Hi SEA fans,
Last two weeks, in the news:
š¢ PropertyGuru to acquire REA Groupās iProperty Malaysia and thinkofliving Thailand assets
š¤ GrabPay partners with Stripe
š® How Play-to-earn picked up in the Philippines
Just funded šø
šøš¬ Biotech startupĀ Esco LifesciencesĀ has raised a US$200m Series A fromĀ Novo Holdings, Vivo Capital, China Investment Corporation, EDBIĀ -Ā AsiaTechDaily
šøš¬ Biotech startupĀ Hummingbird BioscienceĀ has raised a US$125m Series C fromĀ Novo Holdings, 5Y Capital, Affinity Asset Advisors, Ally Bridge Group, Altrium Capital, Amgen Ventures, Droia Oncology Ventures, EDBI, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Heritas Capital Management, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Octagon Capital Advisors, Polaris Partners, Pureos Bioventures, SK GroupĀ -Ā The Business Times
š®š© Agritech startupĀ TaniHubĀ has raised a US$65.5m Series B fromĀ MDI Ventures, AddVenture, BRI Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Genesis Alternative Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, Intudo Ventures, Openspace Ventures, Tenaya Capital, UOB Venture Management, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & IndiaĀ -Ā e27
šøš¬ Fintech startupĀ ThunesĀ has raised a US$60m Growth round fromĀ Insight Partners, Checkout.com, Future Shape, GGV Capital, Helios Investment PartnersĀ -Ā TechCrunch
šøš¬ Biotech startupĀ Engine BiosciencesĀ has raised a US$43m Series A fromĀ Polaris Partners, 6 Dimensions Capital, Baidu Ventures, DHVC, EDBI, Goodman Capital, Nest.Bio Ventures, The Invus Group, Vectr Ventures, WI Harper Group, WuXi AppTecĀ -Ā The Business Times
šµš E-commerce enabler startupĀ Great DealsĀ has raised a US$30m Series B fromĀ Fast GroupĀ -Ā e27
šøš¬ AI startupĀ Nextbillion AIĀ has raised a US$13.25m Series A+ fromĀ Anandakrishnan Chandrasekaran, Ashwini Asokan, Falcon Edge Capital, Lightspeed India Partners, M12, Nishant Rao, Prashant MalikĀ -Ā Ajay Bulusu
š®š© Cloud Kitchen startupĀ Hangry!Ā has raised a US$13m Series A fromĀ Alpha JWC Ventures, Atlas Pacific Capital, Heyokha Brothers, Salt VenturesĀ -Ā TechCrunch
šøš¬ NFT startupĀ ParagonĀ has raised a US$10m Seed fromĀ Lib Capital, AiSwap, Block VC, China Resources Capital Management, Genesis Capital, Roots Capital, Tsinghua HoldingsĀ -Ā The Expositor
šøš¬ Coliving startupĀ HmletĀ has raised a US$6m bridge round fromĀ Burda Principal Investments, Sequoia Capital IndiaĀ -Ā The Business Times
š®š© Crypto Exchange startupĀ PintuĀ has raised a US$6m Series A fromĀ Pantera Capital, Intudo Ventures, Coinbase, Alameda Ventures, Blockchain Ventures, Castle Island VenturesĀ -Ā TechCrunch
šøš¬ Stablecoin decentralized marketplace startupĀ HaloDAOĀ has raised a US$3.5m Seed fromĀ Ajit Tripathi, CMS Holdings, Dovey Wan, Genblock Capital, Genesis Block Ventures, Gustave Arentoft, LedgerPrime, NGC Ventures, Parataxis, Petrock Capital, QCP Soteria, Richard Dai, Spartan Group, Yield GuildĀ -Ā Coin Telegraph
š»š³ Trucking startupĀ EcoTruckĀ has raised a US$2m Series A fromĀ STIC VenturesĀ -Ā Cafef.vn
šøš¬ Martech startupĀ Affable.aiĀ has raised a US$2m financing round fromĀ Prime Venture Partners, Decacorn Capital, SG InnovateĀ -Ā PR Newswire
š²š¾ E-commerce startupĀ iPriceĀ has raised a US$1.5m financing round fromĀ Woowa BrothersĀ -Ā e27
š²š¾ Agritech startupĀ Secai MarcheĀ has raised a US$1.38m Pre-Series A fromĀ Beyond Next Ventures, Rakuten CapitalĀ -Ā e27
šµš Mobile healthcare startupĀ zennyaĀ has raised a US$1.2m financing round fromĀ Foxmont Capital Partners, Ignite House of Innovation, DayOne Capital VenturesĀ -Ā e27
šøš¬ DeFi startupĀ PolytradeĀ has raised a US$1.2m financing round fromĀ Amesten Capital, AU21 Capital, Axia Ventures, Axia8 Ventures, Dasheng Capital, EtH Design, Icetea Labs, Krypital Group, LD Capital, Master Ventures, Momentum6, Orion, Polygon, ROK Capital, Router Protocol, Sandeep Nailwal, Shima Capital, Spark Digital CapitalĀ -Ā BTC Manager
šøš¬ Cryptocurrency social trading startupĀ Aluna SocialĀ has raised a US$1m Token Sale fromĀ 100x Ventures, Genesis Block Ventures, DEXTForce Explore, Joe Vezzani, Will HarborneĀ -Ā Genesis Block Ventures
š»š³ Social Commerce startupĀ MioĀ has raised a US$1m Seed fromĀ Venturra Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, Gokul Rajaram, iSeed SEA, Sanjeev Barnwal, Vidit AatreyĀ -Ā TechCrunch
š»š³ Accounting software startupĀ BizziĀ has raised a US$0.5m financing round fromĀ Qualgro, 500 StartupsĀ -Ā Vietnam Investment Review
š²š¾ Fintech startupĀ FinologyĀ has raised a US$0.5m financing round fromĀ Seedstars WorldĀ -Ā KrASIA
š¹š Restaurant Management startupĀ FoodStoryĀ has raised a Series B fromĀ Beacon Venture Capital, JWD InfoLogisticsĀ -Ā Beacon Venture Capital
š®š© Foodtech startupĀ LemoniloĀ has raised a Series B fromĀ Sequoia Capital IndiaĀ -Ā Tech in Asia
šøš¬ Healthtech startupĀ Genesis MedtechĀ has raised a Series B fromĀ General Atlantic, CITIC CapitalĀ -Ā PR Newswire
šøš¬ E-Sports startupĀ ESPLĀ has raised a Pre-Series A fromĀ RightBridge Ventures AB, Genting Ventures, Warner Music Asia, Datuk Wira SM Faisal, Puncak Geliga Capital Sdn Bhd, iCandy Interactive Ltd, Sedania Innovator BerhadĀ -Ā e27
šøš¬ B2B marketplace startupĀ EezeeĀ has raised a Pre-Series A fromĀ Wavemaker Partners, Insignia Venture Partners, January Capital, Pags GroupĀ -Ā The Business Times
šøš¬ Petcare startupĀ ZumVetĀ has raised a Seed fromĀ Aetius Capital, Pine Venture Partners, Purpose Venture Capital, Sharon JessimanĀ -Ā LinkedIn
š®š© B2C cross-border remittance startupĀ TransfezĀ has raised a Seed fromĀ East Ventures, BeenextĀ -Ā East Ventures Blog
šµš Alternative to plastic startupĀ Fortuna CoolsĀ has raised a Seed fromĀ ADB Ventures, Katapult Ocean, Manila Angel Investors Network, Nardo Holdings, Pasudeco Development Corporation, she1KĀ -Ā e27
š²š¾ Last mile delivery startupĀ ZeptoExpressĀ has raised a Seed fromĀ Ficus Venture CapitalĀ -Ā Digital News Asia
š®š© Home kitchen startupĀ DishServeĀ has raised a Seed fromĀ Insignia Venture PartnersĀ -Ā TechCrunch
Startups and downs š
š PropertyGuru has announced the acquisition of REA Groupās iProperty Malaysia and thinkofliving Thailand assets for 18% equity -Ā Digital News Asia
š®š© E-wallet LinkAja has acquired agritech lender iGrow -Ā The Jakarta Post
š®š© Fintech Alami has announced the acquisition of Bank Pembiayaan Rakyat -Ā Bisnis
š®š© Fintech FinAccel has acquired 24% of listed bank Bisnis for US$38m -Ā Tech in Asia
š®š© HR SaaS startup Mekari has acquired CRM startup Qontak -Ā e27
šøš¬ Shipping data intelligence SaaS Shipfix is expanding to SingaporeāāāLinkedIn
šøš¬ Singapore has granted provisional authorization to Breathonix's Covid breathalyzer -Ā Fierce Biotech
š Interview of Adrit Raha, CEO of insurtech Symbo -Ā Insignia Business Review
šøš¬ Here is the latest Antler cohort of entrepreneurs -Ā LinkedIn
š»š³ Last mile delivery startup Lozi and insurtech Igloo have partnered to provide microinsurance to delivery riders -Ā TechNode Global
š²š¾ Car marketplace Carsome has hired Piyush Palkar as its chief data officer -Ā Digital News Asia
The Unicorn Belt š¦
š®š© Bukalapak has reportedly filed for domestic IPO -Ā SCMP
š GrabPay has partnered with Stripe -Ā Tech in Asia
šøš¬ GrabSupermarket has launched in Singapore in partnership with HAO -Ā Vulcan Post
š®š© Inside Gojek's gamified incentive platform for drivers -Ā Rest of World
š»š³ Travel unicorn Tiket.com is considering SPAC listing this year -Ā Bloomberg
š®š© Gojek has equipped 8,000 GoCars with air purifiers -Ā The Jakarta Post
šøš¬ Gojek offers 2x S$15 vouchers for users commuting to vaccination centers -Ā The Straits Times
Venture Capitalists š¢
š»š³ Ascend Vietnam Ventures is a new VC fund investing US$500k-2m in fintech, edutech, future of work, health-tech, and enterprise SaaS in Vietnam -Ā e27
Corporates šØāš¼
š¹š Siam Commercial Bank to launch an online hotel booking app -Ā Reuters
š»š³ SP Group has signed a partnership with BCG Energy to invest in renewable energy in Vietnam -Ā The Straits Times
Smart Nations šļø
š®š© Raid Forums has been blocked by the government after a leak of personal data affecting 200m people -Ā KrASIA
šøš¬ Singapore to launch a new global exchange and marketplace for high-quality carbon credits backed by DBS, Standard Chartered, Singapore Exchange and Temasek -Ā Reuters
šøš¬ Pinduoduo has partnered with the Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation to investigate the impact of plant-based food on the Singapore population -Ā Food Navigator Asia
š»š³ Vietnam and the Philippines ranked as top investment destinations for renewables in SEA -Ā BusinessWorld
š²š² Can Myanmar build its own Great Firewall? -Ā KrASIA
šøš¬ NUS has raised S$300m in green bond for sustainable infrastructure projects -Ā NUS
šøš¬ The World Economic Forum in Singapore has been cancelled -Ā The Straits Times
Food for thought š
šµš At the height of the pandemic, unemployment hit 40% in the Philippines. So people turned to blockchain games to make money -Ā Digital Native
š®š© Unlocking recurring payments may be Indonesia's next payment use-case -Ā Medium
š»š³ 48% drop in invested capital in Vietnam in 2020 to US$451m amidst the global Covid pandemic reveals importance of local funds -Ā Do Ventures
The Fountainhead ā²
šØš³ ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming to step down -Ā TechCrunch
š®š³ Delhi Police have descended on Twitter HQ -Ā BuzzFeed News
š®š³ Scaling B2B marketplaces in India -Ā Grayscale
šØš³ 1,500 drones in Shanghai, a giant QR code. Advertising reinvented -Ā Mothership
šØš³ JD.com, Meituan and Neolix to test autonomous deliveries on Beijing public roads -Ā TechCrunch
šØš³ Gogoro is joining the battery swapping race in China -Ā TechCrunch
Also š¤«
šøš¬ There is no Singapore variant, gov't tells Facebook and Twitter -Ā CNBC