A familiar name tops Asia’s fundraising charts this week

Reliance Retail leads this week’s top fundraises - again. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} Unless you haven’t been paying attention the last few months, you’ve probably already heard of Reliance Retail, the retail chain of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries. Since September, when US-based Silver Lake [invested a cool US$1 billion]( into the business, the company has continued raising funds almost every other week. With the latest US$1.3 billion injection from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Reliance Retail’s disclosed funding now totals US$4.8 billion, and that US$1.3 billion accounts for more than a third of what the whole startup scene raised this week. But it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that Reliance Retail is raising so much money. After all, it is [going head-to-head against Amazon in India]( - and to take on the heavyweights, it’s going to need big bucks. You can find all other important investment deals that happened in the last few days in our [weekly funding news wrap-up](. Let’s dive into the biggest deals and M&As that recently took place.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY 🇮🇳 Reliance Retail: The retail chain of India's Reliance Industries scored US$1.3 billion in investments from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. 🇨🇳 Pony.ai: This AI startup bagged a US$267 million series C round from ClearVue Partners, Eight Roads (Fidelity Ventures), Morningside Venture Capital, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. 🇮🇩 LinkAja: E-payment startup LinkAja raised [US$100 million]( in a series B round from BRI Ventures, Grab, Mandiri Capital Indonesia, and Telkomsel. 🇸🇬 Cellwize: The Singapore-based internet infrastructure startup bagged US$32 million in series B funding from Intel Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Samsung NEXT Tel Aviv, and Verizon Ventures. 🇭🇰 Coherent: Insurtech startup Coherent raised [US$14 million]( from Cathay Innovation and Franklin Templeton Investments in its series A round. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [137 deals worth over US$3.5 billion this week](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&A'S 🇸🇬 Singapore-based proptech firm 99.co has [acquired]( Singapore Real Estate Exchange (SRX) for an undisclosed sum. SRX connects home-seekers to their ideal property and helps homeowners manage their listings.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ A simple pitch deck helped this startup win funding at demo day US-based home loan startup Streamloan used [this pitch deck]( for a 500 Startups demo day in 2016 and successfully secured initial backing from the early-stage venture fund. The deck’s simplicity helped the startup easily convey its message about the problem it wanted to solve in the existing mortgage process. Since winning the demo day, Streamloan bagged another US$2 million in seed funding in 2018.  2️⃣ This startup used interesting images in its pitch deck to showcase its solution Founded in 2015, US-based Statsbot - which helps customers take control of their raw data with an all-in-one analysis tool - presented [this pitch deck]( at a 2016 500 Startups demo day. The deck’s use of compelling visuals instead of copy-heavy slides helped the startup showcase the problems it aims to solve and the solutions it offers in an understandable manner. It also provides sneak peeks of Statsbot’s analytic sample charts to help people visualize how its platform works.  3️⃣ This startup’s pitch deck helped it secure US$240,000 in seed funding Las Vegas-based tea wholesaler Tealet connects independent tea growers to retail and wholesale buyers. In 2014, two years after it launched, its founders used [this pitch deck]( to secure US$240,000 in seed funding from seed-stage venture fund VTF Capital. The deck opens with an appealing statement - “We’ve sold 100,000 cups of tea in over 20 countries” - and clearly explains how Tealet gives value to both tea farmers and consumer markets.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  IN PARTNERSHIP WITH US$3b in three quarters for Singapore startups Ever since I can remember, there’s been an ongoing narrative about how it’s unlikely that Singapore will ever birth a unicorn and that founders and startups in the country aren’t really innovative. Yet despite the skepticism in the air, startups in the city-state got more than US$3 billion in funding in the first three quarters of this year - and that’s with the Covid-19 pandemic effectively putting the country in lockdown. While the majority of that funding came from within Singapore itself, there were also a variety of international sources of funding, such as the US, the UK, and Japan. It’s interesting to me as well that a [majority of the deals that took place this year were with early-stage startups]( in the seed or series A stage. The fact that so many of them are obtaining funding amid a pandemic does seem to go against the sentiment that the Singapore startup scene isn’t innovative. So it seems to me like things are looking up for Singapore. It’s an exciting thought that the many seeds being sown now could become top startups in the country or even the region. It also doesn’t hurt that Singapore is an ideal location as a gateway to Southeast Asia and that it has strong fundamentals and support for entrepreneurs looking to make the next big thing. If you’re curious about what’s been going on in the Singapore startup ecosystem, check out [this visual story]( where we explore where exactly the funding is going in the country’s tech and startup ecosystem.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EXCLUSIVE LISTICLES  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](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THOUGHTFUL READS 1️⃣ How to supercharge your network As the saying goes, “It’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know.” Lots of founders credit the people they surround themselves with as a major factor to their successes. Of course, a lot more goes into becoming successful than just having a good network, but it’s undeniable that knowing the right people can be a boon. To that end, US venture capital firm Redpoint Ventures detailed five ways founders can supercharge their network in [this blog post](.  2️⃣ 45: The average age of a successful entrepreneur? If you were to picture an entrepreneur, it’s likely that the person in your mind is a savvy founder in his or her early twenties. It doesn’t help that celebrity entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg found fame and success with their innovations at a fairly young age. However, the average age of an entrepreneur is closer to 45. Predictiv co-founder Jonathan Low [discusses the importance]( of this fact.  3️⃣ The hardest thing about going from zero to one Building something is (relatively) easy. Getting people to care about something you’ve built? Not so much. But doing so plays a crucial part in running a successful business, which is why go-to-market strategies are important for entrepreneurs to consider when launching a product. As Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Merci Victoria Grace writes in [this blog post]( “A successful go-to-market will create and amplify interest in using your product among your target customers. Without that, you don’t have a business.” Read her piece for a quick guide to the fundamentals of a go-to-market strategy.  4️⃣ How to brief your boss Ever felt like you were sweating bricks while you were briefing your boss or any senior executive? I know I have. For the inexperienced, the twitch of a single eyebrow from the person you’re presenting to could get the heart racing. Briefing a senior executive - especially under stressful situations - is an art, and White House staffers know that better than anybody. In [this article]( former White House staffer and Connect Frontier CEO Grant Harris discusses how to effectively brief a senior executive - a crucial skill to have in a fast-paced, high-stress environment.  --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. [ADVERTISE]( | [PREMIUM]( | [JOBS]( P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Was this forwarded to you? You can read this everyday when you sign up [here](. [Drop us a feedback]( and let us know how's today newsletter. Don't want to receive these emails anymore? [Unsubscribe](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Tech in Asia’s newsletters are handcrafted daily with love - and sometimes powered by good kopi. Today’s edition was written by Nathaniel Fetalvero. It’s edited by Jaclyn Teng. Copyright © 2020 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 51 Bras Basah Rd, #05-5061, Singapore 189554