Early-stage
Tech giants and VC: When the chips are down
Taiwan has a long history as a tech manufacturing powerhouse, but with the decline of the PC times have changed. Can the wavering tech giants re-invest themselves and what can VC do to help?
Zodius seed funding supports Antuit's US acquisition
Zodius Capital provided $3 million in seed funding to Antuit, a Singapore-headquartered big data and analytics company. A portion of the capital will be used to finance the purchase of Marketwell, giving the company a readymade footprint in the US market....
Q&A: Rocket Internet's Tito Costa
Rocket Internet, which has raised more than $1 billion in funding in the last year, is known for launching copycats of successful sites. Tito Costa, managing director for Southeast Asia, outlines a different strategy for the region
China's Zhonglu VC invests in five start-ups
A venture capital arm of Shanghai Zhonglu Group, a Chinese bicycle manufacturer, has invested a total of RMB36.4 million ($5.9 million) in five online technology start-ups. Zhonglu VC will take a 20% stake in each company.
Indian Angel Network invests in IndiaCollegeSearch
Indian Angel Network (IAN) investor members Vikram Kant Upadhyaya, Anupam Mittal and Varun Khurana have committed an undisclosed amount to IndiaCollegeSearch (ICS), a website that provides information on over 7,000 professional educational institutes....
Microsoft consolidates India start-up programs
Microsoft India has brought its start-up offerings under a single platform – known as Microsoft Ventures – following a similar restructuring at group level. Existing VC investment programs including BizSpark, Bing Fund and Accelerator will now operate...
INCJ invests $27m in Japan patent fund
Government-backed Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ) has invested JPY2.75 billion ($27.8 million) in a fund that will buy unused patents and license them to domestic start-ups.
A new alternative: SME liquidity in India
India has opened up a channel for domestic start-ups to sell shares without going through a full IPO. The platform offers new fundraising and exit options, but regulators could help by removing more red tape
The problem with Southeast Asian VC
Ahead of last week's AVCJ Singapore Forum, this column was dedicated to the less-loved investment stories in Southeast Asia. VC made the list because, despite offering a similar fundamentals to China and India – rising disposable incomes and mobile internet...
Artesian Ventures, University of Queensland to launch start-up fund
Artesian Capital Management, an alternative investment arm spun out of ANZ Banking Group, has partnered with University of Queensland to create a A$1.5 million ($1.4 million) Accelerate Investment Fund. The vehicle will invest in graduates from the university’s...
Pearson, Village Capital to fund Indian education start-ups
Pearson - a UK education company which owns the Financial Times and publishers Penguin Random House - has teamed up with social investor Village Capital to set up a business incubator for Indian education start-ups.
Southeast Asia VC still overlooked by global investors - AVCJ Forum
Southeast Asia is the region’s forgotten venture capital market despite some compelling fundamentals. Last month ASEAN overtook the US by internet users and at some point this month it will surpass the US in terms of the total number of 3G connections,...
Australia's PushStart closes accelerator program
PushStart, an Australian firm that offers mentoring to early stage Australian tech startups, has shut down its accelerator program.
Microsoft Ventures enters China market
Microsoft has launched Microsoft Ventures in China to provide seed funding and other resources to local start-ups.
Angels in Asia: Exporting Silicon Valley
Early-stage investors in the US are casting their eyes eastwards as they seek out new partnerships in Asia. But what can these angels offer the region’s start-up community?
Gray Matters invests in social banker Unitus Capital
Bangalore-based social investment bank Unitus Capital (UC) has received an undisclosed commitment from Gray Matters Capital (GMC)-owned First Light Ventures fund. The vehicle acts as an incubator and investment partner to seed-stage, for-profit social...
Angels say SE Asia ripe for 500 Durians
Dave McClure, Silicon Valley super angel and founding partner of 500 Startups, was on the road in Asia once again this month as part of his firm’s “Geeks on a Plane” (GOAP) tour. While this was not the first time the tech-focused venture capital firm...
Nexus invests $2.5m in Housing.co.in
Nexus Venture Partners will back Indian real estate search portal Housing.co.in with $2.5 million in funding to help expand its technology and data teams.
Inventus leads $2m investment in eDreams Edusoft
Inventus Capital Partners and Mumbai Angels have backed Indian education software company eDreams Edusoft with $2 million in a second round of funding.
Nissay, Nippon invest $1m in online translation service
Nissay Capital and Nippon Venture Capital Co. (NVCC) have led a JPY108 million ($1 million) round of investment in Japan's Yaraku, the company behind online cloud translation service WorldJumper. Individual investors are also said to have taken part in...
Invictus Oncology gets $2m from Navam, Aarin
Indian investors Navam Capital and Aarin Capital have invested INR10.5 million ($1.88 million) in Delhi-based Invictus Oncology as part of a Series A round of funding.
East Ventures leads seed funding round in Japan's TwitCasting
East Ventures has led a JPY64.8 million ($633,000) round of seed funding in Moi Corp., the Japanese company behind social video application TwitCasting.
SparkLabs selects 10 companies for its second start-up class
Korean start-up accelerator SparkLabs has selected a second class of 10 for its mentoring program. The program is three months in length and provides funding, office space and access to a network of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and angel investors....
Kae Capital seeds India language-learning platform
Indian venture capital firm Kae Capital has invested an undisclosed amount for a minority stake in Intap Labs, the start-up behind language-learning platform CultureAlley.com.