The VC guessing game

Aether Energy, Neso Brands, Youxinpai, and more startups raised funding this week. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} Part of my daily routine includes playing [Framed]( a daily movie-guessing game, over breakfast or lunch. Over six turns, the game shows different still images from a movie, giving players six attempts at guessing which movie those scenes are from. I often have to zoom way in on actors’ faces or on any words in the scene for a clue that will lead me to the right answer. It reminds me of another game: the one investors play every day. When evaluating a potential investment, VCs can often only see one “frame” in a startup’s story and have to discern how the movie might end based on that. Their guesses aren’t always right - after all, they only have so many clues to work with - but when it pays off, it makes for a whole lot of fun. It makes me wonder how the stories of the startups in the following section will play out. 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 🇮🇳 Ather Energy: The India-based electric scooter maker [bagged US$128 million in series E money]( from Hero MotoCorp and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund of India. 🇸🇬 Neso Brands: The direct-to-consumer eyewear brand subsidiary of Lenskart, a Singapore-based omnichannel eyewear retailer, raised US$100 million in seed funding from Alpha Wave Global, KKR, SoftBank Corporation, and Temasek Holdings. 🇨🇳 Youxinpai: The China-based online auction platform for used cars got US$100 million worth of strategic investments from Joy Capital and Nio Capital. 🇮🇩 Mekari: The Indonesia-headquartered software-as-a-service company [scored US$50 million in series E funding]( from MoneyForward. 🇮🇱 Classiq Technologies: The Israeli quantum tech firm secured US$33 million in series B funding from HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, and NTT Finance. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [131 deals worth over US$1.2 billion](. --------------------------------------------------------------- M&As 🇮🇳 India-headquartered table reservations and events service startup Dineout was acquired by local food delivery giant Swiggy for US$200 million. --------------------------------------------------------------- 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](. 🇮🇩 Foodstory Group is a Jakarta-headquartered food and beverage brand aggregator, with seven brands located across more than 200 locations in its portfolio. 🇮🇳 Peepul Tree is a Mumbai-based marketplace dedicated to selling handmade fashion and lifestyle products created in India. 🇮🇩 Shoesmart is an ecommerce footwear company in Indonesia that provides all footwear for all ages and genders. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ An Indian payment platform’s pitch deck helped it secure seed funding DanaMojo is an India-based payments solution platform for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that aims to plug the pain points in raising donations. It used [this pitch deck]( to rake in US$396,500 in seed funding last year. The deck is accessible and comprehensive, laying out all the relevant information about the company. It immediately points out the payment-related issues NGOs face while raising funding and backs up startup’s solution to address the issues with data. 2️⃣ The pitch deck that helped a parenting app secure US$2 million in seed money Founded in 2013, US-based BabySparks aims to assist parents and caregivers with innovative and effective tools to guide babies and toddlers in critical areas of early development. In 2019, the company used [this pitch deck]( during a 500 Startups demo day, to raise seed funding. The deck begins by sharing how the founder’s own parenting struggles led him to establish BabySparks and then elaborates on how the app will help parents in addressing the specific needs of kids under the age of three. 3️⃣ This educational esports platform’s pitch deck got 500 Startups’ attention Founded in 2018, GamerzClass calls itself the “Netflix for gamers.” The startup offers a platform for gaming videos and tutorials featuring professional esports athletes. It used [this pitch deck]( at a 500 Startups Demo Day to bank US$150,000 in pre-seed funding. The deck begins by pointing out the key problems amateur gamers face and then dives into how GamerzClass’ offerings could help improve the esports experience. The pitch deck also explains how the company’s user and revenue traction has grown over time. --------------------------------------------------------------- PODCAST GoTo Group, the new entity formed through the Gojek-Tokopedia merger last year, listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange this month. While the company’s shares quickly soared past its initial offering price, it also fell just as quickly in a manner reminiscent of the recent public listings of other Southeast Asian firms such as Bukalapak and Grab. Is this just how Southeast Asian tech stocks perform on the public markets? On this episode of Deep Dive, Tech in Asia journalists Ardi Wirdana and Aditya Hadi Pratama discuss GoTo’s IPO and what its performance might mean for the wider tech and startup scene in Southeast Asia. Listen here: [Spotify]( | [Apple Podcasts]( --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 tide through the semiconductor crisis The semiconductor scarcity has affected various industries across the globe, damaging some of those sectors for what could be several years. Businesses that want to avoid extinction will need to transform their supply chain strategy. Read [this Harvard Business Review piece]( to learn more. 2️⃣ Tech investors are becoming pickier According to Predictiv co-founder Jonathan Low, the dramatic drop in startup and early-stage funding this year was because too much money is chasing too few good investments - and geopolitical events could make things worse. Read his thoughts on the matter in [this blog post](. 3️⃣ Don’t push AI too far too fast - just go for easy wins In a bid to keep up with competition, businesses could end up pushing inadequate AI solutions into environments where they are quickly overwhelmed. Instead of always trying to completely overhaul entire processes, it could be better to go for lower hanging fruit. Read [this VentureBeat article]( to learn more. 4️⃣ Are you a manager? Ask yourself these questions The best managers set aside time for reflection, working on gaining new perspectives on their teams, cross-functional relationships, and their own effectiveness. [This First Round Review piece]( lists some crucial questions managers should ask themselves in order to become more effective leaders. 5️⃣ Why some startups have two series A rounds Redditor u/jbspe asked why a startup he was applying for a role at had two separate series A rounds listed on Crunchbase. Members of the r/venturecapital community said it could be due to a number of factors, ranging from pure optics to just human error. Read the full discussion [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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