|
Yello Mobile, the Korean mobile media company that raised $100M just a year ago, is refilling its coffers after buying more than 80 startups. This morning, the company announced $47.2M in convertible debt funding, led by existing investor Formation 8, at a $4B valuation. This makes Yello Korea's second most valuable startup, just behind Coupang, the Softbank and Sequoia-backed e-commerce marketplace valued at $5B. Chinese tech giant Alibaba, meanwhile, quietly bought Hong Kong-based media company South China Morning Post (SCMP) this morning for $262M. This caps off a string of media investments by Alibaba this year: In October, the company spent $3.5B to acquire streaming site Youku Tudou after it invested $194M earlier this year in Chinese media firm China Business News (CBN). It's clear that founders are anticipating an investment slowdown, but how long will it last? According to investor and Science partner Peter Pham, how the current Y Combinator class fares after graduation will be a good first indication. If we don't start seeing a lot of funding announcements by March of next year, then maybe it's time to be concerned.
Looking for info on current, emerging and exited billion-dollar startups? Check out the detail-rich CrunchBase Unicorn Leaderboard.
|
