Byju’s founder: “Hit me”

JMGO, Hex Trust, VA Corporation, and more startups also raised funding this week. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} I’m a terrible gambler. Last month, during Lunar New Year, I lost more at blackjack than I’m comfortable disclosing in this newsletter. My problem is that when my cards near the 21-count limit, instead of just folding and cutting my losses, I double down. As you can imagine, my friends find playing with me incredibly entertaining, if not lucrative. At first glance, Byju’s founder Byju Raveendran seems to be adopting a similar playstyle to mine. This week, he took out loans from several international banks to [invest US$400 million]( in his company during its final private round of funding to up his stake in the Indian edtech major. The difference between Raveendran and I, however, is that he has a lot more control over the cards in his hands than I do at the blackjack table. I guess we’ll soon see when Byju’s goes public whether he’ll hit ban-luck. 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 🇮🇳 Byju's: The Indian edtech major [bagged US$800 million in late-stage funding]( from BlackRock, Sumeru Ventures, and Vitruvian Partners. 🇨🇳 JMGO: The Chinese hardware firm scored US$158 million in strategic investments from IDG Capital, Lexun Tiancheng Investment, and Oppo Electronics. 🇭🇰 Hex Trust: The Hong Kong-based digital asset custodian [secured US$88 million in series B money]( from Animoca Brands, BlockFi, Cell Rising Capital, CoinList, Eterna Capital, Fenbushi Capital, HashKey Capital, Kenetic Capital, LeadBlock Partners, Liberty City Ventures, Morgan Creek Capital Management, Primavera Capital, Protocol Labs, Pulsar Trading, QBN Capital, Radiant Ventures, and Wintermute. 🇰🇷 VA Corporation: The South Korea-headquartered metaverse company got US$80 million in series A funding from Paratus Investment. 🇮🇱 Run AI: The Israeli AI firm raised US$75 million in series C funding from Insight Partners, TLV Partners, and Tiger Global Management. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [140 deals worth over US$2.2 billion](. --------------------------------------------------------------- M&As 🇮🇳 India-based fintech startup Clear acquired local supply chain finance company Xpedize in a deal worth US$13.2 million. 🇮🇳 Indian food delivery giant Zomato [acquired food robotics startup Mukunda for US$5 million](. 🇮🇳 India-headquartered cloud kitchen company Curefoods acquired local milkshake brand Frozen Bottle from Munchbox Frozen Foods for an undisclosed sum. 🇮🇳 Ninjacart, an Indian agritech startup, acquired SaaS-based smart solutions provider Tecxprt for an undisclosed amount. 🇮🇳 Career Launcher, an India-headquartered edtech and competitive test preparation platform, acquihired local edtech firm Knowledge Tree for an undisclosed sum. 🇮🇩 Rukita, an Indonesia-based property startup, [acquired room rental marketplace Infokost]( which was previously owned by Djarum Group investment arm GDP Venture, for an undisclosed amount of money. 🇮🇳 Battrixx, an India-headquartered manufacturer of lithium-ion battery packs for electric vehicles, acquired Pune-based IoT firm Varos Technology for an undisclosed sum. 🇮🇳 Indian direct-to-consumer brand collective IDAM House Of Brands acquired Bevzilla, a local D2C instant coffee cubes brand, for an undisclosed amount. 🇰🇷 Blue Recipe, a recipe-sharing platform based in Seoul, was acquired by AIDKorea, a local company that uses AI, biotechnology, and big data to collect and analyze livestock healthcare in order to produce high-quality meat, for an undisclosed sum. 🇯🇵 Tokyo-headquartered robotics startup Groove X was acquired by local VC firm Maezawa Fund for an undisclosed amount. 🇮🇳 Reshamandi, an India-based digital platform for natural fiber supply chain, acquihired Hashtaag, a local custom software development company that offers application development, IoT, DevOps, and network security solutions for an undisclosed sum. 🇮🇳 Cognigix, an Indian e-learning company, merged with local competitor Skilldom in an undisclosed deal. 🇮🇳 FarMart, an Indian SaaS-based B2B food supply platform, [acquihired local fruits and vegetables logistics platform Subjimandi]( for an undisclosed sum. 🇲🇾 Carsome, a Malaysian used-car marketplace, [acquired CarTimes Group]( a Singapore-based automotive platform, for an undisclosed sum. 🇮🇳 Bengaluru-based fintech unicorn Razorpay acquired local payments technology firm IZealiant Technologies 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](. 🇸🇬 SmartClean Technologies is a Singapore-based startup that has built AI of things and SaaS cleaning management products to monitor, measure, and manage commercial real estate facilities. 🇸🇬 Twimbit is a Singapore-headquartered learning platform that helps enterprises upgrade their team’s knowledge and connection to the world’s biggest innovation opportunities. 🇲🇾 Bluebird is a property management startup in Malaysia that provides tastefully furnished accommodation catered to short-, mid-, and long-term stays. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ This Vietnamese fintech firm’s pitch deck helped it secure US$10 million in debt funding Vietnam-based F88 is a secured lending firm that aims to bring affordable and instant access to financial services for unbanked and underbanked individuals and MSMEs. It used [this pitch deck]( to obtain debt funding this year. The deck starts with a business highlights slide that explains the company’s key details. It goes through F88’s corporate culture, values, and mission, as well as the track record of its corporate development and product offerings. 2️⃣ The pitch deck that an AI quality inspection firm used to raise early-stage funding Lincode is an AI visual inspection company that allows manufacturers to identify surface defects, measure individual components, and generate real-time data about items on the production line. It used [this pitch deck]( to obtain an undisclosed amount of early-stage funding this year. The deck starts with a description of the company and its main product. It then shares the system architecture used, the integration of the product into the client’s operations, the impact of Lincode’s solution, and the firm’s competitive advantages. 3️⃣ A flying taxi startup’s pitch deck helped it score US$1 million in seed funding The ePlane Company is a transportation firm involved in developing electric planes with the aim of making commuting within cities easier, while keeping the price at only 1.5x current taxi fares. It used [this pitch deck]( to secure seed funding last year. The deck immediately lays out The ePlane Company’s business, which aims to provide high-mileage flying taxis for door-to-door travel in cities. The presentation goes on to outline the company’s vision going forward. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 to build and evaluate your startup’s culture Most aspiring founders have a running list of promising startup ideas, but not a lot of them keep notes on company building, where they might pen their thoughts on how to be a better CEO, scale a team, and shape office culture. [This First Round Review piece]( dives into the things that founders should focus on to ensure they build a solid team culture. 2️⃣ Where the old guard and new hires meet In the wake of the Great Resignation, companies across the globe are facing a unique challenge: a workplace of two factions, the old guard and new hires. Without proper management, this can lead to relational dynamics across the company being torn. [This article]( on Harvard Business Review details how leaders can bridge the divide and reunite the workplace. 3️⃣ How to get good at making pitch decks Redditor u/thethinkernut asked the r/venturecapital community how to make good pitch decks. Some insisted that there is no right or wrong in drafting a pitch deck, while others say that they have seen pitch decks that are just clearly wrong. Read the [full thread]( to see what people are saying. 4️⃣ Your entry to the world of crypto VC Thinking about getting into the crypto VC world? Sapiens founder Meet Barvadiya compiled a list of articles and tweet threads for you to get started. You can find his recommendations [here](. 5️⃣ Follow these female VCs on Twitter Gateway X founder Jesse Pujji tweeted this list of women in the startup and VC space that he recommends to follow along with his favorite tweets from each of them. Check out the full list [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 Lorenzo Kyle Subido. Copyright © 2022 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 63 Robinson Road, Singapore 068894