Grab acquires Jaya Grocer to expand its on-demand grocery delivery in Malaysia
The deal enables Grab to bring more Jaya Grocer retail stores onto its marketplace and leverage Jaya Grocer’s large supplier network further to expand its GrabSupermarket; Jaya Grocer operates over 40 stores today.
Indonesia’s largest private bank BCA to pour US$27.8M into VC arm
Central Capital Ventura will continue to invest in startups that can combine financial services with other sectors such as logistics, health, and commerce; So far, it has invested in 26 startups, including Qoala, Oy, Akseleran and KlikA2C.
Monk’s Hill said to be in the secondary market for Fund 1
The VC firm had engaged with family offices to conduct a secondary transaction on its first fund on a 2-2.5x multiple; A secondary deal will allow MHV to unlock liquidity for some of its Fund 1 LPs.
Open Finance platform Ayoconnect banks US$15M Series B to launch new products
Investors include Tiger Global, PayU, Alto Partners, and Plaid co-founder William Hockey; In H1 2022, Ayoconnect will launch a direct debit service, an API service that automates recurring payments directly from customers’ bank accounts.
MedHyve raises pre-seed round to make medical procurement easy for small hospitals
Investors are Pegasus Tech Ventures, Foxmont Capital, Lazada and Alibaba executives from 10K Ventures; MedHyve currently carries over 100 suppliers and 5,000 products online, serving 600+ hospitals and clinics across the Philippines.
SG
Refract secures over US$6M funding anchored by Sea Limited
It recently concluded a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for its innovative, wearable full-body motion capture technology, AXIS, and its acquisition of developer Deep Dive Studios.
Women-focused fintech firm Lucy eyes US$5M Series A funding
In November 2020, Lucy raised US$365,787 in a pre-seed round, in which the investors were all women; In 2021, it raised US$1M in a seed funding round from EmergeVest; Lucy is a neobank focused on providing a tailored range of financial and non-financial services to women.
HK
Payments network Rapyd completes the acquisition Neat
Rapyd is a fintech-as-a-service platform that claims to link 900 payment methods in over 100 countries and enable global payouts in more than 200 markets; Neat is a cross-border platform that enables trade for SMEs and startups.
VIISA backs Vietnamese classroom management solutions startup SHub
SHub aims to make online learning a basic life necessity and make online teaching a high-income career for Vietnamese teachers; The startup claims to have onboarded over 3M student users and formed partnerships with over 200 schools and 100K teachers.
Why smart businesses will prioritise smart payments acceptance
The more digital payment options a merchant makes available, the more points of interaction it has with consumers; As the number of touchpoints grows, they can drive operational efficiencies, create loyalty programmes and improve the customer experience.
Vietnam to start developing 6G tech in 2022
The Minister of Information and Communications (MIC) Nguyen Manh Hung said it’s time the country gets ahead of the development curve and strengthens its digital infrastructure with an emphasis on cloud computing, digital platforms, and software services.
MDEC partners with fintech group to help Malaysian fintech companies
Their collaborative efforts will focus on three key areas, namely deal flows, fintech ecosystem support and joint amplification; MDEC will curate deal flows and funnel potential Malaysian fintech companies to the fintech group.
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Alto Partners
Alto Partners Multi-Family Office is an investment partnership comprising prominent entrepreneurs and next-generation wealth.
Verticals: Consumer, education, finance, insurtech.
Investment locations: India, Australia, the US, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos, and Cambodia.
Stages: Pre-Series A/bridge and Series A.
ScaleUp Malaysia
Scaleup Malaysia is an Accelerator for emerging Malaysian companies who are looking for regional expansion and growth.
Verticals: All
Investment location: Malaysia
Stages: Seed, pre-Series A, and bridge
Investment range: US$50K to US$70K
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