Ecosystem Roundup: Chinese VCs eying SG expansion, Modalku gets US$50M from HSBC, PayMongo ex-CFO speaks out

Chinese VC firms eye Singapore expansion amid challenges at home
GSR Ventures, Matrix Partners China, and Source Code Capital have been or are considering hiring representatives in Singapore to scout for potential startups in Southeast Asia; The trend may continue to grow as China’s tech business climate worsens.

Hodlnaut cuts 80% of employees, saw US$317M exposure to UST collapse
The firm has applied to go into judicial management due to “financial health,” citing the Terra crash in May and the overall crypto market decline as among the reasons for its losses.

SoftBank-backed Socar sees post-IPO drop
Socar’s shares, priced at US$20.80, went up in value in the initial minutes of its listing to reach 29,050 won (US$21.73) before dropping below the listing price at around 10:18 a.m; The shares were valued at US$19.54 apiece at market close.

PayMongo’s ex-CFO denies stealing money
There are no financial irregularities; It’s just that some don’t understand accounting and the scope of work; PayMongo was recently in the spotlight when a story emerged of various issues in the company, including the fallout among top leaders and the firing of two co-founders.

Taiwanese VC Cherubic Ventures launches US$110M fund
Cherubic focuses on investing in startups across Asia and the US. Its portfolio consists of 150 companies, 10 of which are unicorns. The VC firm has earmarked 50% of its fifth fund for late-stage firms as well as those in their pre-IPO stage.

Funding Societies gets US$50M credit facility from HSBC
SME lender Funding Societies claims to have disbursed over US$2.6B through more than 5.1 million transactions across Southeast Asia; The HSBC deal comes on the heels of Funding Societies’s most recent acquisition of regional digital payments platform CardUp.

SG crypto security firm Safeheron nets US$7M round
Co-lead investors are Yunqi Partners and Web3Vision; Safeheron uses a combination of multi-party computation technology and an execution environment that distributes “key shards” among multiple stakeholders to make wallets more hack-proof.

Indonesian regulator halts new crypto exchange registrations
The move aims to realize “transparent, efficient, and effective trading activities of crypto assets with fair competition to protect the interests of all parties in the crypto trading market,” a Bappebti circular said.

Vietnamese social commerce firm On Group acquires local logistics platform
Financial details of the deal were not provided; Following the deal, TopShip will be renamed to OnShip and act as one of the three main pillars of On’s ecosystem: logistics, sourcing, and financing.

SGInnovate leads US$2M seed round of SG green hydrogen firm
SunGreenH2 is developing solutions for low-cost green hydrogen production; Its technology uses specially designed nanostructured electrodes that increase the water contact area during the hydrogen-oxygen splitting reaction.

Vietnam’s Touchstone invests US$2M total in 2 startups
They are fintech company Credify and edutech platform Prep; Other than edutech and fintech, Touchstone invests in other industries, including agritech, healthtech, and real estate.

SG exchange Bhex gets nod from MAS to offer crypto services
The approval will allow the company to offer digital payment token services in the city-state; The license is part of a slew of initiatives from the Singapore government to encourage blockchain adoption.

Malaysian Islamic lifestyle app TheNoor to raise US$1.1M through equity crowdfunding
TheNoor provides several features to help the Muslim community with their spiritual commitments; These involve setting up prayer time schedules, providing mosque locations, and tracking zakat payments.

Sequoia names 15 startups in Surge’s 7th cohort
Half of the participants were in pre-launch mode when they were picked for the 16-week programme, which was established in 2019. A third of the startups also have at least one female founder.

Airbnb’s APAC MD Parin Mehta to leave post
Moving forward, he will be involved in “a combination of venture-building, investing, coaching, and blockchain,” activities he has been interested in for several years.

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