Variety is the spice of life (and funding deals this week)

Nowcoder, Una Brands, Not A Hotel, and more raised funds this week. [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} Even though I work in a relatively niche publication that focuses on tech and startups, I make it a point to have a broad range of interests and hobbies. I write for work and leisure, study Japanese, and try to exercise about five times a week (and maintain a love-hate relationship with running). Recently, I’ve gotten invested in a K-drama - Mr. Queen, if you’re wondering which one - although I’ve never really watched South Korean shows before. That kind of diversity is also present in today’s funding and M&A deals, with industries such as ecommerce, semiconductor, and hospitality all represented. Read on to find out what the others are. 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. --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY  CN Nowcoder is a repository platform of questions and interview topics for IT professionals and programmers. Based in China, it closed a US$50 million series B round from 5Y Capital (Morningside Venture Capital), Sequoia Capital China, Shunwei Capital, and Tiger Global Mauritius Fund. SG Una Brands is a Singapore-based company that acquires ecommerce brands based in Asia Pacific. It uses tech to optimize and automate company identification, product placement, and marketing across a broad range of distribution channels. It [secured US$30 million]( in bridge funding from Northstar Group. JP Based in Japan, Not A Hotel sells villas that can also be used as hotels, with the vision of making the world more fun. It banked US$19.6 million in series A funds, with investors such as GMO Venture Partners, Globe Advisors Ventures, and Hiroshima Venture Capital, among others. KR Fadu is a system semiconductor company specializing in data centers. The South Korean startup raised US$9.6 million in bridge funding from Forest Partners and IBK Capital. IN NoBroker is a platform that helps people find new homes without any brokerage fees. The India-based firm bagged US$5 million in series E money from General Atlantic and Google. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [64 deals worth over US$314 million](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&As  IN Zecpe is an India-based one-click checkout enabler. It was [acquired by fintech startup Cashfree Payments]( for an undisclosed sum. KR South Korean firm Labdoku operates Dentio, a oral health brand, and Greyground, a fragrance brand whose products express the sensibility of travel destinations. The startup was acquired by Beauty Selection, an influencer commerce platform, 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](.  ID Tokban is an Indonesia-based B2B marketplace for hardware and building materials, simplifying procurement for stores and projects. JP Nagano Rewards specializes in rewards fulfillment and dropshipping on behalf of global loyalty, rewards, and employee recognition programs that have a customer base in Japan. MY Progressture Energy is a Malaysian clean energy provider and a net-zero partner focusing on industrial decarbonization. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ An experiential VR startup used this deck to bag US$68 million in series A money Hong Kong-based Sandbox VR enables groups of up to six individuals to see and physically interact with each other in a virtual reality experience. The firm used [this pitch deck]( to help it secure US$68 million in its series A round in 2019. The presentation starts by detailing the disappointments and challenges that the VR industry faces, and then describes future opportunities in the market. 2️⃣ An ecommerce enabler raised seed money via this pitch deck Prosperna offers simple and affordable ecommerce software to help MSMEs in the Philippines set up online shops. With [this pitch deck]( the startup raised US$450,000 in its seed round from UBX in 2021. The presentation has a clean and uncluttered design: It strikes a balance between text and visuals, and Prosperna’s mission is stated clearly on the cover. 3️⃣ An edtech startup used this pitch deck get seed extension funding Kalpha is a peer-to-peer ecosystem for sharing skills and knowledge online. The Singapore-based company used [this pitch deck]( for its seed extension round in 2020, gaining the attention of the city-state’s angel investors and its existing backer Nest Tech VN. The presentation is simple and easy to read, with important points highlighted in different colors or bold font. ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING You can also check out a curated list of trending tech events [over here](. - [Tech in Asia’s Product Development Conference 2023]( from May 16 to May 17 Tech in Asia’s Product Development Conference is back! This year’s edition, which will be held in person in Jakarta, will feature over 20 industry leaders, experts, and innovators sharing the latest trends and strategies that can accelerate product development growth. [Register now]( and you can get 50% off. This early bird promo is available for a limited time only, though, so don’t miss out! ---------------------------------------------------------------  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 How to overcome resistance to diversity, equity, and inclusion International Women’s Day is coming up on March 8. With that in mind, a lot of progress has been made in recognizing and taking steps to curb gender biases and prejudices - conscious or otherwise - that have built up over the decades. [This Harvard Business Review (HBR) article]( discusses how we can go about furthering this cause. 2️⃣ Shifting gears in a downturn (and how to do it) I’ve written the words “recession,” “downturn,” and their synonyms more times in the past couple months than in the previous four years in this job. Suffice to say, the economy is well and truly up the creek at this point of time, and companies need to rethink and replan. Guess what? The Andreessen Horowitz website has [an article that can help with that](. Specifically, it talks about rejigging sales capacity plans in a downturn (damn, I wrote the word again). 3️⃣ Empowering your team I became a manager relatively recently, and I’ve been talking to various people in and out of my organization to learn how to be the best leader I can be. Articles like [this, which talks about empowering your team to solve problems without you]( also help a lot and speak to the challenges that I’ve been encountering in my new role. 4️⃣ How to start and plan out a career in product Jiaona Zhang, VP of Product at Webflow, says that the most important part of the product-building process is understanding the problem for your users and identifying the opportunity for your business. Read [this First Round Review article]( to see what other tips she has. 5️⃣Who is the VC’s true customer? Who do VC funds really serve? Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures [shares his thoughts]( - no spoilers from me.  --------------------------------------------------------------- [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? 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