Startups

A customer uses Paytm at a restaurant in New Delhi. (Photo by Kosaku Mimura)
IPO

Paytm shares dive 27% after completing India's largest IPO

Stock plunge on debut causes headache for its backer SoftBank

18 November 2021
Bits x Bites mainly focuses on agriculture-related startups at pre-A Series to B funding stages and screens nearly 1,200 companies annually.
DealStreetAsia

Chinese agri-food venture capital firm closes $100m fund

Temasek-backed Bits x Bites to seek investment across food supply chain

17 November 2021
Indian startup Mensa brands buys majority stakes in digital-first brands, acting as an umbrella company that owns and operates them. (Photo by Yuki Kohara)
Startups

Mensa Brands becomes India's fastest unicorn in just six months

Brand aggregator startup boosted by tail winds of economic recovery from COVID

17 November 2021
Singapore's Sea began as an online gaming company but its e-commerce unit Shopee has expanded rapidly in recent years.
Startups

Sea expands globally with European e-commerce, U.S. investment

Singapore group's revenue and net loss rise on the year in September quarter

16 November 2021
Tonik is one of six digital banks courting 70% of Filipino adults who do not have bank accounts. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Finance

Philippine digital banks target $140bn retail deposit market

Six online-only upstarts set to challenge big financial institutions

12 November 2021
Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu has received its first injection of funding from Singapore's state-owned Temasek Holdings.
Caixin

Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu hits $18bn valuation

Funding round comes as rumors swirl over possible Hong Kong IPO

12 November 2021
Grab's losses in the July-September quarter have widened from a year ago due largely to noncash expenses. (Photo by Kentaro Iwamoto)
Startups

Grab reports $988m net loss for Q3 as lockdowns hit ride-hailing

Singapore unicorn says its SPAC deal is expected to close in Q4

11 November 2021
Zomato reported that its July-September losses nearly doubled to $41 million from the previous quarter on November 11.
Food & Beverage

Zomato invests $125m in Indian tech startups amid widening loss

Company aspires to reign over hyperlocal segment, take on Swiggy and Dunzo

11 November 2021
Paytm, Indian major mobile wallet service provider, claims it has 333 million users.
IPO

Paytm's IPO ends oversubscribed 1.89 times after a bumpy start

India's largest offering pales next to ebullience generated by Zomato and others

10 November 2021
Gaussian Robotics' machines are ideal for large facilities such as factories because they can plot the most efficient cleaning route, says SoftBank CEO Masyoshi Son, who backs the startup.
SoftBank

SoftBank makes fresh bet on Chinese robotics startup

Vision Fund 2 joins $188m investment in Gaussian Robotics

10 November 2021
Jakarta-based Alpha JWC Ventures is primarily Indonesia focused but also invests in startups in other Southeast Asian countries. (Source photos by AFP/Jiji and screenshot from Alpha JWC Ventures' website) 
Technology

Indonesian VC closes 'largest' early stage Southeast Asia fund

Alpha JWC Ventures raises $433 million as it cultivates more unicorns

9 November 2021
Andy Chan, right, and fellow Qupital co-founder Winston Wong plan to triple the company's staff by the end of 2022. (Photo courtesy of Qupital).
Startups

Alibaba-backed financing platform Qupital raises $150m for growth

Hong Kong startup 'on path to becoming a unicorn,' says 30-year-old founder

9 November 2021
Palexy CEO and co-founder Thong Do demonstrates the computer vision tech his startup uses with retail store cameras during an interview in Ho Chi Minh City in October.
Technology

He sold a startup to Panasonic. Now he puts AI in Vietnam's shops

Thong Do applies computer vision and online-style analytics to brick-and-mortar retail

6 November 2021
The startup-incubation space Block 71 in Singapore. The nation is said to have a fertile environment for startups. (Photo by Akira Kodaka)
Startups

Singapore's high tide of tech startups surf digitalization boom

Fintech and edtech companies flock to Asia's welcoming Silicon Island

3 November 2021
Mynt owns GCash mobile wallet, a widely used app for merchant payments and money transfers in the Philippines. (File photo by AP)
Startups

Philippine fintech Mynt hits $2bn valuation after fundraising

$300m funding round is company's largest ever, underscores its unicorn status

2 November 2021
Beijing-based Huice serves major companies such as Chinese dairy firm Mengniu.
DealStreetAsia

SoftBank leads $312m funding for Chinese smart retail provider

Cloud startup Huice to expand services for order management, AI-enabled delivery

31 October 2021
Global investors will have access to one of Southeast Asia's biggest tech players when Grab lists in the U.S. this year. (Source photos by Ken Kobayashi and Getty Images)
Business Spotlight

What Singapore's Grab brings to global investors with U.S. listing

Superapp emerges as alternative investment vehicle amid China tech crackdown

29 October 2021
T3 Chuxing's $1.2 billion funding round points to greater competition between government-backed and private players in the ride-hailing business, observers say. (Screetshot from T3 app)
Startups

China ride-hailer T3 raises $1.2bn as rivals pounce on Didi's woes

2-year-old startup joins race to snag market share from embattled company

27 October 2021
The Xturismo is the first 'hoverbike' to make its debut in Japan. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Technology

Japan drone maker's flying motorcycle to hit the skies next year

A.L.I. Technologies starts taking orders for $682,000 Xturismo

26 October 2021
Vertex Holdings is likely to be one of the first blank-check companies to list on the Singapore Exchange.
DealStreetAsia

Temasek-backed venture readies for SPAC IPO in Singapore

Vertex Holdings looks to list $150m blank-check company by year-end

26 October 2021
Indian edtech startup Vedantu, which has 200,000 paying users, experienced a 4.5-fold revenue increase last year. (Screenshot from Vedantu Youtube)
Startups

Indian edtech battle heats up as Vedantu joins unicorn club

CEO aims for 'at minimum' double revenue growth despite COVID cooldown

25 October 2021
Staff at Japanese virtual reality startup Hikky hold a meeting using avatars. (Photo courtesy of Hikky)
Startups

Japan companies go virtual to boost real-world profits

VR startup attracts big brands looking to pull through COVID fallout

23 October 2021
Japan's digital banking sector is getting a long-awaited boost. (Source photo by AP) 
Finance

Japan's digital banks emerge as regulatory easing gains momentum

New measures raise hopes of catching up with global funding boom

21 October 2021
A Grab delivery person checks his bicycle outside a fast food chain in Singapore: The company is strengthening its home delivery business, which has significant room for growth.
Startups

Grab touts food and grocery deliveries as ride-hailing slows

Singapore company hopes sales promotion app helps corral new partners

21 October 2021
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority sees promise in Indonesia's GoTo. (Source photos by GoTo Group/AFP/Jiji and screenshot from ADIA's website) 
IPO

Indonesia's GoTo bags $400 million from Abu Dhabi ahead of IPO

Investment part of fundraising round said to be targeting total of $1.5bn

20 October 2021