Asean Tech Digest #58

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:

🤝 The 11 SEA startups selected by Y Combinator for its W21 batch

💹 Video-streaming platform AVN completes SPAC merger at US$ 573m combined entity valuation

🎣 Facebook & Google to build a new subsea cable connecting SEA to the US

Just funded 💸

🇮🇩 Wealth management startup Ajaib has raised a US$65m Series A+ from Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator Continuity, ICONIQ Capital, Bangkok Bank PLC, Horizons Ventures, SoftBank Ventures Asia, Alpha JWC, Insignia Venture Partners — TechCrunch

🇸🇬 Neobank startup Stashfin has raised a US$40m Series B from Altara Ventures, Uncorrelated Ventures, Integrated Partners, Saison Capital, Tencent Cloud Europe, Positive Moves — The Economic Times

🇸🇬 Cryptowallet startup imToken has raised a US$30m Series B from Qiming Venture Partners, Breyer Capital, HashKey Digital Asset Group, IDG Capital, Liang Jun, Longling Capital, Signum Capital, SNZ Holding — TechCrunch

🇮🇩 Wealth management startup Pluang has raised a US$20m Pre-Series B from Openspace Ventures, Go-Ventures — e27

🇸🇬 NFT startup Enjin has raised a US$18.9m financing round from Andromeda GmbH, BlockArk, BlockTower Capital, CMT Digital, Crypto.com, D1Ventures, DeFi Alliance, Digital Finance Group, Digital Renaissance Foundation, Fenbushi Capital, Genesis Block Ventures, Hashed, HashKey Digital Asset Group, Hypersphere Ventures, Iconium Blockchain Ventures, Kenetic Capital, LD Capital, Pnyx Ventures — VentureBeat

🇸🇬 Wealth management startup Endowus has raised a US$17m Series A from Lightspeed Venture Partners, SoftBank Ventures Asia — e27

🇮🇩 Social Commerce startup KitaBeli has raised a US$10m Series A from Go-Ventures, AC Ventures, East Ventures — Digital News Asia

🇸🇬 Bookkeeping startup FloBiz has raised a US$10m Series A from BEENEXT Capital Management, Elevation Capital, Greenoaks Capital Partners, Pantera Capital — Mint

🇸🇬 Blockchain Supply Chain startup #dltledgers has raised a US$9.44m Series A from Regis and Savoy Capital, Vittal, Walden International — Singapore Business Review

🇮🇩 Cloud Service provider startup IDCloudHost has raised a US$5m financing round from Init 6 — e27

🇸🇬 Retail SaaS startup Nimbly has raised a US$4.6m Pre-Series A from Insignia Venture Partners, Saison Capital, Sovereign’s Capital — TechCrunch

🇵🇭 AI Supply Chain startup Expedock has raised a US$4m Seed from Ali Partovi, angels — e27

🇹🇭 Cloud University startup Conicle has raised a US$3m Series A from InVent, 500 Tuk Tuks, Stormbreaker Venture, Stundi — e27

🇮🇩 Digital Escrow startup Tazapay has raised a US$1.75m financing round from Surge, Saison Capital, RTP Global, January Capital — e27

🇸🇬 UI automated testing startup UI-licious has raised a US$1.5m Pre-Series A from Monk’s Hill Ventures — Monk’s Hill Ventures

🇸🇬 VR learning startup ACKTEC has raised a US$1m Seed from Octava, SEEDS Capital, EduSpaze, Govin Capital — e27

🇵🇭 Fintech startup NextPay has raised a US$0.13m Pre-Seed from Y Combinator — Tech in Asia

🇹🇭 Constructiontech startup Builk has raised a Series B from Beacon Venture Capital — e27

🇮🇩 Grocery startup Segari has raised a Seed from Beenext, AC Ventures, Saison Capital — Tech in Asia

🇸🇬 Quantum Sensor startup Atomionics has raised a Seed from Wavemaker Partners, SG Innovate, 500 Durians, Apsara Investments, 6th Horizon, Entrepreneur First, Cap Vista — e27

🇻🇳 Payroll startup Gimo has raised a Seed from BK Fund — e27

🇻🇳 Buy Now Pay Later startup Fundiin has raised a financing round from 1982 Ventures, Zone Startups Ventures — Fintech News

Startups and downs 🚀

🌏 11 SEA startups have made it to Y Combinator W21 — Y Combinator

🇮🇩 Video streaming platform Asia Vision Network has merged with the SEA-focused SPAC Malacca Straits Acquisition, valuing the combined company at US$ 573m — Tech in Asia

🇮🇩 Coliving startup Flokq has acquired competitor Yukstay — e27

🇸🇬 Coliving startup Hmlet’s founder has stepped down as CEO, and the CFO and CTO have announced their departure — Tech in Asia

🌏 Coliving startup Hmlet has left Malaysia and Thailand, 6 months after launch — The Business Times

🇹🇭 Insurtech startup Qoala is expanding to Thailand via the acquisition of FairDee — Deal Street Asia

🇸🇬 70 police reports have been filed against cryptotrading platform Torque — Tech in Asia

🇻🇳 Insurtech Igloo has launched in Vietnam, via a partnership with hyperlocal delivery startup Loship and Mobifone — Vietnam Investment Review

🇮🇩 Buy now, pay later startup Atome Financial has acquired PT Mega Finadana Finance to expand its consumer financing business in Indonesia through the acquisition of a financing licence — Deal Street Asia

🇸🇬 Affinidi has partnered with EVA air (Taiwan) for PCR test results — Vulcan Post

🇸🇬 Contract manufacturer of meat alternatives SGProtein has announced a factory in Singapore with 3,000t/day capacity — e27

🇻🇳 Discussion on Asian e-commerce and female entrepreneurship, between Hang Do, founder of SCommerce, and Fanny Moizant, founder of Vestiaire Collective (France) — Spotify

🇸🇬 The story of crypto currency exchange Coinhako — Vulcan Post

🇸🇬 How Astrea VI Pte Ltd has used digital securities platform iSTOX to tokenize its private equity bonds, reducing the minimum investment threshold to make the product more accessible — TechNode Global

🌏 The story of logistics startup Aersure, as it went through Covid — The Low Down Momentum

The Unicorn Belt 🦄

🌏 Grab Financial Group has cumulatively sold over 100 million insurance policies across Southeast Asia from April 2019 to February 2021 — Vulcan Post

🇮🇩 Tokopedia, explained — KrASIA

🇮🇩 Bukalapak is facing a US$6.2m lawsuit from a real estate developer — e27

Venture Capitalists 🎢

🌏 B capital has launched its new US$415m Elevate fund and appointed ex-Softbank Daisy Cai has General Partner for its new China investment focus — e27

🇮🇳 Philosophy of an angel who invested in 900 startups in 7 years — Investor Story

Corporates 👨‍💼

🌏 Facebook and Google are planning a new SEA-US subsea cable to improve data capacity by 70%, in partnership with Telin, XL Axiata, and Keppel — CNBC

🇮🇩 Can Stripe succeed in Indonesia? — The Low Down Momentum

🌏 Razer crossed the US$1bn revenue milestone in 2020, turned profitable, with 600m in cash — LinkedIn

🌏 ShopeePay will be integrated to Google Play Store — Tech in Asia

🇸🇬 Sea has made a S$50m gift to NUS Computing — NUS

🇸🇬 SEA’s first lithium battery recycling plant has opened in Singapore — The Straits Times

🇸🇬 ComfortDelGro and Engie (France) have partnered for a bid to install 600 EV charging stations — Channel News Asia

🇲🇾 After food delivery: AirAsia is onto ridehailing — Vulcan Post

🇻🇳 Phenikaa Group has launched the country’s first autonomous vehicle — e27

🇸🇬 Singaporean buses go solar — The Straits Times

Smart Nations 🏛️

🌏 What’s the status in terms of vaccination for ASEAN nations? — LinkedIn

🌏 In H1 2020, ASEAN surpassed EU as China’s largest trading partner — 21财经

🇲🇲 The US has cut trade ties with Myanmar — TechCrunch

🇸🇬 NUS will offer two new graduate and PhD programs in fintech — NUS

🇸🇬 Singaporean households can collect 500mL of free hand sanitizer from vending machines by Temasek Foundation — The Straits Times

Food for thought 🍜

🌏 Monk’s Hill Ventures has published a detailed report on salary ranges for SEA CEOs, CTOs, engineering and product roles — Monk’s Hill Ventures

🌏 Tracking data efficiently, the Gojek way — Reforge

🌏 Lazada vs Shopee: a story of rivalry on market localization and corporate culture struggles — KrASIA

🇸🇬 2021 logistics trends to expect in Singapore — e27

🌏 How UX copywriting can influence user decision-making for food delivery conversion rates — Gojek Tech

The Fountainhead ⛲

🇨🇳 ByteDance has acquired Moonton, the studio behind Mobile Legends, for US$4b — Reuters

🇮🇳 Amazon has acquired retail digitization startup Perpule for US$ 19.7m — TechCrunch

🇮🇳 Food delivery startup Swiggy has raised US$800m, and is now valued at US$4.9b — Mint

🇮🇳 Softbank has led a US$300m Series E at $2.1b valuation in social commerce startup Meesho — Medium

🇨🇳 Cartographic warfare — how to leverage open source to strengthen geopolitics — Rest of World

Also 🤫

🇨🇳 Air pollution and sandstorms turn the sky yellow and the sun blue in China — the Guardian

🇮🇩 The Great Firewall has hit Indonesian news site Jawapos — Rest of World

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