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Today’s top tech news, October 23: Temasek Holdings invests in GoEuro, Vertex invests in Binance

Today’s top tech news, October 23: Temasek Holdings invests in GoEuro, Vertex invests in Binance

Also, Beam raises US$4.6 million, Neat raises US$3 million, and more

Today’s news roundup features a bunch of interesting funding announcements.

Temasek Holdings invests in GoEuro – [press release]

Singapore government-backed investment firm Temasek Holdings and Swedish investment company Kinnevik AB have led a US$150 million investment round in Berlin-based transport booking platform GoEuro.

Participating investors include Chinese PE firm Hillhouse Capital, most known of its early investments in Tencent and JD.com.

GoEuro will use the newly-raised investment to improve its product and expand into new markets.

Launched five years ago as a metasearch engine, GoEuro today operates the leading multi-modal transport booking platform in Europe, making direct sales on its platform for 80 per ent of its transport providers.

These transport providers include ground and air travel operators, which span across 36 countries in Europe. GoEuro logs over 27 million users each month.

Vertex invests in Binance – [e27]

Singapore-based VC Vertex Ventures has made an investment in Binance, a blockchain company that runs one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.

Binance plans to open a crypto-to-fiat exchange in Singapore by the end of 2018. Binance plans to allow customers to trade Singapore dollars to cryptos.

Some reports claim that the company facilitates US$1 billion a day in trade volume.

Binance says it wants to build a ‘blockchain ecosystem’, which would include labs, a launchpad, information, an academy service, a trust wallet, and the Blockchain Charity Foundation.

Neat raises US$3 million – [press release]

Hong Kong-based fintech startup Neat has raised a US$3 million funding round led by China-based venture capital firm Linear Capital, an early stage venture focussing on data-driven startups.

Existing investors including Dymon Asia Ventures and Portag3 Ventures also participated in the latest round, as well as Hong Kong-based Sagamore investments.

Neat will use the new capital to accelerate the release of new products and grow the team. It will leverage Linear Capital’s expertise in data science and tap into the Linear team’s deep expertise and wide network in the China market.

Neat Business offers a multi-user business account – accompanied by Mastercard debit cards- that provides businesses around the world with a dedicated Hong Kong bank account number.

Also Read: EY to facilitate more SE Asia investments through startup-investor speed-dating MATCH

The Neat Business dashboard gives users a simple overview of the state of their finances, and features mechanisms for making and receiving payments, payroll and expense management.

In addition, Neat’s customers can use the platform to make international transfers to more than 60 countries easily.

Neat already has customers in more than 100 countries

Beam raises US$6.4 million – [e27]

Singapore-based e-scooter sharing startup Beam has raised S$9 million (US$6.4 million) in a seed funding round led by Sequoia India, Founders Fund, ZhenFund, and Class 5 Global.

Other backers include Arbor Ventures, Insignia Ventures Partners, 500 Startups, Gobi Partners, K2 Global, Pascal Capital, Maloekoe Ventures, and Cherubic Ventures.

With this seed funding, Beam will invest heavily in building the core infrastructure for its platform, including initial e-scooter purchases, development of the Beam mobile app, and growing the team for its imminent rollout in Singapore.

Using the app, Beam’s customers can locate and unlock a scooter using their phones by paying S$1 (72 U.S. cents) to start with, and then they need to pay 15 Singaporean cents a minute. No deposit is required.

ClearTax raises US$50 million – [DealStreetAsia]

Bengaluru-based fintech startup ClearTax has raised US$50 million in a Series B round led by Composite Capital.

The company provides business incorporation, compliance services as well as GST and e-billing software for enterprises. It also offers a platform for tax saving and mutual fund investment.

Using the newly-raised funding, ClearTax will expand its suite of products and services for millennials who use its platform. It will also grow its tech platform and expand its engineering team.

ClearTax said it has served 2.5 million customers so far this year.

Image Credit: GoEuro

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