Autohome and Traveloka net big funding this week 

The companies that raised the most this week: Autohome, Traveloka, Line Man, and more [Open this email in your browser]( FOMO Saturday --------------------------------------------------------------- Hello {NAME} Good news to all wanderlusters: Travel funding bounced back this week, thanks to Traveloka’s new capital injection of [US$250 million](. Like others in the travel industry,the Jakarta-headquartered company was badly hit by the pandemic. Its strategic partner [Airy]( for example, had shut down in May. But Traveloka said it’s seeing “encouraging recovery” across all of its key markets in bookings for domestic and short-distance travel as well as activities. Holler if you're going to start traveling soon. 😉 Other interesting funding news this week: - Tencent may acquire a search engine - Line’s delivery app in Thailand received funding and merger request - Reliance Industries funded a fashion clothing store You can find all the important investment deals that happened in the last few days in our [weekly funding news wrap-up](. Let’s dive into the biggest deals plus mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that recently took place.  --------------------------------------------------------------- The biggest deals by country 🇨🇳 [Autohome]( A Chinese automotive internet platform. Raised US$2.5 billion from Ping An Group. 🇮🇩 [Traveloka]( An Indonesian online travel company. Raised US$250 million from its existing investors and a global financial institution. 🇮🇳 [Zivame]( An Indian lingerie and fashion online store. Raised US$160 million from Reliance Industries Limited. 🇹🇭 [Line Man]( A Thailand-based delivery app under messaging app Line. Raised US$110 million from BRV Capital Management. 🇮🇱 [Sight Diagnostics]( An Israeli blood diagnostic company. Raised US$71 million from Clal Biotechnology Industries. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [Over US$6.5 billion in 115 deals](.  --------------------------------------------------------------- M&A 🇮🇳 Indian fintech company Niyo Solutions has acquired [Goalwise]( an online fund investment platform for an undisclosed amount. 🇰🇷 South Korean software-as-a-service company BusinessOn Communication has acquired [Glohands (Glosign)]( an e-signature solution tool for an undisclosed amount. 🇹🇭 Thailand delivery service Line Man has merged with food app [Wongnai]( for an undisclosed amount.  --------------------------------------------------------------- Deep-thinking reads 1️⃣ The talent war is fierce in the tech industry, with companies dangling big salaries to win over the best candidates. A recent academic study found that this is mostly the [work of venture capitalists]( VC-backed startups pay roughly 10% more than incumbent firms. Generous [salaries are also the norm]( in Southeast Asia, with Grab and Razer as examples. But the economic fallout from Covid-19 has [shined a light]( on these companies’ human resource policies and practices. 2️⃣ Peter Lauten and Martin Casado of VC firm Andreessen Horowitz [wrote]( about a shift in go-to market strategies among enterprise firms. “[A] shock to the system is emerging today, driven not by the underlying technology, but by an evolution in customer buying behavior. For shorthand, we think of this trend as “growth+sales”: the bottom-up growth motion eventually layered with top-down sales.” 3️⃣ We can all learn a thing or two from the [Luckin Coffee fiasco]( especially investors. “[...] tech startups are pushed to expand with a “grow-at-all-cost” mindset. But when that drive is coupled with weak corporate governance, it can lead to trouble.” Speaking of grow at all costs and high burn, the pandemic has also underscored the value of maintaining a long runway. Six months is [just too short]( to support recovery, unfortunately. 4️⃣ Benedict Evans ponders “[regulating technology]( . “I started my career, in 1999, at an investment bank in London that had 900 people and one (1) compliance person. Today it might have 100x that. So, how many compliance people will Google have in five years?” 5️⃣This piece [suggests]( that tech stocks prices aren’t as closely tied to actual performance. If some of the “Covid-winning companies” (i.e., Netflix and Microsoft) are starting to see slower growth, that seems to suggest we’re going to go through tougher times ahead.  --------------------------------------------------------------- Pitch decks for your reference - [Airbnb’s seed pitch deck]( helped it bag US$600,000. - [This series A pitch deck]( enabled customer communication platform Front to land US$10 million in 2016. - [Bukalapak’s seed pitch deck]( was instrumental in raising its first capital.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Lists of most active investors in the region [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Japan]( | [Singapore](  List of top-funded startups in Asia [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Japan]( | [Hong Kong]( | [Singapore]( | [Vietnam](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Did these eye-popping figures shock you? Share this with a friend who would enjoy this week’s funding news as much as you do. Copyright © 2020 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. Don't want to receive these emails anymore? [Unsubscribe](.