January 24. 2022

• In the wake of a cycling surge fueled by the epidemic, KKR & Co. decided to buy Dutch bicycle producer Accell Group NV for 1.56 billion euros ($1.8 billion). Accell’s stock soared as much as 24.9% after the acquisition was announced, having more than quadrupled in value since March 2020.
• A mobile app development company, Gorillas Technologies GmbH, is in exclusive talks to buy Frichti, a French and Belgian grocery delivery service. The merger would allow the German fast-food company to diversify its operations while indicating more concentration in the booming sector.
• Swiggy, an Indian food-delivery firm, received $700 million in funding to expand its on-demand shopping service in response to increased demand. The investment round was led by Invesco, Sumeru Venture, Ghisallo, Baron Capital Group, IIFL AMC Late Stage Tech Fund, Kotak, Sixteenth Street Capital, Axis Growth Avenues AIF- I, Smile Group, Alpha Wave Global, Segantii Capital, and Qatar Investment Authority.
• Temasek Holdings, a Singapore-based global investment firm, agreed to pay nearly $7 billion for Element Materials Technology, a global leader in materials and product qualification testing for the aerospace, oil and gas, and transportation industries. Temasek saw an opportunity to grow the inspection and testing services provider.
• On Polkadot’s canary network, Kusama, Encointer, a platform for creating autonomous, local, and digital community tokens, was assigned a widely known parachain slot. As a result, any geographically diversified organization may utilize Encointer to design, distribute, and use their digital community tokens, promoting true Web3 financial accessibility.
• Absolunet, a technical services company specializing in eCommerce and digital transformations, was acquired by Valtech, a global business transformation consultant. Valtech’s position as a significant worldwide leader in the commerce services industry has been confirmed by top research firms due to this purchase.
• Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. (the “Company” or “Bowman”), a professional engineering services company, announced the completion of a formal purchase agreement for Perry Engineering LLC (“Perry”). Perry specializes in civil engineering and land surveying for residential, institutional, educational, industrial, and healthcare projects. This acquisition will commence in 2022, and it will be a valuable contribution to an expanding market.
• Panasonic intends to invest roughly 80 billion yen ($705 million) in production facilities in Japan to start producing its new lithium-ion battery for Tesla (TSLA.O) as early as 2023.
• The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States has given Eplontersen Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) designation to treat transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis, a prevalent, deadly condition. Drugs and possible new medicines designed to treat, diagnose, or prevent rare illnesses or disorders that afflict fewer than 200,000 persons in the United States are given ODD status by the FDA.
• Vartana, a company that offers managed checkout and BNPL services to enterprises, has raised $57 million in early investment. The new funding consists of $7 million in equity from Audacious Ventures and $50 million in debt from i80 Group. In addition, flex Capital and Shoaib Makani, Joe Kraus, Bipul Sinha, Allen Shim, Adil Syed, and other famous angel investors participated in the round.

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