A Recap On What Happened This Week: Asian Startup News Overview (28th August-September 1st)

This week has witnessed a fruitful interaction between India and New Zealand on account of the Unified Payments Interface, and they are in the phase of leveraging UPI to facilitate trade and tourism. Major other plans are also in the pipeline to expand the UPI services to emerging markets. The ministry-level conversation ended favorably to take the business operations ahead. Looking into the Asian market, the emphasis has been given to Asian technology start-ups as enormous investment has been allocated. Artificial intelligence is trending across the Asian business landscape and will help enterprises bring their best outcome to the world. 

This week, AI21 Labs, a fintech startup based in Israel, received $155 Million, while Qashier, another startup from the same industry, raised $10 million in the primary funding round. 

These are some of the best startups that were fortunate this week. 

Qashier

Qashier, a Singapore-based fintech startup, announced on Aug 30 that it has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round. The funding round was co-led by Delivery Hero Ventures, an independent venture capital fund backed by Delivery Hero, the world's leading local delivery platform, and IFP Securities, according to Qashier.This latest round of funding comes at a time when the fintech sector is experiencing unprecedented growth, emphasising the importance of accessible, user-friendly tools for businesses of all sizes.

As businesses in Southeast Asia shift towards digital payments, Qashier said that with its innovative solutions and commitment to merchant success, the firm is well-positioned to continue leading the way in the rapidly evolving world of digital payments and point-of-sale (POS) solutions.

Apollo.Io

Apollo.io, a business-to-business (B2B) sales and intelligence and engagement platform, announced a $100 million Series D funding round at a valuation of $1.6 billion, making it one of the year's first sales-tech unicorns. This round was led by new investor Bain Capital Ventures, the venture capital arm of the namesake private equity firm, as well as existing investors Sequoia Capital, Tribe Capital, and Nexus Venture Partners. The latest funding brings the company's total funding to close to $250 million.

This investment nearly doubled Apollo.io’s valuation since its last raise, said Tim Zheng, co-founder and CEO. The fresh round comes a year after Apollo.io raised $110 million in its Series C round led by Sequoia Capital in March 2022. Tribe Capital, Nexus, and NewView Capital also joined the Series C round. Apollo.io said it will deploy the fresh proceeds to expand its headcount and to continue building its go-to-market strategy. Founded in 2015, Apollo.io provides sales and marketing teams with easy access to verified contact data for over 270 million B2B contacts, along with tools to engage and convert these contacts in one unified platform.

AI21 Labs

AI21 Labs, an Israeli AI startup, announced on Aug 30 that it had raised $155 million in a Series C funding round led by Alphabet's Google and Nvidia. According to the company, the latest round raised a total of $283 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion.Companies from banks to big tech have increased their investments in artificial intelligence (AI) after ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot developed by Microsoft-backed OpenAI, took the world by storm in late 2022.

"The innovative work by the AI21 Labs team will help enterprises accelerate productivity and efficiency with generative AI-based systems," said Jensen Huang, Nvidia's founder and CEO.

SatSure

SatSure, an India-based satellite Earth observation data and analytics firm, has closed a $15 million Series A round of equity and venture debt. SatSure said in a statement on August 29 that the round was led by Baring Private Equity Partners (BPEP), India, and Promus Ventures, with participation from Omidyar Network India and xto10X.

Along with the lead investors, existing investors Force Ventures, Luckbox Ventures, and IndigoEdge Advisors participated in this round. The completion of this round follows the strategic investments announced earlier in February 2023 by SatSure from top private sector Indian banks.

With this investment, SatSure’s plans of launching a fleet of four high resolution optical and multispectral satellites continues to be on track for the fourth quarter of 2025. The fresh round of financing will also be used by the company to accelerate product innovation and expand its operations across the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions.

Mfast

Wavemaker Partners led the Series A funding round for MFast, a financial services distribution network in Vietnam. The round also included new investors Finnoventure Fund I, managed by Krungsri Finnovate, and Headline Asia, as well as existing investors Do Ventures, JAFCO Asia, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures, according to the company.

Vietnam’s strategic positioning makes it a key player in driving a robust consumption wave for Southeast Asia over the next decade; and MFast will utilize the funds to further expand its operations and unlock the potential of nationwide distribution, with a plan to extend its presence outside the country by 2024. With a substantial portion of its 100 million population entering the middle class (currently 40 percent, expected to rise to 75 percent by 2030), there is immense potential for growth.

"In the midst of a global funding winter, we are grateful for the unwavering support of our existing and new investors in achieving this funding milestone." "Our next big step will be to foster collaboration to design exclusive financial products for each and every customer segment, as well as to prepare for expansion to the Philippines in 2024," said MFast CEO Long Phan in a statement on August 29.