A Recap On What Happened This Week: Asian Startup News Overview (27th March- 31st March)

By: Asia Business Outlook Team | Friday, 31 March 2023

March has come to an end and the new financial year is set to kickoff. Accountants can be seen getting busy, the banking world and the stock market has been getting very turbulent with the current state of events and things have come to a standstill, But this hasn’t stopped the spirit of entrepreneurship from enduring and moving forward in the face of adversity.

The pandemic has changed the way we look at how we do business, every business is trying to set its entire infrastructure on the internet. Education, insurance, shopping and many more. This week we see upGrad which is training its subscribers with relevant skills and an upcoming insurance player which is seeking to make big waves in the industry

upGrad

Upgrad, an edtech platform, raised Rs 300 crore through a rights issuance headed by its co-founder and chairwoman Ronnie Screwvala. Screwvala has contributed Rs 212 crore, and Temasek, an established investor, has added Rs 81 crore.

"The business is focusing on organic and in-organic development across multiple verticals of formal education via degree, diploma, and doctorate classes in collaboration with the top institutions in India and around the world." UpGrad is also concentrated on a significant segment of skilling, short-certification classes, bootcamps, and job-linked programmes, as well as the rapidly growing'study abroad' sector. "Completing 22,000 job openings this year is a testament to our strategy and the high degree of interactive deep learning we give our learners and working professionals all over the globe," the business says.

Right-Hand Cybersecurity

Right-Hand Cybersecurity, a Phoenix, Arizona-based supplier of a cybersecurity Human Risk Management platform, has received $5 million in Series A financing.

AZ-VC headed the funding round.

The money will be used to grow the company's activities in the United States and Asia-Pacific, as well as to spend in its platform.

The platform then analyses the gathered employee data to produce real-time engaging and adaptive training, allowing people to master cybersecurity behaviours that keep their organisations and themselves secure online.

Right-Hand is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, with additional offices in Singapore.

Advance

Filipino fintech Advance has successfully secured $16 million in a pre-Series A funding led by Do Ventures out of Vietnam and Lendable, a technology-enabled investment and debt provider to fintechs in emerging markets.

New investors Phoenix Holdings, Kaya Founders, Foxmont Capital, Oyster Ventures, and Crossocean Ventures, as well as existing investors Wavemaker Partners, Next Billion Ventures, Integra Partners, and Accion Venture Lab also participated in the round,

Along with the fresh funding, Advance announced that it has expanded into Vietnam with the acquisition of a counterpart platform there.

With this new funding, Advance will launch more novel financial goods and expand its service offerings to more partners in the Philippines and Vietnam.

Advance has been offering wage advances and other financial services to underserved workers in the Philippines since 2018, where nearly half of the population is unbanked.

Baskit

Baskit, which formally launched in November 2022, has witnessed rapid development, more than doubling in size month after month. The business employs a regional stronghold strategy, concentrating on important cities one at a time, while also forming significant partnerships with brand owners and distributors to accelerate growth plans.

Partner Tiang Lim Foo of Forge Ventures, who headed the pre-seed financing round, stated that Indonesia remained one of the region's most vibrant economies, and Baskit was positioned to change the industry, reviving companies and encouraging development for millions of SMBs.

Baskit, an Indonesia-based technology startup centred on improving traditional supply chains in the nation, has raised $1.5 million in pre-seed financing.

Forge Ventures headed the round, which also included DS/X Ventures, Sketchnote Partners, Prasetia Ventures, and other prominent regional and worldwide angel investors.

Baskit intends to spend in its technology and team of industry professionals in order to service Indonesia's consumer distribution network and form critical alliances with brand principals.

Qoala

Qoala, an Indonesia-based insurtech firm, has concluded a $7.5 million Series B+ funding round headed by responsAbility Investments AG (responsAbility), a European investment firm.

Appworks and established backers Eurazeo and Indogen also participated in the round, according to a statement released by Qoala on Tuesday.

Qoala is an insurance technology (insurtech) firm with the goal of democratising insurance through multichannel presence and novel product development.

The company works in three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, and it provides insurance and takaful protections for vehicles, motorbikes, property, personal accidents, travel, and health through the Qoala app or website.

By collaborating with insurers across its three marketplaces, Qoala's clients have profited from over $30 million in claims to date.