This week saw a surge of activity in the Southeast Asian startup scene, as several pioneering ventures secured significant funding and announced strategic partnerships to fuel their growth and expansion initiatives.
From digital banking and fintech platforms to AI-driven fraud detection and sustainable coffee substitutes, these startups are reshaping industries and pushing the boundaries of innovation.
Let’s delve into the highlights of PriyoShop’s transformative retail marketplace, Transparently.AI’s advanced accounting fraud detection technology, Xalts’ acquisition of Contour Network, UNOAsia’s credit-led digital bank, Prefer’s bean-free coffee revolution, and Dolbomdream’s therapeutic IoT-powered hugging vests.
Additionally, strategic partnerships like Helicap’s collaboration with Bank Danamon Indonesia and cross-border drone delivery services by Aerodyne and DroneDash are poised to redefine logistics and financing landscapes across the region.
These developments underscore Southeast Asia’s position as a hotbed for entrepreneurial talent and disruptive innovation, promising exciting prospects for the future of business in the region.
PriyoShop
PriyoShop, a B2B retail marketplace for MSMEs in Bangladesh, made the headlines this week with the closing of its US$5 million pre-Series A round of financing led by Century Oak Ventures. Evolution Ventures, Iterative, SOSV (Orbit Startups), GFR Fund, BonBillo, Accelerating Asia, South Asia Tech Partners, and Voltity also participated.
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Launched in July 2021 by Khan and Dipty Mandal (CMO), PriyoShop works with small retail shops and major brands to transform and modernise the retail supply chain industry. Through its asset-light marketplace model, PriyoShop helps small businesses efficiently source goods, access consistent and competitive prices, and rapidly receive goods through next-day delivery. This helps MSMEs increase their business margins.
Through the company’s partnership with the digital financing platform LankaBangla Financing, PriyoShop can help MSMEs scale up their businesses further through tailored credit facilities and access to supply chain financing options.
Lapasar and Bateriku
Both these startups hit the headlines when they received funding from Malaysia’s pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) [KWAP]
KWAP invested a total of RM100 million (US$21 million) in Lapasar and Bateriku and VC firms Antler and Vynn Capital.
Bateriku is an automotive service provider with a network of partners nationwide, providing job opportunities and increasing financial inclusion. Lapasar, on the other hand, is an online wholesale marketplace that focuses on meeting the needs of the FMCG industry, accelerating the adoption of digitalisation throughout the economy.
Transparently.AI
Global asset manager Franklin Templeton invested an undisclosed amount in Singapore-based artificial intelligence startup Transparently.AI, as part of its fintech incubation programme. This investment is part of the AI-based accounting fraud detector’s US$3 million pre-Series A funding round.
Move Asset Management also co-invested in Transparently.
Transparently.AI uses machine learning to identify accounting manipulation and fraud in company reporting far in advance of public discovery. It has developed a unique AI-based system for the automated detection of accounting manipulation and fraud in companies globally. Transparently.AI provides a cloud-hosted SaaS solution that explicitly measures the probability of accounting manipulation in listed companies.
Xalts
Xalts, a Singapore-based fintech platform for financial institutions and businesses to build and manage digital finance applications, acquired Contour Network, which connects global banks with global businesses.
Contour was started in 2017 as a pilot by eight global banks, including HSBC, Standard Chartered and BNP, focusing on digitising trade. Over 22 banks, including HSBC, BNP, Citi, DBS, and ING, and 100 international businesses like Tata Group and Rio Tinto, use Contour for digital trade finance solutions.
Xalts was founded in 2022 by Ashutosh Goel and Supreet Kaur, former senior executives at HSBC and Meta. Backed by Accel Partners and Citi Ventures, Xalts is used by institutions to build multi-party applications for digitisation and tokenisation.
UNOAsia
UNOAsia, the company behind UNO Digital Bank in the Philippines, raised US$32.1 million in a pre-Series B investment round comprising equity and debt. The investors include Gateway Partners, Creador Private Equity, and Nextinfinity Management.
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Founded in 2020 by Manish Bhai, Puneet Gupta, and Kalidas Ghose, UNO Digital Bank is a full-spectrum credit-led digital bank licensed under the Digital Banking License framework promulgated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in the Philippines. Filipinos can use the app to save, borrow, transact, invest, and protect money.
Aerodyne and DroneDash
Aerodyne Group, a drone-based enterprise solutions provider headquartered in Malaysia, has signed an agreement with Singapore-based air mobility company DroneDash Technologies to introduce cross-border drone delivery services between the two countries.
This aims to boost logistics efficiency between the two countries and advance the region’s delivery and supply chain capabilities.
The two firms will work to obtain all necessary permits to commence shore-to-shore drone operations along the Malaysia-Singapore corridor.
Healint
US-based software-as-a-medical device (SaMD) company Aptar Digital Health, a unit of NYSE-listed AptarGroup, Inc., acquired Singapore-based Healint, a health tech company known for its virtual clinical studies, real-world evidence, and patient registry.
The details of the deal remain undisclosed.
Per a statement, the acquisition aligns with Aptar Digital’s strategy to broaden its portfolio in neurology and strengthen its global footprint for digital health deployment. The expanded capabilities include patient community management, patient activation, artificial intelligence-based data collection and analysis, and digital diagnostics to facilitate patient screening and identification.
Furthermore, Healint’s ability to conduct clinical studies at a global scale complements Aptar Digital Health’s existing solutions to provide additional value to pharmaceutical customers.
Prefer
Prefer, a bean-free coffee startup in Singapore, secured US$2 million in seed funding led by Forge Ventures. 500 Global, A*ccelerate, Better Bite Ventures, Sopoong Ventures, SEEDS Capital, Entrepreneur First, and Pickup Coffee also participated in the round.
The capital allows Prefer to make significant investments in growing the capacity of its production facility, expanding its ground coffee and ready-to-drink bottled beverages across Asia Pacific, starting with Singapore and the Philippines.
Co-founded in 2022 by Jake Berber (CEO) and Tan Ding Jie (CTO), Prefer makes coffee without coffee beans to ensure coffee is delicious, affordable, and sustainable. The company’s proprietary fermentation technology upcycles surplus bread, soy pulp, and spent grain to create a coffee substitute that offers the same aroma, taste, and brewing experience as traditional coffee.
Helicap
Singapore-based fintech group Helicap, which connects global investors to private debt opportunities in Southeast Asia, formed a strategic partnership with Bank Danamon Indonesia to support the archipelago’s fintech and alternative lending industry.
This collaboration aims to position the duo as a one-stop solution for non-dilutive growth capital targeting fintech, alternative lending firms and MSMEs across diverse segments, including supply chain, leasing, and e-commerce.
Beyond capital infusion, the deal envisions a supportive and innovative funding ecosystem catering to the debt financing needs of non-bank firms at every stage of their growth journey, from seed funding to IPO.
Dolbomdream
South Korean startup Dolbomdream, which develops IoT-powered hugging vests, secured undisclosed seed funding from Quest Ventures.
The company will use the funds for Southeast Asia expansion.
DolbomDream develops smart HUGgy vests that incorporate research-backed Deep Touch Pressure technology to simulate the effect of hugs on wearers to provide psychological comfort to its wearers. The vests analyse wearers’ biometric data to give caregivers real-time analysis of their psychological status through an app, which can also activate the vest.
The target customers include special needs individuals, seniors, sleep disorder patients, and anyone who might benefit from the therapeutic power of a hug.
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