Asean Tech Digest #55

Your curated summary of ongoing disruption in Southeast Asian tech. Subscribe here to receive it by email 💌

Hi SEA fans,

Last two weeks, in the news:

🌏 Idinvest Smart City Fund 2 reaches first close at US$97m, to dedicate up to 40% to Asian investments

💰Singapore reveals 2021 budget, including S$11bn for Covid Resilience and acceleration in EV strategy

📲 Offline messaging & social apps like Clubhouse see surge in usage in Thailand and Myanmar

✈ Business travel is on with Connect@Changi — the facility, which allows contactless business meetings and stays, has opened

Just funded 💸

🇸🇬 Robotics startup Ratio has raised a US$10m Series A from Frasers Property, JustCo, zVentures — Tech in Asia

🇹🇭 Insurtech startup AppMan has raised a US$4.6m Series A from Casmatt, Krungsri Finnovate, KTBST Group, Phillip Capital, Siam Alpha Equity — e27

🇻🇳 Hotel Booking startup Go2Joy has raised a US$2.3m Series A+ from HB Investments, Platform Partners Asset Management — Phocus Wire

🇸🇬 Internet Connectivity startup Transcelestial Technologies has raised a US$2m financing round from Kickstart Ventures — e27

🇮🇩 Martech startup Member.id has raised a US$1.1m Series A from East Ventures, Traveloka — East Ventures Blog

🇵🇭 Profit Optimization startup Mosaic Solutions has raised a US$1m Pre-Series A from Gentree — e27

🇸🇬 Online News Portal startup TechNode Global has raised a US$1m Seed from Kairous Capital, Nutty Capital Ventures, SPH Ventures — TechNode

🇸🇬 Urban mobility startup SWAT has raised a financing round from ComfortDelGro Ventures, EDBI, Global Brain, Goldbell Group, iGlobe Partners, LKJ Capital Japan, MomentUM, Ruvento Ventures, Singapore Economic Development Board, The University of Tokyo Edge Capital — SWAT Mobility

Startups and downs 🚀

🇸🇬 EV carsharing firm BlueSG has been acquired by Goldbell Group for at least US$18.8m — CNA

🇲🇲 Offline messaging app Bridgefy (Mexico) has been downloaded 1m times following the Myanmar internet lockdown — Reuters

🇸🇬 Insurtech CXA Group has sold its HK and Singaporean brokerage arms to Global insurance brokerage firm Pacific Prime — AFP

🇮🇩 Interview with Jason Thompson, CEO of fintech OVO, on the Indonesian fintech landscape — LinkedIn

🇸🇬 Social commerce startup Webuy is betting on Pinduoduo’s group buying model — KrASIA

🇲🇾 Sugar dating app Sugarbook’s founder has been arrested — The Straits Times

🇹🇭 P2P lending startup Funding Societies is launching in Thailand — Tech in Asia

🇸🇬 Neobank Revolut has launched accounts for 7–17 YO, Revolut Junior, to promote financial literacy and good money management habits among children — Tech Coffee House

🇸🇬 C2C marketplace Carousell’s fraud rate has dropped to 0.026% in Q4 2020 — Tech in Asia

🇸🇬 GANK Global has launched its marketplace of video game coaching and support services — Digital Journal

The Unicorn Belt 🦄

🇮🇩 Gojek and Tokopedia are reportedly nearing a 60/40 merger deal — Bloomberg

🇮🇩 Traveloka is aiming at a SPAC listing in 2021 — Nikkei Asian Review

🇮🇩 Gojek’s GoStore will integrate with Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping — KrASIA

🇮🇩 Tokopedia is collaborating with OLX Autos to sell cars and related services online — AIM Group

Venture Capitalists 🎢

🌏 Idinvest — Eurazeo has reached the first close for its Smart City Fund at US$97m, to invest up to 40% in Asia — Tech in Asia

🇹🇭 SCB 10X, the investment arm of Siam Commercial Bank, has set up a US$50m VC fund focused on blockchain and digital assets — DealStreetAsia

🇸🇬 Temasek’s biggest focus from now on will be climate change, says incoming CEO — The Straits Times

🇸🇬 With 200 family offices managing US$20bn AUM, Singapore is a place of choice for billionaires — CNA

🌏 Interview with Wing Vasiksiri, founder of VC fund iSeed at 23 — The Venture Journey

🇸🇬 Trive Ventures has launched a philanthropy fund — Tech in Asia

🇮🇩 Founding member of Pavilion Capital Koh Wai Kit has joined East Ventures as Venture Partner — The Business Times

Corporates 👨‍💼

🇸🇬 Pioneering the contactless economy, Connect@Changi has opened to enable short term business stays in Singapore — The Straits Times

🇮🇩 Shopee topped Indonesian e-commerce in 2020 by number of visitors — 90m/month on average — Nikkei Asian Review

🇸🇬 AirAsia to launch food delivery in Singapore, with 0 commission — Vulcan Post

Smart Nations 🏛️

🇸🇬 Singapore has revealed its 2021 budget, including S$11bn for Covid Resilience, an extension of the Job Support Scheme, and S$30m for EV initiatives — Seedly

🇹🇭 Clubhouse experiences surge in usage in Thailand as a live platform for debate — Reuters

🇸🇬 Singapore is the 5th market for datacenters, worldwide, per a report by Cushman & Wakefield — Cushman & Wakefield

🇸🇬 60,000 EV charging points by 2030 to rule out ICE by 2040: Singapore is accelerating its transition — SCMP

Food for thought 🍜

🌏 Filipino netizens top world ranking in average daily time spent on the internet, at 10.56 hours (vs 7 worldwide average), Malaysia ranks 6th at 9h, Indonesia ranks 8th and Thailand 9th — We Are Social

🇮🇩 US$39b AUM, 6% market share, Indonesian Islamic banking still lags behind its Malaysian counterpart — KrASIA

The Fountainhead ⛲

🇮🇳 India has set free the process of making maps and generating geospatial data — NDTV.com

🇮🇳 UPI transactions on Whatsapp have fallen by 31% in January — KrASIA

🇮🇳 Tesla plans to open an EV manufacturing plant in India — Business Standard

🇨🇳 Steam has officially launched in China — a16z

🇨🇳 China is home to 80% of world solar production capacity — MacroPolo

🇨🇳 Alibaba has set up a new airport logistics hub in Liege, Belgium, the launchpad for its European expansion — the Guardian

Also 🤫

🇻🇳 Happy Lunar New Year, from the US ambassador in Vietnam, in rap version — Twitter

🇲🇾 Happy Lunar New Year, in 3D retail — LinkedIn

🌏 Former CEO of Lazada Pierre Poignant’s startup Branded has raised a US$150m funding round from Target Global — TechCrunch

🌏 Take a virtual walk in the world’s biggest cities with City Walks — Product Hunt

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