Different folks but same strokes

Emerging Markets Property Group, Udaan, Plum and more raised funds. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Welcome to Tech in Asia's free Saturday VC newsletter! Get full access to our subscribers-only premium content and other insightful analysis on the big and messy topics of Asia’s tech and startup community by [registering here](. --------------------------------------------------------------- Hello {NAME} The idea of a ragtag group of people who band together in order to achieve a goal, and then learn something new about themselves and each other in the process is one of my favorite media tropes. One of the best examples of this is the 1985 film The Breakfast Club, where five students with very different personalities and backgrounds are forced to attend detention together, finding that they’re not so different after all. I bring this up because when I look at some of the top-funded startups of the week, they seem worlds apart since they come from diverse industries. But if you take a closer look, you’ll find that these companies have something in common: they all started out aiming to solve a problem in the world. Apart from having the same goal, I’m sure there’ll be some commonality in their stories. 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. -- Stefanie  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY  🇦🇪 Emerging Markets Property Group, a property verticals and classifieds platform based in the United Arab Emirates, [has raised US$200 million]( from Acacia Partners, KCK Global, Affinity Equity Partners, and Prosus Ventures. 🇮🇳 Indian B2B ecommerce platform Udaan has raised US$120 million in a round led by existing shareholders and bondholders. 🇨🇳 Plum, a China-based secondhand fashion ecommerce platform, has bagged US$100 million in a series C round from Zhuanzhuan. 🇭🇰 Reap, a B2B fintech firm based in Hong Kong, [has raised US$40 million]( in a series A funding round led by Acorn Pacific Ventures, HashKey Capital, and Arcadia Funds. 🇸🇬 Nuevocor, a Singapore-based biopharmaceutical company, has received US$11.6 million in a series A round. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [109 deals worth over US$992 million](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&As 🇸🇬 Singapore-based Alta, a marketplace for alternative assets formerly known as Fundnel, [has acquired]( local blockchain-based securities firm Hg Exchange. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  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](. 🇸🇬 EkkBaz is a Singapore-based sustainable B2B marketplace with an embedded finance platform. 🇮🇩 Haus is a F&B startup from Indonesia focusing on products for the millennial generation. 🇲🇾 FusionQB is a Malaysian software-as-a-service firm. It offers a centralized platform that organizes data across a variety of touchpoints into a single database for customers. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ This Indonesian social commerce firm raised US$6.6 million with this deck Dagangan provides affordable daily necessities to customers in rural areas. The [pitch deck]( outlines the problem that the company is trying to solve and explains how it helps address this challenge, and the impact it has had so far. Dagangan has successfully raised US$6.6 million in a pre-series B round. 2️⃣ The pitch deck that won Tiger Global backing for an Indian fintech firm Progcap aims to provide credit for last-mile businesses using a mix of tech and alternative data-driven credit scoring. The company used [this pitch deck]( to secure series C funding in a round co-led by Tiger Global Management. The deck begins with an executive summary describing Progcap’s business focus and shares more details about the domestic retail market. The presentation then highlights marquee names that Progcap has worked with before going into the problem description and the solution that the company offers. 3️⃣ This deck helped a dating app for Muslims secure seed funding from 500 Startups Created in Egypt in 2017, Hawaya is a dating platform tailored to Muslim singles. In 2018, the firm used [this pitch deck]( at a 500 Startups Demo Day to win US$150,000 in seed funding from the early-stage venture fund. The deck delves into the current trend of online dating and how it is deemed socially unacceptable in the Middle East. This helps contextualize why Hawaya’s founders developed an online dating app specifically for the region and for North Africa. It also details the company’s recent growth, followed by a brief explanation of how the platform works.  --------------------------------------------------------------- EXCLUSIVE EVENT Tech in Asia’s Founders’ Lunch 2022 As 2022 draws to a close, it’s time to take stock of the year and look ahead at what 2023 holds. Tech in Asia is inviting Singapore-based founders to our annual Founders’ Lunch, which will be held on December 6 at Privè, Asian Civilizations Museum. Founders will get to network and have conversations with each other over a casual lunch, discussing topics such as the funding outlook for 2023 and how they can structure their companies to make it through the tech winter, among others. Tickets are priced at S$65 per person. Seats are limited and are available on a first come, first served basis. [Register for yours today](. 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](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THOUGHTFUL READS  1️⃣ It’s like a TripAdvisor for VCs Revere is a startup that’s creating a rating system for the venture capital industry. Using 20 categories, the system will determine the quality of a VC across five areas: sourcing, team, value add, track record, and firm management. While it’s mostly geared towards limited partners looking for funds to back, it could be pretty interesting in other ways. Read more about Revere [here](. 2️⃣ Towards a common goal Research has shown that genuinely purpose-driven organizations outperform their less-focused competitors on some significant metrics, such as stock market performance and customer loyalty. But how exactly can business leaders ensure that their company has a clear purpose? It all starts from the top, as [this piece]( from the Harvard Business Review shows. 3️⃣ Recommended reading Are you a VC that’s struggling to keep up with the latest insights in the ecosystem?? Reddit user u/jjss36 has created a “customizable newsletter” that aggregates the content shared and discussed by some of the world’s leading investors into a single email. [Check it out](. 4️⃣ The emotional labor of leadership Effective leaders often have to manage their feelings and expressions to fulfill the expectations of their role. Striking a balance between being authentic and avoiding the “authenticity paradox” can be incredibly exhausting. [This article]( looks at the emotional labor that leaders have to undertake and how organizations can best support them on this front. 5️⃣ Where the money’s at While the global tech scene might be in the midst of a funding winter, venture capital itself appears to be pulling in the cash, as investors continue to seek access to hot, new technology companies. [This piece]( from The Wall Street Journal takes a closer look at what’s going on.  --------------------------------------------------------------- [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 Eileen C. Ang. Copyright © 2022 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 63 Robinson Road, Singapore 068894