Baskit secures Series A first close and HSBC credit line
Baskit, a Singapore- and Jakarta-based company, has raised USD 4.4 million in the first close of a Series A funding round led by Cento Ventures, with participation from Kaya Founders, Analog Ventures, and Orvel Ventures, as it builds technology and financial infrastructure for Southeast Asia’s offline trade networks.
The company also secured a USD 3 million revolving credit facility from HSBC Innovation Banking.
Baskit combines software, operational workflows, payments, and embedded credit to help brands manage fragmented offline distribution. It said it works with more than 60 brands and supports distribution across general trade and retail. It added that it has been profitable for the past 1.5 years.
Baskit said the new capital will support expansion across Indonesia, product development, and broader regional growth, beginning with the Philippines. It is positioning itself around the view that most trade in Southeast Asia still moves through offline channels despite the growth of e-commerce.
Golden Gate, Antler back Singapore’s OrtCloud
OrtCloud, a Singapore-based startup, has raised USD 1.7 million in a pre-seed round led by Golden Gate Ventures, with participation from Antler, as it builds infrastructure for fixed workloads and artificial intelligence agent sandboxes.
The company positions itself as an alternative to shared cloud environments, where performance and billing can vary, complicating production workloads. It offers hosted and on-premises deployments for customers seeking deterministic virtual machine infrastructure across cloud and on-premises environments. The platform is designed to help teams deploy environments quickly, reproduce workloads consistently, and scale without requiring deep infrastructure expertise.
OrtCloud said it has reached about USD 300,000 in monthly recurring revenue, and plans to use the new capital for product development, hiring, and expansion across Asia Pacific and the US.
Salmon raises USD 100 million to expand in the Philippines
Salmon Group, a financial services platform focused on the Philippines, has raised USD 100 million in new financing, adding capacity as it expands in a market where traditional banking coverage remains uneven. The package includes USD 60 million in equity and USD 40 million in public bonds, a structure that broadens its funding base while supporting balance sheet growth.
The equity round was led by Spice Expeditions, with participation from Washington University Investment Management Company, Moore Strategic Ventures, FJ Labs, and existing investors.
Separately, Salmon issued USD 40 million in public bonds under its existing USD 150 million Nordic bond program at an effective yield of 13.7%.
The company said the equity proceeds will fund product expansion, wider distribution in the Philippines, stronger capitalization for Salmon Bank, and additional balance sheet capacity. Bond proceeds will support the expansion of its lending book.
Invitrocue merges with Angsana and Pathnova to expand cancer diagnostics
Invitrocue, a Singapore-based life sciences company, has merged with Angsana Molecular & Diagnostics Laboratory and Pathnova Laboratories to form a larger cancer diagnostics platform with a broader regional footprint. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Under the transaction, Angsana and Pathnova will operate as wholly owned subsidiaries of Invitrocue, which becomes the holding company of the combined group. The business integrates organoid-based treatment guidance, molecular diagnostics, and liquid biopsy capabilities across early detection, treatment monitoring, and relapse monitoring.
Invitrocue said the merger is expected to create revenue and operating synergies through cross-selling, bundled services, and the consolidation of laboratory infrastructure and shared services. It added that the combined platform provides a base for partnerships, expansion into new markets, and potential acquisitions in Asia Pacific and Europe.
Hata raises USD 8 million as Bybit deepens Malaysia push
Hata, a Malaysia-based digital asset exchange, has closed a USD 8 million Series A round led by Bybit, with participation from several global family offices, in a deal that aligns one of Malaysia’s regulated digital asset platforms more closely with a large crypto exchange.
According to Hata, the round builds on Bybit’s participation in its earlier USD 4.2 million seed round and marks the start of a broader collaboration spanning capital, product development, and market building efforts.
Hata said it will use the proceeds to strengthen liquidity on its platform, accelerate user growth through marketing and ecosystem initiatives, and jointly develop digital asset products tailored to Malaysian users with Bybit.
Sygaldry raises USD 139 million across seed and Series A rounds
Sygaldry Technologies, a quantum and AI infrastructure company, has raised USD 139 million across a USD 34 million seed round and a USD 105 million Series A round. The funding provides capital as it develops servers aimed at reducing the energy use and cost of training and running large AI models.
The Series A round was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, following a seed round led by Initialized Capital. Earth VC participated in both rounds alongside Y Combinator, Rock Yard Ventures, and IQT.
Sygaldry is building what it describes as quantum-accelerated servers that combine multiple qubit types within a single fault-tolerant architecture. It said the approach is designed for AI workloads and to integrate with existing data center infrastructure.
Tencent buys into Kaspi.kz in first Kazakhstan fintech investment
Tencent has made its first investment in Kazakhstan’s fintech sector by acquiring a 3.2% stake in Kaspi.kz, according to Bloomberg. The transaction values the purchased stake at about USD 518 million based on prior market prices.
The Chinese tech giant, together with Kaspi.kz management and long-term investors, bought six million American depositary receipts from Baring Fintech Venture Funds. Morgan Stanley advised on the transaction. Kaspi.kz said other buyers included Spice Expeditions and US university endowments such as Washington University and the University of Wisconsin Foundation.
Kaspi.kz operates widely used financial applications in Kazakhstan covering payments, e-commerce, and banking services. The deal gives Tencent exposure to an established fintech platform in Central Asia and aligns with its broader interest in super app models beyond China.
Recent deals completed in China:
- Lawnix, a sub-brand of Mova, has raised an eight-figure RMB sum from Skyworks, Kington Capital, and a Yibin state-backed technology fund. It develops products including lawn mowers, grass trimmers, hedge trimmers, and chainsaws, alongside battery packs, chargers, and other electric accessories built on multiple voltage platforms. It will use the funds for product iteration, team expansion, and overseas market expansion and localization. —36Kr
- Lingji Tianci, a consumer hardware startup focused on companionship products for children, has completed two eight-figure RMB rounds over the past year. Its angel round was led by Delian Capital, with participation from Dino Fund and Ruisheng Fund, while its pre-Series A round was led by Implic Capital. Under its Jollybubu brand, it has developed a system that integrates plush toys to make companions more tangible for children. It is expected to use the capital for continued product development and commercialization. —36Kr
- X Square Robot, a Chinese robotics company, has completed a Series B round worth nearly RMB 2 billion (USD 292.8 million). The round was jointly led by Xiaomi and HongShan. Additional investor details were not disclosed. —36Kr
- K2 Lab, an enterprise AI startup founded by former DingTalk executives, has raised an eight-figure RMB sum in an angel round led by TH Capital, with participation from Seas Capital. It will use the proceeds for model R&D, team expansion, and market growth. —36Kr
- Cumen, an offline interest-based community platform, has secured an undisclosed sum from a Hong Kong family fund focused on consumer and lifestyle investments. It organizes in-person activities and is building a community around how people socialize and spend time together offline. It will use the capital to expand brand awareness, deepen its pool of organizers, and accelerate ecosystem and product development. —36Kr
- Link-Touch, a developer of force sensors for robots, has completed a Series C+ round worth more than RMB 100 million (USD 14.6 million). The round drew joint investment from Puquan Capital, Agibot, Galbot, OPT Machine Vision, Galaxy Yuanhui Investment, and other backers. It develops force sensors for humanoid robots, general-purpose force sensors, integrated force control systems, and hybrid robotic workstations, built on technologies spanning elastomer design, embedded hardware, structural decoupling algorithms, and six-axis synchronous calibration. —36Kr
Muun, Injewelme, NeuBird, and others made recent headlines:
- Muun AI, a Singapore-based startup, raised USD 700,000 in a pre-seed round from Wavemaker Impact.
- Injewelme, an AI-driven health tech solutions provider, raised USD 1.2 million in a round led by Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health, a catalytic vehicle of Temasek Trust. The Richardson family office also participated.
- NeuBird AI, an agentic AI startup, raised USD 19.3 million in an oversubscribed round led by Xora Innovation, with participation from Mayfield, StepStone Group, Prosperity7 Ventures, and M12.
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