Malaysia unicorn Carsome raises $290M in Series E financing

Malaysia-based integrated car e-commerce platform Carsome Group announced Monday the completion of its $290 million Series E round, increasing the company’s valuation to approximately $1.7 billion. This new financing further solidifies Carsome’s position as the leading integrated e-commerce auto platform in Southeast Asia, Carsome said in a statement. According to the statement, the latest…

Indian quick commerce player Dunzo raises $240M funding led by Reliance Retail

Dunzo, an India-based quick commerce player, has raised $240 million in its latest round of funding led by Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (Reliance Retail). Existing investors Lightbox, Lightrock, 3L Capital and Alteria Capital also joined the round, Dunzo said in a statement. With an investment of $200 million, Reliance Retail will own 25.8 percent stake on a fully diluted basis, it…

Indonesian cloud-based POS Olsera raises $2.5M from Kejora-SBI Orbit

Olsera, an Indonesian cloud-based Point of Sales (POS) startup, said Friday it has raised $2.5 million in seed round funding from Kejora-SBI Orbit, a joint venture capital fund helmed by Kejora Capital and Japanese conglomerate SBI Holdings. With this fresh capital, Olsera seeks to strengthen its technological infrastructure, recruit more talents and accelerate their merchant acquisition in…

CT Corp, Salim, Bukalapak, Grab, Carro and Growtheum Capital Partners to buy into Indonesia’s Allo Bank right issue

Indonesian conglomerates CT Corp, Salim Group, e-commerce marketplace Bukalapak, ride-hailling firm Grab, used car marketplace Carro, and private equity firm Growtheum Capital Partners have jointly participated in the rights issue of Bank Allo to accelerate the expansion of credit services across Indonesia. Bank Allo is a fully licensed bank offering personal, business, joint accounts…

Hong Kong intelligent logistics platform Zeek launches quick commerce solutions in Hanoi, Vietnam

Zeek, an innovative regional logistics solution provider from Hong Kong, is closing the year on the back of strong momentum in Southeast Asia. Following its foray into Ho Chi Minh City in the fourth quarter of 2020 and its successful partnership with Circle K Vietnam, one of Vietnam’s largest local convenience store chains, Zeek said Thursday it has expanded its footprint in Vietnam with its…

Tencent divests 2.6% of equity interest in Singapore’s Sea Ltd

Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent Holdings Ltd announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a transaction to divest an aggregate of 14.49 million Class A shares of Singapore-headquartered e-commerce and gaming firm Sea Ltd, reducing Tencent’s equity interest in Sea from 21.3 percent to 18.7 percent. Including proposed voting rights changes, Tencent’s voting power in Sea is…

Pakistan health-tech startup Healthwire raises $3.3M to fuel expansion

Healthwire, a health-tech startup and operator of one of the largest horizontally integrated ecosystem of healthcare service providers in Pakistan, has closed $3.3 million in funding. The round drew participation from 47 Ventures, Habib Bank Limited, Dilsons Private Limited and angel investors from Silicon Valley, Healthwire said in a statement. The startup intends to use the funding to…

Customer experience is key differentiator in mobile marketing as businesses go digital at scale, says InMobi’s Rishi Bedi [Q&A]

Southeast Asia's internet economy will hit $1 trillion by 2030, says the recent e-Conomy report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Co. In 2021 alone, at least 40 million users from the region went online for the first time. This underscores the growing potential of digital services in the region, which is home to around 8.5 percent of the world's population. In a TechNode Global Q&A with…