Community is crucial to driving innovation, says WORQ Coworking Space’s Stephanie Ping [ORIGIN Innovation Awards Q&A]

According to Stephanie Ping, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at WORQ Coworking Space, community is essential to driving innovation, since it is within a community where innovators share knowledge, resources, and ideas. "WORQ’s vision is to create a world where people and community prosper by working together. We are creating the largest and most productive coworking community by taking…

Carsome completes acquisition of iCar Asia

Malaysia-headquartered integrated car e-commerce platform Carsome Group announced Thursday the acquisition of the remaining 80.1 percent stake in iCar Asia from the Catcha Group and other shareholders of iCar Asia, a listings and content automotive platform in Southeast Asia. Carsome said in a statement that upon the completion of the acquisition, Carsome became the sole shareholder of iCar…

Malaysia to announce digital bank license winners next month – report

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) targets to announce the winners of its digital banking licenses next month, according to the central bank's governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus. “We are in the ‘advanced stage’ of assessing the applications for digital banks and we target to announce the digital banks with the publication of our annual report at the end of March,” she said during the central bank's…

Malaysian fintech startup IIMMPACT raises $2 million funding from Sequoia India’s Surge

Malaysian-based fintech company IIMMPACT announced Wednesday a seed funding of $2 million by Sequoia India’s Surge, a rapid scale-up program for startups in Southeast Asia and India. IIMMPACT is Surge’s first startup founded and based in Malaysia. IIMMPACT said in a statement that the funding will be used to accelerate product development and expand hiring. “Despite the leaps we’ve…

Indian payment platform Razorpay buys majority stake in Malaysian fintech firm Curlec

Razorpay, an India-based payments and banking platform for businesses, announced Tuesday its first international expansion into South-East Asia with the acquisition of a majority stake in Curlec, a Malaysian fintech firm, for an undisclosed amount. This marks Razorpay’s fourth acquisition overall and its first in international waters, taking one step closer to becoming a fintech leader in…

Vietnamese investing app Infina closes $6M in seed funding from Sequoia India’s Surge, Y Combinator, Saison Capital and more

Vietnam-focused retail investing app Infina announced Tuesday that it has closed $6 million in seed funding from investors such as Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, Y Combinator, Saison Capital, Starling Ventures, Alpha JWC, and AppWorks. Additional investors who have backed Robinhood, Coinbase, and similar models in other markets also participated in the funding, Infina said in a statement.……

Japanese VC firm Genesia Ventures raises $90M in first close of third fund to invest in Japan, SE Asia

Japanese venture capital firm Genesia Ventures announced Monday the first close of its new fund, Genesia Venture Fund 3 Investment Limited Partnership, with a total amount of approximately $90 million. Similar to the first and second funds, the third fund is focused on investments in pre-seed and seed stage startups in Japan and Southeast Asia (SEA), Genesia Ventures said in a statement. It…

Indonesian quick commerce startup Bananas raises $1.5M seed funding led by East Ventures

Bananas, a quick commerce startup based in Indonesia, announced Monday that it has secured $1 million in seed funding led by East Ventures, with the participation from SMDV, ARISE, MDI Ventures and a few angel investors. Bananas said in a statement that it has also been accepted into the prestigious YCombinator Winter 2022 batch that has a 2 percent acceptance rate among tech startups who…

Resilience, adaptability & speed to scale are essential in navigating today’s business challenges, says Quest Ventures’ James Tan [ORIGIN Innovation Awards Q&A]

In this quick TechNode Global Q&A with James Tan, Managing Partner at Quest Ventures, we gain some insights on trends driving innovation in the region, as well as a few example companies making an impact on sustainability, social commerce, and finance. A winner of the Movers & Shakers - People's Choice VC award at the ORIGIN Innovation Awards, Quest Ventures is a top venture capital…