Loship CEO Trung Hoang Nguyen
Fresh off US$12M funding round, Loship aims for US IPO
The Vietnamese delivery startup hopes to debut on the NYSE by 2024 after reaching profitability in 18-24 months; It has attracted 2M customers so far; In Vietnam, the company faces more than a dozen rivals from Gojek and Grab.
ALAMI raises US$17.5M Series A+ led by EV Growth, Quona Capital
In January, the Shariah-compliant P2P lender raised ~US20M in debt and equity; Some strategic angels from the Middle East, which were previously involved in SoftBank’s Vision Fund, also joined the round; The move was said to be paving the way for Alami’s expansion into that region.
VNG mulling public listing via SPAC merger at US$3B valuation: report
The first tech unicorn in Vietnam, VNG counts companies including GIC, Temasek and Goldman Sachs among its high-profile investors; GIC, Temasek and Goldman Sachs are among high-profile investors; The firm has been considering a potential listing for several years.
SubPlace raises US$2.4M for its smart lock product in 4 days of launching ECF campaign
The startup plans to set up 250 brand stores across Malaysia within the next 5 years, with an expected uptake of over 100K new users; SubPlace plans to launch in October this year at the price of ~US$566.
AC Ventures, Kenangan Fund join Durianpay’s US$2M round led by Surge
Durianpay provides small e-commerce merchants with a one-stop solution for “frictionless checkout and easy-to-integrate modern APIs and dashboards”; The firm offers businesses and developers access to a broader range of payment options and a no-code interface.
BRI Ventures, SBM ITB team up to launch Indonesia’s first VC courses
The curriculum is designed to help students learn about basic venture investment principles, gain exposure to various startup ecosystems; SBM ITB will open the VC courses under both undergraduate and graduate programmes at its Jakarta and Bandung campuses.
SG fintech startup M-DAQ bags Series D from Affinity Equity Partners
M-DAQ provides specialised tech-enabled financial services to enterprise customers and other downstream fintech companies; Its proprietary FX solutions process over US$7.4B in cross-border transactions annually.
Thai online media platform Ookbee bags funding from Tencent, Sumitomo
It will use the funding to acquire new users across its existing platforms, expand its business across the region, and develop new products; Ookbee operates e-book stores as well as user-generated content platforms across SEA.
Singapore edutech accelerator EduSpaze selects 8 firms for its third cohort
They are Akadasia, myFirst, Schoters, Kalpha, and ZenGengo, among others; Participants can get up to US$370K in funding from EduSpaze and will also receive mentor support and have the chance to implement pilot projects during the programme.
How to successfully build and run a business with minimum capital
One of the first steps in starting a business is to conduct research to identify a gap in the market; Another important aspect of running and owning a business venture is to work on providing a great consumer experience through efficient customer service.
3 factors affecting e-commerce trends in Vietnam
The e-commerce landscape is dominated by three large companies: Shopee, Lazada and Tiki; With a higher monthly traffic count, Shopee seems to be the clear winner at the moment; The e-commerce platform is a cash burner and that’s the reason why you see several rounds happening for Tiki as Lazada is owned by Alibaba now and Shopee belongs to the SEA group.
5 hottest healthtech startups in Malaysia
The current state of healthtech in Malaysia is proof that the country is following through with its objectives; It is teeming with successful digital health startups, including wearables, applications, and platforms that make healthcare more accessible than ever before.
Embedded finance won’t make every firm into a fintech company
Embedded finance helps companies and brands outside of the core financial sector distribute financial services; This requires varying levels of effort from the company and looks like anything from Starbucks offering an integrated wallet and payments within its app to Lyft offering a debit card to their drivers; But that doesn’t make Starbucks or Lyft fintech companies.
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Image Credit: Loship
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