Asia
Australia’s New Forests announces first close of SE Asia-focused fund at $120M
New Forests announced Thursday the first close of its Tropical Asia Forest Fund 2 (TAFF2) with $120 million of capital commitments. Investors in the first close include Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Australian Government, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank (SuMi TRUST), Temasek and TotalEnergies. New Forests will continue to…
Australian FinTech firm Zeller doubles valuation to over $1B with $100M raise
Zeller has raised $100 million in Series B round at a valuation worth of $1 billion.The Series B, which saw Zeller more than double its valuation, was led by US-based Headline, with additional funds contributed by Australian industry superannuation fund Hostplus. Previous investors, including Square Peg, Addition, and Spark Capital, also returned to…
Australia’s Language Confidence raises $1.5M in seed funding from Wavemaker Partners and Investible
Language Confidence has raised $1.5 million seed round to automate the teaching and testing of spoken English. The capital raise was led by Wavemaker Partners with participation from Investible. The funding will enable the company to expand its product offering and grow it’s already global customer base.
Korean digital content distribution firm RIDI gets $100B funding led by Singapore’s GIC
RIDI Corporation has signed definitive agreements to receive an investment of KRW 120 billion ($100 million) led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC. Korea Development Bank, NVESTOR, and Atinum Investment also participated in this investment. As a result, RIDI has been recognized as the first unicorn startup in Korea’s content platform industry with an…
Binance & Cuscapi Bhd take strategic stakes in Malaysia FinTech firm MX Global
MX Global Sdn. Bhd announced Tuesday an equity investment into the company from Binance. It also landed another investment for Redeemable Convertible Preference Shares (RCPS) into the company by Cuscapi Berhad. These new capital injections will allow MX Global, a licensed fintech company, to build brand awareness, hire more high-quality talent and develop…
Japan e-commerce giant Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani donates $8.7M to Ukraine for humanitarian assistance
The donation is intended for humanitarian activities to help people in the country who have become victims of the violence, he said.
VCs scout opportunities in MedTech despite higher valuation fueled by pandemic
A growing population of more than 600 million with a combined GDP of more than $3 trillion and a rapid growth of the middle class are expected to fuel strong demand in healthcare coverage in Southeast Asia.
Singapore micromobility startup Beam secures $93M in Series B funding led by Affirma Capital
Beam announced Friday a Series B funding round of $93 million led by Singapore-based private equity firm Affirma Capital. The round also saw participation from Sequoia Capital India, Hana Ventures, ICT Capital, EDBI, AC Ventures, RTP Global, and Momentum Venture Capital, among others. Funds raised will be used to bring Beam’s shared micromobility vehicles…
India’s Airtel acquires strategic stake in Singapore blockchain technology startup Aqilliz
Bharti Airtel (Airtel) has acquired a strategic stake in Aqilliz, a Singapore-based blockchain as a service company. It aims to deploy Aqilliz’s advanced blockchain technologies at scale across its fast growing adtech (Airtel Ads), digital entertainment (Wynk Music and Airtel Xstream) and digital marketplace (Airtel Thanks App) offerings.
Indian neobank platform Niyo nets $100M in Series C round led by Accel and Lightrock
Niyo has raised $100 million in its Series C round of funding led by Accel and Lightrock India. Beams Fintech Fund and its existing investors Prime Venture Partners, JS Capital are also participating in this round along with others. The company will be using the funds to accelerate its mission to transform banking in India, and to provide convenient and…
