It was a shorter week than usual due to Good Friday, but there was no dearth of big stories, including some startling ones.
B2B retail startup Zilingo made headlines as reports emerged that it had suspended its co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose amid a probe into the company’s accounting and financial practices.
The company later confirmed the development, saying it has roped in an independent firm to conduct an investigation into the allegations.
Zilingo’s largest shareholder, Sequoia Capital, replaced its representative on the company’s board, with its head of portfolio finance, Sandeep Kher, taking managing director Shailendra Singh’s place.
Unrelated to the development, Burda Principal Investments had replaced Albert Shyy on Zilingo’s board in March with principal Neil Fong ahead of the former’s move to European investment firm Eurazeo.
The (other) big deals
Philippine technology firm Voyager Innovations closed a $210 million funding round this week, which took its valuation to nearly $1.4 billion. Its latest financing was led by SIG Venture Capital, the Asian venture capital arm of SIG.
Digital therapeutics firm Biofourmis, which was founded in Singapore and is now headquartered in Boston, is set to bag new funding from growth equity firm General Atlantic in a deal that will value it at over $1 billion, sources told DealStreetAsia.
Singapore-based Coda Payments on Friday announced that venture capital firm Insight Partners, New York-based Smash Capital and Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte have invested $690 million to acquire a minority stake in the firm.
The deal comprises a mix of primary and secondary transactions, DealStreetAsia had reported ahead of the announcement, citing regulatory filings.
LP-GP news
The $7.5-billion deal to merge the Asia-based businesses of Swedish PE firm EQT and Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) is not “a defensive move,” BPEA managing director Kenneth Cheong said in an interview.
Singapore and US-based venture capital firm B Capital Group is understood to have conducted a strip sale of 5-6 of its top-performing assets from its $360 million debut vehicle into a continuation fund.
Tata Realty and Infrastructure and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board have formed a 50:50 joint venture to develop and own commercial office space across India. The total aggregate equity value of the joint venture will be Rs 5,300 crore (about $700 million).
Evolvence India Fund, a PE fund of funds, raised $155 million so far for its fourth fund, which has a target corpus of $250 million, according to filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
German development finance institution DEG committed $13 million to the latest vehicle of Washington and Bengaluru-headquartered venture capital firm Quona Capital.
Taiwanese insurers Cathay Life Insurance and Fubon Hyundai Life made new capital commitments to infrastructure funds managed by Macquarie and Hanwha Asset Management.
Singapore-based VC firm EcoImpact Capital plans to raise a $50-million health technology fund in collaboration with medical technology accelerator White Hole Hub.
Singapore-based venture capital firm Good Startup hit the final close of its debut alternative protein fund at $34.1 million, exceeding its original target of $25 million, according to a filing with the US SEC.
VC firm Quest Ventures and the Singapore Centre for Social Enterprise (raiSE) launched an accelerator targeting startups in the social impact space. The programme will run from June to August and offer funding of up to $40,000 to seed-stage startups.
Digital asset investment platform Symphony Digital closed its inaugural fund at $40 million after receiving capital commitments from family offices and institutional investors, including Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands.
India-based early-stage VC Arkam Ventures announced the final close of its maiden technology-focused fund at $106 million (Rs 790 crore).
Startup funding news
VC and PE funding in Southeast Asia dropped 25% in March as startups in the region raised a mere $1.46 billion after amassing $1.96 billion in February.
Meanwhile, privately-held companies in Greater China raised close to $4.7 billion in March. The total deal value increased by 40.1%, while the number of transactions grew by 33.3% compared with the previous month.
Indonesian peer-to-peer (P2P) lending firm Julo bagged $80 million – $30 million in equity and $50 million in debt – from Japanese financial services company Credit Saison. DealStreetAsia had reported the investment in February, citing regulatory filings.
Indonesian logistics startup Waresix snapped up $50 million in fresh funding led by New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management.
Singapore-based fintech firm Honest Bank raised $17 million in an extension of its Series A round from existing investors, sources familiar with the matter told DealStreetAsia.
Observe.AI, an intelligent workforce platform based in India, raised $125 million in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
China’s Guangdong Gaojing Solar Energy Technology raked in 1.6 billion yuan ($251.3 million) in a Series A round of financing backed by IDG Capital and Huafa Group.
Cocos, a Chinese open-source engine primarily for game creation, raised $50 million in a Series B round of funding backed by voice and video engagement solutions developer Agora and existing backers GGV Capital and China Construction Bank’s CCB Trust.
Singapore-based medical technology startup Us2.ai bagged $15 million in a Series A round led by IHH Healthcare and Australian health and lifestyle investment firm Heal Partners.
FnO, a Singapore-registered firm that operates intra-day options-only trading platform MarketWolf, secured $6 million in a Series A funding round led by venture capital firm Jungle Ventures, according to regulatory filings.
GoTo commissioner and Adaro Energy president director Garibaldi Thohir invested 70.55 billion rupiah ($4.87 million) in Indonesian express logistics player PT Tri Adi Bersama, known as AnterAja.
Indian merchant commerce platform Pine Labs made an undisclosed investment in payment solutions provider Mosambee, valuing the latter at over $100 million.
Zaraye, a Karachi-based B2B raw materials marketplace, obtained $2.1 million in a pre-seed round from Tiger Global Management and Zayn Capital. The deal marks US-based Tiger Global’s first pre-seed investment in Pakistan.
Other deals
PE firm KKR will acquire a 9.99% stake in India’s Shriram General Insurance for about Rs 1,800 crore ($236 million).
Hong Kong-based ShawKwei & Partners announced the acquisition of Australian beauty and healthcare company Rauxel for an undisclosed amount.
FinAccel, the parent of P2P lender Kredivo, increased its stake in Indonesia-listed lender PT Bank Bisnis International to 75% in a deal worth 1.9 trillion rupiah ($132.2 million).
Indonesian online brokerage Ajaib upped its stake in Bank Bumi Arta to 40% from 24% earlier. It paid about 596.5 billion rupiah (about $42 million) for the share purchase.
Indonesian digital payment platform Xendit is close to acquiring two local multi-finance companies. The two players – PT Emas Persada Finance and Globalindo Multi Finance – will merge their businesses, and Xendit will acquire the merged entity.
8i Acquisition 2 Corp, a SPAC sponsored by Singapore-based 8i Group, is merging with Asian digital health platform EUDA Health Limited. The deal, which is expected to close in Q4 of this year, values the combined company at $583 million.
Singapore-based co-living platform Hmlet announced merging its operations with European co-living startup Habyt.
GoTo’s IDX debut, Bukalapak’s earnings
Shares of Indonesian tech giant GoTo soared as much as 23% in its market debut on Monday after the company raised $1.1 billion in a widely anticipated public offering. Its market outing is expected to pave the path for other local IPO hopefuls.
ZWC Partners, a China- and Southeast Asia-focused VC firm, is expecting over 5x returns on its investment in the Indonesian technology giant GoTo, its founding and managing partner told DealStreetAsia.
On its second trading day, GoTo shares fell 3.14% to close at 370 rupiah after dropping as low as 5.75% earlier. The stock closed at 376 rupiah on Thursday, above its IPO price of 338 rupiah.
IDX-listed Bukalapak reported losses of 1.7 trillion rupiah ($116.7 million) in 2021, up 24% year on year, despite a revenue surge.
Beyond the headlines
Fintech startups in Pakistan raised $95 million in 2021, a record year for private investments in the South Asian country. The sector owes the momentum to steps taken by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) governor Reza Baqir.
In an exclusive interview with DealStreetAsia, Baqir explained why he thinks digital banks are critical to financial inclusion in Pakistan. Hint: there are at least 100 million mobile phone users without a bank account in the country.
