Not one, not two, not three, but six M&As this week.

Viva Biotech Holdings, AI21 Labs, Scapia, 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} Looking at today’s funding data took me by surprise because we have a whopping six companies in Asia that have gone through M&As in the past week. This is a massive jump from [last week]( where we had… none. This is good news for the founders of most of these companies. After all, a great exit is the ultimate goal of every startup, and not everyone will make a grand public market debut like Grab and GoTo. For the majority of founders, an M&A is the most likely way they’ll make an exit - and get that happy ending to their entrepreneurial journey. Cheers to them. 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 that recently took place. -- Stefanie (P.S.: On that note, if you’re a founder curious about the M&A process, our CEO Willis Wee and COO Maria Li will be talking about Tech in Asia’s own road to getting acquired in our upcoming Founders Meetup: Singapore. Learn more about the event later in this newsletter.)  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY  CN Viva Biotech Holdings, a China-based drug discovery platform, [has bagged US$210 million]( from Highlight Capital and Temasek Holdings in a post-IPO fundraise. IL Israel-based AI startup AI21 Labs [has raised US$53 million]( in a series C round. IN Travel fintech firm Scapia, which hails from India, [has netted US$23 million]( in series A money from 3State Ventures and Elevation Capital. SG Honest is a Singapore-based fintech startup focused on Indonesia. It has bagged a US$18 million strategic investment from Orient Corporation. KR Lucentblock operates a digital platform for investing in real estate securities. The South Korean firm secured US$10.5 million in series B money from Etri Holdings, Hana Securities, Hana Ventures, KDB Bank, Seoul Techno Holdings, and iProvest/Kyobo Securities. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [63 deals worth over US$545 million](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&As ID Mojiken Studio is an indie game developer in Indonesia. It was acquired by game studio Toge Productions for US$1.6 million. SG The Thai business of Singapore-based coffee chain Flash Coffee [has been acquired]( by Turn Capital for an undisclosed sum. IN India-based Rephrase.ai, an AI-powered synthetic media platform where users can create personalized videos, has been acquired by Adobe. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. IN FactoryPlus, an inventory management and ecommerce platform from India, [has been acquired]( by vendor digitization platform Bizongo for an undisclosed sum. IN India-based financial services firm Ambium Finserve has been acquired by Wint Wealth Group for an undisclosed amount and is now known as Wint Capital. JP Japanese pop culture platform Tokyo Otaku Mode has been acquired by publisher Shogakukan.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  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]( SG Evren is a Singapore-based cybersecurity firm that provides a desktop operating system for frontline and contingent enterprise workers. ID Pipopa is a social platform for the rental of consumer goods. It is based in Indonesia. IN UpAI is an India-based startup that uses AI to simplify intra-day trading by providing real-time, data-driven stock predictions. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ This startup’s pitch deck caught Entrepreneur First’s eye Waste Labs is a Singapore-based AI and sustainability startup that aims to improve waste collection by helping garbage collectors and cities better analyze their systems. The company got US$500,000 in pre-seed money in 2021 after using [this pitch deck](. The presentation highlights how current waste collection systems are impractical and result in unrecycled waste. It goes on to emphasize Waste Labs’ mission to modernize planning around waste collection and its success so far. 2️⃣ 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 in 2021. The presentation has a straightforward design and is easy to read and understand. It also clearly highlights the problem businesses face in analyzing marketing data and shows how PredictiVu addresses the issue. 3️⃣ This deck helped an office space firm secure US$4 million in pre-series A funding India-based iSprout provides managed office space solutions for established startups and enterprises. In 2022, it used [this pitch deck]( to bag its pre-series A funding. The deck is creative and provides an overview of the company before addressing consumer pain points and showcasing solutions that iSprout offers.  --------------------------------------------------------------- TECH IN ASIA’S REGIONAL FOUNDERS MEETUP: SINGAPORE Join Tech in Asia's 11th and final meetup of 2023! Calling all Singapore-based founders! As 2023 comes to a close, we’re gearing up for our final Founders Meetup of the year in the Lion City, where it all began. By popular demand, Tech in Asia founder and CEO Willis Wee will talk about his startup journey, which has culminated in an M&A deal with SPH Media, in a fireside chat moderated by our COO Maria Li. Join us on December 5 at Mortar & Pestle to get a candid look at what goes on behind the scenes to pull off an M&A deal, and take home key insights that will help you best navigate and understand the M&A process if you choose to go down this route. Don’t miss this chance to learn, connect, and have fun with your fellow founders - including our own Willis - as we conclude this year’s Regional Founders Meetup event series with a bang! [Get your tickets now]( before they run out! A big thanks to our supporting partners - AWS, CleverTap, Cooley, Oracle, Sinarmas Land, Singapore Global Network (SGN), Quest Ventures, and Purple Quarter - for making this meetup possible. Note: This event is closed-door and strictly off the record - no media buzz, please! While Willis and Maria will share as much about the M&A deal as possible, confidential terms will not be disclosed.  --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 LPs 101 If you’re reading this newsletter, you’re probably in VC or interested in the field. This means you’ll find VC Labs’ [“The Venture Capitalist’s Guide to Limited Partners”]( a pretty useful read - it covers the key fundamentals of working with limited partners (LPs), addressing everything from the common types of LPs to how you can pitch your fund to potential partners. 2️⃣ Wisdom of the crowd What happens when you harness the collective brilliance of a diverse group? The odds are you’ll be able to create something greater than the sum of its parts. In [this Masters of Scale podcast]( Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, shares how bringing together a diverse bunch of changemakers has led to new opportunities and helped her address problems from unique perspectives. 3️⃣ Is venture capital dying? In the midst of a tech winter, funding slowdowns, and debates on sustainable growth, is the VC industry on its way out? [This Reddit thread]( explores the question and unpacks how VC has changed over the years. 4️⃣ AI the moneymaker Generative AI has the potential to do many things - such as helping VCs invest more effectively. [This piece]( from the Entrepreneur outlines how investors are leveraging AI for various tasks, such as screening, sourcing, and monitoring startups, and how it’s helping VCs work better. 5️⃣ On the OpenAI saga It’s been an exciting few days at ChatGPT maker OpenAI, with founder Sam Altman getting ousted before making a return. The whole situation has shed light on OpenAI’s complex and unique corporate governance structure - investors had no influence over the firm’s nonprofit board of directors. But this may change with Altman’s return to the company - read more in [this Business Insider piece](.  --------------------------------------------------------------- [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 Stefanie Yeo. It’s edited by Dhania Putri Sarahtika. Copyright © 2023 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 63 Robinson Road, Singapore 068894