Asean Tech Digest #60

Victor Tenneroni
4 min readApr 30, 2021

Your curated summary of ongoing disruption in Southeast Asian tech. Subscribe here to receive it by email ๐Ÿ’Œ

Hi SEA fans,

Last two weeks, in the news:

๐ŸŒ The Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2021, revealed

๐ŸŒฟ Razer launches US$50m Green Fund

๐Ÿ’ฐ Asian VC funding doubles in Q1 2021 to US$48b YoY

Just funded ๐Ÿ’ธ

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Healthtech startup Halodoc has raised a US$80m Series C from Astra, Temasek, UOB Venture Management, Singtel Innov8, Blibli, Allianz X, Openspace Ventures, Bangkok Bank, Novo Holdings, TMI โ€” KrASIA

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Hyperlocal Social Commerce startup Super has raised a US$28m Series B from SoftBank Ventures Asia, Amasia, Insignia Ventures Partners, Y-Combinator Continuity Fund โ€” TechCrunch

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Wealth management startup StashAway has raised a US$25m Series D from Sequoia Capital India, Eight Roads Ventures, Square Peg Capital โ€” TechCrunch

๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ Payroll startup Uploan has raised a US$15m debt financing round from Lendable โ€” e27

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Edtech startup CoLearn has raised a US$10m Series A from Alpha Wave Incubation, GSV Ventures, Surge, AC Ventures โ€” TechCrunch

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Esports startup Dynasty has raised a US$5m financing round from Blue Star Capital โ€” Vox Markets

๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ณ Pharma SaaS startup POC Pharma has raised a US$4.5m Seed from Picus Capital, Febe Ventures, FJ Labs, 500 Startups โ€” Deal Street Asia

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Crypto copy-trading startup Alpha Impact has raised a US$3.1m financing round from LuneX Ventures, Genesis Block Ventures, Solidity Ventures, SMO Capital โ€” Deal Street Asia

๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ญ E-commerce startup Mercular has raised a US$3m Series A from Kairous Capital, Cyber Agent, 500 Startups, N-Vest Venture, Premier Advisory Group โ€” e27

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Consumer Research startup Populix has raised a US$1.2m pre-Series A from Intudo Ventures, Quest Ventures โ€” TechCrunch

๐Ÿ‡ป๐Ÿ‡ณ Gaming startup Topebox has raised a US$1m financing round from Axia8 Ventures, Blockdream Ventures, Megala Ventures, Animoca Brands โ€” e27

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Mortgage brokering startup Mortgage Master has raised a US$0.7m Pre-Series A from Woon Young Jeong โ€” Taiwan News

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ DeFi startup Launch X has raised a US$0.6m financing round from Ascensive Assets, AU21 Capital, DWeb3, Genblock Capital, Magnus Capital, Marshland Capital, Moonrock Capital, Moonwhale, Morningstar Ventures, Raptor Group, Valaren Ventures, Vendetta Capital, X21 Digital โ€” Globe Newswire

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Customer retention startup Tada has raised a Series B1 from MDI Ventures, TMI, Finch Capital, Sovereignโ€™s Capital โ€” e27

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Solar Developer startup Sunseap has raised a Series E from Sumitomo Corp, Shikoku Electric Power Co Inc, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co Ltd โ€” Renewables Now

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Lifestyle startup Doogether has raised a Pre-Series A from AsianTrust Capital, Prasetia Dwidharma โ€” Tech in Asia

๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ Esports startup Tier One Entertainment has raised a Pre-Series A from Gobi Ventures, Atlas Ventures, Kayac, Octava Family Office, Warner Music Group โ€” Tech in Asia

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Sustainable Toilet Paper startup Bambooloo has raised a financing round from Razer โ€” e27

Startups and downs ๐Ÿš€

๐ŸŒ The Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2021 are here โ€” Forbes

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Wealth management startup StashAway to buy back US$3m of shares from early employees โ€” The Business Times

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Fancy a staycation in Singapore? Check Dayuse โ€” LinkedIn

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Sustainable food startup Eat Just has partnered with Foodpanda to provide home delivery of cultured meat, a worldโ€™s first โ€” Business Wire

๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ Digibank Tonik reaches P1b in deposits after its launch in March โ€” BusinessMirror

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Interview of Dayu Dara Permata and Ahmed Aljuned, founders of property marketplace Pinhome โ€” Insignia Business Review

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Cell-based fish manufacturing startup Avant Meats to set up R&D facility in Singapore โ€” The Spoon

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Smart home startup Habitap has expanded to Indonesia โ€” Tech in Asia

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Interview of Joseph Ananto, founder of autoparts supply chain startup Otoklix โ€” Study International

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Insurtech Qoala has launched Personal Accident Insurance with COVID-19 Benefit Extensions on Traveloka โ€” LinkedIn

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Fintech Fomo Pay has partnered with BNPL Atome โ€” Tech in Asia

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Fintech startup Currencycloud (UK) has announced expansion to Singapore, targeting 50 FT by EoY 2022 โ€” The Business Times

The Unicorn Belt ๐Ÿฆ„

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Data breaches pose serious challenges to buy now pay later models โ€” The Low Down Momentum

๐ŸŒ How Gojek uses LottieFilesโ€™ animation technology โ€” Lottie

Venture Capitalists ๐ŸŽข

๐ŸŒ Impact of Covid on VC fundraising in SEA: 13 funds closed vs 34 in 2019, but average fund size increased; in Q3 2020, flat or down rounds reached almost 40% for startups โ€” SVCA

๐ŸŒ Razer launches US$50m green fund โ€” Razer Blog

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Play Ventures has entered into an agreement with Golden Gate to acquire a stake in LuneX Ventures โ€” e27

Corporates ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ผ

๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡พ Microsoft has announced its first datacenter in Malaysia โ€” Microsoft Blog

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Tuas Power and EDF (France) have partnered to launch EV charging infrastructure in Singapore โ€” French Chamber of Commerce in Singapore

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ DBS Bank, JPMorgan and Temasek have partnered to develop a blockchain payments platform โ€” The Straits Times

Smart Nations ๐Ÿ›๏ธ

๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ญ Thailand: An Emerging Regional Manufacturing Hub for electric vehicles โ€” Upply

Food for thought ๐Ÿœ

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ The maritime industry represents 7% of Singaporeโ€™s GDP, full report โ€” Inmarsat

๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Market landscape of carsharing options in Singapore โ€” Vulcan Post

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ How to kick start your online K-pop merch e-commerce business โ€” KrASIA

The Fountainhead โ›ฒ

๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ TuSimple is the first autonomous trucking firm to IPO at US$8b valuation โ€” Business Insider

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ On-demand home service provider Urban Company has raised US$190m led by Prosus Ventures, becoming the countryโ€™s latest unicorn โ€” KrASIA

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ Ridehailing giant Ola has announced the creation of a 100,000 scooter charging network โ€” KrASIA

๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ As part of the testing by the Peopleโ€™s Bank of China, JD has used digital yuan to pay employees โ€” CNBC

๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ Meet Meituanโ€™s new generation of autonomous delivery robots : 150kg load, 20kmh max speed โ€” Pandaily

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