A Recap on What Happened This Week: Asian Startup News Overview (April 16th - April 21st)

Today, Asia has some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and the startup ecosystem is no exception. In recent years, Asia has seen a significant increase in the number of startups, particularly in China, India, Singapore, Indonesia, and South Korea. These startups are pushing forward in a variety of ways, including leveraging newer technologies and gaining access to funding and investments, while many other Asian startups are succeeding by focusing on the needs of their local markets. These startups are able to differentiate themselves and gain traction in their respective industries by identifying and addressing specific pain points within their target audience.

This week we saw a Singapore based startup Volopay received in-principle approval for a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore & also the SoftBank's latest unicorn E- Fishery is in advanced talks for a funding round that would boost its vaulation to $1.2 billion, defying a tumultuous period for tech startups globally.

Here is a list of 5 startups that excelled this week.

Volopay

Volopay, a Singapore-headquartered fintech startup, has received in-principle approval for a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The license will help strengthen the company’s position in the city-state and expand its offerings to Singapore-based firms with regional operations across the Asia Pacific.

It will also enable the firm to offer end-to-end services such as customer onboarding and direct card issuance, said Volopay founding member Rohit Bhageria.

The exec added that the firm aims to make its Singapore unit profitable by end-2023 or mid-2024.

Betterdata

Betterdata, a Singapore-based startup that uses programmable synthetic data to keep real data secure, announced today it has raised $1.55 million. The seed round, which it says was oversubscribed, was led by Investible with participation from Franklin Templeton, Xcel Next, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Bon Auxilium, Tenity, Plug and Play and Entrepreneur First.

The startup was founded in 2021 by Dr. Uzair Javaid, its CEO, and chief technologist Kevin Yee, with the goal of making data sharing faster and more secure as data protection regulations increased around the world. The company is currently in research and development partnerships with two major universities in Singapore and the United States (it can’t publicly disclose who they are) and its clients include Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

Mito Health

Mito Health, a new Singapore-based healthtech startup, has raised about US$1.3 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round led by Forge Ventures. Angel investors including founders and executives from other major startups such as PatSnap, Singlife, Glints, Shopback and Carousell also participated.

The startup aims to help its members to live better and longer. It will use artificial intelligence to develop personalised health plans based on its members’ diagnostic results and wearable data. It seeks to offer its clients preventative care options beyond their vitamins and regular medical checkups including digital coaching in the areas of diet, exercise, sleep and supplements.

U Power

The startup, which aims to focus primarily on battery-swapping technology for electric vehicles, surged as high as $75 before closing at $43.18 after pricing its initial public offering at $6. It capped the best debut among companies to list in the US this year after blowing past the 255% boom seen for shares of Multi Ways Holdings Ltd.

U Power was halted at least 22 times Thursday after listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. The company’s gross proceeds are expected to be about $14.5 million, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, and other offering expenses. WestPark Capital Inc. is the sole book running manager for the offering and Orientiert XYZ Securities Limited is a co-manager.

To be fair, extreme volatility among tiny, new stocks is nothing new for investors. IPOs frequently experience gut-wrenching trading in their opening days and weeks. U Power’s rally came as more than 3.3 million shares were traded.

EFishery

Indonesia’s eFishery is in advanced talks for a funding round that would boost its valuation to $1.2 billion, defying a tumultuous period for tech startups globally.

The agritech startup, backed by investors including SoftBank Group Corp. and Temasek Holdings Pte, is set to score about $100 million in fresh funding, according to people familiar with the matter. The 42XFund, whose backers include Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s artificial intelligence firm G42, is in talks to lead the round, said the people, who asked not to be named as the matter is private.