Asean Tech Digest #62
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:
🏢 PropertyGuru to acquire REA Group’s iProperty Malaysia and thinkofliving Thailand assets
🤝 GrabPay partners with Stripe
🎮 How Play-to-earn picked up in the Philippines
Just funded 💸
🇸🇬 Biotech startup Esco Lifesciences has raised a US$200m Series A from Novo Holdings, Vivo Capital, China Investment Corporation, EDBI — AsiaTechDaily
🇸🇬 Biotech startup Hummingbird Bioscience has raised a US$125m Series C from Novo Holdings, 5Y Capital, Affinity Asset Advisors, Ally Bridge Group, Altrium Capital, Amgen Ventures, Droia Oncology Ventures, EDBI, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Heritas Capital Management, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, Octagon Capital Advisors, Polaris Partners, Pureos Bioventures, SK Group — The Business Times
🇮🇩 Agritech startup TaniHub has raised a US$65.5m Series B from MDI Ventures, AddVenture, BRI Ventures, Flourish Ventures, Genesis Alternative Ventures, Golden Gate Ventures, Intudo Ventures, Openspace Ventures, Tenaya Capital, UOB Venture Management, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India — e27
🇸🇬 Fintech startup Thunes has raised a US$60m Growth round from Insight Partners, Checkout.com, Future Shape, GGV Capital, Helios Investment Partners — TechCrunch
🇸🇬 Biotech startup Engine Biosciences has raised a US$43m Series A from Polaris Partners, 6 Dimensions Capital, Baidu Ventures, DHVC, EDBI, Goodman Capital, Nest.Bio Ventures, The Invus Group, Vectr Ventures, WI Harper Group, WuXi AppTec — The Business Times
🇵🇭 E-commerce enabler startup Great Deals has raised a US$30m Series B from Fast Group — e27
🇸🇬 AI startup Nextbillion AI has raised a US$13.25m Series A+ from Anandakrishnan Chandrasekaran, Ashwini Asokan, Falcon Edge Capital, Lightspeed India Partners, M12, Nishant Rao, Prashant Malik — Ajay Bulusu
🇮🇩 Cloud Kitchen startup Hangry! has raised a US$13m Series A from Alpha JWC Ventures, Atlas Pacific Capital, Heyokha Brothers, Salt Ventures — TechCrunch
🇸🇬 NFT startup Paragon has raised a US$10m Seed from Lib Capital, AiSwap, Block VC, China Resources Capital Management, Genesis Capital, Roots Capital, Tsinghua Holdings — The Expositor
🇸🇬 Coliving startup Hmlet has raised a US$6m bridge round from Burda Principal Investments, Sequoia Capital India — The Business Times
🇮🇩 Crypto Exchange startup Pintu has raised a US$6m Series A from Pantera Capital, Intudo Ventures, Coinbase, Alameda Ventures, Blockchain Ventures, Castle Island Ventures — TechCrunch
🇸🇬 Stablecoin decentralized marketplace startup HaloDAO has raised a US$3.5m Seed from Ajit Tripathi, CMS Holdings, Dovey Wan, Genblock Capital, Genesis Block Ventures, Gustave Arentoft, LedgerPrime, NGC Ventures, Parataxis, Petrock Capital, QCP Soteria, Richard Dai, Spartan Group, Yield Guild — Coin Telegraph
🇻🇳 Trucking startup EcoTruck has raised a US$2m Series A from STIC Ventures — Cafef.vn
🇸🇬 Martech startup Affable.ai has raised a US$2m financing round from Prime Venture Partners, Decacorn Capital, SG Innovate — PR Newswire
🇲🇾 E-commerce startup iPrice has raised a US$1.5m financing round from Woowa Brothers — e27
🇲🇾 Agritech startup Secai Marche has raised a US$1.38m Pre-Series A from Beyond Next Ventures, Rakuten Capital — e27
🇵🇭 Mobile healthcare startup zennya has raised a US$1.2m financing round from Foxmont Capital Partners, Ignite House of Innovation, DayOne Capital Ventures — e27
🇸🇬 DeFi startup Polytrade has raised a US$1.2m financing round from Amesten Capital, AU21 Capital, Axia Ventures, Axia8 Ventures, Dasheng Capital, EtH Design, Icetea Labs, Krypital Group, LD Capital, Master Ventures, Momentum6, Orion, Polygon, ROK Capital, Router Protocol, Sandeep Nailwal, Shima Capital, Spark Digital Capital — BTC Manager
🇸🇬 Cryptocurrency social trading startup Aluna Social has raised a US$1m Token Sale from 100x Ventures, Genesis Block Ventures, DEXTForce Explore, Joe Vezzani, Will Harborne — Genesis Block Ventures
🇻🇳 Social Commerce startup Mio has raised a US$1m Seed from Venturra Capital, Golden Gate Ventures, Gokul Rajaram, iSeed SEA, Sanjeev Barnwal, Vidit Aatrey — TechCrunch
🇻🇳 Accounting software startup Bizzi has raised a US$0.5m financing round from Qualgro, 500 Startups — Vietnam Investment Review
🇲🇾 Fintech startup Finology has raised a US$0.5m financing round from Seedstars World — KrASIA
🇹🇭 Restaurant Management startup FoodStory has raised a Series B from Beacon Venture Capital, JWD InfoLogistics — Beacon Venture Capital
🇮🇩 Foodtech startup Lemonilo has raised a Series B from Sequoia Capital India — Tech in Asia
🇸🇬 Healthtech startup Genesis Medtech has raised a Series B from General Atlantic, CITIC Capital — PR Newswire
🇸🇬 E-Sports startup ESPL has raised a Pre-Series A from RightBridge Ventures AB, Genting Ventures, Warner Music Asia, Datuk Wira SM Faisal, Puncak Geliga Capital Sdn Bhd, iCandy Interactive Ltd, Sedania Innovator Berhad — e27
🇸🇬 B2B marketplace startup Eezee has raised a Pre-Series A from Wavemaker Partners, Insignia Venture Partners, January Capital, Pags Group — The Business Times
🇸🇬 Petcare startup ZumVet has raised a Seed from Aetius Capital, Pine Venture Partners, Purpose Venture Capital, Sharon Jessiman — LinkedIn
🇮🇩 B2C cross-border remittance startup Transfez has raised a Seed from East Ventures, Beenext — East Ventures Blog
🇵🇭 Alternative to plastic startup Fortuna Cools has raised a Seed from ADB Ventures, Katapult Ocean, Manila Angel Investors Network, Nardo Holdings, Pasudeco Development Corporation, she1K — e27
🇲🇾 Last mile delivery startup ZeptoExpress has raised a Seed from Ficus Venture Capital — Digital News Asia
🇮🇩 Home kitchen startup DishServe has raised a Seed from Insignia Venture Partners — TechCrunch
Startups and downs 🚀
🌏 PropertyGuru has announced the acquisition of REA Group’s iProperty Malaysia and thinkofliving Thailand assets for 18% equity — Digital News Asia
🇮🇩 E-wallet LinkAja has acquired agritech lender iGrow — The Jakarta Post
🇮🇩 Fintech Alami has announced the acquisition of Bank Pembiayaan Rakyat — Bisnis
🇮🇩 Fintech FinAccel has acquired 24% of listed bank Bisnis for US$38m — Tech in Asia
🇮🇩 HR SaaS startup Mekari has acquired CRM startup Qontak — e27
🇸🇬 Shipping data intelligence SaaS Shipfix is expanding to Singapore — LinkedIn
🇸🇬 Singapore has granted provisional authorization to Breathonix’s Covid breathalyzer — Fierce Biotech
🌏 Interview of Adrit Raha, CEO of insurtech Symbo — Insignia Business Review
🇸🇬 Here is the latest Antler cohort of entrepreneurs — LinkedIn
🇻🇳 Last mile delivery startup Lozi and insurtech Igloo have partnered to provide microinsurance to delivery riders — TechNode Global
🇲🇾 Car marketplace Carsome has hired Piyush Palkar as its chief data officer — Digital News Asia
The Unicorn Belt 🦄
🇮🇩 Bukalapak has reportedly filed for domestic IPO — SCMP
🌏 GrabPay has partnered with Stripe — Tech in Asia
🇸🇬 GrabSupermarket has launched in Singapore in partnership with HAO — Vulcan Post
🇮🇩 Inside Gojek’s gamified incentive platform for drivers — Rest of World
🇻🇳 Travel unicorn Tiket.com is considering SPAC listing this year — Bloomberg
🇮🇩 Gojek has equipped 8,000 GoCars with air purifiers — The Jakarta Post
🇸🇬 Gojek offers 2x S$15 vouchers for users commuting to vaccination centers — The Straits Times
Venture Capitalists 🎢
🇻🇳 Ascend Vietnam Ventures is a new VC fund investing US$500k-2m in fintech, edutech, future of work, health-tech, and enterprise SaaS in Vietnam — e27
Corporates 👨💼
🇹🇭 Siam Commercial Bank to launch an online hotel booking app — Reuters
🇻🇳 SP Group has signed a partnership with BCG Energy to invest in renewable energy in Vietnam — The Straits Times
Smart Nations 🏛️
🇮🇩 Raid Forums has been blocked by the government after a leak of personal data affecting 200m people — KrASIA
🇸🇬 Singapore to launch a new global exchange and marketplace for high-quality carbon credits backed by DBS, Standard Chartered, Singapore Exchange and Temasek — Reuters
🇸🇬 Pinduoduo has partnered with the Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation to investigate the impact of plant-based food on the Singapore population — Food Navigator Asia
🇻🇳 Vietnam and the Philippines ranked as top investment destinations for renewables in SEA — BusinessWorld
🇲🇲 Can Myanmar build its own Great Firewall? — KrASIA
🇸🇬 NUS has raised S$300m in green bond for sustainable infrastructure projects — NUS
🇸🇬 The World Economic Forum in Singapore has been cancelled — The Straits Times
Food for thought 🍜
🇵🇭 At the height of the pandemic, unemployment hit 40% in the Philippines. So people turned to blockchain games to make money — Digital Native
🇮🇩 Unlocking recurring payments may be Indonesia’s next payment use-case — Medium
🇻🇳 48% drop in invested capital in Vietnam in 2020 to US$451m amidst the global Covid pandemic reveals importance of local funds — Do Ventures
The Fountainhead ⛲
🇨🇳 ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming to step down — TechCrunch
🇮🇳 Delhi Police have descended on Twitter HQ — BuzzFeed News
🇮🇳 Scaling B2B marketplaces in India — Grayscale
🇨🇳 1,500 drones in Shanghai, a giant QR code. Advertising reinvented — Mothership
🇨🇳 JD.com, Meituan and Neolix to test autonomous deliveries on Beijing public roads — TechCrunch
🇨🇳 Gogoro is joining the battery swapping race in China — TechCrunch
Also 🤫
🇸🇬 There is no Singapore variant, gov’t tells Facebook and Twitter — CNBC
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