ORIGIN: AI as a game changer in retail, finance, and customer engagement amid increased digitalization

The digital economy is on the rise in Southeast Asia. According to the 5th Edition of the e-Conomy SEA by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company, the internet economy has hit $100 billion in the region and is set to exceed $300 billion by 2025 amid challenges. “ he coronavirus has brought about a permanent and massive digital adoption spurt, with more than 1 in 3 digital services consumer (36…

Malaysian digital used car trading platform Carsome eyes NYSE listing after raising Series D

In an interview with NYSE FloorTalk, Carsome Co-Founder and CEO Eric Cheng and Group CFO Juliet Zha, have expressed the company’s intentions of expanding its services in the region and revealed plans to list the company in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) within the next two to three years. This comes shortly after Carsome secured its Series D funding round amounting to $30 million led by…

What’s ahead? Southeast Asia startup and venture capital ecosystems 2021

As we continue to step into the new decade in 2021, the startup and venture capital ecosystems rode out the disruptive chaos of 2020, mainly due to COVID-19, into a more predictable state of change in the coming days. Venture Capitalists (VCs) believe in capitalizing on disruptive innovation and developing technologies to displace older technologies, create new markets, and prepare the world…

Philippines startup accelerator IdeaSpace opens 2021 program with focus on agriculture, workplace, and sustainability technologies

IdeaSpace Foundation has just finished its 2020 acceleration program, and three companies have caught the startup support firm’s attention. The standouts include AgriTech startup Agro-Digital PH, sustainability startup Humble, and HRTech startup Workbean. Each of the startups will be receiving around $20,800 (PhP1 million) as an investment from IdeaSpace. “This year’s batch has proven that the…

Sea makes major FinTech push as it acquires Indonesia’s Bank BKE

Singapore-based global consumer internet company Sea Ltd. has reportedly acquired the Jakarta-based Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi. Sources who requested not to be named revealed that Sea has already obtained full ownership and control of the Indonesian bank that is also known as Bank BKE. Bank BKE and Sea have not released details about the acquisition as of press time. However, according to…

Vietnam’s most widely used e-wallet app MoMo secures at least $100M in Series D

M-Service, the company responsible for operating Vietnam’s most popular e-wallet service MoMo, has secured at least $100 million in a Series D funding round. This is the most recent new capital infusion for the company since it closed its Series C in 2019. The undisclosed amount raised is reportedly larger than the amount from the undisclosed previous round according to MoMo Co-Founder Nguyen Ba…

Singapore’s Grab Holdings boosts its FinTech unit with a $300M funding round

Grab, Southeast Asia’s first decacorn known for its ride-hailing service, is set to strengthen its presence in the financial technology industry as it raised more than $300 million in an investment round led by Hanwha Asset Management, South Korea’s leading comprehensive asset management firm. Grab Holdings’ FinTech arm, called Grab Financial Group, was launched in 2018 with the goal of…

Indonesia giants Gojek and Tokopedia reportedly in advanced talks for $18B merger

The tech rumor mill has been churning as two of Indonesia’s biggest tech start-ups have been surfacing in headlines. Gojek, Indonesia’s multiservice platform that highlights its ride-hailing and digital payment features, has allegedly been in talks with one of Indonesia’s e-commerce pioneers, PT Tokopedia. According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the matter say that the discussion has been…

On-demand logistics platform Lalamove raises $515M Series E for China expansion

On-demand logistics company Lalamove has raised $515 million in Series E funding, as announced on its website (the company is known as Huolala in China). This round was led by Sequoia Capital China Fund, with participation from Hillhouse Capital and Shunwei Capital--all returning investors. This brings the company's total funding to $976.5 million, according to a report by TechCrunch.…