gojek co-founder, AC Ventures, others invest in m.Paani [Economic Times]
Local retailer digitisation platform m.Paani has raised US$5.5 million in Series A funding, led by a host of investors including AC Ventures, Kevin Aluwi, the co-founder of gojek, Henkel, Candy Ventures, Ryu Suliawan, head of Merchants at gojek, and Suvir Varma, Board Member at Bain & Company.
Existing backers Chiratae Ventures (formerly IDG Ventures) and Blume Ventures also participated in the funding round, which will be used for product development, accelerated growth and geographic expansion.
Started five years ago, the Mumbai-based digitisation platform is a marketing and data analytics startup that enables local retailers to go online, digitise their consumer relationships, access business data and insights, and manage their business operations more effectively.
Indonesia-based multi finance startup Akulaku is eyeing offshore financing [KrAsia]
Indonesia-based online multifinance company Akulaku said that it wants to raise funding through an offshore loans scheme, Daily Social reported.
The new loan will be used to help the company reach its disbursement target of IDR 6 trillion (US$428.7 million) next year. Akulaku’s financial director Efrinal Sinaga said that this is the first time the company has sought offshore financing. The investors will likely come from Hong Kong although the company declined to reveal more details.
Sinaga said that this type of funding has a similar concept to conventional bank loans with tenures and interest fees, although offshore financing offers more competitive pricing than securing bank loans.
HK fintech unicorn WeLab secures US$156m in Series C round [DealStreetAsia]
Hong Kong-based fintech unicorn WeLab has secured US$156 million in a Series C round of financing, months after the company was granted with a virtual banking license by the central bank in the city this April.
The Series C round was backed by investors including Alibaba Hong Kong Entrepreneurs Fund, a not-for-profit initiative launched by Alibaba Group to back young entrepreneurs, and CCB International, an investment services company owned by China Construction Bank (CCB), according to a company statement on Thursday.
The investment is the largest transaction so far in the fintech field in Greater China, and the fourth among fintech investments in Asia in 2019, according to PitchBook.
Gig workforce platform Awign Enterprises raises Series A round of US$4M [press release]
Bengaluru-based Awign Enterprises, an online platform which fulfils on-field enterprise functions through gig workforce, has raised US$4 million Series A funding round led by Work10M, Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Eagle10 and existing investors Unitus Ventures, for product and business expansion.
Gurpreet Singh, Co-founder, Awign shares: “Majority of businesses in India, whether traditional or new age, continue to be offline driven, requiring high-touch human intervention at most stages of the value chain. Our platform with a unique offering of delivering ‘work’ and not ‘workforce’ has helped us build expertise and win the favour of marquee customers across FMCG, CPG, Retail, BFSI, Telecom, Ecommerce and Mobility sectors.”
Founded in 2016 by IIT Alumni Annanya Sarthak, Gurpreet Singh and Praveen Sah, Awign plans to utilise this investment to strengthen the workforce facing app and the enterprise-facing platform.
Eunse Lee joins Techstars Korea Accelerator as its Managing Director [press release]
Techstars Korea Accelerator has announced the appointment of Eunse Lee as its Managing Director.
Lee spent nearly three years in Los Angeles as a partner at ELEVEN:ZULU Capital, and later returned to Korea to serve as managing director of BEYOND STARTUP, a startup incubator in Seoul.
He accepted the role of managing director of Techstars inaugural Korea programme as he shares a similar mission of helping entrepreneurs succeed.
Lee has spent the majority of his career growing successful businesses (including EICG, a boutique strategy and consultancy agency) and investing in companies making him a great fit to help support the Korean startup ecosystem.
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