A Recap on What Happened This Week: Asian Startup News Overview (May 28th -June 2nd)

June has arrived, and so have the pre-seed fundraising rounds. Over the last few years, startup funding rounds have completely transformed the business landscape. Previously, the available startup fundraising options were limited, but recently, we've seen a surge in startup funding at various stages, which is also responsible for growth and sustainability. Today, Asian countries are coming forward and showcasing their emerging innovations around the world with the help of investors, acquisitions, and major appointments all functioning together to help the business grow for a better future.

This week, many startups participated in fund-raising rounds and received a large number of investments. At first, Pixxel, a Bangalore-based satellite-image startup, received its first major investment in the space sector, while MiniMax, a Chinese startup developing AI solutions similar to Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT, is nearing the end of a more than $250 million fundraising round.

Here is the list of startups that excelled this week.

Pixxel

Alphabet Inc's Google is leading a $36 million funding round for Bangalore-based Pixxel, a satellite-image startup, in the country's first major investment in the space sector since the government's privatization policy was announced in April. 

Accenture PLC is among the investors who have contributed more than $71 million to the startup. Pixxel did not say how much Google had invested or what the valuation was. Pixxel's founder and CEO, Awais Ahmed, predicted that the company would be "the most valuable space tech company in India after this investment."

Ringkas

Ringkas, an Indonesia-based digital mortgage platform, announced a US$3.5 million seed round led by East Ventures and Crestone Venture Capital on Wednesday. Ringkas said in a statement that other investors who participated included 500 Global, Teja Ventures, Orvel Ventures, Hustle Fund, and others. The funds raised in this round will be used to advance and scale the company's platform across multiple cities in Indonesia and the secondary market.

Ringkas Co-Founder IlyaKravtsov stated that following the latest funding round, the company hopes to complete mortgage transactions worth up to $200 million within the next 6-12 months and launch over 100 projects in 34 cities across Indonesia.

WeGoWhere

WeGoWhere, a Thailand-based social networking platform dedicated to improving offline social interactions, has raised $1.2 million in seed funding from 500 Global, a global venture capital investor. WeGoWhere was founded in 2020 by TyLertwichaiworawit and Mint Leung with the goal of revolutionizing how people socialize by facilitating in-person connections over passive online interactions. In a short period of time, this Thailand-based platform has amassed a thriving community of over 300,000 users.

MiniMax

MiniMax, a Chinese startup developing AI solutions similar to Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT, is nearing the end of a more than $250 million fundraising round, valuing the company at around $1.2 billion. The agreement comes amid a global AI buzz sparked by ChatGPT that has spread to China, boosting stock prices in AI firms and prompting a flurry of domestic companies, including Alibaba, Huawei, and Baidu, to announce competing products. Its fundraising shows growing investor interest in what could be China's answer to OpenAI, despite the fact that venture capital investment in China is under pressure due to a shaky economic recovery and U.S. chip export controls.

Xflow

XFlow, an India-based financial services and infrastructure company, announced on Thursday that it had raised a $10.2 million Pre-Series A round. Square Peg led the round, with participation from Moore Strategic Ventures and existing investors Lightspeed and General Catalyst, according to XFlow. The funds raised, according to the statement, will be used to expand the product capabilities to support more currencies and local payment methods, as well as to expand business in India. With cross-border payments being essential to businesses of all sizes, XFlow is expanding its team across key engineering, sales, marketing, and operational roles, as well as considering operational expansion in geographies other than India, while continuing to innovate in the cross-border payments space.