Indonesian and Malaysian startups dominated the VC investments scene in Southeast Asia this week amidst an unfavourable economic climate and funding winter.
Take a look at the top headlines of the week.
Saison Capital rolls out new token fund
Saison Capital, a Singapore-based VC firm, announced the launch of a new token fund Saison Crypto. The average ticket size is between US$200,000 and US$500,000 with follow-on support. Saison Crypto’s first token-only investment is in the pipeline. This builds on top of its 30 existing investments which are primarily a combination of equity and tokens.
Soft Space closes US$31.5M Series B1 round
Soft Space, a Malaysian fintech-as-a-service firm, has closed a US$31.5M Series B1 round. The investors are Southern Capital Group, transcosmos, strategic investor JCB, and Hibiscus Fund. The funds will help expand its global footprint and widen its customer base by accelerating the innovation of its full-stack payments platform while expanding into next-generation technological solutions.
Qmed secures US$1.2M funding
Malaysian healthtech startup Qmed Asia has secured US$1.2M in a pre-Series A funding round through an equity crowdfunding (ECF) campaign on Leet Capital. As many as 110 investors participated in the campaign, including angels, the Malaysia Co-Investment Fund (MyCIF), and 1337 Ventures. The funds will be used to expand its operations into Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
Hybrid work becoming the status quo in SEA
Hybrid work is becoming the status quo in Southeast Asia, with 45 per cent of companies providing it and only 12 per cent offering remote work options to employees, finds a joint study conducted by Glints and Monk’s Hill Ventures. While in Singapore, about 63 per cent of startups offer hybrid work and 43 per cent full-time office work. In Indonesia, it is 59 per cent (hybrid) and 33 per cent (full-time office work). Vietnam has bucked the trend, with 83 per cent of companies offering full-time office work, while only 11 per cent favour the flexibility of hybrid work.
Sinar Mas subsidiary invests in 01Fintech
01Fintech, a growth-stage fintech private equity (PE) firm founded by ex-Ant Group executive Kenny Man, has received an undisclosed sum in funding from Sinar Mas Financial Services, a subsidiary of Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas Group. The PE firm will leverage its market insights, investment experience, and technical and operational expertise to transform and operationalise Sinar Mas Financial’s fintech vision and ambition. At the same time, Sinar Mas Financial will leverage the 01Fintech team’s specialisation to drive synergies amongst the business units and various fintech investments across the entire Sinar Mas Group ecosystem.
ChopValue scores US$7.7M funding
ChopValue, a Canadian and Singaporean startup designing and manufacturing products using an innovative, high-performance material engineered from recycled chopsticks, has closed a US$7.7 million funding round. Two unnamed high-profile technology entrepreneurs with expansion interests in Asia Pacific and Europe led the round. Several corporate VC funds and existing investors (VC funds in the climate-tech space and institutional investors such as EDC and BDC) also participated. The funds will be used to expand ChopValue’s operations, mainly to serve B2B partnerships better. The focus will be on increasing production capacity and developing new product lines.
Fresh Factory nets US$4.15M
Indonesia’s integrated cold chain fulfilment and enabler startup Fresh Factory has raised US$4.15 million in pre-Series A funding led by SBI Ven Capital through its joint fund with Kyobo Securities and NTUitive. Existing backers East Ventures and Trihill Capital and new investor PT Tap Applied Agri Services also participated. Fresh Factory will utilise the funds to scale to over 100 fulfilment centres across 50 Indonesian cities by the end of 2023. The list includes Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and Java.
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