India’s SUGAR Cosmetics closes $50M Series D funding led by L Catterton
SUGAR Cosmetics (SUGAR), one of India's largest omnichannel beauty companies and a cult favorite amongst Gen Z and Millennial consumers, announced Monday the close of its $50 million Series D fundraise led by the Asia fund of L Catterton, the largest global consumer-focused private equity firm.
SUGAR said in a statement that the upsized round saw strong interest from multiple private equity…
GoTo’s 1Q22 gross revenue grows 53 percent to $357.38m
PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GoTo Group), the largest digital ecosystem in Indonesia, announced Monday that its gross revenue for the first quarter of 2022 (1Q22) increased by 53 percent year on year to Rp5.2 trillion ($357.38 million), representing an improvement in take rate from 3.5 percent to 3.7 percent due to better monetization in e-commerce and on-demand segments.
GoTo Group said in a…
The social imperative for start-ups to grow
Few will argue that a great product or service is one that solves the most pressing problems for consumers at the best value for money and with the highest quality.
A consumer study found that post-pandemic, consumers in Singapore also care deeply about the way brands treat the environment and community, as well as their attitudes towards racial and economic disparities. Sixty percent surveyed…
Indonesia’s Astro raises $60M Series B funding, bringing the total investment to more than $90M
Astro, an Indonesia platform that enables 15-minute grocery delivery to customers, said Monday it has raised $60 million Series B funding led by Accel, Citius and Tiger Global, bringing its total investment to more than $90 million since it started in September 2021.
Existing investors, AC Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Lightspeed and Sequoia Capital India also participated in the round,…
Singapore’s Neso Brands announces $100+M funding for eyewear brands
Singapore eyewear house Neso Brands announced on Thursday an investment of more than $100 million into eyewear brands.
Neso Brands said in a statement that it will partner and invest in consumer eyewear brands around the world and grow these brands by leveraging synergies across the Lenskart Group to accelerate international expansion.
Neso Brands is an initiative of omni-channel eyewear…
Renewable energy rises to the occasion as oil & gas prices spike
Editor’s note: Kairous Capital, AC Ventures & Solar AI Technologies are participants of Life’s A Pitch! (Renewable energy) on Apr 28.
The fact that nine out of 10 countries in ASEAN pledged to achieve net-zero carbon economy does provide tremendous opportunities for renewable energy startups in the region.
The nine ASEAN members with net-zero emissions targets made their pledges in…
Quest Ventures leads investment into BILLZ, a user-friendly retail management software for SMEs
BILLZ announced that it has raised a new round of funding from international institutional investors. The round was led by venture capital firm Quest Ventures and included participation from Sturgeon Capital, a London-based VC fund that invests in emerging markets.
BILLZ is a retail management software powered with POS, inventory management, CRM, e-commerce and analytics for small and…
Singapore’s SwipeRx secures $27M Series B funding to accelerate growth across Southeast Asia
SwipeRx (formerly mClinica Pharmacy Solutions), a Singapore-based platform for pharmacies, announced Monday it has secured a Series B round of $27 million in equity and debt to accelerate growth across southeast asia (SEA).
The round was led by Indonesia's MDI Ventures, with participation from global investors, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures, SIG…
To track or not to track: The marketer’s dilemma
It has almost been a year since Apple released its seismic privacy tool that sent the advertising industry – and Facebook’s shares – spiraling. For more than a decade, digital media platforms and marketers have become accustomed to a data free-for-all where users’ personal information is bought, sold, and reshared without batting an eyelid. But not for much longer.
With the dawn of Apple’s…
Singapore’s Matchmove acquires Shopmatic for $200M
MatchMove, Singapore-based embedded finance firm, said Monday it has acquired e-commerce specialist Shopmatic in a $200 million deal, creating an end-to-end embedded finance and ecommerce powerhouse.
The combined company will enable MatchMove to provide its Banking-as-a-Service capabilities to Shopmatic’s ecosystem of over a million e-commerce small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers,…