Tackling climate change: It’s now or never

GoTo Group, Cred, Tiki.vn, and more startups raised funds this week. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} , About six months ago, we went looking for partners to produce content with for an Earth Day project. After our [International Women’s Day 2021]( initiative turned out to be such a hit, we’d hoped to launch another advocacy campaign the following month. And what better to advocate than the call to “save the Earth”? But the project couldn’t take off in time. We had a hard time finding companies who were keen on partnering with us to share their eco-friendly efforts. Of course, we didn’t let that get us down. Even though we missed Earth Day, we never gave up trying to spread the message that we - especially the startup leaders of our generation - have to do something about climate change. It’s not a mission we can pass on to the next generation because it might be far too late by then. So for this year’s Startup Arena Pitch Battle, we teamed up with East Ventures to shine a spotlight on the top emerging environmental, social, and governance-focused startups in the region. And earlier this month, in partnership with Taiwan Mobile, we launched [The Offset]( a monthly newsletter that breaks down the biggest stories and trends in greentech. So if you want to get original reports and analyses on how tech is taking on the climate crisis in your inbox, [subscribe to The Offset now](. Our second edition goes out next Monday on November 1. 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 🇮🇩 GoTo Group: The merged entity of Gojek and Tokopedia [banked US$400 million in late-stage funding]( from Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. 🇮🇳 Cred: The India-based fintech startup raised US$251 million from Coatue Management, DST Global, Dragoneer Investment Group, Falcon Edge Capital, Insight Partners, Marshall Wace, RTP Global, Sofina, Steadfast Venture Capital, and Tiger Global Management in its series E funding round. 🇻🇳 Tiki.vn: The Vietnam-based online marketplace [bagged US$240 million in series E funding]( from AIA Group Limited, Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund, and Taiwan Mobile. 🇮🇱 Cato Networks: The Israeli cybersecurity firm got US$200 million from Acrew Capital, Coatue Management, Greylock Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Singtel Innov8 in a series F funding round. 🇨🇳 Hangshun Chip: The Chinese chip developer secured US$152 million in series D funding from undisclosed investors. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [93 deals worth over US$2 billion](. --------------------------------------------------------------- M&A'S 🇭🇰 Coda Payments, a Singapore-based gaming and entertainment-focused fintech firm, [acquired mobile esports platform Baash]( from Hong Kong developer Capsl Entertainment for an undisclosed sum. 🇸🇬 Carousell, the Singapore-headquartered online classifieds giant, [acquired Ox Street]( a local end-to-end marketplace dedicated to sneakers and streetwear, for an undisclosed amount. 🇰🇷Green Labs, a South Korean digital agricultural platform, acquired local agritech firm Real Farm for an undisclosed sum. 🇰🇷 Photomechanic, a South Korea-based company specializing in anti-vibration tech, was acquired by local industrial firm Movensys for an undisclosed amount of money. 🇸🇬 US-based cloud communications firm Vonage [acquired Jumper.ai, a Singapore-headquartered shopper engagement platform]( for an undisclosed sum. 🇮🇳 US-headquartered fintech major Stripe is set to acquire Bengaluru-based startup Recko for an undisclosed amount. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](. 🇮🇳 Cynohub is an online learning platform for Indian engineering students that aims to address the lack of professors in the discipline in the country. 🇮🇩 MamangSayur is an Indonesia-based interactive social commerce app that helps traditional vendors distribute fresh vegetables. 🇸🇬 Gigworks is a Singapore-headquartered startup that uses AI and machine learning to match businesses with remote talent and bridge language barriers across China, North Asia, and Southeast Asia. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ This US deep-tech firm’s pitch deck helped it raise US$1.4 million Datatron is a cloud-native platform for AI, machine learning, and data science models. Last year, it used [this pitch deck]( to raise its fifth round of seed funding. The deck is simple and brief with only eight slides. It introduces the backgrounds of Datatron’s key members at the start and highlights the advantage Datatron offers in its processing time for big data compared with other existing solutions. 2️⃣ A music-learning platform raised US$1.2 million with this pitch deck Melodics is a New Zealand-based startup that helps users learn how to play musical instruments through its desktop app. It used [this pitch deck]( to secure seed funding in 2017. The deck is simple and concise. It begins with a picture and quote to engage with the audience. It shares why Melodics was established and gives a sneak peek into the platform. It also spotlights the startup’s well-known partner companies. 3️⃣ The pitch deck that a plant-based meat startup used to score series A funding Founded in 2019, YouKuai is the creator of a plant-based ground pork product called Zrou. Earlier this year, the company used [this pitch deck]( to bag US$7.3 million in series A funding. The deck has a neat design and a content list that helps readers understand its flow. It also offers lots of details about YouKuai, but the amount of information is not overwhelming. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 How a startup landed its founders more than 100 podcast interviews While US-based Levels, a health and fitness startup, is still in a closed beta stage, it has managed to get its founders on more than 100 podcast interviews in six months, saving thousands of dollars on podcast ads or producing its own show. On average, the podcast appearances drove over a million people to spend an hour learning about Levels and its mission. The company’s head of partnerships penned [this article on First Round Review]( detailing how the team pulled it off. 2️⃣ What’s the point of Forbes 30 Under 30? Forbes 30 Under 30 lister David George suggests that after 10 years of its existence, the exclusive club is beginning to scrape “the bottom of the barrel.” George points to the multiple deadline extensions that the North American and European lists have made recently - as well as his own nomination - as evidence. With that in mind, he asks why he and tens of thousands of others worldwide are included in the list at all. Read his thoughts on the matter in [this blog post](. 3️⃣ The Facebook Trap Facebook says its mission is to connect everyone in the world. However, under fire from several regulatory bodies around the world for privacy violations (among other things), the social media giant seems to be struggling to find solutions to those problems without undercutting its mission. And Facebook isn’t the only company that faces the conundrum of having to undermine its own mission to minimize harm. Read [this Harvard Business Review piece]( on the social media giant’s dilemma or what the author dubs “the Facebook Trap.” 4️⃣ How to bring digital health startups to market As one of the fastest-growing segments in the VC-funded startup space, digital health companies are scaling quicker than ever. However, the market wasn’t always this hot: Several companies over the years have struggled to find an executable path for sustainable distribution and to capture value. The catalyst for that change was a revolution in how digital health companies entered the market. [This Future article]( showcases how to execute a seamless go-to-market strategy for the next wave of digital health startups. 5️⃣ Founders need to tell their startup story better Twitch co-founder Justin Kan recently tweeted that he’d “raised over US$150 million as a founder, simply by being a good storyteller.” However, Summit founder Matt Wensing rebuked him, saying it isn’t simple to graduate from Yale, make it to Y Combinator, and get a US$970 million exit. Wensing insists that positive change will only happen in the fundraising world when founders acknowledge “the story” that most investors are looking for. Read his thoughts in [this Twitter thread](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. 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