Afternoon News Roundup: Vietnam’s accelerator VIISA picks three startups for batch 7; Ezay raises funding

Meet the three startups selected for VIISA’s new accelerator programme

Vietnam’s startup accelerator VIISA has selected three startups for its 7th batch.

These startups were selected from nearly 100 applications after over 40 interviews. Instead of traditional face-to-face meetings, a large number of the interviews were conducted through conference calls due to the Covid-19 fears.

These three startups are from traveltech, edutech and medtech.

The three-month programme provides startups with investment in cash plus an undisclosed amount of supporting services such as co-working space, Amazon Web Services, HubSpot, Google Cloud, Digital Ocean, Mapbox, Zendesk, etc.

Also read: Meet the VC: Stephanie Strunk of Amadeus Ventures on why women should support women

Startups that graduate will have a chance to get a follow-on funding of up to US$200,000 from VIISA Investment Track when they secure a new round of funding from other investors.

Below is the description of the three startups:

AskVietnamese: It focuses on tourist mapping services. Its mapping platform integrates traditional paper maps with the online map infrastructure to provide authentic experiences for independent travellers.

AskVietnamese maps help tourists navigate around their desired destination by promoting local culture, traditional delicacies and unique experiences.

Medigo: It provides remote healthcare 24×7 for everyone. The team started with a mobile app where users can upload doctor’s prescriptions, search for pharmacies, be advised by pharmacists and have medicine quickly delivered to their doorstep.

Since its launch, Medigo has been serving customers in most areas of Ho Chi Minh City. The team is working on expanding to major cities in Vietnam and providing online consultation with doctors via telemedicine.

Testuru: An online testing platform, it is currently focusing on IELTS test. The test includes all parts of an official IELTS test which are listening, reading, writing and speaking. The test results also come with feedback for test takers to improve and better prepared for the later attempts.

AISing secures US$6.5M to strengthen AI platform used in robots and self-driving cars

Japan-based AISing has announced the closing of a US$6.6 million Series B funding round from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital, according to DealstreetAsia. Sparx Group, Dai-ichi Life Insurance and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Venture Capital also participated in this round.

The capital will be used to further enhance the developmental system of the Algorithm Development Group (ADG) and train human resources to develop and commercialize new edge AI.

The company is known for its AI technology which used in industrial robots and self-driving cars.

Unicorn India Ventures makes the final close of Fund II at US$12M

Mumbai-based early-stage VC fund Unicorn India Ventures has announced the first close of its second fund at US$12 million.

The second equity fund of INR 400 crore (US$53 million) was announced last year. Unicorn India has raised funds from domestic investors comprising of family offices and investors from the first fund.

The Fund expects to reach final close in next 12 months, which is expected to see participation from large institutional investors.

With the first close, Unicorn India has also announced its first investment in a Trivandrum -based startup SaScan Meditech.

The fund will exclusively focus on seed and Series A stage enterprise startups, including SaaS, fintech, health tech, robotics, gaming, and digital content sectors.

Also Read: For the startup ecosystem, profitability is a gender equality issue

Indonesia’s VC East Ventures seeks US$609K for COVID-19 detection, cure

Venture capital firm East Ventures is targeting to raise a total of US$609,000 to produce 100,000 coronavirus test kits and finance a vaccine research project in Indonesia, says a Dealstreet Asia report.

East Ventures will be working with its portfolio company Nusantics on the project. Nusantics is a genomics tech company which recently raised an undisclosed amount of seed capital from the seed company. 

The money will be raised through a crowdfunding donation campaign that will begin on March 30, 2020. Anyone can contribute to the campaign by accessing Indonesiapastibisa.com to donate money, equipment, or skill.

Ezay raises US$200K for e-commerce platform

Ezay, a Yangon-based e-commerce platform for rural retails outlets, has raised US$200,000 in funding from Japanese impact investor Seiji Kurokoshi, according to a statement.

The capital will be used to continue the rapid expansion of its retail and wholesale network within the region. 

Ezay connects rural mom ‘n’ pop retailers to wholesalers via its platform and provides same day delivery (more than 90 per cent of these shopkeepers are women).

Previously they would have to leave the shop to travel to town or convince their spouse to do the same, but with Ezay they receive deliveries to their store and get a wider selection and better prices of products.

Ezay currently has over 1,600 retailers.

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Image Credit: Ezay

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