Two More $100M+ Rounds From China

Morning Markets: Before the United States shuts down for the rest of the week, let’s peek at two rounds that recently touched down. They feature Chinese companies, and total at least $100 million apiece.

Have you heard of Geek+ or Xiaoqule? Well, get ready to learn about them, as the two Chinese companies just raised huge sums. Geek+, a logistics-focused robotics company, stacked a $150 million Series B while Xiaoqule, a Chinese ecommerce play raised a $108 million Series A.

Those are huge rounds for their listed stages, but not too surprising in today’s market.

Follow Crunchbase News on Twitter

Yes, despite the recent public market turmoil, the private markets remain hot. For example, there have been 120 rounds of $100 million or more (here) thus far in Q4. That’s many, many supergiant investments in 1.5 months. They sum to nearly $45 billion in aggregate capital, averaging around $370 million apiece, although their media figure is about half that.

I’m highlighting these two particular rounds to push back against my own recent market coverage. It’s well and good to note that the public markets are on fire (read Bloomberg’s Shira Ovide here for even more on the matter) and that the flames will eventually scorch private companies.

That takes time, and more than I might find reasonable. Until the bad news trickles down, impacting investment from venture capitalists and other private-market investors, private investment will stay hot. As such, we should still pay attention to what’s happening today, just as we keep an eye on the longer-term forecast.

So, back to our two companies. They represent more of a phenomenon I keep running into, namely there being so many quickly-growing, highly-valued Chinese startups and unicorns that they are hard to keep straight. I believe before today I had heard of Geek+, but I had never heard of Xiaoqule. Which is a shame, as its model of “community ecommerce,” per every China-focused outlet’s coverage of its work, sounds interesting.

Regardless, as the United States’s public markets shutter, and the middle of North America races towards hedonistic food comas, the rest of the world is still going. And, as the above rounds highlight, still going quickly.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias