News

Philippines ‘buy now, pay later’ platform Plentina raises $2.2M in Seed funding round to accelerate credit access to the underbanked

The FinTech startup plans to use its fresh capital to grow its data science, business development, and customer operations teams.

Pakistan logistics tech startup Truck It In raises $1.5M in pre-Seed funding round

The startup plans to use its fresh capital to continue solving complex supply chain issues and to bring Pakistan’s road freight industry to the digital age. Truck It In is also looking to onboard skilled talents within the MENAP region to continue fulfilling its mission. Its platform is currently being used in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Faisalabad.

Grab inks SPAC deal with Altimeter Growth as it readies US IPO at $39.6B valuation

It is expected to be the largest-ever US equity offering by a Southeast Asian company as the deal values the leading Southeast Asian super app at approximately $39.6 billion. The company is expected to be traded on NASDAQ under ticker “GRAB” as it goes public.

Vietnam’s Touchstone Partners announces first close of inaugural $50M VC fund to invest in local startups

Touchstone Partners has announced the first close of its inaugural $50 million venture capital fund. The fund is backed by New York-based Pavilion Capital, Vulcan Capital, and several other investors and family offices. 

With $2.6M pre-Series A, Vietnam’s Dat Bike aims to drive the future of Southeast Asia’s e-bike market [Q&A with Founder & CEO Son Nguyen]

We want to transform the 250 million gasoline bikes in Southeast Asia to electric vehicles. We believe that if given a choice, everyone would pick electric over gas.

Retail analytics platform Trax raises $640M Series E led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and BlackRock 

Trax plans to use the fresh capital to continue providing digital transformation solutions for brick-and-mortar retail companies by expanding its products.

With growing use from increased digitalization, career and recruitment platform Glints secures $22.5M Series C for APAC expansion

The company plans to use the fresh capital to support its overall mission of empowering the career development of 120 million professionals in Southeast Asia by expanding in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Taiwan, and hiring for its product and engineering teams. 

SaaS startup Nimbly Technologies secures $4.6M pre-Series A led by Insignia Ventures Partners 

With its pre-Series A fund, the company looks to speed up its growth and gain more traction in its existing markets, as well as expand its reach across untapped markets within the region. 

Indonesia InsurTech Qoala acquires Thai InsurTech FairDee, expands into Thailand a year following its $13.5M Series A

Through this acquisition, Qoala plans to speed up technology scalability and innovation across all its businesses by using its learning from Indonesia and Thailand to strengthen its core competencies and digital offerings across all its markets.

Indonesian FinTech startup Pluang secures $20M in pre-Series B led by Openspace Ventures

Pluang plans to utilize its fresh capital by investing in developing unique and proprietary financial products including new asset classes.