Ecosystem Roundup: PropertyGuru to go public on March 18; Philippine startups raise US$1B+ in 2021

PropertyGuru to list on NYSE on March 18
It has merged with Bridgetown 2; The proptech firm announced its intention to list in the US last year; At the time, the agreement gave PropertyGuru an enterprise value of over US$1.3B and an equity value of about US$1.8B.

Philippine startups raise more than US$1B in 2021: Report
It is a steep rise from US$369M raised in 2020, says a Foxmont Capital report; Fintech and media and entertainment registered the largest funding growth last year; Within the first two months of 2022, funds raised by local startups reached US$310M.

Ripple’s US$250M fund invests in first batch of NFT projects
Since launching in September 2021, Ripple’s Creator Fund has attracted nearly 4K applications; Notable creators that have received support from the fund include author, producer, and entrepreneur Justin Bua; filmmaker Steven Sebring; and xPunks.

Sea Group CEO makes efforts to be transparent after stock plunge
Forrest Li has sent an email to all employees in order to erase their fear of the company’s stock price plunge and defend its decision to continue spending on growth; According to some sources, fund managers have urged Sea to be more open about its strategy and numbers.

Edutech firm Cialfo raises US$20M more to extend its Series B round to US$60M
Investors are Tiger Global, Square Peg, and SEEK Investments; The Cialfo platform connects over 250K high school students, their counsellors, and families with over 1,000 colleges in 50 countries.

‘Climate tech: SEA needs more time to improve startup quality, attract capital’, says Earth Venture Capital’s Tien Nguyen
Lack of climate change education, governmental support and entrepreneurial culture contribute to the shortage of climate tech firms in SEA; Earth VC invests in early-stage tech firms serving the goals of switching to renewable energy, abandoning fuel and diesel and planting more trees.

Rukita acquires GDP Venture-owned boarding houses search platform Infokost.id
In December 2020, GDP Venture announced the closure of Infokost’s operations; Rukita then took it over and revitalised the business; Currently, Infokost.id offers 1M rooms on its platform and serves 50K property owners.

Singapore to tax NFT transactions
The government earlier warned its citizens regarding NFTs and the metaverse as the government tries to understand the nascent scene; Recently, the country’s so-called “Crypto King” came under fire for promoting P2E games whose native tokens eventually tanked.

East Ventures joins pre-seed round of Indonesian agritech firm Aria
Other investors are GK-Plug and Play Indonesia, Triputra Group, Waresix, and Sahabat Group; Aria uses drones and IoT devices to increase the efficiency and productivity of farmers and large-scale plantations.

Traveloka joins the burgeoning e-grocery market in Indonesia
Called Mart, the new service offers frozen food, fresh produce, and personal care items, among others; The company has partnered with several grocery stores and supermarkets in Greater Jakarta for its latest offering.

Why the Carbon tax is just a step forward and not a solution
While a carbon tax might encourage companies to make greener choices, adopting new technologies or swapping fuels, simply reducing emissions without offsetting them is unlikely to do enough to salvage the carbon budget.

How are NFTs contributing to creating a social impact?
Creators combine lessons and concepts learnt from previous PFP (profile picture ) projects like gamification, community involvement, and merchandise giveaways and apply them to sustainable development goal problems.

Ex-StanChart exec’s startup Touché banks funding from UAE financial firm
Focused on F&B and hospitality sectors, Touché allows businesses to serve their clients through a single-point device; Its solution runs on a fully integrated mobile-based smart payment terminal; The features include taking orders, tip management, and e-receipts.

Animoca backs Cardano-based crypto exchange WingRiders in seed round
Other investors include Bitrue, Double Peak Capital, Spark Digital Capital, and Matrixport; WingRiders is an automated market maker DEX that aims to be an infrastructure element in the Cardano ecosystem, providing easy integration into any wallet or decentralised app.

Google Ads’ Singapore rival ReverseAds bags US$600K from Choco Up
ReverseAds is a keyword-advertising platform; It identifies keywords based on users’ past searches, clicks, and purchases, and uses this data to help companies provide more relevant ads.

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