Daily BriefsPrivate Markets

Daily Brief Private Markets: Familymart Adding Variety Flavour to Chain Under Nigo and more

In today’s briefing:

  • Familymart Adding Variety Flavour to Chain Under Nigo
  • Chinese Startup Zhipu AI Raises $207 Million Funding in Less Than a Month


Familymart Adding Variety Flavour to Chain Under Nigo

By Michael Causton

  • Ever since Itochu Shoji acquired Familymart, it has tried to leverage the more than 16,000 stores to sell product from its many other interests, including clothing. 
  • With Convenience Wear a clear hit, it is now going further, adding new cosmetics and other products for the young.
  • It is also bringing in The Bathing Ape’s founder to turn Familymart into a new kind of Conbini-Variety store.

Chinese Startup Zhipu AI Raises $207 Million Funding in Less Than a Month

By Caixin Global

  • Zhipu AI, a leading Chinese generative artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, has raised 500 million yuan ($69 million) in new funding less than a month after securing 1 billion yuan ($138 million) in its previous round.
  • On Thursday, Huafa Group, a conglomerate backed by the Zhuhai city government in Guangdong province, announced its investment in Zhipu AI, to drive technical innovation and business development for Zhipu’s foundation model, GLM.
  • The same day, Huafa and the Zhuhai National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone signed a cooperation agreement with Zhipu to speed up the industrial application of its AI models.

💡 Before it’s here, it’s on Smartkarma

Sign Up for Free

The Smartkarma Preview Pass is your entry to the Independent Investment Research Network

  • ✓ Unlimited Research Summaries
  • ✓ Personalised Alerts
  • ✓ Custom Watchlists
  • ✓ Company Data and News
  • ✓ Events & Webinars