Latest news and trends about tech

Checkbox has raised AU$6.3 million ($4.5 million) in pre-Series A funding to accelerate local and international expansion, including the appointment of personnel for key regions and the launch of a product-assisted growth model. The round is led by Sequoia India’s rapid scale-up program, Surge, and Australia’s Tidal Ventures. Checkbox will use the funding…

In its efforts to be a major player for delivery in the Southeast Asia region, Teleport, the logistics venture of Airasia, has invested in Kargo Technologies (Kargo), Indonesia’s largest trucking marketplace, in the form of convertible notes. This acquisition was funded through Teleport’s internally generated sources,

The central bank of Malaysia and Indonesia on Thursday launched a cross-border QR payment linkage, to enable instant, secure, and efficient cross-border payments between Malaysia and Indonesia. Through this linkage, consumers in both countries will be able to make retail payments by scanning the DuitNow or Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) QR…

Singapore venture capital (VC) fund Blockchain Founders Fund (BFF) announced Thursday the principal close of its $75 million BFF II. Some of the notable investors participating in BFF II include NEO Global Capital (NGC), Appworks, Sebastien Borget COO of The Sandbox, GSR, LD Capital, Metavest Capital, TechMeetsTrader, Zipmex, Baksh Capital, Octava, Aria…

Gajiku announced Thursday the completion of a $1.1 million seed round of financing led by AC Ventures, with participation from Agung Ventures, Monk’s Hill Ventures, Sampoerna, as well as several influential Indonesian entrepreneurs and angel investors. With this round of financing, Gajiku plans to focus on product development to roll out new services and…

The round also saw participation from existing investors Prosus Ventures, AC Ventures, East Ventures (Growth Fund), Indogen Capital, SMDV and SIG Venture Capital. This brings the total Series A funding raised to $65 million.

The Sandbox, a decentralized gaming metaverse and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, has committed $50 million to Brinc, a global venture accelerator, for The Sandbox Metaverse Accelerator Program, which will target 100 startups to enhance the open metaverse.

OmniFoods has a mission to innovate food that will treat the planet right, treat animals right and treat consumers right. The company's established food scientist team in Canada innovates food 2.0 based on Asian eating culture and cooking habits while ensuring that the ingredients are cruelty-free, cholesterol-free, antibiotic-free, and hormone-free.

Etaily, a fast-growing Philippines-based e-commerce-enabler led by former Zalora executives, announced today that it has wrapped up a $4.3 million seed extension round, on top of its initial $1.6 million funding round announced in August 2021.

"I think that world is still there to be discovered. As we make progress with our technologies, we will discover more. All the exciting examples turn out to have an unexpectedness about them. It wasn't a linear process towards the end. And that's how science should be."