A Recap On What Happened This Week: Asian Startup News Overview (April 29th - May 5th)

The startup ecosystem in Asia has been growing rapidly in recent years and has become a hotbed for innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment. The region is home to several rapidly growing economies, a large pool of skilled talent, and a growing middle class with increasing purchasing power, making it an attractive destination for startups.

Several Asian countries are leading the way in terms of startup activity and investment. China, Japan, Singapore, and India, for example, have been startup powerhouses, with several of the world's most valuable digital businesses emerging from the country. However, in recent years, the government of this country has tightened regulations on technology companies, causing some uncertainty and caution among investors.With an increasing number of unicorns and considerable investments from both local and global investors, Southeast Asia has emerged as a vital region for startup development. The region offers a huge and fast developing consumer market, making it a desirable location for businesses.

This week, we saw Mercu, a platform for managing and retaining deskless employees, raise $1.6 million in seed funding from investors, while praktis, a startup that handles everything from raw material purchases to order fulfilment for D2C brands and suppliers, announced today that it has raised $20 million in Series A funding. Several other startups as well celebrated their good fortune by raising funds this weekend.

Mercu 

Mercu, a ground-breaking platform for managing and retaining deskless employees, has raised $1.6 million in seed funding from investors including TEN13, 500 Global, Flying Fox Ventures, Archangel Ventures, and XA Network, as well as existing investor Sequoia Capital India.

Mercu currently works with companies such as Guzman Y Gomez in Singapore and Sam Prince Hospitality Group in Australia to manage their deskless workforce, which accounts for 70% of the global workforce.

Despite the fact that the majority of workers are deskless, current enablement solutions are primarily designed for office-based employees.

Mercu enables employers in industries such as retail, logistics, hospitality, and manufacturing to use popular chat apps such as Whatsapp to streamline deskless employee onboarding, development, and engagement.

These chat apps generate 4-5 times the engagement rates of email or mobile app-based content, making them essential for busy, mobile deskless workers. Mercu reduces time-consuming manual processes, boosts productivity, and provides insights to help reduce employee turnover.

Ace Turtle

Ace Turtle, which has a licence to operate Lee, Wrangler, Toys 'R' Us, and Babies 'R' Us in India, has raised USD 34 million (Rs 293 crore) in Series B funding.

The Series B round was led by Vertex Growth, SBI Investment Co. Ltd., Farglory, Lesing Nine, Stride Ventures, Tuscan Ventures, and Trifecta Capital. Existing investors Vertex Southeast Asia and India, as well as InnoVen Capital, also participated in this round.

"The funds will be used to develop technological tools that ensure seamless omnichannel operations, acquire licences for new fashion and lifestyle brands, and recruit talent at all levels to support the company's aggressive growth plans." This will allow us to broaden our brand portfolio and strengthen our market position', said Nitin Chhabra, CEO of Ace Turtle.

In the fiscal year 2022-23, ace turtle doubled its revenue and became EBITDA-positive.

"Ace Turtle's asset-light approach, deep domain expertise in product supply chain, and use of data-driven insights in understanding consumer behaviour and demand present significant opportunities for the integration of cutting-edge omnichannel tech solutions into brand operations, facilitating substantial growth in the foreseeable future," said James Lee, General Partner of Vertex Growth.

The Commerce Co

The Commerce Co, a Singapore-based ecommerce solutions startup, has raised US$10 million from Openspace Ventures and Jungle Ventures, according to VentureCap Insights, which tracks regulatory filings in Singapore.

The Commerce Co currently offers two Shopify app services. One of them is Addition, an Australia Post shipping platform with subscriptions starting at US$14.99 per month.

Meanwhile, Slide Cart offers a free plan that enables users to make store announcements, offer rewards and coupons, as well as cross-sell and upsell items on their ecommerce sites.

Coldspace 

The cold chain industry plays a crucial role in Indonesia due to the country’s tropical climate and scattered geography. Because of these factors, it’s challenging to maintain the quality and safety of perishable goods such as food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals during storage and transportation.

That’s the problem Coldspace tries to solve. Founded in December 2022, the Indonesian startup is building an end-to-end cold chain system. It currently manages 3,000 tons of cold storage capacity and 20 reefer trucks across Greater Jakarta, Surabaya, Malang, Bali, and Medan.

Recently, the firm secured its first external round of funding from a crop of local logistics and agriculture companies, which will help it expand its capacity and area coverage.

Praktis

Small to medium-sized enterprises contribute 60% of Indonesia’s gross domestic product. But companies in the D2C space still struggle to compete against bigger brands. Praktis wants to put them on a more level playing field.

The startup, which handles everything from raw material purchases to order fulfillment for D2C brands and suppliers, announced today it has raised $20 million in Series A funding. The round was led by East Ventures (Growth fund), with participation from Triputra Groiup and SMDV.

Praktis co-founder and chief executive officer Adrian Gilrandy told TechCrunch that even though 60% of Indonesia’s GDP comes from SMEs, many experience difficulties while scaling up their business operations. These include finding reliable suppliers, getting fair pricing, the cost of labor and high exposure to fixed costs.

Through its platform, Praktis’ customers are able to manage this business operations, including raw material purchases, production, fulfillment and logistics. Gilrandy said Praktis also aggregates purchasing and processing for economies of scale. This leaves D2C brands free to focus on other parts of their business, including brand building and marketing.