This startup wants to be the Uber of the cleaning industry

More: Funding galore as ASTAR’s healthtech startup nets US$3.4 million while an insect tech firm gets US$2 million. [Read from your browser]( Hello {NAME} A few weeks ago, one of my family members got infected with Covid-19. It wasn’t really anything to panic about though, and we all went through self-quarantine. Thankfully, the rest of us didn’t catch it, but there was some anxiety even after he tested negative. One of our biggest concerns was that even though he was supposedly in the clear, we weren’t really sure whether our house was actually clean and safe. To ensure that we did it properly, my mum hired a cleaning service to disinfect the house. In today’s story, we explore how a Singapore-based company is seeking to alleviate such doubts through tech. SmartClean Technologies is now looking to raise US$15 million in a series A round. Will it succeed? Perhaps its journey to get to this point could tell us a thing or two. -- Jonathan Chew  --------------------------------------------------------------- [Billion-dollar market in cleaning tech? This startup is betting on it and seeking $15m]( We exclusively report that SmartClean is closing its venture debt fundraise of US$3 million, with US$12 million in equity funding to be raised by June.  --------------------------------------------------------------- Designing the bias out of the workplace Not-so-fun fact: At the rate we’re going, it will take another 268 years to close the economic gender gap globally, according to the World Economic Forum. That means the world will only see gender equality at an economic level in the year 2290. I don’t know about you, but I find that statistic shocking. My great-grandchildren wouldn’t be alive in 268 years, and the thought of inequality persisting for even longer than it already has doesn’t sit right with me. Clearly, we need to take steps to address this inequality. And when it comes to the economic gap, what better place to start than our workplaces? As part of Tech in Asia’s International Women’s Day campaign, our COO Maria Li sat down with Godelieve Van Dooren, CEO at Mercer Southeast Asia, and Ayesha Khanna, CEO of Addo AI and founder of 21C Girls, to take a closer look at what companies can do to close the gaps women face in the workplace in terms of leadership, hiring and promotion, and pay. Check out How to design gender bias out of leadership, the first episode of a three-part series, [here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- VC breaks down Vajro’s $8.5m series A pitch deck The India-headquartered cloud-based mobile commerce platform used this deck to secure a US$8.5 million series A funding round. [Watch now](.  --------------------------------------------------------------- [SG insect-based foodtech firm raises $2m in debt funding]( Protenga looks to launch its next-generation smart insect farm in Malaysia soon. [Grab in the running to acquire Home Credit’s assets in SEA, India]( Home Credit is seeking between US$2 billion and US$2.5 billion for its businesses in Southeast Asia and India, Bloomberg reported. [Gobi backs sneaker, apparel ecommerce firm’s $6m raise]( Kicks Crew said its gross merchandise value grew 15x year-over-year in FY 2021. [ASTAR healthtech startup spin-off bags $3.4m seed funding]( Amid the pandemic, local hospitals in Singapore have used Respiree’s solution to check on Covid-19 patients. [Indonesian ecommerce enabler bags $1m from investors in US, London]( Opaper said it has onboarded more than 19,000 online sellers, registering 60% user growth every month. [Japanese bank to launch $300m fund for Indian startups]( MUFG Bank will set up the MUFG Ganesha Fund, which aims to back middle- to late-stage startups in India. ---------------------------------------------------------------  You can also check out a curated list of trending tech events [over here](. - [Unlocking the possibilities of the digital credit ecosystem]( on March 16th Digitalization is in full swing and consumers are now used to having most aspects of their lives play out online. This also means that their expectations of financial institutions and players are now higher than ever - can businesses keep up? Join us on March 16 for a panel discussion led by global information technology company Experian to better understand how real time credit assessment, alternative sources of credit data, and AI/ML powered automation can enable a seamless customer experience and new credit opportunities in today’s digital credit ecosystem. Click [here to reserve your place](.  --------------------------------------------------------------- You can post a job [here]( or search for jobs [here](. - [DevOps Engineer]( at Rekava Indonesia Bulk Terminal, Indonesia - [Junior Backend Engineer]( at Clade Ventures Pty. Ltd. Tangerang, Indonesia - [Backend Engineer]( at Pintap Jakarta, Indonesia - [Backend Engineer]( at Qiscus Yogyakarta, Indonesia - [Unit Head Engineer]( at PT. Informasi Teknologi Indonesia Indonesia Bulk Terminal, Indonesia - [Senior Product Designer]( at Codebrick Jakarta, Indonesia [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( 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](. 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