Believe Pte raises $55M in Series C funding to continue its global mission of delivering breakthrough personal care and beauty products

Singapore, Apr 21, 2022 – (ACN Newswire) – Singapore-headquartered Believe Pte Ltd, a fast-growing consumer products company serving the global Muslim audience with brands spanning skincare, fragrances, make-up and hair care has raised Series C funding of US $55M from incoming investors Venturi Partners and IIFL AMC alongside continued participation from Jungle Ventures, Accel, Alteria Capital and Genesis Alternative Ventures. Investment from IIFL AMC is subject to approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Nicholas Cator, Founder and Managing Partner, Venturi Partners

The Company (started in mid-2019) has delivered rapid growth in its relatively short history, thereby inspiring investor interest and has cumulatively raised over US$ 80M over the last two years.

The Series A and Series B fund raises were led by Accel and Jungle Ventures with participation from Wamda Capital, a Middle East based fund. The current Series C raise in Believe's third year of operation is led by Venturi Partners, a Singapore-based investment platform founded by veteran consumer investor Nicholas Cator. Venturi Partners enables consumer-facing business startups to build disruptive brands in sectors such as FMCG, education, health-tech, home improvement, etc. in India and Southeast Asia. IIFL AMC's private equity fund that has backed several leading consumer brands will also co-lead this round, subject to approval from SEBI.

This is Venturi's second investment and is a testament to the investment platform's expertise in identifying and supporting multi-geography, high-growth consumer brands with an online and offline presence. Nicholas Cator, Founder & Managing Partner at Venturi said, "We are excited to be backing the most experienced BPC founders in the region and have been extremely impressed by their ability to build a diversified portfolio of products and a unique distribution network during a pandemic. We are convinced that with its strong team and group of investors, Believe will become the leading global halal and clean BPC house of brands."

With the likes of Swiggy, Licious, Dailyhunt, and Country Delight in its portfolio, IIFL AMC looks to back market leaders and disruptors across businesses, while keeping sight of profitability at steady state. Chetan Naik, Fund Manager at IIFL AMC, said, "Believe has demonstrated unprecedented traction and growth in a very short period via its brands focused on the global markets in the BPC segment. With its unique positioning of halal based clean products (devoid of alcohol and animal ingredients), it has addressed the latent need of a large target market in a highly focused manner. Its growth is a testament to how a relevantly positioned brand with strong product efficacy creates resonance with its consumer and creates value for all. We are delighted to partner with the exceptional team at Believe for the company's next phase of growth."

Believe is a house of brands that includes Lafz, ZM and Dr.Rhazes. The brands have received incredible customer love in Bangladesh and India with a growing base in GCC countries. They are sold in over 8 countries and are manufactured across the globe including countries like South Korea, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and UAE.

While Lafz is the flagship premium brand crafted with traditional ingredients; ZM's vegan, cruelty free, single ingredient positioning finds popularity among the youthful and aspirational.

Believe's vision to create enduring brands consistent with consumers' belief systems while ensuring highest efficacy, quality and uniqueness drives its success across distribution formats in the Middle East and Asia. This fundraise will catalyze consolidating market share in Bangladesh and India (via strategic acquisitions) while deepening reach in GCC and South East Asia (through both organic and inorganic growth) paving the path to becoming a large global CPG conglomerate.

Ankit Mahajan, CEO of Believe PTE Ltd said, "We have received tremendous consumer love all the way from launching our first product in 2019 to witnessing 2.5x growth in last 1 year. Our 2000+ family of happy Believers is our eyes and ears to the ground that help us be nimble and responsive to consumer needs. We have created a relentless marketing organization that has the ability to identify consumer needs, use of 12-member strong R&D expertise to make fantastic products and then put our international supply chain to deliver global standard products to countries across the world."

IndigoEdge, Bangalore (India) headquartered investment bank focused on new age consumer brands was the sole advisor for this transaction.

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

ZALL Smart Commerce Group (2098.HK) increased revenue by 40.3% in 1H2021, aims for RMB100 billion on year

SINGAPORE, Sep 1, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – ZALL Smart Commerce Group (ZALL; 2098.HK), Asia's largest B2B e-commerce group, today announced its results for the first half 2021 (January 1 – June 30, 2021). ZALL's revenue rose by 40.3 per cent year-on-year to RMB 50.16 billion (US$7.76 billion), on the back of stronger Group operating capacity. Gross profit rose to RMB 607 million (US$93.96 million), an increase of 8.1 per cent year-on-year, and profitability remained stable.

Revenues from ZALL's offline wholesale markets and online Industrial Internet platforms such as Shenzhen Sinoagri, ZALL Steel, and Huasuhui steadily increased, benefitting from the gradual increase of services in ZALL's ecosystem, spanning wholesale trade markets, agriculture, steel, plastics and chemicals and other industries. Supply chain services such as finance, warehousing, and logistics also continued to empower upstream and downstream customers in the industry value-chain, laying a solid foundation for rapid growth.

Previously, ZALL embarked on a new strategic rebrand and is committed to becoming the world's largest digital trade platform. The Group looks to incorporate "New Trading Methods" and use advanced digital technologies, such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain to achieve this goal.

Mr Qi Zhiping, CEO of ZALL Smart Commerce Group said: "ZALL will focus on innovation and the development of digital trade, leveraging data as the driving force to build a new B2B digital trade ecosystem and improve the efficiency of the industrial chain."

New brands, New directions, New trends

During the first half of 2021, the Group saw a growth in customer loyalty as its industry vertical platforms such as Shenzhen Sinoagri, ZALL Steel, and Huasuhui expanded into subcategories to provide practical, efficient and convenient supply chain services for upstream and downstream customers in the industry value-chain:

– Shenzhen Sinoagri has been enhancing their online trading of cocoon silk, sugar, and expanded to include live pigs, corn, coffee and other product categories.
– ZALL Steel has successfully passed the CMMI3 international certification, and its SaaS cloud service was significantly upgraded.
– ZALL Steel Warehouse (Fengshan Port) was successfully inaugurated, and its supply chain service system was gradually improved.
– Huasuhui's supply chain financial service "Plastic Loan" celebrated its first anniversary since its launch and has helped nearly a thousand Micro-, Small- and Medium-Enterprises (MSMEs), enabling a coordinated development ecosystem of industry and finance.
– Leveraging the service capabilities of ZALL's intelligent trading ecosystem to interconnect domestic and international resources, Zallgo facilitates commodity trade flow between wholesale markets and commodities, creating a trillion-level market of commercial tools through digital empowerment, and is committed to becoming a super portal for industrial Internet transactions and services.
– ZALL's offline flagship project, North Hankou International Trade Centre ("North Hankou") actively promotes the integrated development of traditional commerce and live streaming e-commerce. The industry ecology of the live-streaming trade has started to develop, with orders happening at major specialised trading markets in an orderly manner, and the construction of 12 major projects of Wuhan International Trade City progressing smoothly after its upgrade. North Hankou is overall ranked second among China's commercial markets, and is China's largest and the world's leading commercial and logistics platform.

ZALL has also established integrated online and offline development while contributing to China's economic circulation. As a leader in global digital trade, ZALL established ZALL International Trade Group to service MSMEs that is committed to becoming a large-scale comprehensive import and export trade group that "buy from the world and sell to the world". Its principal businesses include operating the national pilot market for foreign trade, comprehensive foreign trade services, and import and export trade. The Group's commodities marketplace, Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC) uses blockchain technology to provide one-stop cross-border B2B trade to support the entire process of commodity-related transactions, helping companies uncover new business opportunities, reduce transaction costs, and achieve greater trading synergies globally.

ZALL's robust strategic layout and strong operating capabilities are highlighted in the integration of domestic and foreign trade, both online and offline, and the construction of an efficient supply chain service system. During the first half of 2021, ZALL continues to provide services such as smart warehouse logistics and supply chain finance. Powered by information technology, smart warehouse logistics uses Internet of Things (IoT) to integrate automation, informatization, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for cargo delivery and storage applications, and has helped companies to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Supply chain financial services such as "factory loans" and "supply-guaranteed E-loans" use real-trading scenarios to promote enterprise innovation through the integration of industry and finance, optimizing the overall capital flow of the industrial supply chain, and improving circulation efficiency.

In addition, ZALL is committed to help companies kickstart their business growth through data technology. During the first half of the year, Wuhan City announced their first batch of 271 digital economy application scenario projects. Two solutions developed by ZALL Research Institute, a subsidiary of ZALL, were selected. They include "Banking Financial Product Data Mutual Trust Project based on Low Code Blockchain Solutions" and "Data Cross-Chain Platform based on Privacy Protection". This has further enhanced commercial efficiency in the digital realm.

Coupled with its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) efforts, as well as its extraordinary achievements in promoting the digitalisation of traditional enterprises, ZALL has been growing its influence in the field of digital trade for many years. These accomplishments have been widely recognised by the government, financial and industry leaders, media and the general public. During the first half of 2021, ZALL has consecutively won the best new economy award; the most value-added company award; Top 10 listed China Industrial Internet companies; Top 100 in China Industrial Internet (Industrial Digitalization); Hubei's Best Hong Kong Stock Listed Company among other awards, and was ranked 155th in the Fortune China 500 list in 2021.

In 2020, ZALL achieved a revenue of RMB 72.769 billion (US$11.27 billion), in line with expectations. With steady growth of 40 per cent in 2021, ZALL is expected to achieve RMB 100 billion (US$15.49 billion) in revenue this year and reach the top echelon of the industrial digital trade industry. Through this process, ZALL intends to emerge as a leader in new trading methods, while maximising the value of digital trade, and becoming the world's leading digital trade platform.

About ZALL Smart Commerce Group

ZALL Smart Commerce Group is a leading Chinese B2B e-commerce group (ranked 155th of Fortune China 500 companies) with a truly global footprint, and its companies trading worldwide: HKSE, NYSE, SSE and SZSE. ZALL Group develops and operates Asia's largest B2B offline-to-online trade ecosystem, in China and Southeast Asia, including Singapore, with more than 30 B2B platforms in China, US and Singapore, and a GFA of more than 10 million sqm of wholesale trade centres in China. In 2018, ZALL Group achieved a GMV of more than RMB 600 billion (US$85.2 BN), serving over 1 million SME customers worldwide. ZALL has also obtained a virtual banking licence and currently operates Z-Bank in China since 2017, one of China's Top 5 digital banks that has supported more than 5.5 million SME and individual customers.

Since 2018, ZALL has invested in five projects in Singapore, including the Commodities Intelligence Centre (CIC), Singapore's first physical commodity eTrading platform (B2B) powered by blockchain technology; ezbuy.sg, Singapore's leading global online shopping platform; ZMA Smart Capital, an online trade finance company; ZALL Chain Technology, a blockchain solutions company.

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Princeton Digital Group Announces a $150 Million New Data Center in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Aug 25, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Singapore-based Princeton Digital Group (PDG), Asia's leading data center provider, today announced plans for a greenfield development in Jakarta, Indonesia, as part of PDG's plan to expand its footprint to serve its customers' needs in the booming Indonesian digital economy. With 19 data centers across 5 countries PDG has built an unrivalled footprint in less than 4 years since its inception. The company recently announced an investment of USD 1 billion to open a 100 MW flagship data center campus in Japan.

The new 22MW data center, to be named Jakarta Cibitung 2 (JC2), is being built within the same 19,550m2 campus that houses PDG's existing data center JC1. This expanded campus of 35MW is well-poised to serve global cloud companies, domestic internet companies and enterprises with unmatched scalability, connectivity and reliability.

The greater Jakarta area is experiencing increasing adoption of cloud-based services, among consumers, businesses and government. Indonesia is also home to some of the fastest-growing start-up companies of SE Asia.

"The Asia Pacific region is set to be the largest data center market in the world, and this announcement underscores our vision to be the market leader in this region," said Rangu Salgame, Chairman and CEO of Princeton Digital Group. "Over the last four years, through our unique three-pronged strategy of acquisitions, carve-outs and greenfield development, we've built a strong portfolio of data centers across key Asian markets such as China, Singapore, Indonesia, India and Japan. PDG has become a partner of choice for hyperscalers across multiple countries. PDG's growth in Indonesia demonstrates our continued ability to expand rapidly in markets that matter to our customers.

"Jakarta is an exciting market, Cibitung being the pre-eminent cloud cluster in the region. With the expanded campus, PDG has become a significant player in the Indonesian market. With the explosive economic growth and rapid digitalization by both government and private sectors in Indonesia, the market is core to PDG's strategy," added Stephanus Tumbelaka, PDG's Managing Director of Indonesia.

According to Structure Research, the Jakarta data center colocation market is still developing, and the sector is expected to grow at a five-year CAGR of 23.7% through 2025. Jakarta is going to be a hyperscale market sooner than later.

About Princeton Digital Group

Princeton Digital Group (PDG) is a leading investor, developer and operator of Internet infrastructure. Headquartered in Singapore with presence and operations in China, Singapore, India, Indonesia, and Japan, its portfolio of data centers power the expansion of hyperscalers and enterprises in the fastest growing digital economies across Asia. For more information, visit www.princetondg.com

Media Contacts
Princeton Digital Group
Grace Chen
PR@princetondg.com

PRecious Communications for Princeton Digital Group
PDG@preciouscomms.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Gaming platform Zupee closes Series B at over $500 Million valuation

New Delhi, India, Aug 17, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – Zupee, a leading innovator in India's online skill-based gaming industry, has announced that it has raised $30 million at a pre-money valuation of $500 million in Series B funding round. This round of funding has been co-led by Silicon Valley based WestCap Group and Tomales Bay Capital, with participation from Matrix Partners India & Orios Venture Partners.

Dilsher Singh

This round comes within 6 months after its Series A round at a $100 million valuation, which is more than 5x increase in the company's valuation. With total funds raised now at $49 million, Zupee is backed by some of the best in the industry – WestCap Group, Matrix Partners India, Smile Group and Orios Partners. The company has an existing user base of over 10 million users. This new round of funding will be used to enable scaling efforts through expanded product portfolio, deepening market reach and hiring global talent.

Founded in 2018 by graduates of India's leading institution IIT Kanpur, Dilsher Singh and Siddhant Saurabh, and incubated with funding from Smile Group, Zupee innovates by reengineering time-tested games and enabling them to enhance skill, joy and hope. The company's portfolio has innovative gaming formats of multiple popular board games. The flagship gaming app hosts live trivia quiz tournaments and has seen over 250 million gameplays.

Dilsher Singh, Founder and CEO, Zupee said, "Games inherently celebrate the journey and nurture self-expression. That's what I am committed to building with Zupee – an organization which enables people anywhere in the world to enhance their intrinsic happiness through games. We innovate to ensure our games provide an intersection between skill and entertainment, enabling our users to earn while they play. We thank our investors for believing in our purpose and enabling us to progress on our journey to transforming it to reality. Our journey has just begun; 10 million happy users in India, billions more globally we want to touch through our innovative games."

"WestCap remains a key strategic investor and operating advisor to Zupee and we are increasing our interest again as part of this most recent funding round," commented Laurence A. Tosi, Founder and Managing Partner of WestCap and early investor in Zupee. "Dilsher and his world class team have innovated some of the most compelling and widely used mobile games of skill in India. The enduring appeal of the Zupee games brings engagement, enjoyment and empowerment to the widest audience of any gaming platform in the market. This funding will enable the Zupee team to invest further in innovation, expand its suite of games and aggressively pursue international expansion. Zupee has exponentially accelerated its growth over the last 12 months, making them one of the largest and fastest growing game companies globally."

According to industry reports, the global online gaming industry is estimated to grow from $98 billion in 2020 to $272 billion in 2030. In 2020, the industry saw over 53 billion mobile gaming downloads worldwide, of which 17% came from India. By the end of this year itself, there will be 2.9 billion players worldwide.

About Zupee

Zupee is an online skill-based gaming platform startup based in India that is focused on innovating and creating games that engage, entertain and empower users.
More information about the company and its founder is available at https://www.zupee.global/

For further information, please contact:
Vikas Kumar – 9811054648; vikas.kumar@zupee.in
Himani Rautela – 9711306576; himani.rautela@zupee.in

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

TheCapitalNet appoints Privity FZ LLE to expand MENA footprint

DUBAI, UAE, Aug 2, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – TheCapitalNet (TCN), a SaaS company driving digital transformation in the Private Investment, Innovation, and Startup ecosystem globally, today announced that it has appointed Privity FZ LLE, an independent venture-focused advisory firm in the UAE, to bring the TheCapitalNet ecosystem to stakeholders across MENA, powered by Privity's strong presence and understanding of the ecosystem and the region.

The MENA region is well placed on the digital transformation curve, backed by a growing investment landscape (know more about the investment landscape of MENA on TheCapitalNet TV [https://tv.thecapitalnet.com/tv/559544556]). The partnership aims to bring efficiencies and intelligence to stakeholders in the ecosystem provided for by the suite of products offered by TheCapitalNet.

Startups, Innovation, and Investment

TheCapitalNet products are used globally by Venture Capital firms, Private Equity funds, Angel Investors and networks, and family offices (TheInvestorNet); Incubators and Accelerators (TheIncubatorPro); Startups and Aspiring Entrepreneurs (TheBizPlanner) in many countries across the world, helping users attain a high degree of deal and business efficiency, with strong collaboration, secure data management and business intelligence.

"The customers TCN were seeking to target in the MENA region were precisely those that Privity interacts with, and after witnessing the power and potential of the different SaaS products and solutions, it became evident that Privity join forces with TCN to evangelize Dr Bhatia's mission in the MENA region," said Sleem Hasan, Founder and CEO of Privity FZ LLE.

"We are excited to partner with Privity," said Dr Rakesh Bhatia, Founder and CEO of TheCapitalNet. "This partnership brings us a step closer to establishing a foothold in the MENA market, and exploring the innumerable possibilities that are present, and further realizing our vision of digitally enabling the stakeholders in the ecosystem here."

"We have an ideal partner in Privity, a strong player with an exceptional understanding of the MENA market," added Rakesh. Gain insights into the MENA innovation and investment ecosystem from Mr. Sleem Hasan on TheCapitalNet TV *.

* TheCapitalNet TV Special: Understanding the MENA startup and innovation ecosystem with Mr. Sleem Hasan –
https://tv.thecapitalnet.com/tv/580670728.

About TheCapitalNet

TheCapitalNet, with offices in Dallas TX, Silicon Valley, and Hyderabad, India, is an enterprise SaaS and knowledge media venture operating in the Private Investments, Innovation, and Startup ecosystem. TheCapitalNet products drive the digital transformation journey by enabling business processes and making them smarter and more intelligent, thus redefining business operations, decision making, and business outcomes.
– TheBizPlanner (www.thebizplanner.com)
An application for Founders/Entrepreneurs to plan their businesses and connect with the private investment and innovation ecosystem, used by 17,000+ startups across 70+ countries globally.
– TheIncubatorPro (www.theincubatorpro.com)
An end-to-end productivity suite for incubators, accelerators, and/or open/corporate innovation with 180+ incubators and accelerators spread across various countries globally.
– TheInvestorNet (www.theinvestornet.com)
An application for private investors including PE/VC/Angel Networks/Family offices/CVCs to manage the end-to-end business operations with over two dozen investments firms spread across various countries globally.
– TheCapitalNet.TV (www.thecapitalnet.tv)
A knowledge media that produces and shares global content focusing on TheCapitalNet ecosystem through knowledge sessions, news and trends, research reports, interviews and discussions with over 6 million impressions across 110+ countries.
Visit https://www.TheCapitalNet.com, Email: contact@thecapitalnet.com

About Privity

Privity FZ LLE was founded in 2004, an independent venture-focused advisory firm that seeks entrepreneurs with interesting and unique ideas and helps them to develop and grow. Privity is agnostic to geography and industry vertical, focusing on the quality of the entrepreneur and the compelling value proposition of the idea. Privity draws upon its unique methodology '4i' – Ideas, Intelligence, Invention, Innovation – to deliver insightful advisory and consulting services. The 4i methodology is a result of Privity's vast and diverse experience gathered over the years, as well as the application of highly specialized domain expertise.
Visit https://www.privitylle.com, Email: info@privitylle.com

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com

Legend Capital invests in Series A funding round of BioMap, a biological computing platform

HONG KONG, Jul 30, 2021 – (ACN Newswire) – BioMap, a biological computing platform enterprise, has recently completed the Series A funding round worth over a hundred million US dollars, which Legend Capital participated in. The funds will be used to for R&D and talent recruitment.

BioMap is positioned as an innovative medicine R&D platform driven by biological computing engine. It was co-founded by Robin Li in November 2020 and he currently serves as the Chairman. Through advanced computing and biotechnology, BioMap draws maps on disease targets and drug design to realize the Global First-in-class original drugs. In the future, BioMap will also focus on the field of immune mechanism of tumors, autoimmune diseases and fibrotic diseases.

Richard Li, the President of Legend Capital, said: "It is our second cooperation with Baidu this year after the investment in Baidu's AI chip unit Kunlun in March. We hope to continue to maintain close cooperation with Baidu in the field of scientific and technological innovation in the future. We take a positive long-term view of the integration of IT and life science and technology. BioMap empowers life science with AI, and accelerates the R&D of new drugs and diagnostic products through the integration and innovation of AI technology and cutting-edge biotechnology. In the future, Legend Capital hopes to realise the full potential of the advantages of our enterprise ecosystem in the field of healthcare, and promote BioMap's cooperation with leading companies in related fields, so as to provide intelligent computing platform support for the healthcare industry, give impetus to industrial upgrading and benefit more patients. "

Legend Capital has been focusing resources to research the deep integration of healthcare industry and technology. In recent years, it has continued to explore the field of medical AI. In addition to BioMap, Legend Capital has also invested in AI microbial pharmaceutical company Xbiome, AI innovative drug development platform StoneWise, AI medical image assisted diagnosis company Deepwise, Lunit, AI medical pathology diagnosis company Deep Informatics, gene big data company Genowis, AI medical chronic disease management system company Ayshealth Technology, etc.

Copyright 2021 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. http://www.acnnewswire.com