Asian startups caught the funding bug

JD Property, FanCraze, Synspective, and more startups raised funding this week. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} This week, Singapore loosened its Covid-19 measures. While I’m happy to hang out in bigger groups and all that, I’m still pretty paranoid about catching the virus. A lot of my friends have already caught the virus and recovered from it, but I’m hoping to evade it until the world forgets this pandemic. Let’s hope I’m not jinxing it. Speaking of infectious things, it seems Asian startups have caught the funding bug, raising over US$2.9 billion across 190 deals this week. You can find all the 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 🇨🇳 JD Property: The real estate arm of China-headquartered JD.com raised US$800 million in series B funding from Warburg Pincus and Hillhouse Capital. 🇮🇳 FanCraze: The India-based non-fungible token (NFT) startup [bagged US$100 million in series A money]( from B Capital Group, CR7, Coatue Management, Courtside Ventures, Insight Partners, Mirae Asset Financial Group, Sequoia Capital, and Tiger Global Management. 🇯🇵 Synspective: The Japanese satellite firm [scored US$100 million in series B funding]( from Mori Trust, Nikon-SBI Innovation Fund, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holding, Mizuho Financial Group, JAFCO, Pavilion Capital Partners, Sompo Japan Nipponkoa, Abies Ventures, Japan Post Capital, Energy & Environment Investment, Space Frontier Fund, Shinsei Corporate Investment, Nomura Sparx Investment, SBI Investment, and aSTART. 🇵🇭 Growsari: The Philippines-based B2B ecommerce firm [secured US$77.5 million in series C funding]( from International Finance Corporation, KKR, and Pavilion Capital. 🇮🇱 Cyera: The Israeli cloud data security company bagged US$60 million from Accel Partners, CyberStarts, and Sequoia Capital. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [190 deals worth over US$2.9 billion](. --------------------------------------------------------------- M&As 🇨🇳 Kerry Logistics, a Hong Kong-based logistics service provider, acquired Chinese biotech firm Pro-med Technology for an undisclosed sum. 🇮🇳 SparkCognition, an Indian AI software solutions provider, [acquired local AI startup Integration Wizards]( for an undisclosed amount. 🇮🇳 India-based edtech startup Bodhi AI acquired local AI-based learning management system firm SkoolStream for an undisclosed sum. 🇰🇷 Korea Credit Data, a South Korean fintech startup, acquired local point-of-sale firm ImU for an undisclosed amount. 🇮🇳 Indian student enrollment firm CollegeDekho acquired local coding platform PrepBytes for an undisclosed sum. 🇰🇷 South Korea-headquartered AI-based tax accounting platform Jobis & Villains acquired local group video calling app Smoothy for an undisclosed sum. 🇮🇳 India-based live bus-tracking firm Chalo bought local shared mobility startup Vogo for an undisclosed sum. 🇸🇬 Pace, a Singapore-based fintech solutions firm, [acquired local buy now, pay later startup Rely]( for an undisclosed amount. 🇮🇩 Mynavi Corporation, a Japanese staffing and media communications company, [acquired Indonesian freelancer platform Sribu]( for an undisclosed sum. 🇰🇷 South Korean-based edtech firm Cake merged with local edtech platform Hybe Edu 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](. 🇸🇬 LessonPlan is a Singapore-based marketplace for enrichment classes that simplifies the search for parents looking to reskill or upskill. 🇮🇩 DoctorTool is an Indonesian healthtech startup that digitalizes healthcare services from clinics and hospitals. 🇸🇬 iPiD is a Singapore-headquartered fintech firm that provides solutions to banks, fintech firms, and payments systems to make cross-border payments easier. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ An Indian data analytics startup’s pitch deck got it US$1.5 million in pre-seed funding PredictiVu uses AI and machine learning to automate the analysis of large datasets. It used [this pitch deck]( to raise US$1.5 million in pre-seed funding last year. The deck has a straightforward design and is easy to read and understand. It also clearly highlights the problem businesses face in analyzing marketing data and explains how PredictiVu addresses the issue. 2️⃣ This startup used propelled itself into the unicorn club with this pitch deck Shanghai-based XTransfer is a one-stop, cross-border financial and risk management services company. It used [this pitch deck]( to net US$138 million in series D funding last year, which took its valuation to over US$1 billion. The deck begins with an overview of what to expect from the presentation. It tells XTransfer’s story, going over its current milestones and its investors. 3️⃣ The pitch deck that helped a graph database startup secure US$10 million in series A money ArangoDB is a free and open-source graph database, document store, and search engine all wrapped in one. In 2019, the US-based firm used [this pitch deck]( to raise US$10 million in its series A round. The deck starts by providing general information regarding the company’s addressable market and its development over time. It then shows the startup’s approach model and product positioning as well as its simplicity in comparison to other database platforms. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 The NFT sweet spot NFTs are the talk of the town. After all, they make a lucrative market for creators and investors alike. But the wrong decisions early in the NFT process could spell disaster for the viability of projects. [This post]( on the Andreessen Horowitz blog analyzes minting data from the top 150 NFT collections on OpenSea. 2️⃣ The problem with ESG investing New findings suggest that, instead of helping improve the environmental and social sustainability of business practices, investment toward environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) isn’t making much difference to companies’ actual ESG performance - in fact, it may actually be directing capital into poor business performers. Read more in [this Harvard Business Review piece](. 3️⃣ What hard skills do VC analysts need? Redditor u/CocaColaConnoisseur1 asked the r/venturecapital community what hard skills someone would need to become a VC analyst. Other redditors advised building a strong network, while yet others said the answer would depend on whether it was a role at a firm focused on early-stage or growth-stage startups. Read the full discussion [here](. 4️⃣ Lessons from Harlem Capital Harlem Capital managing partner Henri Pierre-Jacques tweeted about how the VC firm grew despite its core team never having worked in the VC industry. Read his thoughts [here](. 5️⃣ Why angel investors do what they do Ever wondered why an angel investor would ever bother putting money into early-stage startups? Angel investor Rockman Law tweeted this week, outlining the motivations behind his investments. 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. 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