Asean Tech Digest #38

Hi technauts!

On the menu today:

4,900 doctors in a virtual healthcare convention 👨‍⚕️, coliving 🛋️, hydrogen-powered datacenters 🌃 and nightclub livestreams 🕺

I ran out of Asean pictures so I figured I’d just push ads

Just funded 💸

🇹🇭 Fintech startup SYNQA has raised a US$80m Series C from SCB 10X, SPARX Group, Toyota Financial Services Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, SMBC Venture Capital, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Corporation.

🇸🇬 Solar developer startup Cleantech solar has received a US$75m green loan from ING bank.

🇸🇬 Sports media company One Championship has raised US$70m and cut 20% of its workforce.

🇵🇭 Fintech startup Tonik Financial has raised a US$21m Series A from Sequoia India, Point72 Ventures, Insignia Ventures Partners, Credence.

🇸🇬 Fintech startup Fincy has raised a US$11m funding round from GBCI Ventures.

🇮🇩 Online furniture retailer startup Fabelio has raised a US$9m Series C1 from AppWorks, Endeavour Catalyst, MDI Ventures, Aavishkaar Capital.

🇸🇬 AI startup Nextbillion.ai has raised a US$7m Series A from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Falcon Edge Capital.

🇸🇬 Karaoke startup Popsical has raised a US$5m Series A from Quest Ventures, Seeds Capital.

🇸🇬 Bitcoin & Ethereum options trading platform startup Sparrow Exchange has raised a US$3.5m Series A from HDR Group, Signum Capital, Du Capital, FinLab EOS VC.

🇸🇬 Quantum Computing startup Horizon Quantum Computing has raised a US$3.23m Seed II from Sequoia Capital India, SGInnovate, Abies Ventures, DCVC, Qubit Protocol, Summer Capital, Posa CV.

🇸🇬 Biotech startup TurtleTree Labs has raised a US$3.2m Seed from Green Monday Ventures, KBW Ventures, CPT Capital, Artesian, New Luna Ventures.

🇸🇬 Foodtech startup Shiok Meats has raised a US$3m bridge from Agronomics, VegInvest, Impact Venture, Mindshift Capital Fund.

🇸🇬 Hospitality startup K Hotel has raised a US$1.4m Seed from Noel Neo.

🇸🇬 Electronics marketplace startup Reebelo has raised a US$1.25m Seed from June Fund, Antler.

🇮🇩 Proptech startup Jendela360 has raised a US$1m funding round from Beenext.

🇸🇬 Visual Recognition startup Gaze.ai has raised a US$0.83m Seed from Anchorless Bangladesh, Mohammad Maaz.

Startups and downs 🚀

🇮🇩 Video streaming platform Iflix has been acquired by Tencent.

🇸🇬 Coliving operator Weave (Hong Kong) has expanded to Singapore with a US$108 JV (80/20) with real estate investment platform 32RE.

🌏 Medical learning & collaboration platform Docquity has organized SEA’s first online convention for surgeons, attracting 4,900 doctors.

🇸🇬 Coliving operator Hmlet is testing an end-to-end platform for landlords to directly list their properties and tenants to customize the amount of furniture they want, and room size, thereby going away from the more common leasing model with landlords.

🇹🇭 Cloud accounting startup FlowAccount has launched FlowPayroll, an online payroll service and onboarded 10,000+ SMEs.

🇮🇩 Beauty tech company Sociolla has launched an e-commerce platform focused on mothers & family.

🇹🇭 Fintech Lightnet has signed a MOU with mobile payments platform KogoPAY (UK), for investment in KogoPAY in exchange for shared operations in electronic banking.

🇸🇬 Foodtech firm TiffinLabs has announced the creation of 1,000 ghost kitchens globally.

🇸🇬 Urban farming on carpark rooftops: check.

🇲🇾 E-commerce startup iPrice Group’s COO Paul Brown-Kenyon has become CEO.

The Unicorn Belt 🦄

🇮🇩 How Tokopedia went through Covid: order surges, customer service team WFH, automation.

🇮🇩 Traveloka has launched a Covid swab testing service and a PCR test booking feature, OTA Tiket.com has introduced a Covid-proof label for its hotel partners.

🌏 Grab has laid off 360 employees (5% of total workforce).

🇮🇩 Gojek has laid off 430 employees (9%), and shut down on-demand household services platform GoLife & proprietary food court offering GoFood Festivals.

Venture Capitalists 🎢

🌏 Beenext has closed its new fund at US$160m.

🇲🇲 Ascent Capital Partners has raised US$80m for its Myanmar-focused debut fund.

🇸🇬 Enterprise Singapore will dedicate ~US$39.5m to backing local agriculture and aquaculture companies.

🇸🇬 Maritime startups can receive financial support from SEEDS Capital’s ~US$36m dedicated pocket, in co-investment with one of its 6 partners Innoport, KSL Maritime Ventures, PSA unboXed, Rainmaking, ShipsFocus-Quest Ventures and TecPier.

🇮🇩 East Ventures is targeting US$88m for its post-Covid fund, with US$57m already closed from Adams Street and Pavilion Capital.

Corporates 👨‍💼

🌏 CEO of Lazada Indonesia Chun Li will replace Pierre Poignant as CEO of Lazada Group.

🇸🇬 Snap is opening an office in Singapore.

🇸🇬 Insurer NTUC Income has launched Snack, a program targeted a low-income populations that enables them to get insurance cover by small premiums every time they take public transports or buy snacks, in partnership with ez-link, Fitbit and Burpple.

🇸🇬 Keppel & Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have started a collaboration on hydrogen-powered tri-generation plant concept for data centers in Singapore.

🇮🇩 The co-founder & president of Bukalapak has stepped down to become the head of digital business of state-owned company Telkom.

🇸🇬 Transportation company Comfort Del Gro will collaborate with RATP Dev & Alstom (France) to develop the Paris metro greenfield project.

🇸🇬 Microgrid startup Canopy Power & energy utility EDF (France) have partnered so develop microgrid in Southeast Asia.

🇸🇬 Blockchain-powered Securities Exchange Capbridge has been acquired by AMTD Digital.

Smart Nations 🏛️

🇸🇬 The Singaporean government is targeting US$14.3bn at high impact areas: health, biomedical sciences, climate change and AI.

🇮🇩 The Indonesian government has teamed up with Lazada to educate and onboard SMEs on its platform.

🇸🇬 14 out of 21 made it to the next round of the digital banking competition in Singapore, among which reportedly are Grab-Singtel, Sea, Razer and the consortium led by Singapura Finance. Bytedance is trying to get in the race by teaming up with OCBC.

🇹🇭 The central bank of Thailand is building a prototype of payment system relying on digital currency.

Food for thought 🍜

🌏 Untact - the new concept which emerged from Covid.

🌏 Renewable energy generation has achieved lower electricity cost than coal plants, and solar energy PPAs are the new trend.

🇻🇳 Vietnam’s post-covid economic rebound was one of the fastest in the world, with most mobility indicators back at pre-covid level in early June. Vietnam is well on track to becoming Southeast Asia’s manufacturing powerhouse.

🌏 The post-covid world will rely heavily on robotics & automation, says Kai Fu Lee.

🇲🇲 April is the darkest month for Myanmar logistics. Here’s why and what’s ahead post-covid.

🇮🇩 What a merger between payment platforms OVO & Dana could mean.

The Fountainhead ⛲

China 🇨🇳

○ Now you can call a robotaxi via Alibaba’s Autonavi, with WeRide.

○ The story of Steam in China, or how to conquer a 321m PC gamer-market.

○ With lockdown, nightclubs turned to livestreaming - call it cloud disco.

○ Tencent is using face recognition to fight game addiction…and unauthorized used of your parents’ gaming account!

○ Grocery delivery is doing well during Covid times, and Didi has joined the ranks.

○ BYD Semiconductor has raised a US$113n Series A+ to produce the ‘CPU for EVs’, currently at 18% market share against market leader Infineon (Germany). Geely, the country’s biggest private automaker, will be the first to be dual-listed on the STAR exchange.

India 🇮🇳

○ Google Pay has started offering loans to merchants.

○ Amazon has launched Smart Stores for mom & pop shops to digitize their inventory, enabling consumers to get a glance at all products by scanning a QR code.

○ Food delivery startup Zomato has canceled its acquisition of drone delivery startup TechEagle. Competitor Swiggy has shut down premium food delivery service Scootsy.

Also 🤫

○ What ridehailing will look like in 2046.

○ What are essential services/jobs according to Singaporeans?