Ecosystem Roundup: Singapore gets new ‘decarbonisation’ VC fund; Jio Health, Mighty Jaxx raise US$20M each

Tencent-backed Mighty Jaxx makes first close of US$20M Series A+ round
Investors include East Ventures (Growth Fund), Mirana Ventures, Teja Ventures, KB Investment and Korea Investment Partners; The new tranche brings the designer toys and collectibles firm’s total capital raised to date to US$34.8M and valuation to over US$200M

Following Primagama acquisition, Zenius raises funding led by MDI Ventures
Other backers are Northstar Group, Alpha JWC, Openspace Ventures, and Beacon VC; Founded in 2014, Zenius said that it has helped 1.5M+ alumni to enter top private and public universities in Indonesia.

Heritas Capital said to lead US$20.5M Series B round of Vietnam’s Jio Health
Jio Health has already raised nearly US$18M out of the US$20M target from 12 investors; The firm provides services such as home visits and online pharmacy, and tele-consultancy; Jio had earlier raised US$5M Series A led by Monk’s Hill.

Filipino loyalty and e-commerce platform ZAP raises funding
The investor is True Digital Group, the digital arm of Thai telco True Corporation; ZAP will use the capital to become a one-stop-shop that captures every interaction between customers and merchants

Singapore firm launches VC arm with investments in 2 startups
TC Ventures launched by Transport Capital targets firms working on decarbonisation and digitalisation solutions; The two investees are maritime industry jobs marketplace Turtle (Germany) and Everimpact, which measures and monetises carbon emissions. (France).

EduSpaze announces fourth cohort of startups to ride the stronger edutech momentum
Nine early-stage edtech companies from Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, US and Canada have been selected for the fourth cohort from over 180 applicants across 43 countries; EduSpaze is managed by Spaze Ventures and supported by Enterprise Singapore.

Former Coinbase exec launches new Web3 firm
Spencer Yang’s new Singapore-based venture Gomu provides the gateway for wallets, apps, and services based on Web3; It is developing APIs and software development kits for developers and companies to offer NFT commerce, token swaps, liquidity pools, social, and other crypto functionalities to users.

Philippines must step up digital shift for better cash aid system: World Bank
The digital government-to-person payments should be ramped up, mainly by tapping other financial services providers like e-wallets, to speed up and ensure the efficient distribution of cash assistance during a crisis.

The pandemic cements digital’s valuable role in B2B commerce
The more sales channels a B2B company offered to enable purchases, the more likely the company was to have gained market share during the pandemic; That finding comes from management consulting firm McKinsey & Co’s December 2021 global B2B Pulse survey of nearly 3,400 decision-makers in 12 countries.

In the metaverse, responsible AI must be a priority
Because AI algorithms are built by people with biases, they can be created to follow the thought patterns and biases of their creators — which can then multiply; To create a flourishing and more equitable metaverse, dark AI patterns that can create and perpetuate bias need to be addressed.

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