Rocket-backed Foodpanda raises $100 million in round led by Goldman

Foodpanda, an online takeaway delivery service backed by tech investor Rocket Internet, said on Friday it had received $100 million in a financing round led by a Goldman Sachs hedge fund. Goldman Sachs Investment Partners will take a seat on Foodpanda’s advisory board. Existing investors including Rocket also took part in the round

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Rocket Internet-backed Helpling expands in Asia, Mideast

By Eric Auchard FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Helpling, an online marketplace for hiring home cleaners backed by Germany's Rocket Internet, is expanding beyond its base in Europe to set up new operations in the Middle East and Asia, aided by the acquisition of a rival Singapore start-up. Berlin-based Helpling said it was acquiring Singapore-based Spickify for an undisclosed sum. Hoe Yeen Teck, Spickify's co-founder and chief executive, will be Singapore country manager of the company, which will operate under the Helpling brand

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Alibaba ploughs $200 million into Snapchat in latest startup deal: source

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is investing $200 million in photo-messaging app Snapchat, a source familiar with the deal said, striking its latest Silicon Valley deal as the Chinese ecommerce company builds up mobile services. The investment values the company at around $15 billion, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the situation as saying.

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Apple’s iTunes, App Stores back online after unusually long outage

By Joseph Menn and Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc's iTunes and App Store came back online on Wednesday afternoon after an unusually long service disruption that the company blamed on an internal technical error. Apple updated its status page at 5:04 pm ET to show that the disrupted services, including the Mac App Store and iBooks, were now functioning normally. The App Store and iTunes are a source of pride for the world's largest tech company and form the centerpiece of its mobile user experience.

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Rocket Internet backs rental start-up looking to replace realtors

By Eric Auchard LONDON (Reuters) – German ecommerce investor Rocket Internet is backing online apartment rental firm Nestpick as the start-up expands into four European countries, aiming to connect landlords with tenants and put real estate agents out of a job. Nestpick said on Tuesday it was expanding into 14 cities in Britain, France, Italy and Spain, seeking to do for medium-term property rentals what AirBnB has done to transform the market for short-stay rentals for holiday and business travelers

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