Venture Capital
Yicura BioMed closes first tranche of Series B led by Gobi Partners
Hong Kong clinical-stage biotech Yicura BioMed has completed the first closing of a Series B led by Gobi Partners, with the amount undisclosed.
Vietnam’s Net Zero Challenge 2026 awards $770,000 to climate startups from 4 countries
The Net Zero Challenge 2026 has concluded with $770,000 in catalytic grants and investment prizes for several climate startups to pilot their solutions in Vietnam.
Vietnam Int’l Finance Center, Touchstone Partners launch $100M 1:1 co-investment program for startups
The Vietnam International Financial Center in Ho Chi Minh City (VIFC-HCMC), Touchstone Partners, and Ho Chi Minh City Venture Investment Fund JSC (HCM VIF) will collaborate to set up a co-investment program with a combined capacity of up to $100 million.
Luminal raises $25M Series A to cut AI inference costs beyond Nvidia GPUs
Luminal, an AI infrastructure company based in San Francisco, has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Standard Capital, with all of its seed investors doubling down such as Y Combinator, Felicis, SagaVC, and Liquid 2.
Thailand’s Horizon Group raises $12.5M from Singapore’s Vertex Ventures SE Asia & India
Horizon Group, the Bangkok-headquartered consumer wellness company behind the Lunio sleep brand, has raised $12.5 million in a Series A round from Singapore-based Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India, which was the sole investor.
Singapore’s Staera Semiconductor raises $4.6M to put optical links inside AI chips
Singapore-based Staera Semiconductor, formerly New Silicon Corporation, has raised US$4.6 million in pre-seed funding to build optical data links directly into silicon chips.
World bank’s IFC seeks $50M investment in Malaysia-headquartered Navis Asia Fund IX
The International Finance Corporation (IFC), under the World Bank, seeks to make an equity commitment of $50 million to Navis Asia Fund IX, L.P., a private equity fund managed by Malaysia-headquartered Navis Capital Partners.
The option pool shuffle and the hidden valuation cut in a term sheet
Hai H Nguyen explains how counting an employee option pool before a financing round can shift dilution toward founders, with a worked cap-table example.
U Mobile, Cradle step up support for Malaysian startups in 5G-A, AI
U Mobile and Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd are strengthening their collaboration to help Malaysian startups develop and test 5G-Advanced (5G-A) and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for real-world business applications, as demand for emerging technologies grows.
Sand.ai closes $200 million Series A+ for video AI
Chinese video-generation startup Sand.ai has completed a $200 million Series A+ round led by CoStone Capital and Wangsu Science & Technology.
