Crayon Data draws in profits with SaaS business

This week, On the Rise looks at Crayon Data’s earnings, greentech firm Nafas, and Aussie VC Mandalay Venture Partners’ plans for SEA. [Read from your browser]( On the Rise 🚀 Welcome to On the Rise! Delivered every Tuesday via email and through the Tech in Asia website, this free newsletter breaks down the biggest stories and trends in emerging tech. If you’re not a subscriber, get access by [registering here](. Written by Shadine Taufik Journalist Hello {NAME} Nowadays, data permeates every aspect of our digitally driven lives. Our mindless online moves - clicking links, making search queries, and even lingering on a page - can be mined to reveal our identities and desires. As invasive and dystopian as this may sound, it’s interesting to note that most people are already aware of the fact, and welcome it for the sake of convenience. Frankly, in a world with an increasingly immense volume of content, services such as Spotify and Netflix would be less interesting and much harder to navigate without their algorithms adjusting their feeds to suit our preferences. The constant fine-tuning of these technologies has made targeting and personalization much easier for businesses. It has also allowed companies like Crayon Data to thrive. In this week’s first Big Story, my colleague Collin goes over the Singapore-based firm’s earnings. Through its Maya.ai platform, Crayon helps its corporate clients extract insights from customer data, allowing them to offer personalized solutions. The firm said its revenue more than doubled in 2021 and expects to turn profitable this year, projecting a 50% revenue growth. Favoring slow and sustainable growth over vanity metrics, the Jungle Ventures-backed company now has 11 to 12 clients across Asia and is eyeing a US$50 million fundraise to bankroll its growth in Europe and the US. In our second Big Story, my colleague Nikita looks at Nafas, an Indonesian startup offering subscriptions for “clean air as a service.” This isn’t a Loraxian story though - the firm helps users live a cleaner, healthier life by divulging its air pollution data. Nikita also had a chat with Australia-based Mandalay Venture Partners to map out its investment plans for Southeast Asia in this week’s Making Waves. -- Shadine  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIG STORY 1️⃣ [Decoding a Jungle Ventures-backed SaaS firm’s profitability]( Singapore-based Crayon Data is now looking to raise up to US$50 million to power its expansion in the US and Europe. 2️⃣ [Behind an Indonesian firm’s ambitious plan to offer 'clean air as a service']( The ex-Gojek executive’s firm aims to personalize air pollution data to predict respiratory diseases while also offering subscriptions for clean air zones.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  MAKING WAVES [Recession Run: Australian VC to invest 20% of new fund in SEA](  Recession Run is a series of interviews that gives a peek into what investors are betting their money on amid a global slowdown. In this edition, Philippe Ceulen of Mandalay Venture Partners talks about the firm’s plans in Southeast Asia and shares advice for agrifood tech entrepreneurs. --------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW Check out Tech in Asia’s coverage of the emerging tech scene [here](. 1️⃣ India-based ChargeUp has raised [US$7 million]( in its pre-series A funding. The firm offers battery-swapping as a service. 2️⃣ Indonesian edtech startup Ruangguru has [laid off hundreds of employees]( because of worsening market conditions. This is not the first edtech firm in the country making cuts this year - its competitors Zenius and Pahamify took similar measures months earlier. 3️⃣ Vow, an Australian startup specializing in alternative meat, has [raised US$49.2 million]( in its series A round led by Blackbird and Prosperity7 Ventures. The firm uses cultured animal cells to grow sustainable meat products. 4️⃣ Singapore-based iGlobe Partners is looking to [secure US$200 million]( for its deep-tech fund. Once raised, this will be the VC firm’s fifth investment vehicle. 5️⃣ Hangry, an Indonesia-based culinary startup, has [seen a 2.5x revenue jump]( in January to October 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. The company generated an estimated US$30 million in revenue in this span of time. --------------------------------------------------------------- That’s it for this edition - we hope you liked it! Do also check out previous issues of the newsletter [here](. Not your cup of tea? You can unsubscribe from this newsletter by going to your “edit profile” page and choosing that option in our preference center. See you next week! [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. 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