Singaporean Ventures — Issue #30. unicorns 🦄, mobile gaming 🎮, dating…
By: Victor Tenneroni
Tags: Southeast Asia, Venture Capital, VC

#mobilityanalytics

Startups and downs 🦄

○ Where Is My Mind — marketing platform AnyMind has raised US$26m in funding from Japan Post Capital.

○ Ridehailing startup RYDE has partnered with taxi operating company Premier to increase its fleet by 2,000 taxis.

○ Drake’s Fortune — Insurtech startup Uncharted has raised a US$5.8m Series A from its existing investors, following its acquisition of Shift Insurtech.

○ Mobile-focused global esports tournament network and platform Esports Players League has raised a US$1m Seed from 500 Startups, among others.

○ Zenyum’s invisible 3D-printed braces — how it works.

○ Mobile games publisher Potato Play has raised a US$500k pre-seed round from Play Ventures.

○ Insurtech CXA Group has laid off 12 staff, in an effort to improve profitability.

○ Knowledge sharing platform Arches has raised a US$450k Seed round from I Glocal and angels.

○ Drayage platform Haulio has partnered with container optimization company Avantida (Belgium) to create a container street-turns offering in Singapore.

○ Digital financing platform Funding Societies & procure-to-pay platform SGeBIZ have partnered to provide loans to SMEs.

Grab & Gojek 🚘

○ Ignite — Grab has unveiled its Vietnam-focused accelerator program: 5 startups will receive up to US$150k from Grab and Gobi Partners; 14-week training program in Ho Chi Minh City; sectors: mobility, food, payments, financial services, logistics, e-commerce, and artificial intelligence.

○ Grab has launched applications for Velocity Batch 3, focusing on services to SMEs & logistics.

○ Grab has put an end to the Upfront Cash Programme, which allowed drivers to take cash advance on future earnings and pay it back in installments.

○ GoFood has partnered with startup hub Digitaraya (Indonesia) and coffee delivery startup Kopi Kenangan (Indonesia) to launch a foodtech-focused accelerator, Digitarasa. Selected startups will be listed in the Gojek app.

○ There are 24 ridehailing startups in Southeast Asia.

Venture Capitalists 🎢

○ Telkom Group (Indonesia) is preparing US$300–500m to invest in SEA late-stage startups via its CVC, MDI Ventures, to accelerate the group’s digital transformation.

○ Kickstart Ventures is deploying a US$200m for Series A to C.

○ Indogen Capital is preparing a US$50m fund for e-commerce, lifestyle, and fintech.

○ SparkLabs Group (South Korea), a network of VCs and accelerators, has launched SparkLabs Connex, a US$100k program focused on Asian IoT startups.

Corporates 👨‍💼

○ Deep Impact — Coronavirus means salary and/or hiring freezes.

The Smart Nation 🇸🇬

○ Budget 2020 — a summary of measures that can impact startups.

○ The Variable Capital Company framework is live.

○ Easy Rider — From April, you will be able to ride your high-powered electric motorcycle.

Food for thought 🍜

○ Why SEA is a playground for Chinese tech giants.

○ Cloud Kitchen & Robocooks: an overview of foodtech in SEA.

○ Mobile dating is on the rise in SEA.

○ Luxury in the digital age: how it’s transformed.

○ Fintech in the Philippines: reasons to be optimistic.

Beyond Singapore 🌏

○ SOSV-backed MOX accelerator has revealed its latest cohort of 10 startups.

Indonesia 🇮🇩

○ Data labeling platform Datasaur.ai has raised a US$1m Seed from angel investors.

○ MasterCard will lead fintech Digiasia’s Series B round.

○ B2B-targeted e-procurement platform Mbiz is raising a US$20m Series B.

○ E-commerce company JD.id has claimed unicorn status, making it the 6th in Indonesia.

Malaysia 🇲🇾

○ Healthy food delivery service Dahmakan has raised a US$18m Series B from Rakuten Capital, White Star Capital, JAFCO Asia, the GEC-KIP Fund, Woowa Brothers, alongside existing investors Partech Partners and Y Combinator. The company has 53 in-house trained chefs.

○ Conglomerate Sunway has launched an online flat customization & purchase tool.

○ Who is Aireen Omar, the rising CEO of AirAsia and RedBeat Ventures?

○ Carsharing startup Socar Malaysia has officially launched Trevo, a P2P caresharing marketplace.

○ E-commerce agregator iPrice has raised a US$10m Series B led by ACA Investments.

○ Celcom Axiata, Digi and Maxis have signed a MOU to explore joint fiber infrastructure development, in preparation for 5G.

Philippines 🇵🇭

○ After raising a US$6m round co-led by Insignia Ventures Partners and Credence Partners, TONIK is about to launch its licensed digital bank in partnership with BPC.

○ Motorcycle-taxi startup JoyRide has announced it will launch food delivery.

Vietnam 🇻🇳

○ Animation production startup Visinema has raised a US$3.25m Series A led by Intudo Ventures.

○ Podcast startup Waves has raised a US$1.2m Seed round led by Insignia Ventures Partners, with Skystar Capital and Hustle Fund also joining.

○ Duolingo is exploring the opportunity of expanding to Vietnam.

China 🇨🇳

○ TikTok has become the world’s most downloaded app in January, beating Whatsapp. Bytedance has launched a standalone search app.

○ Huawei’s app store has reached 400m MAU. Huawei has started internal tests for its proprietary search app.

○ Kuaishou vs. Douyin (TikTok).

○ Losing Grip — Beverage chain Luckin Coffee is under investigation for reportedly inflated metrics. Meanwhile, Naixue’s Tea, its tea nemesis, is reportedly looking to raise US$400m in an US IPO.

○ Satellite Love — EV maker Geely wants to build satellites to accelerate the development of autonomous cars. Autonomous driving startup Pony.ai has raised US$400m from Toyota, at US$3b valuation. And Waymo has raised US$2.5b.

○ The government has drafted measures to ease its immigration policy in order to attract more foreign tech talent and investors.

○ Delivery platforms like Meituan are rolling out a ‘contactless delivery’ feature to avoid coronavirus transmission.

○ Sabotage at WeChat.

○ Minority Report — 83 companies, among which many Fortune 500, have reportedly benefited from forced labor by relocated Uighurs.

India 🇮🇳

○ Food delivery startup Zomato has paid US$206m for UberEats. But Amazon will be launching food delivery on its own soon.

○ Bytedance has launched its freemium social music streaming app, Resso.

○ Fashion startup Flixstock, has raised a US$2.5m round from Wavemaker Partners, with Seeds Capital and Leo Capital also joining the round.

○ Uber plans to expand its EV fleet to 1,500 by the end of the year from the current 350.

○ Hotel platform Oyo is laying off 5,000, out of which 3,000 in China. Oyo’s CEO has announced a US$2bn investment in the US.

○ This weekend, PM Modi may or may not close his social media accounts.

Also 🤫

○ How much would you ask to tell your bank balance?

○ Yuan Shave Club — The Chinese Communist Party thought sharing videos of female nurses shaving their head would whip up feelings of patriotism, amidst the sanitary crisis. Guess what, it didn’t work out that well.

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