From forgotten frontier to regional innovation hub

Also, Byju’s, Ajaib, Sky Mavis, and other startups raised funding this week. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} , This week, we [released the final installment]( of our Tech in Asia Originals series Startup Frontiers: The Philippines. Over the course of three episodes, we explored the [history of the startup ecosystem in the Philippines]( the [hurdles local founders face]( in starting a business, and how the country could become a startup hub in its own right. What intrigued me was that the Philippines is building its own innovation hub in [Sinigang Valley]( which local players liken to Singapore’s Block 71. Perhaps we’ll see a wave of headlines about startups that come out of the up-and-coming incubation center. Hopefully, when that happens, the Philippines will evolve from an emerging ecosystem and forgotten frontier into a startup hub that’s on par with Southeast Asia’s other markets. 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 took place recently. -- Nathaniel  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY 🇮🇳 Byju's: The Indian edtech major [bagged US$296 million in late-stage funding]( from Edelweiss Financial Services, IIFL Holdings, Oxshott Capital Partners, Time Capital Advisors, Verition Master Fund, and XN Exponent Holding. 🇮🇩 Ajaib: The Indonesia-based online investing platform [got US$153 million in series B funding]( from Alpha JWC Ventures, DST Global, Horizons Ventures, Insignia Ventures Partners, Ribbit Capital, and SoftBank Ventures Asia. 🇻🇳 Sky Mavis: The Vietnam-based blockchain gaming startup behind Axie Infinity secured US$152 million in series B funding from Andreessen Horowitz. 🇮🇱 NeuroBlade: The Israeli data analytics firm raised US$83 million from Corner Ventures, Grove Ventures, Intel Capital, Marubeni, MediaTek, Pegatron, StageOne VC, UMC Capital in its series B funding round. 🇰🇷 N.thing: The South Korean agritech platform [scored US$21 million in series B money]( from Ascendo Ventures, E1 Corp, IGIS Asset Management, InterVest, KT&G, Kiwoom Investment, and SL Investment. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [62 deals worth over US$1.9 billion](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&A'S 🇮🇳 Indian ride-hailing major Ola [acquired GeoSpoc]( a local provider of geospatial services, for an undisclosed amount of money.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  STARTUPS THAT ARE RAISING FUNDS Fundraising is hard. To make things slightly easier, we’ve compiled this list of fundraising startups for our subscribers. Do you run a startup that’s raising at the moment or know someone who does? Sign your company up for listing [here](. 🇮🇩 Gradana is an Indonesian peer-to-peer lending firm that provides property financing for down payments, rentals, and renovations. 🇲🇾 Swifty is a Malaysia-based app marketplace for local services including cleaners, graphic designers, personal shoppers, and virtual companionship. 🇸🇬 Kilde is a Singapore-based platform for making alternative investments. It promises investors 7% to 11.5% in annual returns. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣An Indian data analytics startup’s pitch deck got it US$1.5 million in pre-seed funding PredictiVu uses AI and machine learning to automate the analysis of large datasets. It used [this pitch deck]( to raise US$1.5 million in pre-seed funding earlier this year. The deck has a straightforward design and is easy to read and understand. It also clearly highlights the problem businesses face in analyzing marketing data and shows how the company addresses the issue.  2️⃣ This startup used this pitch deck to propel itself into the unicorn club Shanghai-based XTransfer is a one-stop, cross-border financial and risk management services company. It used [this pitch deck]( to net US$138 million in series D funding last month, which took its valuation to over US$1 billion. The deck begins with an overview of what to expect from the presentation. It tells XTransfer’s story, going over its current milestones, the advantages of the story, and its investors.  3️⃣ The pitch deck that helped a graph database startup secure US$10 million in series A money ArangoDB is a free and open-source graph database, document store, and search engine in one. In 2019, the US-based firm used [this pitch deck]( to raise US$10 million in its series A round. The deck starts by providing general information regarding the company’s addressable market and its development over time. It then shows the startup’s approach model and product positioning as well as its simplicity in comparison to other database platforms. 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](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EXCLUSIVE LISTICLES  Lists of most active investors in the region [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Japan]( | [Singapore]( | [Southeast Asia](  List of top-funded startups in Asia [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Israel]( | [Japan]( | [Hong Kong]( | [Singapore]( | [South Korea]( | [Vietnam](  List of largest exits in Asia [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Singapore]( | [Southeast Asia](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THOUGHTFUL READS  1️⃣ Ensuring product-led growth with a research mentality. The lower barrier to entry for building software has leveled the tech playing field as no-code tools and cloud platforms become more easily available. In the long run, product-led growth will be the main factor that sets top companies from the rest. The key to this? Having a strong research mentality. [This Future article]( details how business leaders can achieve that.  2️⃣ Learning from how Twitter gets things done CEO Jack Dorsey’s “jobs to be done” approach to rethinking Twitter’s strategy has been hailed as key to the company’s performance. The technique allows the business to define itself according to what really matters to its users. Read [this Harvard Business Review article]( to learn more. 3️⃣ How Paul Polman aims to save capitalism Paul Polman’s experience as the former CEO of Unilever taught him many things. He wasn’t the biggest fan of shareholder capitalism and believed there was a better way to do business. Listen to [this episode of HBR IdeaCast]( to hear Polman talk about his ideas for changing the business world for the better.  4️⃣ Can Ritesh Agarwal save Oyo? Co-founded by Ritesh Agarwal in May 2013, Oyo has raised over US$3.2 billion in funding and debt to date. Despite the heavy funding, the company’s return on net worth is a negative 99.7%. Can Agarwal pull the company out of the depths? [This piece]( on The Morning Context argues that he probably can’t.  5️⃣ Who’s the VC in the sports analogy? Eniac Ventures’ Hadley Harris [tweeted this week]( wondering why it’s easy to find a VCs who’s never built a startup when you’d never see a sports coach who hasn’t played the game themself. Later, Harris corrected himself, saying that VCs play a broader role - they are at once general managers, scouts, and owners, on top of just being coaches. What role do you think a VC plays in the startup game? --------------------------------------------------------------- You’re on the free tier. Consider [becoming a paying subscriber]( to support quality journalism and unlock full access to everything we have to offer. [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. 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