Are you treated well at work?

Also, HT Aero, Groww, Love, Bonito, and more startups raised funds this week. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} , “Have you heard about the NOC drama?” That’s how most of my conversations began this week. Several employees of Night Owl Cinematics, the Singaporean media company, recently came forward with accounts of mistreatment and bad working conditions - and now it’s the talk of the town. What’s surprising, though, is that some people have taken the side of the employer. A friend of mine even said that he didn’t think it was all that wrong to use vulgarities in the workplace. After reevaluating how I choose my friends, I realized that it’s important to help people like my friend - who’s only ever worked for one employer - to recognize unacceptable workplace behavior. For that reason and many others, we’re working on our HR in Tech Report 2021. In this edition, we’ll discuss how the definition of workplace culture evolved in the past year, whether Southeast Asian startup employees are adequately compensated for their work, and what kind of benefits the region’s startups offer their workers. [Give us your insight now]( and get a free copy of the report. 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 🇨🇳 HT Aero: The China-based manufacturer of intelligent electric flying cars [bagged US$500 million in series A money]( from 5Y Capital, DG Capital, Eastern Bell Capital, GGV Capital, GL Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Xpeng Motors, and Yunfeng Capital. 🇮🇳 Groww: The Indian fintech platform [got US$251 million in series E funding]( from Iconiq Growth, Propel Venture Partners, Ribbit Capital, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, and YC Continuity. 🇸🇬 Love, Bonito: The Singapore-headquartered womenswear brand [raised US$50 million in an all-equity series C funding round]( from Adastria, Ondine Capital, and Primavera Capital. 🇭🇰 XanPool: The Hong Kong fintech firm [scored US$27 million in series A money]( from CMT Digital and Valar Ventures. 🇰🇷Balaan: The online luxury boutique based in South Korea bagged US$26 million from undisclosed investors. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [109 deals worth over US$1.6 billion](. --------------------------------------------------------------- M&A'S 🇮🇳 Scaler, an India-based upskilling firm, [acquired Coding Minutes for US$1 million](. 🇮🇳 Nykaa, an India-headquartered beauty startup, [acquired local skincare brand Dot & Key]( for an undisclosed sum. 🇯🇵 Japan-based online pharmacy Minacolor was acquired by local medtech firm Medley and NTT DoCoMo Ventures for an undisclosed amount of money. 🇮🇳 GlobalBees, an Indian roll-up ecommerce startup, [acquired local skincare brand Prolixr]( for an undisclosed sum. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](. 🇮🇩 Ultra Salon Professional Supplies is a business-to-business one-stop ecommerce superstore for salon supplies. 🇮🇳 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. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- For more insightful coverage on Asia’s tech ecosystem and its connections with the rest of the world, consider [subscribing to Tech in Asia](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ Nykaa’s US$700 million IPO pitch deck Nykaa, an India-based beauty and fashion e-retailer, has just launched its US$714 million initial public offering in India. The company is the youngest unicorn to file for a listing and is also one of the few profitable IPO-bound firms. To make its case to the investors in the country, the company used [this pitch deck]( which sifts through Nykaa’s history, financials, and plans for growth. The company also used this deck for its pre-IPO presentation. Shortly after, Nykaa received bids for 40x the number of shares it planned to sell to anchor investors for its listing. 2️⃣ This pitch deck caught the attention of Y Combinator Greywing is a digital platform that uses automation to help ship operators with their day-to-day tasks. It used [this pitch deck]( to secure seed funding earlier this month from a clutch of investors, including Y Combinator and Entrepreneur First. Greywing’s deck looks professional while being straightforward and tidy. It starts by introducing the company’s business and describing how its platform helps vessel operators through the entire shipping process. 3️⃣ The pitch deck that won Tiger Global backing Progcap aims to provide credit for last-mile businesses using a mix of tech and alternative data-driven credit scoring. The Indian firm used [this pitch deck]( to secure series C funding in a round co-led by Tiger Global Management. The deck begins with an executive summary describing its business focus. It shares more about the domestic retail market and highlights marquee names that Progcap has worked with, before going into the problem description and the solution the company offers. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Today’s absurd funding environment With tech stocks rising continuously over the past few years as investors and founders alike make bank with their startups’ successes, funding startups has begun feeling “safe.” However, this has also created a funding environment that feels absurd, with global venture funding surpassing US$100 billion every quarter this year. But whispers of concern are creeping up in conversations as people begin to wonder whether everything is as good as it seems. [This Vice article]( dives into the possible consequences of today’s funding landscape. 2️⃣ The new metaverse With Facebook rebranding itself as Meta, the metaverse is all the rage across the tech scene. But this isn’t the first time the term has had people so excited. Before 2021, 2016 was known as “the year of the metaverse.” Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Mercedes Bent pens her thoughts on this shadowy idea of an interconnected virtual world in [this blog post](. 3️⃣ The evolution of the web As the world enters the web3 or decentralized web era, Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson looks back at how consumer applications worked on the previous iteration, web 2. Read his thoughts on the subject in [this blog post](. 4️⃣ Your colleagues are not your family A bulk of your waking hours are spent at work, so it’s no surprise that some people form a deep personal connection with their workplace. Some even liken their colleagues to extended family members. However, businesses should be wary of instilling a false sense of belonging by touting a work culture that feels like a family. [This Harvard Business Review piece]( delves into the consequences of taking it too far. 5️⃣ 50 investors’ insights on the future of VC Confluence co-founder Clay Norris recently tweeted his takeaways from conversations over the past year with 50 of the world’s top investors. Read the thread [here](. 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. 😉 If you liked today’s edition, give us some feedback [here](. [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. 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