Robots are where it's at lately with funding, especially so in China.
Vertex Ventures China has led a $14 million financing of a Chinese warehouse and logistics robot,
Geek +.
Prior investors
Banyan Capital and
Shanghai Volcanic Stone Capital participated in the funding.
Meanwhile, a Shenzhen-based education and robotics startup,
Makeblock, raised $30 million in a Series B round from
Shenzhen Capital Group and
Evolution Media China. Makeblock, essentially a robot-building kit for kids, has drawn $36 million in funding and is gearing up for expansion into new markets and education hardware.
The biggest cross-border sale of an Israeli tech firm ever - Intel's $15.3 billion buy of
Mobileye - plots a brighter future for the development of driverless cars. Intel is moving its automotive unit to Israel. Mobileye's founders, investors and employees hold an estimated 25 percent stake in the publicly traded company that invented technology for detecting traffic and avoiding collisions.
Ziv Aviram, Founder and CEO of Mobileye, gives his advice for founders in this
Startup Nation interview: http://finder.startupnationcentral.org/c/mobileye
In other Israeli tech related news, the mapping navigation system
Waze developed in Israel has partnered with
Spotify so that drivers can play music and get directions seamlessly.
Branching out farther into the Asia region,
500 Startups leaned on the Victorian government and its LaunchVic initiative to bring its accelerator program to Melbourne. LaunchVic is investing $2.5 million to bring 500 Startups to Australia. It's all part of the race to lure the best startups and jumpstart the local economy.
Techstars and
RocketSpace also recently launched in Australia.
Singapore accelerator
Muru-D is putting its resources behind these
8 startups selected for its program.
The status of a deal for China's
Anbang Insurance Co. to invest $400 million in redeveloping a flagship office tower on Fifth Avenue owned by the family of Trump in-law Jared Kushner is unclear. While news media are reporting an eminent deal, China's Anbang is denying reports of a potential investment. Anbang has been buying up trophy assets in the U.S. such as the legendary Waldorf-Astoria hotel, which it bought in 2014 for $1.9 billion and is largely converting into condos.