Asia

EVMOS StayKing House, a decentralized finance protocol developed by engineers from Sooho.io, the South Korea-based DeFi infrastructure service provider, won the Grand Champion award of $80,000 worth of USDC and EVMOS at Evmos’ inaugural Momentum Hackathon.

Asean saw a total of 96 IPOs raising $3.8 billion, up 4 percent in deal numbers and a decline of 57 percent in proceeds YOY. The notable decline in proceeds was due to a lack of mega IPOs (IPOs with proceeds equal to or greater than $1 billion) in YTD 2022.

As many regions around the world enter an adjustment period, startup founders and investors have to adjust to a slower fundraising pace. Still, some investors see the adjustment as a healthy thing since it produces more reasonable valuations, weeds out unproductive firms, and forces founders to focus on creating real value.

Endowus, the Singapore-based digital wealth advisory platform, announced Monday that it has completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Carret Private Investments Limited, a Hong Kong-based wealth manager and multi-family office that serves ultra-high-net-worth individuals, families, trusts and charitable organisations.

ImBee, a Hong Kong-headquartered chat management platform, announced Monday that it has raised $5 million in Series A funding led by DCM, a global venture capital firm, to advance its platform offerings, go deeper into existing markets and expand its footprint in the Asia-Pacific region.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic, ongoing US-China trade tensions, and an imminent global recession are already hitting technology firms in both China and the US, some investors see new opportunities emerging for today’s technology and startup markets.

MonoC, Hong Kong’s first a surrealist metahuman artist, will inject her daring data-led and dream-like vision into Digital Art Fair 2022. As a reflection of her growing importance in a world rapidly embracing adventures in augmented reality, she is one of key featured artists at this year’s Xperience edition of the fair, which will be staged at Asia…

Blockchain.com, the United Kingdom-based crypto financial services firm, has secured an in-principle approval for the major payment institution license offering digital payment token services from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Altana Technologies (Altana), a United States-based startup pioneering a shared source of truth on the global supply chain, has raised a $100 million Series B investment led by Activate Capital. The round was joined by Singapore-based Reefknot Investments, OMERS Ventures, Prologis Ventures, and Four More Capital.

Hong Kong-based Raffles Family Office (Raffles FO) announced Thursday the launch of Revo Digital Family Office (Revo DFO), the first-of-its-kind in Asia that enables ultra-high net worth (UHNW) families to access and invest in digital assets from a consolidated wealth management platform.