Articles by Tim Burroughs
India's 3one4 names new partner
Indian venture capital firm 3one4 Capital has elevated Anurag Ramdasan to partner level, alongside a rush of more junior promotions.
Australia's Blackbird leads Series B for education start-up
Blackbird Ventures has led a $25 million Series B funding round for Forage, an Australia-founded but now US-based provider of virtual training courses aimed at students.
Baring buys enterprise tech player Straive from Partners Group
Baring Private Equity Asia is poised to add to its enterprise technology portfolio with the acquisition of Straive – a Philippines-based outsourcing business previously known as SPi Global – from Partners Group.
Affirma invests $100m in Korea cloud services provider
Affirma Capital has secured a third deal for its latest Korea fund, with an agreement to invest $100 million in Metanet T Platform, a local cloud managed service provider (MSP).
Start-up profiles: Infrastructure, insurance, data, payments
Singapore’s Fireblocks tokenizes traditional banks; India’s PolicyBazaar mulls the future of insurance; China’s Rong360 diversifies through data; Cambodia’s Clik targets a payments frontier
Start-up profiles: Digital banking, embedded finance, crypto banking
The Philippines’ Tonik breaks ground in neo-banking; India’s YAP finds new ways to connect banks with their customers; Singapore’s Matrixport scales fast with decentralized finance
Start-up profiles: Transfers, risk, marketplaces
Singapore’s Thunes rethinks remittances for an enterprise clientele; China’s IceKredit brings data privacy to credit scoring; India’s OfBusiness gravitates towards a healthy loans segment
Asia fintech: Platform plays
Expansion is the dominant theme in financial technology as start-ups leverage existing assets to enter new verticals, typically in lending. Which ones will become Asia’s preeminent platforms?
Corporate VC: Appetite for disruption
Banks across Asia are leveraging their capital and domain expertise to stay ahead of the curve on financial technology. Each aspect of the corporate VC ecosystem engages with start-ups in different ways
Q&A: Airwallex's Jack Zhang
Hong Kong-headquartered Airwallex has grown from nothing to a $2.6 billion valuation in the space of six years. Co-founder and CEO Jack Zhang details his plans to build a global financial technology stack
Ascendent founder's SPAC to merge with Tim Hortons China
A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by Liang Meng, founding managing partner of China’s Ascendent Capital Partners, has agreed to merge with PE-backed Tim Hortons China at a valuation of $1.8 billion.
Affinity backs Singapore financial SaaS platform
Affinity Equity Partners has taken a joint controlling stake alongside management in Singapore-based technology-enabled financial services provider M-Daq, following an investment of approximately S$200 million ($148 million).
Partners Group buys India broadband provider for $1.2b
Partners Group has agreed to buy India-based broadband provider Atria Convergence Technologies for an enterprise valuation of nearly $1.2 billion, facilitating a full exit for True North and a partial exit for TA Associates.
India's Dream Sports launches $250m corporate VC fund
Dream Sports, operator of India’s largest fantasy sports platform, has established a $250 million venture capital unit that will invest in sports, gaming, and fitness-tech start-ups nationwide.
Lazard makes senior private capital advisory hire in Asia
Lazard has recruited Patrick No, formerly head of Asia financial sponsors coverage at Credit Suisse, as a managing director in its private capital advisory group.
DSG recruits ex-Singha executive as Southeast Asia head
DSG Consumer Partners, which focuses on early-stage consumer investments in India and Southeast Asia, has appointed Sameer Mehta as an investment director and head of Southeast Asia.
Taiwan's AppWorks raises $150m for Fund III
AppWorks, a Taiwan-based venture capital firm and accelerator that also covers Southeast Asia, has closed its third fund at the hard cap of $150 million, taking its total assets under management to $212 million.
Kedaara surpasses $1b for third India fund
India-focused middle-market private equity firm Kedaara Capital has closed its third fund at just under $1.1 billion, spurred by strong performance from its debut vehicle.
Stellaris closes second India VC fund on $225m
Stellaris Venture Partners has closed its second early-stage India fund on $225 million, comfortably exceeding the $160 million target while diversifying the LP base.
Vision Fund pulls back from China amid regulatory uncertainty
SoftBank Vision Fund is taking a “wait and see” approach to China, holding back on new investments in the country until the full ramifications of regulatory action in the technology sector are known.
Deal focus: GA backs VNLife's two-pronged fintech play
VNLife is not alone in trying to build value-added services onto a payment platform in Vietnam, but it is unusual in being able to rely on a profitable B2B digital banking business while figuring out monetization
Deal focus: Warburg Pincus returns to ESR
The sale of ARA Asset Management to ESR will create a real estate behemoth primed to go big on e-commerce-driven logistics and data centers – and allow Warburg Pincus to reunite with the platform it seeded
LP interview: Allianz Capital Partners
In approaching Asian private equity, Allianz Capital Partners combines the classic conservatism of an insurance investor with a seasoned understanding of how to assess – and perhaps not over-respond – to risk
India family offices: Tech exposure
Demand for technology exposure among India’s most affluent is intensifying. Family offices may vary in profile, experience, and mode of access, but they all want a piece of the latest hot start-up