Grab’s US$40B SPAC deal set to light up IPO path for SEA startups; Recently, the performance of SPACs has faltered in the market, putting extra pressure on blank-cheque firms trying to woo startups that are becoming wary of the IPO process; US regulators have been warning investors for months about the potential risks around SPACs.
Carousell mulling US listing via SPAC merger at US$1.5B valuation: Bloomberg; The listing could take place as soon as the end of this year, and Carousell is already working with an adviser on the potential deal; Carousell began in Singapore and now has a presence in eight markets across Asia; As of last Sept., the firm is said to have over 250M listings across Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
PayMaya nets US$167M to provide smart digital banking services to unbanked Filipinos; Besides PLDT, KKR, and Tencent, IFC Financial Institutions Growth Fund also participated; PayMaya will use the fresh capital to expand its services, including mobile wallet, payments processing, and digital remittance businesses; It has applied for a digital bank license with the Philippines’s central bank BSP.
Velocity Ventures to back distressed hospitality & travel startups with the new US$20M fund; It has announced the first close; Velocity Hospitality and Travel Fund I has also announced its maiden investments in two startups: Aigens and Zuzu Hospitality; The fund expects to make the final close at the end of 2021.
Singapore’s wealthtech platform Endowus secures US$4.5M; Investors are UBS, Samsung Ventures, Singtel Innov8, Lightspeed, and SoftBank Ventures; Endowus provides retail, accredited, and institutional investors with a digital experience to invest all their cash, SRS, and CPF savings; It offers expert personalised advice at a lower cost with no sales charges.
Fairbanc raises funding to help Indonesian SMEs get credit access sans loan application, smartphones; Investors include ADB Ventures, Accion Venture Lab, East Ventures, and Sampoerna Strategic Group; This new financial backing comes on the heels of its recent investments from 500 Startups and Indonesian billionaire Sampoerna; Fairbanc’s AI-powered platform can read digital footprints, such as transaction history with large suppliers, and data to grant instant digital credit
Singapore’s decentralised document infra platform Dedoco bags US$2.45M seed led by Vertex Ventures; The startup enables document authentication by securing real-time verification options while an audit trail is recorded on the blockchain to maintain transaction integrity; It also provides a new feature “Sign with Singpass” by the Government Technology Agency of Singapore to 2.5M+ registered Singpass app users.
6-month-old Infina wants to become the “RobinHood” of Vietnam with a US$2M funding; Investors include Saison Capital, Venturra Discovery, 1982 Ventures, 500 Startups, and Nextrans; Infina aims to make investment accessible, easy, and engaging for Vietnam’s middle and lower classes.
Singapore is leading in banking-as-a-service adoption globally: survey finds; The Finastra survey further finds that Open Banking has become important to 97% of Singapore businesses, with over 50% calling it a “must have”; Open Banking has provided a number of benefits to their organisations, including improving the customer experience (79%), delivering new services (93%), and improving internal systems (57%).
Payments firm MoMo buys Vietnamese AI startup Pique that turns visitors into customers; MoMo has bought all of Pique’s intellectual property and has hired its data science and engineering team, including its founder; With this deal, MoMo plans to capitalise on Pique’s 25M user database to further improve its product offerings.
Gojek CEO invests in Singapore’s YC-backed Gotrade; Other investors are Amand Ventures, Prasetia Dwidharma, and Brama One Ventures; Gotrade offers ease and convenience in buying and trading stocks for US-listed companies in Indonesia; According to statistics, Gotrade has secured more than 100,000 users only 13 weeks since its launch.
KLAR bags seed funding to develop high-tech ‘ultra-clear’ teeth aligners in Indonesia; Investors are AC Ventures (lead) and Kenangan Fund; Currently, KLAR has partnered with 600+ dentists and orthodontists throughout the archipelago; The firm is now present in 100+ dental clinics across 32 cities; Jakarta, Bali, and Surabaya are its key cities.
Carro’s fintech arm launches financing plan ‘Genie’ for electric vehicles, hybrid cars; It aims to help private-hire vehicle (PHV) drivers switch to hybrid or EVs; Under Genie’s GoGreen initiative, PHV operators can purchase new or used hybrid or electric cars by applying for financing from Genie, where they can get a special interest rate of 1.98% per annum for up to 100 months.
Sequoia Surge’s new cohort comprises a vegan makeup startup, an innovative email marketing platform, and more; The programme, which kicks off on June 30, has 10 woman founders, the largest in a cohort since it first started two years ago in March 2019; Surge, along with other co-investors, has invested a total of US$55M in the latest batch comprising 23 startups.
Bukalapak founder Achmad Zaky Foundation launches edutech incubator in Indonesia; Startup Campus 2021 was kicked off online on June 29 through a partnership between the foundation and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology; The incubator is said to be a guidance programme for students who are interested in creating businesses startups in Indonesia.
7 non-dairy milk startups that can make your vegan transition easier; It is not just the meat industry that is undergoing a sea change but the dairy sector, too, and nowadays, alternative dairy products are the talk of the town; Sesamilk, Sophie’s Bionutrients, and TurtleTree Labs, etc. are already making their presence felt in the region.
How a global pandemic changed (and continues to change) the way we pay; Out of social distancing necessity, the pandemic led to increased use of contactless, digital payment methods like mobile e-wallets, bank transfers, and QR codes; Many retailers who have long resisted installing contactless technology due to processing fees have now been compelled to offer it.
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