Daily Briefing: Grab clinches US$150m from automaker Yamaha Motor Co.; Finnish biofuel producer Neste plans to inject $2.2b in Singapore's biofuel production

And energy savings firm Barghest Building Performance nabs $45m from investment firm KKR & Co.

From Deal Street Asia:

Grab bagged US$150m as part of its ongoing series H funding round from Japan’s Yamaha Motor Co.

The funding comes little over a month after Grab raised $250 million from automaker Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors, and another $50 million from Thailand’s KASIKORN Bank.

With the latest funding, the Singapore-headquartered firm has now raised $2.9 billion in its Series H round.

As part of the latest strategic partnership, Yamaha and Grab will collaborate in motorcycle ride-hailing service within the Southeast Asian region, with a focus on Indonesia, they said in a statement. The Japanese automaker also aims to leverage Grab’s customer base in Southeast Asia and knowledge of the motorcycle ride-hailing business for future product development.

Read more here.

From Yahoo! News Singapore:

Finnish biofuel producer and oil refiner Neste is looking to invest $2.2b to boost Singapore’s biofuel production capacity.

The investment will extend Neste’s renewable product overall capacity in Singapore by up to 1.3 million tons per year. This bring’s the company’s total renewable product capacity close to 4.5 million tons annually in 2022.

The company aims to start up the new production line during the first half of 2022.

“Neste is in the business of helping transport and cities, aviation, polymers and chemicals customers make their business more sustainable and will continue to lead the way for renewable products,” Peter Vanacker, president and chief executive officer of Neste, said.

Read more here.

From Bloomberg:

Energy savings provider Barghest Building Performance (BBP) won $45m (US$33m) from investments firm KKR & Co. as part of its series B fundraising round.

The company plans to use the funds to grow its business in the region, invest in new technology and hire more staff, according to BBP Chief Executive Officer Poyan Rajamand.

“Customers come to us because our solution allows them to save energy today,” Rajamand said in an interview Thursday with Bloomberg Television. “With advanced analytics that we have at the back end, we can help them save more and more, year after year.”

Read more here.

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