Participated · Equity · Dec 2024

usdx.money develops stablecoin infrastructure and issues USDX as its inaugural synthetic stablecoin. The project positions itself as decentralized and bankless, aiming to bridge DeFi, CeFi, and TradFi. After the recent financing, the team is accelerating ecosystem efforts to increase USDX adoption. Key focuses include bootstrapping USDX liquidity on leading DEXs (Pancakeswap, Uniswap, Balancer, Curve), integrating USDX as collateral in DeFi money-market and perpetual protocols, and offering a non-correlated dollar payout model. usdx.money also plans to enable other stablecoin issuers to use its infrastructure and to provide alternative payment rails for underserved populations. The project is powered by Stables Labs.

Led · Series C · Sep 2022

Avidbots is a Canadian robotics manufacturer that develops autonomous cleaning robots, notably the Neo 2 floor-cleaning robot for commercial environments like airports, warehouses and shopping malls. Founded in Kitchener, Ontario in 2014, the company says it has more than 1,000 robots deployed across North America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Australia, including deployments in U.S. airports and with Singapore’s SMRT Trains. Neo 2 offers fleet management and performance measurability through a web-based command center that tracks robot locations and surface area disinfected. The company had previously raised $37 million across its eight-year history and has now added $70 million in new funding. With the latest capital it plans to expand its fleet, continue improving the software that powers the machines, and increase headcount by about 100 over the next year. Avidbots positions its robots as a way for commercial operators to mitigate staffing challenges while delivering data-driven cleaning performance. Avidbots designs and builds autonomous connected robots, with its first product Neo, a robotic floor scrubber deployed in commercial locations worldwide. Neo is manufactured in Avidbots’ 40,000-square-foot facility in Kitchener, Ontario, and is in use in over a dozen countries, including Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, Toronto’s Eaton Centre, and Rochester Institute of Technology. The company is led by CEO Faizan Sheikh and CTO Pablo Molina. With the new funding, Avidbots plans to accelerate investment in talent acquisition, engineering, marketing, and sales to bring its robots to more customers worldwide. Financially, the company has raised a total of $36M to date after the latest round. The article positions Avidbots as focused on expanding human potential by bringing robots to everyday life.

Participated · Series B · May 2022

Babel Finance began in 2018 as a crypto lending business for miners and has evolved into a comprehensive crypto asset manager serving more than 500 organizations and high-net-worth individuals. Its services include crypto lending and borrowing, portfolio management and derivatives products; the firm says it limits exposure to bitcoin, ether and certain stablecoins and had no exposure to Luna/UST. At the end of 2021 Babel reported an outstanding loan balance of over $3 billion, an average monthly derivatives trading volume of $800 million, and that it had structured and traded more than $20 billion in options products. The company funds operations from its own capital and "global institutional funding sources," and since 2020 has made venture investments in more than 10 crypto finance, brokerage, trading and DeFi startups. Babel holds licenses in Luxembourg, Hong Kong and the U.K., has opened an office in Singapore, and is working with regulators in Singapore, the U.S., Australia, Dubai and Hong Kong to acquire additional permits. Management cites strong institutional demand for more sophisticated crypto financial instruments as a driver of growth. Babel Finance began as a crypto-native firm providing deposit and loan products to miners and traders and now runs asset-management products and services tailored to enterprise clients worldwide. It has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Singapore and a headcount of 55. The company reports an outstanding crypto-lending balance of $2 billion, serves more than 500 institutional clients, and sees about $8 billion in direct trading volume each month. Around 80% of its revenues currently come from institutions, and Babel says it has reached profitability. The firm is applying for financial licenses in North America and Asia and plans to use new capital for product development, compliance, and hiring—particularly banking professionals and lawyers. Babel has a stated goal to manage one million bitcoins within four years.

Participated · Series B · Sep 2021

DeepRoute.ai develops end-to-end smart driving solutions centered on its DeepRoute IO model and is a pioneer in deploying end-to-end architecture for robotics via mass-produced passenger vehicles. The company intends to enhance R&D on the frontier DeepRoute IO and develop a next‑generation visual-language-action DeepRoute IO set to launch next year. Since August, approximately 20,000 vehicles integrated with DeepRoute IO have been delivered to customers. DeepRoute.ai plans to release more than 10 additional series models in collaboration with selective OEM clients next year and is exploring a future Robotaxi business. The company also aims to scale global automakers’ collaboration and recruit more AI-native talent. DeepRoute.ai is led by CEO Maxwell Zhou and has offices in Shenzhen, Beijing and Fremont, California. DeepRoute.ai is an international self-driving technology company based in Shenzhen and Fremont, focused on autonomy for urban logistics and robotaxis. Led by CEO Maxwell Zhou, the company develops self-driving systems for robotaxis and medium-duty trucks to improve transit, shipments and freight delivery. Its long-term strategy includes developing medium-duty trucks for urban logistics and growing its robotaxi fleet to more than 150 vehicles by the end of 2021. Operating in Wuhan and Shenzhen, DeepRoute.ai has driven more than 1.2 million miles on public roads and received a Passenger Carry Permit from the California Public Utilities Commission in June. The company intends to use new funding to further R&D, scale automaker collaboration and fleet operations, and expand its team. The report states the company closed a Series B described as totaling more than $300M, though it also notes the round's exact amount was not disclosed. DeepRoute is a full-stack solution provider focused on L4 autonomous driving with a global presence. Its core technology includes an early sensor fusion perception approach called Early fusion, which synchronizes time and location, fuses original sensor data, and integrates output and correlation information across sensors to stabilize detection of dynamic and static objects. The company's planning algorithm uses semantic maps and handles random scenarios to plan feasible and safe routes, timing of turns, lane selection, crossroads decisions and other driving behaviors. DeepRoute's research centers are located in Shenzhen, Beijing and Silicon Valley. The company raised approximately $50 million in a funding round led by Foshun RZ Capital with participation from GoldenSand Capital, Yunqi Partners, Ventech China and Green Pine Capital Partners. It intends to use the proceeds to continue expanding operations and its business reach.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2021

Nice Tuan (also known as Shi Hui Tuan) is a Chinese e-grocery platform that lets shoppers form groups through a WeChat mini-program to collectively buy farm produce and other groceries in bulk at competitive prices. The Beijing-based app leverages community group-buying to drive lower prices and volume sales. The company raised $750 million in a financing round co-led by Alibaba and DST Global. Last year it secured nearly $450 million across four funding rounds, including a $196 million “Series C3” in December co-led by Alibaba and Jeneration Capital. Nice Tuan operates in a highly competitive segment as other group-buying and fresh-produce e-grocers—such as Tongcheng Life and MissFresh—attract investment from major tech firms. Cygnus Equity’s managing director praised Nice Tuan’s management, strategic vision and execution, saying those qualities position the company to win in the evolving community group-buying market. Nice Tuan is a two-year-old China-based community group-buying startup that organizes neighborhood grocery orders via WeChat group chats. It relies on neighborhood managers—often part‑time local residents—to promote products, tally orders, place bulk orders with suppliers, and arrange community pick-up at local convenience stores. The model emphasizes self-pickup at community pick-up spots rather than doorstep delivery, which can make ordering more accessible for elderly shoppers and enable bulk discounts. The company has attracted major investment: Alibaba co-led a $196 million C3 funding round, and this was Nice Tuan's fourth round so far this year. The firm could expand its offering by adding last-mile delivery and competes with Tencent-backed Xingsheng Youxuan, Meituan, Pinduoduo and Alibaba’s Hema. Nice Tuan (also known as Shi Hui Tuan) operates a community e-grocery platform that lets users band together to bulk-purchase fresh produce—often via an agent—to lower prices and improve vendor economics. The platform also sells non-perishable foods, snacks, health and beauty products, and everyday household items, and promises same-day or next-day delivery for most fresh purchases. Launched in 2018 and based in Beijing, Nice Tuan says it serves around 20 million urban households across 100 cities and was designated an essential service by several provincial and municipal governments during China’s Covid-19 lockdown. The company will use the new funds to enhance warehousing and distribution capacity and strengthen its supply chain. Over the next three years it plans to create about 3 million self pick-up points across China to bring most users within a five-minute walk of collection points. To date the startup has raised nearly $300 million, with a large portion of that capital raised since the start of the year.