Xendit becomes a unicorn after a Tiger Global-led US$150M Series C round
Accel Partners, Amasia and Goat Capital also participated; Xendit enables businesses of all sizes to accept payments, disburse payroll, run marketplaces on an easy integration platform; The fintech firm plans to expand into select countries across Southeast Asia.
Carousell enters unicorn club after a new US$100M round led by Korea’s STIC Investments
It is currently valued at US$1.1B; CEO Quek Siu Rui said Carousell will deepen its investments in re-commerce across new categories and markets and will continue to seek opportunistic acquisitions in scaling up.
Capria Ventures partners with and invests in AC Ventures
The partnership is in line with Capria’s plans to invest in Southeast Asia, India, Latin America and Africa; Capria will also look to co-invest directly in AC Ventures’s portfolio companies; AC Ventures is in the process of hitting final close of a US$120M target fund.
Jungle Ventures makes US$225M first close of Fund IV
Investors include Temasek, IFC, DEG, and some Asian and global family offices; Jungle targets to raise US$350M for this fund; Jungle plans to invest in 12-13 startups from seed to Series B; The ticket size will range from US$1million to US$15 million.
Indonesian conglomerate MNC Group pours US$40M into entertainment app Migo
The app lets users access movies and TV shows by connecting their smartphones to Migo Hotspots or brick-and-mortar locations and allows them to download video content without using any mobile data.
A woman among women: 27 female-led startups in SEA that are going places
The year 2019 marked the deadly coronavirus’s arrival, but also welcomed a slew of female leaders who have sparked innovation on all fronts.
A horse of another: Here’s the full list of Southeast Asia’s 23 unicorns
Since having only three unicorns in Southeast Asia in 2014, the ecosystem is now brimming with more billion dollar startups in the region.
Alibaba-backed eWTP fund enters Indonesia by joining insurtech startup Fuse’s Series B round;
CE Innovation Capital and Saratoga also participated; Fuse recently raised US$30M in Series B led by GGV Capital; With over 60K agent partners on its platform, Fuse claims its total gross written premium exceeded US$50M in 2020.
Pluang raises US$35M, bringing total funding this year to US$55M
Investors are Square Peg (lead), SIG, UOB Venture Management, Go-Ventures and Openspace Ventures; Pluang offers a broad suite of asset classes for retail investors, enabling them to invest in gold, equity indices, mutual funds and cryptocurrencies.
Adatos nets Series A for its AI-driven remote sensing solution for agri, carbon markets
Investor is Malaysia’s Genting Plantations; Adatos’s tools analyse complicated open-source satellite data sets to give operational and strategic insights for agriculture and carbon markets.
Thai retail giant Central joins lifestyle e-commerce startup Mercular’s US$4M Series A round
The initial backers of this round are Kairous Capital, CyberAgent Capital, 500 TukTuks, N-Vest Venture, and Premier Advisory Group; It currently sells more than 20K hobby and lifestyle products, including headphones, speakers, smart home devices, computers and accessories.
GlobalCare bags funding from VinaCapital to provide insurtech solutions to Vietnamese insurance firms, agents
It allows insurance companies and agents to sell policies via a cloud-based and on-premises app; The solution enables end-to-end service management, including monitoring transaction history and processing claims; It has a network of 3K+ O2O stores providing consumers with various insurance products.
CoderSchool bags US$2.6M pre-Series A led by Monk’s Hill to provide online coding course to Vietnamese
Its centralised platform employs data analytics to manage classrooms at scale and improve individual student performance; CoderSchool guarantees job placement for students through its assistance in counselling, mock interviews, mentor introductions and workshops with technical experts.
Vida attracts funding to provide digital signatures, identity authentication services to Indonesian MSMEs
Investors are Jungle Ventures, Alpha JWC Ventures, and Monk’s Hill Ventures; Vida helps companies verify identities digitally using biometrics, machine learning and computer vision, and Big Data to run checks on identity cards and facial biometrics against government databases.
Digital Media Nusantara raises pre-Series A funding round from Malaysian finance ministry subsidiary
The company aims to accelerate its mission to become Southeast Asia’s first fintech media firm, operating at the first mile of the financial markets infrastructure and market intelligence value chain.
BNPL giant Affirm former execs join Fundiin’s oversubscribed US$1.8M seed round
Investors include Genesia Ventures, JAFCO Asia, Trihill Capital, 1982 Ventures, Zone Startups Ventures; Fundiin claims to have collaborated with over 100 merchants in Vietnam and boasts of increasing retailers’ sales by 30%.
Bluesheets raises US$1.5M to further expand its business, enters new client segments
Investors are Investible (lead), Antler, 1982 Ventures, Kiplex Ventures and Kistefos; Bluesheets uses AI, classification algorithms, and ML to automate enterprise accounting and enable financial automation for local and global businesses.
East Ventures injects US$1.5M into vehicle management and tracking startup McEasy
McEasy’s solutions assist allows real-time tracking of vehicle locations and enables companies to plan, implement, monitor, and optimise logistics processes; Its customer portfolio covers various industries and business sizes, such as MGM Bosco, Rosalia Indah Group, RPX and FedEx Indonesia.
Touchstone Partners injects US$1M seed funding into telemedicine platform Medigo
Vietnam-based Medigo helps people buy medicine remotely from the comfort of their homes, especially during lockdowns; Medigo is developing more service offerings such as advertising and ordering medicine in bulk for the pharmacies in the network.
Mobility safety startup Rider Dome raises US$1M
Rider Dome has developed a collision alert system that aims to make riding motorcycles safer; The system utilises algorithms combining computer vision and deep learning to analyse real-time video feeds from the front and rear cameras mounted on a motorcycle, providing riders with real-time alerts on critical threats on the road to prevent accidents.
Exceptional founders to nurture, invest in promising startups as part of Monk’s Hill Ventures’s new programme
The Venture Scouts programme comprises over 20 venture scouts including Bukalapak’s Achmad Zaky, Snapcart’s Araya Noon Hutasuwan, Zopim’s Royston Tay, and Turochas Fuad; They will invest in high-growth pre-seed and seed startups across Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
Dezy automatically converts users’ deposits into SGD-backed stable coins, attracts funding
Investors are DeFiance Capital, HH VC Investments, Impiro, and Tranglo founder HY Sia; Dezy commits to secure users’ access to decentralised finance with inclusivity, transparency, and no lock-in of deposit.
The post Ecosystem Roundup: SEA produces 2 new unicorns, Migo raises US$40M, Pluang bags US$35M appeared first on e27.