News

Vietnam’s Vingroup starts construction on $173.7M EV battery manufacturing factory

Vingroup has started the construction of the $173.7 million electric vehicle (EV) battery manufacturing factory in Vietnam. The VinES Battery Manufacturing Factory which is located in the Vung Ang Economic Zone (Ha Tinh), is being developed on 8 hectares in its initial phase. The establishment of this factory represents an important milestone in its EV…

Pakistan e-commerce builder Brandverse raises “multimillion-dollar” seed funding

Brandverse has successfully raised an undisclosed multi-million dollar amount to launch its Chikoo app. The seed round was led by the JS Group and observed follow-on participation from seed investors, regional family offices and operator angels. With this round, Brandverse will further strengthen its Chikoo app which enables both offline, hyper-local, and…

Singapore live commerce enabler Upmesh raises $7.5M Pre-Series A funding led by Monk’s Hill Ventures

Upmesh has raised a new round of Pre-Series A funding of $7.5 million led by Monk's Hill Ventures. The new round of funding will be used to expand Upmesh’s regional presence in Southeast Asia and launch new products including a mobile version of its product. The company also plans to launch more backend automation features including logistics automation.

Indonesia edtech firm Cakap secures $10M in Series B funding co-led by MDI-KB’s Centauri and Heritas Capital

Cakap has raised $10 million in an oversubscribed series B round to expand its certified course offering, as well as to fuel its market expansion in providing better access to high quality education in Indonesia. The round was jointly led by MDI Ventures' Centauri Fund and Heritas Capital, with participation from KB Investment and other undisclosed…

Philippine neobank Tonik secures $100M in consumer deposits

Tonik, the Philippines' first digital-only neobank, has surpassed PHP5B ($100M) in consumer deposits, just eight months after its launch of commercial operations.

Hong Kong billionaire Adrian Cheng enters metaverse via investment in Animoca Brands’ The Sandbox

The Sandbox offers virtual real estate, called LAND NFTs, in the open metaverse. Cheng's LAND will be one of the biggest plots in The Sandbox, and form part of the ‘Mega City’ virtual world, which will include his Innovation Hub. The landmark of the Innovation Hub will be the GBA Pavilion, a vibrant center propagating creativity and futuristic vision to…

India edtech firm BYJU’S acquires Austrian mathematics software provider GeoGebra

BYJU’S has acquired Austria-based mathematics software provider GeoGebra. The company, however, did not disclose the value of the deal. This acquisition complements the company's overall product strategy and integrates GeoGebra’s capabilities to enable the creation of new product offerings and learning formats to its existing mathematics portfolio. It…

Vietnam blockchain-based gamehub Whydah raises $25 Million funding

Whydah has successfully raised $25 million from prestigious investors including Hashkey, Eternity Ventures, Bitscale, Youbi, Morningstar Ventures, Kardia Ventures, Formless Capital, Axia 8 Ventures, Polkastarter, Good Guild Game, and Mask Network. This move comes shortly after Whydah officially cooperated with the seven largest game studios in Vietnam,…

Hong Kong’s WATI raises $8.3M Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital India

WATI has raised $8.3 million in Series A funding led by Sequoia Capital India.Surge, Base Partners and several prominent angels including Gokul Rajaram also participated in the round. The funds raised will be used to bolster technology and product development by expanding product integrations and double the team size and improve their presence in Latin…