Moglix starts the Lunar New Year right

Babel Finance, Retailo, XICA, and more startups also raised funds this week. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} , It’s February, everybody! Boy, you realize that time does fly when you can't remember a time without the pandemic. “Oh no,” I hear you say. “I barely accomplished anything in January!” Don’t sweat it. After all, the Lunar New Year only began this week. And if you think about it, just a couple millennia ago, [March was the first month of the calendar](. That means we’re technically still a few weeks away from what used to be the start of the year. So no rush to get started on those New Year’s resolutions you’ve had since 2020. Speaking of starting the Lunar New Year right, [Moglix’s US$250 million series F round]( topped our funding charts this week. With the latest round, the company’s valuation doubled to US$2.6 billion. But hey, no pressure if all you want is to exercise more and live healthily. That’s cool too. 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. -- Nathaniel --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY 🇮🇳 Moglix: The India-headquartered B2B ecommerce firm [scored US$250 million in series F money]( from Alpha Wave Global, Tiger Global Management, and Ward Ferry. 🇸🇬 Babel Finance: The Singapore-based crypto financial services company [raised US$40 million in series A funding]( from BAI Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, and Zoo Capital. 🇸🇦 Retailo: The Saudi Arabian B2B ecommerce app [bagged US$36 million in series A money]( from 500 Startups, Abercross Holdings, AgFunder, Agility, Arzan Venture Capital, Aujan Group Holding, Graphene Ventures, Mentors Fund, Nahda Fund, Shorooq Investments, and Tech Invest Com. 🇯🇵 XICA: The Japanese adtech firm bagged US$33.3 million from Yamauchi No.10 Family Office. 🇮🇩 Astro: The Indonesia-based quick commerce startup [raised US$27 million in a series A funding round]( from AC Ventures, Accel Partners, Global Founders Capital, Goodwater Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [70 deals worth over US$1.1 billion](. --------------------------------------------------------------- M&As 🇮🇳 Curefoods, an India-based cloud kitchen startup, [acquired local foodtech firm Maverix]( for an undisclosed sum. 🇸🇬 Grab, the Singapore-headquartered tech major, [acquired Malaysian grocery chain Jaya Grocer]( for an undisclosed amount of money. 🇭🇰 Rapyd, a UK-headquartered fintech firm, [acquired Neat, a Hong Kong-based cross-border platform]( for an undisclosed sum. 🇮🇳 India-based online shopping platform Infibeam acquired local digital payments startup Uvik Technologies for an undisclosed amount. 🇮🇳 India-headquartered conversational messaging startup Gupshup acquired local cloud communications firm Knowlarity 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](. 🇭🇰 Watt Lab is a NFT marketplace startup based in Hong Kong that has showcased over 10,300 NFTs and recruited more than 20,000 creators. 🇮🇩 Top Karir is an Indonesia-headquartered career portal that helps young professionals find jobs, further their education, and secure scholarships. 🇸🇬 Factorem is a one-stop portal based in Singapore for custom manufacturing that helps hardware engineers obtain quality parts on demand. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ An Indian learning app’s pitch deck helped it net US$5 million in series A money 90+ My Tuition App is a learning app that aims to help students achieve higher grades affordably, with the help of digital visualization tools. The Bangalore-based edtech startup used [this pitch deck]( last year to secure series A funding from Pearl Investment's directors. The deck presents comprehensive information about the business. It also elaborates on how much funding the platform needs, its allocation plan and exit strategy. 2️⃣ A multiplayer TV platform used this pitch deck to get funding from 500 Startups US-based Hearo.Live offers a “multiplayer TV” experience, enabling users to watch movies, shows, or live TV together online. It used [this pitch deck]( at a 500 Startups demo day in 2019 to successfully secure seed funding. The deck is straightforward and begins by introducing the firm's co-founders and their backgrounds. It then highlights the social aspect of games, recounting how the team was inspired to build Hear.Live. The deck presents data on the huge market potential of the media, gaming, and entertainment industry to make its case. 3️⃣ A Vietnamese coffee brand raised US$1 million with this pitch deck Los Angeles-based Copper Cow Coffee, founded by Vietnamese-American Debbie Wei Mullin in 2015, presented [this pitch deck]( at a demo day in 2017. The deck helped it rake in US$1 million in seed funding from 500 Startups and angel investors. The deck features a coffee-related theme and includes pictures of the company’s products. It also explains why Mullin started the business and the edge Copper Cow Coffee has over other coffee brands in the US. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Tech startups haven’t taken over the world According to Julian Birkinshaw from the London Business School, the story of disruption and destruction by tech startups is overblown. Despite the rise of a few tech giants, there are still a lot of industries where incumbents still reign supreme. Listen to the [latest episode of HBR IdeaCast]( to hear his take on the matter. 2️⃣ How to successfully execute a digital transformation When attempting a digital transformation, it can be hard for businesses to decide where to start and what to invest in. [This article]( on Harvard Business Review details the four pillars of digital transformation and discusses which pillar businesses should start with, depending on their needs and digital maturity. 3️⃣ The impact of tech’s intangible value on the global economy 90% of S&P 500 assets are now intangible, making every company - in effect - a tech firm. According to Jonathan Low, co-founder and partner at Predictiv, this is going to have a lasting impact on the global economy. Read his thoughts on the matter in [this blog post](. 4️⃣ Tips for your first call with a VC u/self_help_ [asked the r/venturecapital community]( for tips on his first call with a VC. Some suggested showing the potential investor where the poster’s company was and where it’s going, while others recommended starting with metrics such as daily active users. What advice would you give? 5️⃣ Breaking down seed-stage fund math Now an experienced investor, Henri Pierre-Jacques of Harlem Capital took to Twitter to break down the math around seed-stage funds and explained how it works. Read the full 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. 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. Too many emails? Switch to a different frequency or get new content through our [preference center]( or [unsubscribe](. You can also break our hearts and remove yourself from all Tech in Asia emails over [here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Arpit Nayak. Copyright © 2022 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 63 Robinson Road, Singapore 068894