Opay, a mobile payments firm founded by browser company Opera Ltd., has raised $400 million, driving up the company’s valuation to $2 billion. According to OPay, the company’s technology is designed to replace cash and other legacy payment methods, helping local governments “improve financial and information security.” OPay’s monthly transaction volumes exceed $3 billion. IDG Capital, which was also previously a pre-IPO investor in OPay's parent company Opera, led OPay’s Series A funding round and also joined its Series B round.

DEEPEXI, a Beijing-based provider of big data and artificial intelligence-enabled digitization solutions, has completed its $100 million Series B funding round. Founded in 2018, DEEPEXI leverages data intelligence, cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT), and other technologies to develop solutions that enable digital marketing, operations, finance and other business aspects. The startup has over 100 large and medium-size clients in retailing, financial services, manufacturing, and government affairs. IDG Capital led an angel round in Deepexi and joined its $35 million Series A round.

Kunlun, an artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor business spined off from Baidu, has launched Kunlun 2, its second-generation AI chip aimed at areas such as autonomous driving. The semiconductor is designed to help devices process huge amounts of data and boost computing power. Baidu says that the chip has entered mass production. IDG Capital joined Kunlun’s funding this March.

Chinese electric carmaker Xpeng is doubling the production capacity of its Zhaoqing manufacturing side from 100,000 cars a year to 200,000. The production expansion will help the company produce its range of models, including the G3 SUV, the P7 sedan and its recently launched P5. This July, Xpeng delivered 8,040 vehicles — a monthly record and a 228% increase year-on-year. Previously, IDG Capital co-led Xpeng's $348 million Series B round in 2018.

PatPat, a global e-commerce website that sells baby and matching family outfits, has raised $160 million from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2. Founded in Silicon Valley in 2014, the company now delivers products to over 100 countries and regions. In 2018, IDG Capital joined PatPat’s Series C funding round.

Qcraft, an autonomous vehicle startup based in Beijing, has announced a $100 million investment. With around 70 pilot robobuses open to the public in five cities in China, Qcraft plans to expand its test fleet to include more than 100 vehicles by end of 2021. The company is also exploring new applications in self-driving technology, with plans to launch a ride-hailing service in the eastern city of Suzhou later this year. IDG Capital joined Qcraft’s seed financing round in 2020.

Klaytn, a blockchain network associated with Korean messenger app Kakao, has establish a new blockchain entity in Singapore to expand aboard. As part of “Kakao 3.0” global expansion strategy, Klaytn receives $300 million from the group to invest in relevant startups and developers. “We will actively invest our human as well as financial resources in developers and businesses of the blockchain world to accelerate the growth of our ecosystem and the development of our technology,” said the Klaytn Foundation. In 2018, IDG Capital invested in Klaytn.

Inceptio Technology, a China-based developer of autonomous trucking technology, has raised a $270 million Series B round of funding. IDG Capital also participated in the investment. Founded in 2018, Inceptio currently deploys its technology on Level 3 autonomous heavy-duty trucks, which can detect their environments and make decisions. Inceptio said the funding will allow it to accelerate the development of its full-stack autonomous driving system called “Xuanyuan” and speed up its deployment in electrification.

IDG Capital-backed crypto-finance venture Matrixport has raised over $100 million fresh capital, ramping up its pre-money valuation to $1 billion. The company was spun off from Bitmain Technologies, another IDG Capital-backed bitcoin giant, in 2019. With the goal to bring traditional finance formula to the crypto space, Matrixport offers crypto financial services from custody to trading and structured products to institutional and retail customers. As of this March, the company held over $10 billion of client assets under management and custody.

IDG Capital has joined a $40 million angel round in Neukio Biotherapeutics, a biotech company that specializes in the research and development of immune cell drugs. Established this May by Dr. Richard Wang who served as founding CEO of Fosun Kite, the company targets the oncology area with its generic allogenic cell therapies. Neukio plans to invest the financing proceeds towards the developments of research infrastructure, immune cell technology platforms and drugs.

Guangzhou-based driverless car start-up WeRide has made its first acquisition, autonomous trucking company MoonX.AI. With more than 50 engineers from MoonX.AI joining WeRide, WeRide hopes to bolster its team of experts with the acquisition. “The acquisition of MoonX enables us to build an even stronger team and attract the best talents in the industry,” said CEO Tony Han. IDG Capital joined WeRide’s Series C funding round this May.

IDG Capital has joined a Series A funding round in China-based AI chatbot developer Xiaoice, which increased its valuation to $1 billion. With more than 660 million users, Xiaoice can communicate with users on social media and even write poetry, sing and compose. Currently, smart assistants of Huawei and Xiaomi use Xiaoice’s technology, as do in-car systems of multiple Chinese automakers. The company, split off from Microsoft last year, will use the funds in product development and expanding its app businesses in China and Japan.

Shein, a China-based women's fashion e-commerce platform reaching tens of millions of customers worldwide, has overtaken Amazon as the most downloaded shopping app in monthly U.S. rankings. With almost $10 billion in revenue, the company has shortened the time from design to mass production from the two to three weeks achieved by Spanish chain Zara to just five to seven days. With world-class big data developers and machine-learning experts, Shein's algorithm can recommend items to users whose profiles are similar to those of previous purchasers. Previously, IDG Capital joined Shein's Series B round.

Chinese leading electric vehicle manufacturer NIO has announced a massive plan to add 600 battery swap station a year from 2022 to 2025, resulting in 3,000 units in total. With an additional 1,000 outside China, the total number will be 4,000 by the end of 2025. Currently, NIO has a network of 301 NIO Power Swap stations, 204 Power Charger fast-charging stations and 382 destination charging stations in China. The charging and swapping systems will be fully available for other manufacturers if they are willing to join the program.

Pony.ai, an autonomous driving startup based in China and Silicon Valley, has officially announced its robotaxi service operating along the main roads of Jiading District in Shanghai. Users can now take autonomous vehicles through the PonyPilot + App. Owning nearly 200 self-driving cars, Pony.ai has now provided Robotaxi services in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Irvine and Fremont, California. As of February 2021, Pony.ai has raised a total of over $1.1 billion and its valuation has exceeded $5.3 billion. IDG Capital was a seed investor in Pony.ai and also joined the company’s $112 million Series A funding round in 2018.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase plans to launch a crypto app store to offer decentralized apps built by third-party software developers. The company's CEO Brian Armstrong said Coinbase's goal is to allow any app built on decentralized crypto digital infrastructure to be accessible to the crypto exchange's users, by integrating a customer's wallet with their identity. Meanwhile, Armstrong outlined plans for the crypto exchange to become the go-to platform for people wanting to participate in the crypto economy. IDG Capital was an angel investor in Coinbase in 2013.