SEA

Indonesia e-commerce firm Ula bags $87M Series B, ropes in Amazon’s Jeff Bezos as investor

The funding round was co-led by Prosus Ventures, Tencent and B Capital Group. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Bezos Expeditions also joined the round.

SoftBank-backed Indian hotel aggregator OYO files draft papers for $1.14B IPO

The hotel aggregator's IPO plan also comes at a time when travel restrictions are being eased in many countries and the tourism sector is expected to rebound.

Singapore Heritas Capital Fund II

SBI, Sygnym, Azimut launch $75M digital asset-focused VC fund in Singapore

The fund aims to back digital asset companies across Europe and Southeast Asia, focusing on companies developing distributed ledger technology infrastructure, decentralized finance solutions, and regulatory technology tools.

Rodeo is building brand journeys and revolutionizing transit advertising with analytics [Q&A with Valens Subramaniam]

Rodeo’s ability to successfully marry data analytics with production house capabilities has drawn customers such as Alibaba and AirAsia Ride, and saw Rodeo raise 1.13 million MYR from 85 investors in an equity crowdfunding campaign.

Vietnam loyalty platform Society Pass plans to list on Nasdaq

The company is offering 2.9 million shares at a price range of $8 to $10. At the mid-range, this puts the IPO at around $26 million at a $188 million valuation.

Ant-backed Ascend Money hits $1.5B valuation with $150M new funding, becomes Thailand’s first tech unicorn

The funds will be used to grow the user base of its e-wallet application - TrueMoney Wallet - and to expand digital financial services, including digital lending, digital investment, and cross-border remittances across Southeast Asia.

Malaysia & Singapore to link real-time payment systems in Q4 2022

The first phase of the DuitNow-PayNow linkage will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2022 and will allow customers of participating financial institutions to make real-time fund transfers between Malaysia and Singapore using just a mobile number.

Ninja Van bags $578M in Series E, ropes in Alibaba as investor

The funds will be allocated towards infrastructure and technology systems that will support a sustainable long-term cost structure, as well as the quality and consistency of Ninja Van’s operations.

Sea’s Shopee launches food delivery service in Malaysia rivalling GrabFood, Foodpanda

ShopeeFood will be competing with other food delivery players including ride-hailing giant Grab's GrabFood and German-based Delivery Hero's subsidiary Foodpanda.

Snaphunt envisions a future with a global talent pool, fully-automated recruitment [Q&A with Tulika Tripathi]

Wherever possible, more people are now looking for technology to help them with outcomes as compared to before the pandemic. As a result, we’re seeing international barriers to talent break down, whether for remote work, to globalize, or open new sales channels. Companies will continue to employ a more international workforce than they did before.