PropertyGuru CEO Hari Krishnan
PropertyGuru raises US$150M from REA Asia
REA is currently the third biggest shareholder in the firm with 18% stake behind Epsilon Asia and TPG; The latest investment follows PropertyGuru’s plan to go public through a merger with a SPAC backed by Richart Li and Peter Thiel.
Shopee’s surge pushes Sea Group’s revenue to US$2.3B in Q2
Shopee posted a 160.7% y-o-y growth in its GAAP revenue to stand at US$1.2B; Its Malaysian unit also turned profitable on an adjusted EBITDA basis before allocation of the headquarter’s common expenses; This is the second Shopee market after Taiwan to hit this milestone.
500 Southeast Asia makes US$17.9M initial close of third venture fund
The capital came from 18 investors; As per DealStreetAsia, 500 is looking to raise US$75M for the third vehicle; To date, 500 SEA has invested in ~250 firms; Its first generation of investments include Grab, Bukapalak, Carsome, FinAccel, and Carousell.
Philippine cryptocurrency exchange startup PDAX gets US$12.5M funding
Investors include an undisclosed UK-based VC firm (lead), HK-based BC Group, and UnionBank’s VC arm UBX, and Beenext Ventures; The Philippines has seen the third-highest rate of cryptocurrency usage in the world behind Nigeria and Vietnam, according to the World Economic Forum.
Vietnamese real estate brokerage service firm Rever bags US$10.2M from Mekong Capital
Rever follows an O2O model, allowing customers to access property listings via its platform, visit the company’s local transaction centre, or meet property agents in person; VinaCapital, Golden Equator Ventures, and Korea Investment Partners are also investors in the firm.
SGX said to consider lowering minimum SPAC value in final listing framework
It is eyeing a minimum value of around US$110M, down from US$220M; SGX is also understood to be looking into creating flexibility for SPAC sponsors to disclose their target companies upon listing the SPAC.
AirAsia’s Teleport acquires Malaysia’s Gobi Partners-backed Delivereat for US$9.8M
The synergy will support Teleport in expanding to Malaysia while spurring the growth of both Delivereat (food delivery firm) and AirAsia’s logistics venture in ASEAN; The deal values Teleport at US$300M; Apart from Malaysia, Teleport has made inroads into Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Singapore and China.
Thai startup Wisesight nets US$7M Series B to expand its social media analytics solutions in ASEAN
Investors include Krungsri Finnovate and TechMatrix; With its ability to process the data via social media for 20M+ messages a day in Thai, English, Burmese and Malay, Wisesight claims to have served 300+ brands and agencies.
Y Combinator’s latest cohort has 3x the startups from SEA
About 18 companies from the latest batch are SEA firms, up from 6 in the previous batch; The selected Asian startups are headquartered in Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India; As part of the programme, YC will invest US$125K for a 7% stake in each.
GuavaPass co-founders’ new alternative lending startup Jenfi lands US$6.3M
Investors include Monk’s Hill (lead), Korea Investment Partners, and Golden Equator Capital; The startup will use the money for product development, customer acquisition, and SEA expansion; A YC graduate, Jenfi earlier bagged US$25M in a debt round led by US-based Arc Labs.
RaRa Delivery rakes in US$3.25M to provide instant delivery for e-commerce in Indonesia
Lead investors are Sequoia Surge and East Ventures; While other companies with express logistics infrastructure focus on one-to-one deliveries, RaRa Delivery has developed real-time batching technology to do ‘many-to-many’ deliveries within a few hours.
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Philippine e-commerce enabler Etaily US$1.6M seed funding
Investors include Ayala Ventures, Foxmont Capital, Magsaysay Shipping & Logistics, and Boston Consulting Group; Etaily claims it has generated more than one million transactions and made more than 50K unique products available in countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.
Dairy-substitutes brand Mohjo bags seed funding
Invetsors include East Ventures, iSeed SEA, K3 Ventures, and angels; The D2C brand recently launched its first line of products — almond milk and almond milk-based beverages in Singapore.
MindFi raises US$750K, makes it into Y Combinator
Investors include iGlobe Partners, M Venture Partners, Koh Boon Hwee, Patsnap CEO Jeffrey Tiong, Zopim co-founder Lim Qing Ru; MindFi will use the funds to accelerate product development and localisation for key markets in Asia and further build a team of mental health experts, innovators and researchers.
Plant-based foodtech startup Shandi raises US$700K seed funding
Investors are Tolaram (lead), SparkLabs Cultiv8, and Simmarpal Singh, ex-CEO (India) at Louis Dreyfus; The funding will be used to set up a manufacturing facility in Singapore to commercialise and scale Shandi’s proprietary plant-based chicken products.
4 lessons for first-time founders embarking on their entrepreneurial journey
After partnering with several founders through our work at Picus Capital, we want to share lessons about starting and building ventures (e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast or infographic).
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Image Credit: PropertyGuru
The post Ecosystem Roundup: PropertyGuru bags US$150M from REA; AirAsia buys Delivereat for US$9.8M appeared first on e27.