Data Vantage | Industry execs join funding for SE Asian startups
Edition #123, 1 Nov 2021
Dear Reader,
A number of Southeast Asian startups raised fresh funding at the end of October, with corporate leaders from the region and overseas committing capital.
Singapore-headquartered blockchain-based remittance platform Lightnet bagged $48.6 million from its two co-founders — Chatchaval Jiaravanon and Tridbodi Arunanondchai — last week.
Jiaravanon is a business tycoon and a member of the billionaire family that controls Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group. He owns Fortune magazine and is the founder of Charoen Energy and Water Asia. He had invested $10 million to set up Lightnet in 2018.
Arunanondchai, his co-founder, is a serial tech entrepreneur and former investment banker. Also known as Khun Beam, he co-founded online travel club Privepass.com and digital media agency Play Media.
Another startup to bag funding recently from a prominent entrepreneur is employment platform Multiplier, which secured $13.26 million last week.
Indian fintech veteran Amrish Rau, who is also the CEO of Pine Labs, contributed almost $100,000 to the round. Rau’s portfolio also includes SureCash, Mobile Premier League, Skuad, BukuKas, Nium, and Vahak.
Indian food delivery major Zomato’s co-founder Deepinder Goyal also invested nearly $100,000 in the round.
Meanwhile, Jakarta-based open banking startup Brankas received $500,000 from Jeffrey Cruttenden, the co-founder of California-based financial service firm Acorns, as part of its latest financing.
Non-SG fintech startups gain investor attention
According to DealStreetAsia’s latest quarterly review, fintech firms in Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand saw a surge in funding in the third quarter.
These five Southeast Asian countries accounted for $878 million worth of deals in the fintech sector during the quarter. Indonesia topped the list as its startups inked deals worth at least $384 million in Q3. Vietnam was second with its $263 million tally.
In late September, digital payment firm Ascend Money raised a $150 million round, which crowned it Thailand’s first fintech unicorn. Other non-Singapore fintech firms in the unicorn club include Ajaib, Kredivo, and Xendit — all from Indonesia.
Other updates from DATA VANTAGE
Grocery delivery firm Grofers raised $55.25 million from three existing investors last week. SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global Management and South Korean venture capital firm KTB Network subscribed to the company’s Series F preference shares at $52.16 apiece.
Vietnamese game developer Sky Mavis received $127.5 million in equity funding as part of its Series B round last week. The firm had announced a $152 million round in October, which gave it a $3 billion valuation.
Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto-focused CNK Fund III invested nearly $52 million in the round, while another fund managed by the Silicon Valley VC contributed $30 million.
Investors in Sky Mavis’s latest round
Source: DATA VANTAGE
Singapore-registered Chai Pay, a unit of Seoul-based fintech firm CHAI, raised $29.55 million last week from investors including Stonebridge Capital, Hashed Ventures, SoftBank Ventures Asia and Company K Partners.
E-commerce aggregator Una Brands bagged $15 million last week as part of its Series A funding round. White Star Capital led the latest capital infusion, followed by Alpha JWC Ventures.
Mobile Premier League allotted 2.96 million Series E preference shares to Kotak Pre-IPO Opportunities Fund last week to raise $15 million.
Singapore-based health tech startup Klinify received nearly $4 million last week from parent company Zuellig Pharma.
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