Tidings from the world of venture capital.

UP.Partners

UP.Partners, a transportation-focused venture firm backed by investors including Alaska Air Group, ARK Invest Founder and CEO Cathie Wood, and Toyota subsidiary Woven Capital, announced its close of the inaugural $230 million early stage venture capital fund.

The fund would be dedicated to supporting companies that are transforming the movement of people and goods.

Privately-held industrial company Standard Industries, global real estate developer Hillwood, a Perot Company, leading ship management company OSM Maritime, and other investors also committed to the new fund. (CISION PRNewswire)

Cred

Cred, the Indian credit card bill payment platform founded by entrepreneur Kunal Shah, has raised $251 million in a Series E round co-led by Tiger Global Management and Falcon Edge Capital at a valuation of $4.01 billion.

Cred previously raised $215 million in April at a valuation of $2.2 billion.

According to reports, several more investors are willing to commit funds to the company at a higher valuation of $5-6 billion.

However, Cred denied the reports and said it was not looking to raise another round. (DealStreetAsia)

Republic

Crowdfunding platform Republic announced a raise of $150 million in a Series B funding round that was led by Valor Equity Partners and joined by Galaxy Interactive, Motley Fool Ventures, HOF Capital, Tribe Capital, and CoinFund.

“Republic stands alone at the intersection of blockchain technology, retail investing, and traditional capital markets,” said Republic founder and CEO Kendrick Nguyen. ”
“In this position, there is no better partner than Valor to work side-by-side with us in this next phase of growth.” (CrowdFund Insider)

Zopa

Zopa, a UK-based peer-to-peer lending platform and digital bank, raised $304 million in a round led by Softbank Vision Fund 2, and which valued the company at $1 billion, post-money.

Existing investors including Silverstripe, Northzone and Augmentum also participated.

Zopa expects to become profitable as early as next year and will use the money to extend its banking services to more U.K. consumers.

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