Hi everyone. Taro here again.
This week, our team was in Ho Chi Minh City. We were running the latest Alibaba Cloud x KrASIA Global Startup Accelerator Vietnam Demo Day. Work travel has more or less resumed for many in Southeast Asia. Despite predictions of online formats becoming the “new normal,” people are racing to events for real human interactions. At the end of the day, no metaverse can beat the ingrained human need for communicating with other people face to face. The “new normal” is fast becoming a mere mention in the history books.
Open Run
This week, we’re looking at startups that are in the portfolio of 1982 Ventures, which recently announced it had closed a USD 20 million fund.
Location: Singapore
The Antler alumnus builds financial APIs for fintech companies to access real-time user data, perform user verification, and process payments.
Location: The Philippines
Provides a platform that allows SMEs in the Philippines to pay salaries, invoice clients, and receive payments.
Location: Singapore
Another Antler alumnus, Bluesheets automates financial data collation and allows it to be imported into a range of tools, such as Xero.
Location: Vietnam
The Vietnamese startup provides financing services for people who are buying homes. It also allows users to sell real estate equity.
Nothing But Net
Recent Startup Wins
- BintanGO, which provides productivity and monetization tools for creators, raised USD 2.1 million in seed funding.
- Eureka AI announced a new partnership with CKDelta, which will use Eureka’s DS2 platform to expand its business intelligence capabilities.
- Foodpanda rolled out a new micro-donation feature in its app across Malaysia and Singapore, with the aim of donating 200,000 meals by the end of 2022 from the proceeds.
- Indonesian job platform startup KitaLulus announced the completion of a Series A round led by Tiger Global for an undisclosed amount.
Pick & Roll
Interesting Drops From the Week
- HKSTP has opened registrations for its BFSI Accelerator 2022 targeting banking, financial services, and insurance providers. It aims to select fintech and regtech startups that focus on four areas: customer 360, fraud detection, KYC/AML, and risk management.
- Registration for Silverstrand Capital’s Biodiversity Accelerator has opened. The program will select eight startups that are focused on nature-based solutions and technology.
- Sunwah Innovations CEO Jesse Choi spoke with KrASIA about the work it is doing in Vietnam through its innovation centers.
- US VC firm a16z published a report to unpack how startups can navigate down market conditions. [via a16z]
If you are a startup that is raising funds, or have an interesting story or lead for us to feature in this newsletter, please fill out this form.