Venture Capital

ScaleUp Malaysia seeks to invest $1 million in ten startups

Growth stage accelerator ScaleUp Malaysia said Thursday it will invest a total of $1 million in ten startups in its 2022 Cohort which will officially start in the fourth quarter of 2022. It has increased its investment in its startups to $100,000 per company, making it one of the largest cheque sizes from an accelerator in Southeast Asia.

East Ventures remains bullish on Indonesia & Southeast Asia despite headwinds

In the exclusive interview, Cuaca also shared his views on the overall tech ecosystem in Indonesia, startups’ valuation and the firm’s exit strategy.

Women in tech: How these VCs are helping to close gender gap in Southeast Asia

We talked to several venture capital (VC) firms in the region to learn more from their perspectives about gender gap in the tech ecosystem. We sought for their thoughts on gender lens investing and asked for their suggestions on how female tech entrepreneurs can improve further, addressing their challenges in the male-dominated tech startup ecosystem.

Newly launched Saison International takes the reins of parent company’s global business to triple profits in high-growth markets

Credit Saison (“Credit Saison Co., Ltd”, “TYO:8253”) is putting its weight behind a strategy for all investment and innovation activities outside of Japan with the launch of a newly structured global business division, Saison International, that has an investment of $670M to date.

UK’s Entrepreneur First raises unconventional $158M Series C funding for talent investing in Southeast Asia

Entrepreneur First (EF), a United Kingdom-based scaleup investor in early stage founder talent, said Wednesday it has raised a $158 million Series C funding round from a group of veteran technology founders, including Patrick and John Collison, Reid Hoffman, Taavet Hinrikus and Matt Mullenweg.

Ascend Vietnam Ventures surpasses $50M target

Ascend Vietnam Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm located in Ho Chi Minh City, announced Tuesday that it has exceeded its $50 million target for its flagship early-stage venture capital fund, AVV Alpha. Led by Binh Tran and Eddie Thai, the fund is seeking the next wave of globally iconic startups emerging from Vietnam.

Bertelsmann India Investments plans funding exceeding $500M to back tech startups

German media, services, and education company Bertelsmann said Tuesday that its strategic investment arm Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) has raised $500 million to back Indian technology startups. Bertelsmann has implemented its group-wide Boost 25 strategy, and plans to invest between €5 billion ($5.29 billion) and €7 billion ($7.4 billion) by 2025 as…

Singapore’s Panthera Growth to raise $250M second fund to back tech companies

Panthera Growth Partners (PGP), a Singapore-based tech-focused growth investment firm, announced Tuesday the first close of its second fund, having secured commitments for more than half of the target raise. The fund's target has been set at $250 million, and is expected to be reached by end of this fiscal year. It will offer up to 100 percent of fund…

Ethis Group and Gobi Partners to debut Shariah-compliant $20M seed fund

Malaysian ethical investment and social finance platform operator Ethis Group, has on Thursday launched EthisX as part of its global expansion plan, continues to trail blaze by collaborating with pan-Asian venture capital firm, Gobi Partners, to structure and set up a $20 million Shariah-compliant seed fund.

Sea Ltd former Chief Strategy Officer Alan Hellawell joins AC Ventures as Senior Advisor & Venture Partner

AC Ventures(ACV), an early-stage Indonesia-focused Venture Capital firm, said Wednesday it has appointed Alan Hellawell as Senior Advisor and Venture Partner. Alan will bring to bear deep technology industry experience to support ACV’s portfolio companies in areas such as value creation, advisory, and strategic introductions; as well as apply his expertise…