Insurtech company Uncharted snags US$5.8M Series A investment
Singapore-based insurtech company Uncharted announced today that it has closed a US$5.8 million in Series A funding round with full participation and support from its foundation shareholders.
The funding followed the merger of its Shift Insurtech and Uncharted businesses, according to Nick Macey, Founder and CEO of Uncharted.
The funds, the company noted, will be used to drive its ongoing expansion into key markets across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America, and continue the development of its core insurance platforms as it expands its product, technology, and data analytics capabilities.
Intudo Ventures leads a US$3.25M Series A investment into Indonesia’s Visinema
Indonesia-based entertainment and IP development company Visinema announced today that it has closed a US$3.25 million Series A round of financing led by Intudo Ventures, with existing investor GDP Venture and Ancora Capital participating.
Visinema said it plans to use the funding to build capacity in animation production, enhance talent acquisition, and drive international expansion.
Founded in June 2008 by CEO Angga Dwimas Sasaongki, who is also a film director, producer, and scriptwriter, the entertainment and IP development company focusses on the production and distribution of a wide range of entertainment content for audiences in Indonesia and around the world. Visinema conceptualises, produces, and distributes content across several formats, including film, television, and digital.
Also Read: Uncharted acquires Shift to fulfill goal to become top 5 insurtech providers
Visinema’s core offerings include Visinema Pictures, which develops theatrical releases; and Visinema Content, producing serial content for brands and digital OTT/SVOD platforms such as Netflix, iFlix, and GoPlay.
In addition to its core business, Visinema has developed a studio ecosystem for music, talent recruitment, and scriptwriting for film development from conceptualisation, production, talent development and recruitment, distribution, and monetisation.
Prior to this round, Visinema had raised a US$2 million seed financing from GDP Venture.
People
Fraud detection startup Vesta hires ex-Visa veteran Shabab Muhaddes to lead APAC expansion
Vesta, a payment and fraud detection service provider, has expanded into the Asia Pacific region with a new office in Singapore and the appointment of Shabab Muhaddes as its Asia Pacific (APAC) General Manager.
Vesta seeks to address the many problems of fraud, such as account takeovers, transaction fraud, e-skimming, and brute force attacks driven by professional crime rings.
Ron Hynes, CEO of Vesta, said the appointment of Muhaddes has to do with his more than a decade of experience building relationships across the region, bringing to his role key local and global insights from the financial services, fintech, and payments ecosystems.
Muhaddes was previously Visa’s head of digital partnerships and ventures for APAC. Prior to Visa, he spent eight years with Mastercard in a range of roles focused on building strategic alliances to drive growth in emerging markets and product strategy development.
AI-based user retention platform CleverTap adds Julie Simon as its VP of Marketing for APAC
CleverTap, Singapore’s AI-powered customer lifecycle and user retention platform, today announced the appointment of Julie Simon as Vice President (Marketing) for APAC region.
In this newly-created role, Simon will lead all aspects of marketing for APAC, including go-to-market strategy, digital marketing, partner marketing, and branding and awareness programmes.
Simon’s appointment is part of CleverTap’s aggressive global expansion strategy following the completion of a US$35 million Series C funding round led by Tiger Global Management and Sequoia India. The company is using part of the funds to fuel team growth across Asia, the US, Latin America, and Europe.
Also Read: Success is a moving target: CleverTap Co-founder Anand Jain
Most recently, Simon served as Head of Marketing, APAC for Temenos, and has previously held marketing roles at Quadient and Neopost.
CleverTap helps digital-first brands maximise the value of their mobile apps by personalising customer experiences using real-time behavioural data and predictive modelling.
Business
Funding Societies, SGeBIZ join forces to provide financing solutions for underserved SMEs
Funding Societies, Southeast Asia’s SME digital financing platform, has announced a collaboration with Singapore’s E-Business Pte Ltd (SGeBIZ) to provide quick financing solutions to local SME suppliers and their buyers.
The platform offers a diverse range of loan products, accessible to SME owners via SGeBIZ’s e-procurement management system EzyProcure.
Funding Societies said that it views the partnership as another way to lower the barrier of access to working capital for small businesses. Small businesses on SGeBIZ will now be able to access funds from Funding Societies to improve and match their cash cycles.
SGeBIZ was launched in 2014 by two ex-Republic of Singapore Air Force aviators on a mission to simplify work processes for SMEs through automating data entry and digitising inventory, supply chain, and credit rails.
Its flagship product, EzyProcure, is now a PEPPOL (Pan European Public Procurement On-Line) compliant, and IMDA-approved access point provider supporting the E-Invoicing Initiative implemented nationwide last year.
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