A Grab IPO could be good - for everyone

Grab’s latest financing round leads this week’s top fundraises. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} Grab’s [latest financing round]( made headlines this week, following the news that the Singapore-headquartered tech giant had [already chosen the banks it plans to work with]( in a potential initial public offering in the US. While the recent discussion has centered around [how going public could affect Grab’s financials]( (it is the region’s [top-funded tech startup]( after all), I’ve recently begun wondering about the effect that such an event would have on aspiring founders. An IPO could put increased pressure on Grab to run more profitably. Failing to deliver on that could result in lower stock prices, which in turn would erode the company’s valuation - a founder’s nightmare. Despite the pressure, if Grab can continue to put consumers’ interests and needs first, it would have a long-lasting effect on the Asian innovation scene. Aspiring entrepreneurs would see that starting up and making it big isn’t always about the cash and big market cap upon exit; instead it’s about the ability to change lives for the better. The end result could be a tech community that’s even more focused on creating positive and lasting impact on the lives of consumers. Regional giant Sea was arguably able to achieve that, but the more role models to follow, the better. Of course, it would take a lot on Grab’s part to make this happen. It’s definitely not an easy balance to strike, but it’s one that I think will be well worth it in the long run. But what do I know? I’m just the guy writing these newsletters. 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 🇸🇬 Grab: The Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing and digital payments platform [raised US$2 billion in debt funding]( from Barclays, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan Securities Inc., Mizuho Bank, and Standard Chartered. 🇮🇳 Zetwerk: This Indian manufacturing services platform [bagged a US$120 million series D funding round]( from Greenoaks Capital, Kae Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital. 🇨🇳 Babycare: The Chinese ecommerce platform, which offers products for children between 1 and 6 years old, [raised US$108.4 million in a series B funding round]( from CDH Investments, Huaxing Capital, and Sequoia Capital. 🇮🇩 Stockbit: The Indonesia-based stock market social community platform got US$30 million in early-stage money from Sequoia Capital. 🇮🇱 Granulate: This Israeli artificial intelligence startup raised US$30 million from Hetz Ventures, Insight Partners, Red Dot Capital Partners, and TLV Partners in a series B funding round. 🇯🇵 Open8: The Japanese adtech firm bagged a series D funding round worth US$28.6 million from Future Creation Fund, Japan Finance Corporation, and Japan Post Investment Corporation. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [108 deals worth over US$3.1 billion](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&A'S 🇮🇱 Israel-based cybersecurity solution provider Alcide was acquired by US-headquartered cybersecurity firm Rapid7 in a deal worth US$50 million.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ An ex-Amazon exec’s startup raised seed funding with this pitch deck Founded in 2011 by former Amazon software engineer Natlie Gordon, Babylist is a universal registry for baby products that lets customers add items from a wide range of retailers, including local and independent shops. The startup used [this pitch deck]( to secure US$620,000 in seed funding in 2013. The deck begins with how Gordon encountered a prevalent problem in the baby registry business and then shows how capitalizing on it will lead Babylist to profitability within its first year.  2️⃣ This startup’s pitch deck helped it secure US$250,000 in seed funds Kiwi connects freelancers to clients that need assistance, using AI to show clients the approximate cost and time to resolve their issues, while gig workers are presented with the needed tasks and deadlines. The real-time freelancing platform used [this pitch deck]( to raise US$250,000 from investors in a seed funding round. The deck’s cover slide directly describes Kiwi’s business and goes on to feature testimonials, showcasing the benefits for both clients and gig workers when using the platform.  3️⃣ A document analytics startup banked US$1.7 million with this pitch deck Launched in 2014, US-based DocSend provides users with a different way to send email attachments. The startup used [this pitch deck]( to raise a series B round worth US$1.7 million in 2013. The deck has a nice and tidy flow, starting from the cover slide that states DocSend’s business purpose. It then proceeds to share the startup’s revenue model, market size, market opportunity, and customer acquisition plan.  You can find more [killer pitch decks here]( including those produced by Shopback, Bukalapak, LinkedIn, Coinbase, and Revolut. And if you want to feature your startup's pitch deck, you can [do so here](.  --------------------------------------------------------------- Did Grab's eye-popping figure shock you? If it did, here's another figure for you: 2,007 hours. That's the number of hours we put into bringing Tech in Asia's Daily newsletter to you in a year. If you want to support us to keep this newsletter going, we hope that you’ll consider [subscribing to Tech in Asia]( which will help us scale up our team to bring more content to you.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  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 What’s a Big Tech company without its founder? With Amazon founder Jeff Bezos stepping as CEO to explore “new ventures,” Facebook is now the only major US tech company that’s run by the person who started it. The rest seem to be doing fine without their creators, so this news has people thinking: Does Big Tech still need its founders? [This Vox piece]( dives deeper into the topic.  2️⃣ r/WallStreetBets: Not the only online platform to shake things up It’s old news by now (as evidenced by GameStop’s stock price), but the impact of Reddit message board r/WallStreetBets on the stock market still has people wondering whether online platforms have become “chaos machines.” But it’s not the first time an online community has come together and hogged the spotlight: TikTok stirred similar concerns when thousands of teens coordinated to inflate attendance expectations for a Trump rally last year. [This article on Harvard Business Review]( discusses whether online platforms are spinning out of control and what can be done about it.  3️⃣ Everyone makes mistakes New York-based venture capitalist Fred Wilson recently reflected on the importance of learning from mistakes. One stand out line in his blog post read, “You can’t really learn from your successes. You can try to replicate the wins and sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t. But mistakes - those are powerful learning moments.” Read the full post [here](.  4️⃣ What’s next after a VC gig? Reddit user u/thepatientfarmer has been thinking about leaving his VC gig, but doesn’t know where to go. When he asked the r/venturecapital subreddit for advice, other members of the community chimed in, with some saying the next step is to be a C-suite executive at an early-stage startup while others advocated that he start his own venture. Read the full discussion [here](.  5️⃣ What makes an A+ founding team? Twitter user @lolitataub posed this question to her followers: What objective criteria do you use to identify an A+ team? VCs across the Twittersphere listed some characteristics, from the number of years the members have known each other to the size of the founding team, while some chided those who used a founding team as a disqualifier for an early-stage startup. You can check out what people said [here](. [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](. 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 Eileen C. Ang. Copyright © 2021 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 51 Bras Basah Rd, #05-5061, Singapore 189554