Grab to acquire Stash in USD 425 million deal
Grab, operator of the Southeast Asian superapp of the same name, has signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% of Stash Financial, a US-based fintech company. The deal assigns an enterprise value of USD 425 million to the initial 50.1% stake. Grab will acquire the remaining equity over three years at fair market value. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
Payment at closing will be made through a combination of cash and stock. Subsequent payments may be made in cash, stock, or both, at Grab’s discretion. Stash, which is registered and regulated in the US to provide investment advisory services, reported managing more than USD 5 billion in assets and serving over one million customers through its subscription-based investing and banking platform.
Grab said Stash will remain a standalone entity after closing, led by its existing management team. The company said the acquisition will expand its financial services capabilities and could create opportunities to introduce Stash’s artificial intelligence-powered investing tools in Southeast Asia over time.
Gobi Partners leads pre-seed investment in Valiance Health
Valiance Health, a Malaysia-based healthcare company, has secured a pre-seed investment led by Gobi Partners through its SuperSeed II Fund. Jati Growth and Artem Ventures also participated. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Valiance is building what it describes as Malaysia’s first large-scale standardized healthcare data platform. It aggregates clinical, operational, and financial data from hospital systems, then applies AI-driven pipelines to clean, map, and standardize the data into internationally recognized formats. Its first application, Healthproximate, enables hospitals to analyze cost structures, benchmark performance, and identify operational inefficiencies.
Valiance said it has onboarded several private hospitals and a major third-party administrator, with additional providers in the pipeline. The funding will be used to expand its team, enhance its AI-driven standardization processes, deepen integrations with hospital systems, and scale partnerships with insurers and administrators.
Humain invests USD 3 billion in xAI ahead of SpaceX merger
Humain, a Saudi state-backed AI company, has invested USD 3 billion in xAI as part of a Series E round. The transaction makes Humain a significant minority shareholder. Its stake will be converted into shares in SpaceX following xAI’s acquisition by the aerospace company.
The investment comes as xAI enters a new phase of growth following its merger with SpaceX, combining AI model development with large-scale infrastructure and engineering capabilities. In a statement, Humain said the transaction aligns with its strategy to deploy capital into large-scale AI platforms spanning data centers, high-performance infrastructure, AI models, and enterprise solutions.
The deal builds on a previously announced partnership between Humain and xAI to jointly develop more than 500 megawatts of data center capacity and deploy xAI’s Grok models in Saudi Arabia. Humain said it will continue to pursue additional investments across AI and frontier technology infrastructure.
Tower Capital Asia acquires majority stake in V-Key
Tower Capital Asia, an asset management firm, has made a majority investment in V-Key, a Singapore-based provider of digital identity and mobile application security solutions. Financial details were not disclosed.
V-Key provides mobile application protection and digital identity infrastructure to banks, fintech companies, and enterprises in regulated industries. The company said its patented virtual secure element technology is deployed across more than 500 million mobile devices and supports over 300 applications in 15 countries. These figures were not independently verified.
Its platform enables secure onboarding, authentication, and transaction protection in mobile environments. The new investment will support product development and regional expansion as demand for digital identity infrastructure increases across financial services and the broader digital economy.
SBI to acquire majority stake in Coinhako
SBI Holdings, through its wholly owned subsidiary SBI Ventures Asset, has submitted a letter of intent to invest in and acquire a majority stake in Coinhako, a Singapore-based digital asset platform. The proposed transaction includes a capital injection and the purchase of shares from existing shareholders, subject to regulatory approvals.
Upon completion, Coinhako is expected to become a consolidated subsidiary of SBI. Coinhako operates through entities licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and regulated in the British Virgin Islands, serving retail and institutional clients in the digital asset sector.
SBI said the acquisition is part of its broader global digital asset strategy to expand infrastructure supporting tokenized assets and stablecoins, and to strengthen its presence in Asia’s digital finance ecosystem.
Recent deals completed in China:
- ACE Robotics, an embodied intelligence company backed by SenseTime, has completed an angel round led by Ant Group. Qiming Venture Partners, Golden Vision Capital, Hony Capital, Lenovo Capital, and Lotus Capital, affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, also participated. SenseTime’s SenseCapital joined the round and increased its stake. The company will use the funds to advance R&D, expand data collection, and develop Kairos 3.0, its world model system.
- Endomotives Medical, a medical robotics startup, has closed an angel round backed by Hongchuanyuan Fund, an early-stage investment firm. The deal coincides with the establishment of an office and pilot production base in the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone. The company will use the capital to advance its endoscopic robotics platform and accelerate commercialization. —36Kr
- Zhongke Imagery, a developer of implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies, has raised an eight-figure RMB sum in its inaugural funding round. Investors included Ruixiang Capital, Liming Venture Capital, and Qilin Ventures. Incubated by the Institute of Automation under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the company combines neuroscience and AI to develop brain-machine interaction systems. It plans to deploy the funds toward clinical applications targeting movement disorders, refractory neurological diseases, and sensory impairments. —36Kr
- Huafeng Integrated Circuits, a semiconductor solutions provider, has completed its Series A round, raising RMB 300 million (USD 42 million). Investors include the Beijing High-Precision and Cutting-Edge Industry Development Investment Fund, Lochpine Capital, a subsidiary of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), Zhongchuang Juyuan Fund, GF Xinde Investment, Wisdom Capital, and Nanotrend Capital. Separately, it signed RMB 2.3 billion (USD 322 million) in syndicated loan agreements led by the Agricultural Bank of China, with participation from Postal Savings Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, and other institutions. The company will use the proceeds to advance its semiconductor packaging technology and expand industrial-scale production. —36Kr
- Nuwa Agricultural Technology, an agricultural robotics company incubated by Skyworks, has secured an eight-figure RMB investment from Xiamen Guosheng Fund. Founded in December, it focuses on applying embodied robotics to livestock farming. The capital will support R&D, product engineering upgrades, and scaled deployment. —36Kr
- Kingwills, an advanced materials company specializing in flash-spun materials, has completed a Series C+ round jointly led by industry funds affiliated with Sinochem Capital and CRHC Fund. It will use the proceeds to accelerate technology development and strengthen its global market position. —36Kr
- Philinks, an optical switching chip developer, has raised RMB 40 million (USD 5.6 million) in an angel round led by Zhongying Capital, with participation from BCT Capital. The company is developing nanosecond-level optical switching systems based on arrayed waveguide grating router technology. It plans to use the funds to scale mass production, expand its team, and develop next-generation products. —36Kr
- BCIFlex, an invasive BCI company, has raised RMB 300 million in a Series A+ round led by Casstar. Existing investors, including Legend Capital Management, Beijing Pharmaceutical and Health Industry Investment Fund, IDG Capital, Shunwei Capital, Lenovo Capital, Yuanbio Venture Capital, HongShan, Meituan’s DragonBall Capital, Baidu Ventures, Apricot Capital, and Jiayin Capital, also participated. The company will use the funds to support clinical trials and further iterate its BCI systems. —36Kr
- Galaxea AI, one of China’s leading robotics companies, has closed a RMB 1 billion (USD 140 million) Series B round, bringing its total funding to nearly RMB 3 billion (USD 420 million). Investors in the round included Jinding Capital, BAIC Capital, Hone Capital, Loyal Valley Capital, Qianhai Ark, and InnoVen Capital, alongside follow-on participation from Cathay Capital, DragonBall Capital, Today Capital, Xiang He Capital, and GL Ventures. The company will use the capital to accelerate product commercialization and expand its ecosystem. —36Kr
- Agilink, a spinoff of Agibot, has completed a new funding round worth a nine-figure RMB sum. The round was led by an undisclosed internet technology company, with participation from Baidu Ventures, Yunfeng Capital, Synstellation Capital, Joyson Electronics, Longcheer, SAIC Financial Holdings, C Capital, and other financial institutions. Existing shareholders BlueRun Ventures and Hillhouse Capital joined during the oversubscription phase. Agilink will use the proceeds to iterate its products and scale manufacturing capacity for high-precision robotic hands. —36Kr
- Regend Therapeutics, a regenerative medicine company founded in 2015, has completed a RMB 350 million (USD 49 million) Series C round. New investors include Universal Capital, Hefei Hi-tech VC, Hongtai Aplus, Hefei Industry Investment, and Gongqingcheng Fuhui, with follow-on participation from FIRHealth Capital and Tasly, among others. The company focuses on stem and progenitor cell therapies for organ repair and enhancement. It will use the funds to advance clinical development and commercialization of its cell and gene therapy pipeline. —36Kr
Sleek EV, Polybee, Windrose, and others made recent headlines:
- Sleek EV, a Singapore-headquartered electric scooter manufacturer operating in Thailand, raised USD 8.5 million in the first close of its Series A round. The round was led by Kymco Capital, the investment arm of Kwang Yang Motor, alongside more than 20 investors, several of them from China.
- Polybee, a Singapore-based agritech company, has raised USD 4.3 million in a seed round. The round was co-led by Paspalis Capital and Elev8.vc, with participation from Seeds Capital and angel investors.
- Windrose Technology, an electric truck manufacturer, launched a Series C round targeting a total raise of more than USD 100 million, with the C1 tranche led by a fund managed by China Mobile. The company also secured credit lines from several state-owned banks.
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