airasia acquires Gojek’s Thai operations as SEA’s battle for supper app supremacy intensifies; In return, Gojek will receive shareholding in the airasia Super App, whose market value is said to be around US$1B; The deal is expected to rev up the expansion of the airasia Super App in ASEAN, while enabling Gojek to increase investments in its Vietnam and Singapore operations.
Bukalapak increases IPO target to over US$1B on strong demand; The books for Bukalapak’s IPO will open this week for about 10 days, and will be followed by a listing in August, says a Reuters report citing sources; Bukalapak, which counts GIC and Microsoft among its backers, is set to be the biggest local listing in 13 years and the largest ever by a startup in the SEA country.
Nium acquires India unit of scam-hit Wirecard; Wirecard Forex India is a foreign currency exchange, pre-paid card, and remittance services provider; The German fintech giant hit the headlines last year when it filed for insolvency in June 2020 due to a massive accounting scandal; The deal is Nium’s second in just over a month after its acquisition of Ixaris and is expected to close in Q3 2021.
Insignia Ventures targets to raise US$250M third fund by end-2021; The focus sector of the fund couldn’t be ascertained, but Insignia’s stated aim is to make early-stage tech investments in SEA; In an earlier interview, its founder Yinglan Tan said it sees Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines as key markets and it is bullish on the healthcare and education sectors.
Magic Fund closes US$30M second vehicle, backs 4 Asian startups; Magic Fund typically invests around US$100K-300K in early-stage companies across Africa, Europe, LatAm, North America, and SEA; Its investees include Vietnam’s proptech startup Homebase.
Expara Ventures shelves plan to raise US$30M fund; The VC firm had planned to raise 4th fund to invest in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam; COVID-19 appears to have sealed the decision for the firm; Last year, it launched an accelerator programme to back startups developing solutions to challenges that emerged due to the pandemic.
On-demand delivery startup Pickupp closes US$15M Series A; Investors include Taiwan e-commerce giant PChome, Cornerstone Ventures, Swire Properties, and Cathay Venture; Pickupp will use the money to add 10 more dispatch points in Singapore within the next 12 months.
iMedia enters e-commerce by acquiring Malaysia’s community beauty store Favful; Favful’s social commerce platform curates recommendations from its community members based on the customers’ skin type, skin concerns, and lifestyle choices; iMedia will be responsible for the acceleration of Favful’s revenue for its influencer advertising unit as well as branded content.
Singapore’s Janio raises US$8M from revenue-based investment and fintech co. Choco Up; Choco Up’s investment is part of a wider closed round bridge investment, which also includes funding from Singapore-based Innoven Capital and Janio’s existing shareholders; Janio is a cross-border platform that provides integrated, end-to-end e-commerce logistics solutions in SEA.
Indonesia’s micro-retail tech startup Warung Pintar reportedly raises US$6M; Investors are East Ventures (led) and Vertex Ventures; This round is expected to bring Warung Pintar’s valuation to US$169M; It followed a Series A round in 2019; Earlier this year, Warung Pintar acquired Bizzy for US$45M.
OsakaKuma raises US$6M from SEEINFRONT Capital to open 3 outlets for Japanese cosmetic brands in S’pore; The firm uses data from over 100K surveyed customers from 15 online stores worldwide to target consumer needs and demands so that solutions can be offered in a more precise way; This round brings its total funds raised to date to US$8M.
Singapore’s smart living startup HiLife Interactive secures US$6M Series A from Shanghai 2345; HiLife Interactive expects to double its presence in SEA with new markets such as Cambodia and plans to break into the Australasia and European markets by the en-2021; It offers hiLife, an all-in-one lifestyle platform that integrates smart home, smart community and smart estate.
Singapore biotech startup Allozymes raises US$5M; Investors include Temasek’s arm Xora Innovation (lead), SOSV, TI Platform Management, and Entrepreneur First; Allozymes’s proprietary platform can analyse and maps millions of enzyme variants per day; It can also generate larger datasets than competitors, the company claims, and has the potential to become the largest enzyme data library.
Locad lands US$4.9M seed to provide logistics infra for e-commerce businesses; Investors include Sequoia Surge (lead), Antler, Febe Ventures, Foxmont, and Global Founders Capital; Through its platform, brands can manage their orders and stocks from a single virtual pool across multiple sales channels, with visibility of sales, orders, inventory, and service levels.
Carsome makes strategic investment in Indonesia’s PT Universal Collection; Through this investment, Carsome intends to accelerate its automotive transaction volumes in Indonesia and expand its network coverage and access to financial and leasing providers; As part of its investment, Carsome’s dealer partners will enjoy more inventory diversity and broader options through PT UC.
LendMN’s Singapore parent AND Global lands funding from SBI VEN Holdings; LendMN offers AI-based instant collateral-free loans to customers in Mongolia; As of June 2021, it claims to have over 930K registered users; LendMN uses non-traditional data sources, along with traditional data, to identify the customers’ credit risk instantaneously and issues loans within less than five minutes of signing up.
Indonesian edutech startup GREDU raises US$4M; Investors are Intudo Ventures and Vertex Ventures; Its subscription services allow schools and teachers to track the performance and progress of students in line with the national curriculum to improve oversight and effectiveness of instruction; It also helps administrators handle documentation, compile syllabuses, manage teaching schedules, improve big data management, and increase transparency.
Dagangan bags pre-Series A for its one-stop platform for household needs in Indonesia; The capital that came from Spiral Ventures, CyberAgent Capital, 500 Startups, and Bluebird Group will be used for expanding into 7K villages; The startup is currently operating in more than 4K villages spread across Yogyakarta, Central Java, and West Java.
Grab PayLater, Atome, Hoolah gain traction amid BNPL boom in Singapore, says report; About 19% of Singapore’s population above the age of 16 has tried a tech-enabled BNPL service, according to a report by Milieu Insight; 30% of Singaporeans aged between 25 and 34 were “most likely” to have used a BNPL service.
One in four remote workers in Singapore feels less connected to their firms, finds Qualtrics study; Creating a culture of belonging is the top driver of employee engagement, as well as a positive influence on engagement, intent to stay, and wellbeing; Stress, anxiety, and concerns about job security continue to have an adverse effect on the workforce.
E-commerce for the future: How open banking enables greater security and trust; Leveraging on open APIs, open banking enables e-commerce platforms to securely connect to a consumer’s bank account for purposes including initiating payments or retrieving data on their behalf; Online retailers and e-commerce platforms will need to fight harder for loyalty by establishing competitive advantages in user experience.
Can alternative proteins help build a more secure and sustainable food system?; The current food system is struggling to keep up with the demand from a growing global population; Investors pouring billions into alternative protein sources are betting that foodtech can be part of the solution by building a more resilient agri-food system.
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Image Credit: airasia
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