Welcome to NEO’s weekly tech monitoring. Here are this week’s key developments from the food and mobility tech industries:
- Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi raised $1.5 billion in debt ahead of its IPO, after signing a revolving loan facility with banks. The debt deal will serve as a stepping stone ahead of its share sale. (Bloomberg)
- Uber said it’s seeing more riders requesting trips than it has available drivers, and demand for delivery is also outstripping availability. (Yahoo News)
- Grab‘s partnership with Altimeter should lead to ‘the largest-ever US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company’. The Singapore-based ride-hailing firm Grab said Tuesday that it plans a US listing in partnership with Altimeter Growth Corporation in an operation that values Grab at $39.6 billion. (TechXplore)
- Corporate catering company Elior has acquired French startup Nestor for an undisclosed amount. Nestor originally started with a simple idea to differentiate itself from food delivery giants, such as Deliveroo, Uber Eats and others. (TechCrunch)
- Food ordering and delivery company Just Eat Takeaway.com said today its first-quarter orders rose by 79% to 200 million orders, up from 112 million a year earlier. (Irish Examiner)
- Foodtech giant Zomato has converted itself into a public limited company from a private company, taking another step towards an IPO. The company is likely to go public this year. (The Economic Times)
- SoftBank Vision Fund 2 is in advanced stages of talks to invest up to half a billion dollars into food delivery startup Swiggy, sources say. The new investment values the Indian startup at about $5.5 billion. (TechCrunch)
- Chinese electric carmaker Xpeng Motors is looking into making its own semiconductors for autonomous driving. Xpeng launched a new electric sedan called the P5 on Wednesday. (CNBC)
- The electric vehicle battle heats up after Australian company TrueGreen Mobility signed a deal with Chinese carmaker BYD to import a new hatchback that it claims will sell for less than $35,000. (The Guardian)
- A report from Korea Times says Apple is close to finalizing deals with LG and Magna International to build the long-rumored Apple Car. (Car and Driver)
- Polestar, Volvo Car Group’s standalone electric performance brand, has raised $550 million in its first external round led by Chongqing Chengxing Equity Investment Fund Partnership, Zibo Financial Holding and Zibo Hightech Industrial Investment. (Tech Crunch)
- Meanwhile, Ferrari is set to launch its first electric vehicle in 2025. (Autocar)