Grab raises US$2B term loan to strengthen liquidity and diversify financing sources; The loan will enable it to “strengthen its liquidity” by further enhancing its “well-capitalised position”; Grab, valued at over US$16B, is looking at a potential US IPO this year. More here
Cialfo nets US$15M Series A+ to allow students to apply directly to thousands of colleges globally; Lead investors are SIG and Vulcan Capital; In 2020, the startup partnered with 650 top institutions such as Cambridge, Oxford, Brown, and University of Pennsylvania. More here
Singapore’s AI clinical assistant platform Bot MD snags US$5M Series A; Investors include Monk’s Hill (lead), SeaX, XA Network and SGInnovate; Bot MD provides doctors with answers to their clinical questions and allows hospitals and healthcare organisations to integrate their e-medical records and hospital info systems within their platform for doctors to access. More here
Philippine AI startup Expedock raises US$4M seed; The round was led by Ali Partovi (early investor in Airbnb, Dropbox, Facebook, Uber); Expedock is working with supply chain companies, freight forwarders, ports, carriers, customs brokers, and logistics consolidators using its proprietary technology enabling workflow automation. More here
Former Carro COO’s financial wellness app GajiGesa bags US$2.5M seed for Indonesia expansion; Lead investors are Defy.vc and Quest Ventures; GajiGesa’s provides companies and their employees the tools to streamline their cash-flow by offering financial services, including Earned Wage Access, financial literacy content and bill payments. More here
BukuWarung raises strategic financing from Rocketship, unnamed retail giant; Other investors include early backers of Adyen, Nubank and Revolut; A bookkeeping app, BukuWarung claims it serves 3.5M+ merchants across 750 cities and recorded US$15B+ worth of transactions and US$500M in payments. More here
Lack of visibility, track record deter VCs from investing in firms combating plastic pollution: Rob Kaplan of Circulate Capital; He says there is no conflict of interest in Circulate’s partnership with the likes of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola; Through its US$106M Circulate Capital Ocean Fund, the impact VC firm has invested in 7 firms, mostly in India. More here
Singapore’s digital equity management platform Qapita secures investment from East Ventures; Its platform QapMap is designed to enable cap-table management, ESOP management, and digital ESOP issuance with the aim of eventually enabling digital share issuance for companies across the region; In Sep 2020, it raised US$1.8M , led by Vulcan Capital. More here
Green Packet shareholders approve US$10M acquisition of eKYC firm Xendity; Xendity’s software complements Green Packet’s enterprise products and solutions and is expected to have a material impact to the top and bottom line of Green Packet’s digital operations. More here
Beenext promotes Faiz Rahman as Partner for Indonesia, Hero Choudhary as Managing Partner; Rahman will be heading tech investments in the archipelago, where the VC firm will largely focus on early-stage deals; To date, Beenext has invested in 80+ startups in India and 51 across SEA so far, including Zilingo, Sendo, Trusting Social. More here
Indonesia’s plant-based meat startup Green Butcher closes seed round led by Teja Ventures, Unovis; Green Butcher has also partnered to showcase a range of its products at 50 Starbucks outlets; The firm was founded by Max Mandias and Helga Angelina, founders of Burgreens, the largest plant-based eatery chain in Indonesia. More here
OceanShield raises US$800K to safeguard the maritime industry from cyber attacks; Investors include Masik Enterprise and angels; The platform offers patented cybersecurity solutions to protect the OT systems of vessels, ports and maritime and offshore infrastructure. More here
OrderEZ, a business management platform for F&B suppliers and venues, raises over US$370K seed; Investors’ names remain undisclosed; The funds will be used to consolidate its ops in Singapore and expand to Australia and New Zealand; It claims to have onboarded over 500 F&B suppliers and venues in Singapore alone and aims to grow its user base 10x by year-end. More here
Indonesia on a thorny path to electric vehicles; Research by the University of Indonesia shows that over 70% of the public are keen to have an EV; Jakarta is among a few provinces which have started to trial electric buses; Private taxi operator Bluebird has added a number of Tesla cars to its fleet. More here
Singapore excels at biggest WFH experiment of our time, says Lark study; The country is poised to offer flexible work arrangements for the long term, but there is still a need to ensure that the right collaboration tool is in place to foster a positive work environment. More here
Removing barriers to cross-border payments could be the key to unlocking SEA’s economic potential; The recent announcement of the linkage between the real-time payment systems of S’pore and Thailand is a significant step; By allowing instant money transfers with mobile phone numbers at competitive rates, cross-border remittances will be significantly simpler for businesses across the two countries. More here
Meet the 12 startups from Antler’s latest Singapore cohort; The new entrants operate in SaaS, fintech, healthtech, AI, insurtech, and art-tech; Antler runs programmes across a range of cities including Stockholm, Nairobi and Sydney, and has invested in over 250 early-stage companies. More here
Ant reaches agreement with China regulators on overhaul; Ant Group has reached an agreement with Chinese regulators on how to restructure its operations; Ant will become a holding company, subjecting its subsidiaries to bank-like regulations; The group is still exploring the possibility of reviving its IPO, which collapsed in November. More here
Singapore startup launches Asia’s first whole-plant based meat brand; KARANA’s first product is ‘pork’ made from young jackfruit; In its first phase, It is launching in Singapore with six leading restaurants; At a time when food safety, security and supply chain issues are more important than ever, its solutions deliver a new third generation meat-alternative that is minimally processed and made from whole-plants with natural meat-like qualities. More here
Inside the ‘huge untapped potential’ of SEA’s e-commerce market; Online penetration for FMCG brands in the region is still at 2% compared to 27% in China, while health and beauty is at 12% and fashion and lifestyle at 44%, compared to the 47% and 64% recorded in China for the respective categories. More here
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Photo by Ernest Ojeh on Unsplash
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