Asean Tech Digest #57

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:

💰 SaaS startup Stamped acquired for US$110m

🦄 IP analytics platform Patsnap raises US$300m from Softbank, becomes unicorn

🌌 SpaceX to install launchpad in Papuan island

Just funded 💸

🇸🇬 IP Analytics Platform startup Patsnap has raised a US$300m Series E from SoftBank’s Vision Fund II, CITIC Industrial Fund, Sequoia China, Shunwei Capital, Vertex Growth, Vertex Ventures — TechCrunch

🇮🇩 Logistics startup Sicepat Ekspres has raised a US$170m Series B from Falcon House Partners, Pavilion Capital, MDI Ventures, DEG, Trihill Capital, Daiwa Securities, Kejora Capital, Indies Capital — DealStreetAsia

🇸🇬 Edtech startup Point Avenue has raised a US$12m Series A from Gaw Capital — Tech in Asia

🇻🇳 B2B digital gifting startup Got it has raised a US$6m financing round from VNG — DealStreetAsia

🇸🇬 Decentralized money market protocol startup Konomi Network has raised a US$5m financing round from Amplifi, Blocksync Ventures, CMS, Crypto J, Double Peak, LD Capital, 4 Seasons Venture, Block Dream Fund, BTX Capital, Coin98 Ventures, FBG Capital, Moonwhale, Titans Ventures, AU21 Capital, Tenzor Capital, Genesis Block, Altonomy, Zonff Partners, DFG — Coin Telegraph

🇸🇬 Battery processor startup Green Li-ion has raised a US$3.45m Seed from LiNiCo Corporation — The Business Times

🇮🇩 Foodtech startup ESB has raised a US$3m Series A from Beenext, AC Ventures, Skystar Capital, Kelera Capital — DealStreetAsia

🇻🇳 DeFi startup Lightening Cash has raised a US$2m Seed from HC Ventures — AiThority

🇸🇬 Foodtech startup Alchemy FoodTech has raised a US$2m financing round from SEEDS Capital — DealStreetAsia

🇸🇬 Crypto exchange aggregator startup OpenOcean has raised a US$2m financing round from Binance, Multicoin Capital, LD Capital, CMS, Kenetic, Altonomy — CoinDesk

🇸🇬 Healthtech startup Mesh Bio has raised a US$1.8m Seed from Elev8, SEEDS Capital, Citrine Capital, Tael Partners — e27

🇸🇬 Blockchain Supply Chain startup KoineArth has raised a US$1.8m financing round from YourNest Venture Capital, Inventus India, Lumis Partners — Economic Times

🇸🇬 Food Surplus startup TreeDots has raised a US$1.6m Series A from Amasia, SEEDS Capital — Crunchbase

🇸🇬 DeFi Smart Financial Management Platform startup SIL Finance has raised a US$1.3m financing round from Axia8 Ventures, Krypital Group, Genesis Block Ventures, Everest Ventures Group, Lotus Capital, Cabin VC, AU21, Boxmining , LilMoonLambo — Yahoo Finance

🇸🇬 HRtech startup GRIT has raised a US$0.374m Pre-Seed from Spaze Ventures, Dan Lynn, Tariq Khan — Digital News Asia

🇲🇾 Insurtech startup Ouch! has raised a US$0.36m Seed from Vynn Capital, Temokin — Crowdfund Insider

🇮🇩 Logistics startup Andalin has raised a Series A from Sembrani Nusantara Fund — e27

🇸🇬 Logistics startup Haulio has raised a Pre-Series A from Supply Chain Angels, YCH Group, B7 Capital, GHS Ventures, Guava Capital, iSeed SEA, Iterative, PSA Unboxed — The Business Times

🇮🇩 Fintech startup Brick has raised a Seed from Better Tomorrow, Prasetia Dwidharma, 1982 Ventures, Antler, Rally Cap Ventures — TechCrunch

🇻🇳 Communication API startup Stringee has raised a financing round from VinaCapital Ventures — VinaCapital Ventures

Startups and downs 🚀

🇸🇬 Loyalty SaaS startup Stamped will be acquired for up to US$110m by WeCommerce (Canada) — Tech in Asia

🇮🇩 P2P lending platform Alami has acquired Sharia-compliant rural bank BPRS Cempaka Al-Amin for less than US$10m — e27

🇸🇬 The story of online payments startup Maesh — Maesh

🇸🇬 Mobility app Ryde is preparing an IPO on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange at US$148m valuation — e27

🇮🇩 Hiring remote workers in Indonesia, explained — Multiplier

🇨🇳 How 3DNest (China) is expanding its retail VR offering, amidst coving lockdowns — Nikkei Asian Review

🇸🇬 Robotics startup OTSAW is testing autonomous delivery bots with NTUC Fairprice & others — e27

The Unicorn Belt 🦄

🌏 Grab is reportedly in talks to go public via SPAC — WSJ

🇮🇩 Gojek has invested in e-wallet LinkAja’s last round, led by Grab — Nikkei Asian Review

Venture Capitalists 🎢

🌏 OpenSpace Ventures has reached the final close of its US$200m fund III — LinkedIn

🌏 East Ventures has announced the dissolution and takeover of co-GP structure EV Growth — DealStreetAsia

🇸🇬 M Venture Partners has closed its maiden fund at US$30.85m — TechNode Global

🌏 ESOP explained — Grayscale

🌏 Convertible notes, explained — Qualgro

Corporates 👨‍💼

🇸🇬 Amazon has revealed its first 62 MW solar project in Singapore — Amazon Blog

🇸🇬 ComfortDelGro has announced a S$10m investment in CDG-NUS Smart & Sustainable Mobility Living Lab and S$40m to electrify its bus fleet — Vulcan Post

🇹🇭 Line Banking has crossed 2m users, 4 months after launch — Tech in Asia

🇸🇬 Bio of Luc Andreani, MD of Foodpanda in Singapore — CNA

🇸🇬 Singapore Airlines will be the first airline to test the IATA travel pass — CNA

Smart Nations 🏛️

🌏 Indonesia and Singapore have revealed Nongsa D-Town, a digital tech hub for startups of both countries, with a residential village in Batam — e27

🇮🇩 Indonesia Stock Exchange to ease conditions on IPO, allow listing of loss-making companies — The Star Online

🇲🇲 Food and fuel prices are rising double-digits in Myanmar following the impact of the political turmoil and the Covid crisis — the Guardian

🇲🇾 Malaysia has a new fake news law against making fun of official narrative regarding state of emergency — Rest of World

🇲🇲 Myanmar x China diplomatic relations, in light of the current political crisis — CNA

🇮🇩 SpaceX to install launchpad in Papuan island — the Guardian

🇸🇬 With Singapore going car-lite, urban farming is expected to replace carparks — CNA

🇸🇬 Australia and Singapore are planning a travel bubble in July — The Sydney Morning Herald

Food for thought 🍜

🇻🇳 Overview of the Vietnamese fintech landscape — LinkedIn

🌏 What’s next for agriculture in SEA: innovations driven by the supply side and the demand side — Insignia Business Review

🌏 Covid is accelerating the reverse brain drain to Asia — Nikkei Asian Review

🌏 The Chinese diaspora makes for 65% of Singaporean billionnaire residents, 45% in the Philippines and 28% in Indonesia — Statista

The Fountainhead ⛲

🇮🇳 The 12-month turnaround of Zomato, which could be India’s first unicorn IPO — The Captable

🇮🇳 Amazon Food is available in 62 neighborhoods in Bengaluru, offering 10–15% commission vs 18–40% for other players — KrASIA

🇮🇳 Omnichannel direct-to-consumer beauty brand MyGlamm has raised a US$24m Series C led by Amazon and Ascent Capital — The Economic Times

🇨🇳 ByteDance is kicking off Nuversegame, its gaming brand, with 3,000 employees — TechCrunch

🇨🇳 The 2021 Hurun Global Rich List is out: 51% of the world’s billionnaires are in Asia, and almost one third in China (+259 billionnaires, +33% YoY) — Hurun

🇨🇳 Ridehailing giant Didi is rumored to be preparing an expansion to Europe — Bloomberg

Also 🤫

🇵🇭 Delivery riders are our Power Rangers — literally — Mashable SEA

🇸🇬 The economics, market landscape and history of bubble tea in Singapore — Vulcan Post

🇮🇳 The buyer of a US$69m NFT piece of art is a Singapore-based Indian entrepreneur, the founder of BitAccess — Metapurser

🇮🇩 Napoleon Bonaparte has been found guilty of corruption in Indonesia — Euronews

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