Colitis

HONG KONG, Apr 27, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Legend Capital's portfolio company Xbiome Inc., an industry-leading and AI-driven microbiome therapeutics company, recently announced that it acquired the clinical-stage M201 program from Assembly Biosciences, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing innovative therapeutics targeting hepatitis B virus and other viral diseases.

Founded in 2017, Xbiome is an industry-leading and AI-driven microbiome therapeutics company focusing on tackling unmet medical needs through various modalities of microbiome therapeutics. The acquisition has reflected Xbiome's leading position in the rising field of microbiome therapeutics and has added a third clinical-stage program to Xbiome's rapidly growing pipeline.

The M201 program is designed for patients with mild to moderate ulcerative colitis. Xbiome will develop M201 leveraging its AI and data platform; it is expected to commence the M201 Phase 1b clinical trial in 2022 in the US and the program will become part of Xbiome's Global Innovation Center, where Xbiome will work closely with its global technology team in Europe and Asia in order to enhance and support the continued development of M201.

Yan Tan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xbiome, said: "This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to developing an enhanced treatment for ulcerative colitis, as well as our broader commitment to strategically growing our pipeline to pioneer medical breakthroughs. The announcement marks a pivotal step in Xbiome's continued global impact as an industry leader in AI-driven microbiome therapeutics and the expansion of our recently established Global Innovation Center. We look forward to progressing the M201 clinical trial in the US in the very near future."

Legend Capital led Xbiome's Series B financing round in 2019 and continued to support the company's development by following up in its Series B+ financing round in 2020. Closely following the deep integration of the medical and health industry and technology, Legend Capital has built a solid portfolio in the medical AI sector in recent years. In addition to Xbiome, Legend Capital also invested in a number of other leading medical AI companies, such as StoneWise, an AI technology-driven innovative drug R&D platform company, Lunit & Deepwise Healthcare, AI medical imaging companies, Deep Informatics++, an AI medical pathological diagnosis company, Genome Wisdom, a genomic big data company, and Ayshealth Technology, an AI medical chronic disease management system company.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Venturi Partners Hits Final Close of USD 175M in Maiden Fund

Singapore, Apr 26, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Venturi Partners, a Singapore-based investment platform that empowers audacious brands in India and Southeast Asia, announced today that its maiden fund has hit its final close of USD 175 million. The firm may, however, increase the quantum of the fund with demand for investments going up.

(L-R) – Rishika Chandan, Managing Director; Nicholas Cator, Founder and Managing Partner; Lauren Burns, Chief Operating Officer and Sarvesh Nevatia, Executive Director of Venturi Partners

Nicholas Cator, Founder and Managing Partner, Venturi Partners

Founded by veteran consumer investor Nicholas Cator, the investment platform's expertise lies in identifying and supporting Asian high-growth consumer companies with an online or offline presence in sectors ranging from FMCG to education and healthcare services. The Venturi team has, in their previous roles, invested and supported a variety of consumer brands such as Byju's, Lazada, Pristyn Care, Cure.fit, Chewy, Oatly, Global Fashion Group, Burger King, Sula Vineyards, Domino's & Future Consumer.

Venturi has already deployed 30% percent of the fund across three investments in India and South- East Asia, and aims to deploy the rest over the next 24 months. The platform typically invests $10 million to $40 million in series B to series D rounds. The team has strong prior entrepreneurial and operating backgrounds and will leverage this experience to be a value-added partner to its companies.

"The Venturi team has a unique expertise, network and track record in the Consumer space in the region. Founders today are looking for more than just investors – they want long term partners that understand consumer trends and brands and have a long-term mindset. Adding value to portfolio companies by being sector focused, operationally minded and supporting management teams on specific projects is more relevant now than ever. We will only make 8 investments from Fund – 1 and work closely with our founders," said Nicholas Cator, Managing Partner at Venturi Partners.

The platform has raised commitments from large EU and Asian family offices, such as Peugeot Invest, Ackermans & Van Haaren and Frederic De Mevius, Founder of Verlinvest and a member of the family ownership of ABI.

"Our aim is to build a long-term, partnership-based investment platform with a small number of Families with similar values that want to participate in the Asian consumer growth story. We offer our Families more transparency on our portfolio than a traditional fund and will offer up to 100% of their commitment in co-investment opportunities. This enables us to deploy larger amounts into our portfolio companies and to support them over multiple rounds," said Nicholas Cator, Managing Partner at Venturi Partners

About Venturi Partners

Founded in 2019 by veteran consumer investor Nicholas Cator, Venturi Partners is an Asia-focused investment platform that enables consumer-facing business startups to build disruptive brands in India and Southeast Asia. The firm provides growth funding to customer-centric, purpose-driven brands in India and Southeast Asia, with a focus on education, healthcare and fast-moving consumer goods, that have a shared desire to create a positive impact on the world. Venturi has built a unique investment platform for families wanting to participate in the long-term consumer growth trends in Asia. The platform is built around shared values and long-term partnerships, and aims to bring operational value-add to entrepreneurs building tomorrow's leading brands in Asia.

For more information, please visit www.venturi.partners.

Media contacts:
Adfactors PR:
Snigdha Nair, India: Snigdha.nair@adfactorspr.com
Namrata Sharma, Singapore: Namrata.sharma@adfactorspr.com

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Legend Capital Portfolio: Korean Medical AI Company Lunit to List on KOSDAQ in 2Q2022

HONG KONG, Apr 26, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Legend Capital's portfolio company Lunit, a Korean Medical AI company, recently announced a preliminary approval from the Korea Exchange for initial public offering (IPO) on the KOSDAQ market, and it plans to submit a registration statement within the second quarter of 2022.

Founded in 2013, Lunit is a company with the world's top-notch AI technology focusing on R&D of medical software to assist tumor diagnosis and treatment. It utilizes advanced AI technology to process medical image data, which helps doctors to make accurate clinical decisions in diagnosis and treatment. Lunit's flagship products are Lunit INSIGHT, an AI image analysis solution for cancer screening, and Lunit SCOPE, an AI biomarker platform for cancer treatment.

According to Korean media reports, Lunit is considered one of the most promising medical AI IPOs in Korea in the first half of 2022. After the listing, Lunit plans to use the secured funding for R&D of AI products and global market development, laying the cornerstone for sustainable growth.

Lunit has partnered with global medical device giants such as GE Healthcare, Philips, and FujiFilm to supply products to about 600 medical sites in more than 40 countries worldwide. In addition, Lunit is also focusing on its biomarker business by signing an exclusive business contract with Guardant Health, a leading global liquid biopsy company.

Brandon Suh, CEO of Lunit, said: "Lunit is the first deep learning-based medical AI company in Korea with a specialized AI research team and medical team, developing AI solutions for cancer diagnosis and treatment. As our AI technologies and products are acknowledged globally, we will strive to continuously grow and pioneer the global medical AI market by going public."

Legend Capital has invested in Lunit 4 times in 2018, 2019, and 2021; it is one of the company's main investors and has long supported its development. Closely following the deep integration of medical and health industry and technology, Legend Capital has built a solid portfolio in medical AI sector in recent years. In addition to Lunit, Legend Capital also invested in a number of other leading medical AI companies, such as Xbiome, an AI-based microbiome drug development company, StoneWise, an AI technology-driven innovative drug R&D platform company, Deepwise Healthcare, an AI medical imaging company, Deep Informatics++, an AI medical pathological diagnosis company, Genome Wisdom, a genomic big data company, and Ayshealth Technology, an AI medical chronic disease management system company.

Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Legend Capital’s Co-founded Company Innostellar Biotherapeutics: IRD Gene Therapy Product was Approved for Clinical Trial in China

HONG KONG, Apr 24, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Shanghai Langsheng Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Legend Capital's co-founded company Innostellar Biotherapeutics, announced that the clinical trial application of its product LX101 injection for the treatment of patients with Rpe65 biallelic mutation-associated inherited retinal degenerations (IRD) was approved by the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of the National Medical Products Administration of China.

Founded in 2020, Innostellar Biotherapeutics is a biopharmaceutical startup company focusing on gene therapy for innovative drug discovery, manufacture, and commercialization. Its core team consists of scientists and professionals from world-renowned institutions and biopharmaceutical companies. Since its establishment, Innostellar Biotherapeutics has been working closely with top-notch clinical scientists from hospitals around China and focusing on urgent needs of patients with genetic diseases and chronic diseases. The company has laid a firm foundation in the proof-of-concept development of a number of pipelines, process technology development, and quality system.

Inherited retinal degeneration (IRD) caused by the Rpe65 gene mutation is a typical rare disease that leads to blindness and has no effective treatment in the past. As a breakthrough technology, gene therapy provides the possibility to compensate or fix defective genes and fundamentally reinstate the normal gene functions. According to the early data of related products abroad, the treatment helped IRD patients in vision improvement and maintained therapeutic qualities for long term.

Dr. Fenghua WANG, CEO of Innostellar Biotherapeutics, said: "This is an important milestone for our company since its founding. LX101 has gradually demonstrated its therapeutic potential since we cooperated with the National Clinical Research Center for Eye Diseases in 2021 to carry out the first IIT clinical research of IRD gene therapy in China. We expect LX101 to benefit more patients with the therapeutic breakthroughs and maximal treatment effects. We also expect gene therapy to provide effective solutions for improving life of people with genetic and chronic diseases.

Innostellar Biotherapeutics was co-founded by Legend Capital and its founding team. As the earliest investor in the company, Legend Capital and the Innostellar team worked together on company structure organization design, strategy decision, and pipeline planning. With constant support to the development of Innostellar Biotherapeutics, Legend Capital has backed the company in its two rounds of financing. Legend Capital has long been committed to systemic investment in the field of innovative medicine. Adhering to the investment philosophy of "Global Vision, Chinese Perspective", Legend Capital is looking for truly internationally competitive technologies and teams to solve the unmet clinical needs; many of its portfolio companies have listed on A-share or H-share successfully, such as Kawin Technology (688687.SH), Innovent Biologics (01801.HK), Harbour BioMed (02142.HK), and Recbio Technology (02179.HK). At the same time, Legend Capital also have made investments in leading companies in the segment like Suzhou Ribo Life Science, Pegbio, Exegenesis Bio, Lynk Pharmaceuticals, and Glubio.

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