Ecosystem Roundup: SPACs favour Singapore, Astro bags US$27M Series A, CoLearn closes Series A at US$27M

State-backed Penjana on track to close fund at US$285M in Q1 2022
Set up in July 2020 as part of the country’s national COVID economic relief strategy, the programme has already raised US$238M as of end-2021; Penjana will match US$142.8M of the capital raised by venture fund managers under the programme.

Quick commerce startup Astro raises US$27M Series A
Investors include Accel Partners, Sequoia India, AC Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Goodwater Capital; Astro delivers groceries and essentials such as snacks, drinks, milk and bread to customers within 15 minutes of placing the order.

Temasek leads US$70M Series B of Austria’s waterdrop
waterdrop encourages people to drink more water and less sugary beverages; It sells sugar-free tabs that customers can dissolve in water to add flavour; The firm will use the capital for global expansion.

Sayurbox, Eden Farm in talks to raise funding
While farm-to-table e-commerce startup Sayurbox is soon expected to close a funding round led by Northstar Group, Eden Farm is in initial discussions to raise capital by Q3 2022.

SPACs favour Singapore
SPACs have accounted for about 75% of the total listings and 98% of the total capital raised during January 22; Reportedly, SGX welcomed three SPAC IPOs, raising SGD520M during the month; The three IPOs were subscribed 7-36x reflects a strong investor sentiment.

Krungsri prepares US$212-242M for digital, innovation strategy
Krungsri will spend the capital this year on digital and innovations to expand digital banking services both in Thailand and regional markets; The plan has three core strategies: Asean enhancement and expansion, ecosystems and partnerships, and digital and innovation.

CoLearn attracts US$17M more to close Series A round at US$27M
Investors include TNB Aura, KTB Network, Binus Group, GSV Ventures, AC Ventures, Leo Capital, and January Capital; CoLearn provides children in Indonesia with an alternative to traditional offline tutoring with its live interactive classes.

How this startup is making NFTs more than a speculative investment and a status symbol
So-col is on a mission to make NFTs useful for everyone by harnessing its tech to transform the creator economy; It aims to build an all-in-one decentralised alternative to platforms like Twitch, Patreon, and Discord.

India to launch digital rupee by 2023
The move is likely to give an impetus to the participation of institutional players in the blockchain space; CBDCs will be a new form of digital cash intended to replace physical cash.

BNPL startup hoolah raises US$5.9M from ShopBack
This followed ShopBack acquisition of hoolah announced last year; Singapore-, Malaysia- and Hong Kong-based hoolah offers shoppers three interest-free instalment payments at over 2,000 merchant sites.

Social food ordering app Gobble secures US$1.3M seed capital
Investors are Beenext, Flash Ventures, Warren Tseng (formerly Uber APAC), and Siddharth Shanker (formerly Deliveroo); Gobble is tackling reduced social interaction among university students through its group ordering and food-gifting features.

Vegan ice cream firm Kind Kones scoops up US$1.1M in fresh funds
Investors include DSG Consumer Partners, Apricot Capital, Lam Soon, and Allianz Capital MD Andress Goh; Kind Kones serves all-natural vegan ice cream; The ingredients it uses in its frozen tubs include coconut, cashew, almond, and fruits.

Endeavor Indonesia unveils 10 startups selected for scale-up growth programme batch 2
The Endeavor participants, selected from 43 startups based in Indonesia/Singapore, have a minimum of US$2M+ in equity funding/annual revenue by 2021.

Thailand seeks to join the digital bank race in SEA
BOT is seeking feedback from the public for its plans for “Repositioning Thailand’s Financial Sector for a Sustainable Digital Economy” by 28 February 2022; The regulator is seeking to promote healthy competition between new fintech players and incumbent banks to drive innovation and better financial services.

—

The post Ecosystem Roundup: SPACs favour Singapore, Astro bags US$27M Series A, CoLearn closes Series A at US$27M appeared first on e27.