Global watchlist: Reddit, mobile loans provider and plant-based meat replacement secure $US300 million in investment

Online messageboard giant Reddit joins startups that are tackling mobile micro-loans and creating plant-based meat replacements in securing significant funding this week.

Here’s a round-up of some of the biggest deals going down globally.

Reddit set to bank $US200 million ($251 million)

What it does: Reddit is a San Francisco-based online discussion board and aggregated news site that bills itself as the “front page of the internet”

Funding led by: Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Coatue Management, Vy Capital, Fidelity, Y Combinator president Sam Altman, and SV Angel’s Ron Conway, according to TechCrunch. 

How much: $US200 million ($251 million), which brings Reddit’s post-raise valuation to $1.8 billion.

What now: The company’s notoriously cluttered homepage will be redesigned with these funds, which will also be used to invest more resources into user-uploaded video.

Impossible Foods secures $US75 million ($94.2 million)

What it does: Impossible foods creates “juicy” plant-based burgers that are designed to look, smell and taste like real meat.

Funding led by: Temasek, with participation from Open Philanthropy and previous investors Bill Gates, Horizon Ventures and Khosla ventures, according to TechCrunch. 

How much: $US75 million ($94.2 million), which brings the company’s current funds raised to nearly $US300 ($376 million.

What now: The company wants to expand its plant-based offerings to replace a number of animal products, which it plans to do by opening a factory in California to produce high quantities of ground plant-based meat each month.

Juvo banks $US40 million ($50.2 million)

What it does: Juvo is designed to help mobile users in emerging markets secure micro-loans by combining data and identity to improve their financial standing.

Funding led by: New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Wing Venture Capital, according to Finextra. 

How much: $US40 million ($50.2 million).

What now: Juvo will use the new funding to expand into more markets, establish a greater number of partnerships with mobile phone carriers, and bring other partners on board to expand its offerings to services that go beyond micro-loans.

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