HashKey Group Executive President Michel Lee
HashKey Capital closes third fund at US$500M
Focusing on opportunities in emerging markets, the HashKey FinTech Investment Fund III will finance global crypto and blockchain initiatives; These include toolings, infrastructure, and applications that could be mass adopted.
FTX says cyberattacks led to US$415M in losses
The company also said that it had successfully recovered US$5B in liquid assets following its bankruptcy; After its bankruptcy filing in November 2022, The Bahamas regulator seized US$3.5B in FTX assets for safekeeping.
Aria Rajasa, co-founder of Indonesian startup KaryaKarsa, dies at 39
A veteran of the local startup scene, Rajasa helped put up fashion marketplaces GantiBaju and Tees; KaryaKarsa is a subscription platform for content creators backed by Accelerating Asia and Sketchnote Partners.
Creative Gorilla rolls out US$20M fund to back ID’s D2C startups
Gorilla Silverback Fund will consider startups with a clear path to profitability, tested product-market fit, and distribution prowess for potential investment.
Lighthouse Canton hits US$20M Ist close of maiden venture debt fund
It will provide debt capital to technology-enabled companies which are part of the startup ecosystem in SEA; The fund targets raising US$100M for this fund.
Cybersecurity firm Blackpanda closes US$15M Series A
The investors are Primavera Venture, Gaw Capital, and WI Harper; Blackpanda specialises in incident response and digital forensics and claims to provide a holistic and practical cyber resiliency solution.
‘Embedded finance can help legacy banks grow loan book’: FinBox CEO
Rajat Deshpande says embedded finance and digital-only/neo-banking can beautifully co-exist; He also says SEA’s digital lending landscape is far behind developed countries thanks to low banking penetration.
P2P lending firm Komunal raises US$8.5M funding
The investors include East Ventures, Skystar Capital, Sovereign’s Capital, and Gobi; Komunal is a peer-to-peer lending company that bridges Indonesian SMEs to investors.
Malaysian startup Biogenes scores US$5.7M Series A
The investor is Pembangunan Ekuiti; Biogenes designs and supplies biosensors products and services for R&D and commercial use in healthcare, animal breeding, agriculture, and aquaculture.
KKday doubles revenue in 2022 as international travel recovers
The company also shared that its gross merchandise value in 2022 surpassed pre-Covid levels; For 2023, it sees Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan as its top five markets.
SG fintech firm Pilon raises US$5.2M seed funding
The investors are Wavemaker, Octava, and Polaris Kin; Pilon is a cloud-based supply chain financing system; The company will use the money to expand into the Philippines and Cambodia, and later Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.
SEA food delivery spending in 2022 reaches US$16.3B: report
The Momentum Works reports adds that larger markets for food delivery — Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia — recorded a GMV decline as COVID-19 became endemic.
SG businesses remain open to implementing embedded finance, Web3 in 2023
The inaugural 2023 Global Innovation Report says companies believe that ESG investing will be more relevant in the coming years; 53% of financial services firms are actively researching potential opportunities in the metaverse.
JD Indonesia to shutter in-house logistics ops amid exit rumours
This comes after a report said JD plans to exit Indonesia and Thailand in early 2023; JD.com has reportedly been looking for potential investors to buy out its businesses in both countries after recording losses in these markets.
Gojek appoints new head in Vietnam
Sumit Rathor succeeds Phung Duc, who co-founded Gojek Vietnam and served as its CEO since 2020; Rathor joined Gojek in 2019 as regional head of Gojek Indonesia.
Microsoft set to slash 10,000 jobs
The move will affect less than 5% of Microsoft’s total employee base; Microsoft has followed similar measures taken by other global giants such as Facebook, Amazon, and Salesforce, which have collectively shed 36,000 jobs.
Philippine agri-fisheries startup Mayani nets US$1.7M funding
The investors include AgFunder, Atlas Ventures, Accelerating Asia Ventures, and Plug and Play Ventures; Mayani directly sources harvests from a grassroots network of over 139K smallholder farmers across five regions in Luzon.
Sequoia’s new Spark cohort spotlights 12 female founders
Spark Fellowship provides a US$100K equity-free grant and mentorship to female founders; Four out of the 12 founders hail from Southeast Asia, while the remaining are India-based.
SG fintech firm secures initial license for Pakistani digibank HugoBank
HugoBank plans to provide online account opening, fund transfer, bill payments, consumer credit products, and peer-to-peer payment solutions in Pakistan.
Coinbase to halt operations in Japan amid crypto slump
The firm said customers can still withdraw their fiat and crypto holdings until February 16; Afterwards, all remaining holdings on the platform will be converted to Japanese yen.
ZaynFi, a stablecoin yield optimiser on BNB Chain, nets US$600K funding
The investors are Cur8 Capital (UK) and an unnamed global VC fund; ZaynFi is a DeFi protocol that helps users stake stablecoins safely and simply for top-of-the-range returns on the Binance Chain.
How travel apps are stirring up wanderlust among youngsters in Asia
Mobile applications to select travel services of Generation Z in the digital transformation period have increased rapidly, especially in Asia.
How to incorporate sustainability into corporate strategies
With the impact of climate change around the globe, the push for corporate sustainability initiatives has never been greater.
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The post Ecosystem Roundup: HashKey Capital closes US$500M Fund III, Creative Gorilla launches US$20M fund in ID, KaryaKarsa co-founder dies appeared first on e27.
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