Southeast Asia
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: 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: 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
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).
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.
Lightspeed leads $35m round for Indonesia crypto player
Lightspeed Venture Partners has led a $35 million Series A extension for Pintu, one of Indonesia’s leading cryptocurrency wallets and trading platforms. It follows a $6 million tranche in May.
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
Tower Capital backs $230m Singapore business services carve-out
Tower Capital is backing a consortium seeking to carve out business services provider Boardroom from Singapore-listed GK Goh Holdings at a valuation of S$312 million ($230 million).
Indonesia’s Arise reaches first close on seed fund
Indonesia’s Arise, a seed investor set up by MDI Ventures and financial technology specialist Finch Capital, has reached a first close of unspecified size on its debut fund. The target is $40 million.
Bukalapak gains 25% on debut after $1.5b Indonesia IPO
Indonesian e-commerce platform Bukalapak hit the upper limits of its trading range within minutes of debuting on the Jakarta Stock Exchange following an IDR21.9 trillion ($1.5 billion) IPO.
Openspace hits $120m first close on SE Asia growth fund
Southeast Asia-focused Openspace Ventures has reached a first close of $120 million on its debut growth fund, which will primarily participate in follow-on rounds for existing portfolio companies.
Southeast Asia's FinAccel agrees $2b SPAC merger
FinAccel, operator of Indonesia-focused consumer credit platform Kredivo, has agreed to merge with a US-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) at an enterprise valuation of $2 billion.
Southeast Asia fundraising: Indecision time
Southeast Asian GPs jockey for global attention with mixed results as the largest LPs continue to hesitate to commit to the region. A trickle of investment fuels theories about how to get more
Asia digital assets platform Matrixport hits $1b valuation
Matrixport, a two-year-old crypto financial services platform based in Singapore, has closed a $100 million Series C round at a valuation of $1 billion.
GA, Dragoneer lead $250m Series B for Vietnam's VNLife
General Atlantic and Dragoneer Investment Group have led a $250 million Series B round for Vietnamese financial technology provider VNLife.
Navis raises $900m for Fund VIII, closes Fund VI continuation
Navis Capital Partners has closed its eighth regional fund at $900 million, while also securing $450 million for a continuation vehicle that features five companies from its sixth fund.
Indonesia grocery platform HappyFresh closes $65m Series D
Indonesia-based grocery platform HappyFresh has closed a $65 million Series D round led by Korean internet giant Naver and Netherlands-based investor Gafina.
Riverwood leads $200m Series D for SE Asia payments player Nium
Riverwood Capital has led a $200 million Series D round for Singapore-based cross-border payments technology provider Nium at an approximately $1 billion valuation.
Asia Partners, Falcon Edge back Indonesia's GudangAda
Asia Partners and Falcon Eduge Capital have led a $100 million Series B round for GudangAda, an Indonesian online marketplace that targets wholesale and small-scale retailers.
Singapore's PropertyGuru set for $1.35b SPAC merger
PropertyGuru, a PE-backed Southeast Asia real estate portal, has agreed to merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) established by Peter Thiel and Richard Li, son of Hong Kong billionaire Li-ka Shing, for an enterprise valuation of $1.35...
India's HealthifyMe closes $75m Series C
LeapFrong Investments and Khosla Ventures have led a $75 million Series C round for HealthifyMe, a mobile health and fitness app operator with a presence in India and Southeast Asia.