Hong Kong Startup News Roundup - 15 June 2021

Razer partners with Hong Kong startup to build self-driving ships to clean marine waste

Razer, a global gaming and lifestyle brand, has announced a partnership with a Hong Kong-based startup that focused on marine plastics waste, Clearbot.

Under the tie-up, Razer’s engineers and designers will help build a scalable and mass marketable prototype. The company will also provide US$50,000 in grant money and marketing support, which will be used to build and market the product. Founded by students from The University of Hong Kong, Clearbot is a startup that develops self-driving ships that can be deployed in certain areas of the ocean to automatically clean waste. Since 2019, it has build several prototypes and conducted public demonstrations to showcase its product.

Two Fintech Deals Add to Startup Funding Rush in Pakistan

A flood of overseas capital into Pakistan’s fintech startups that began during the coronavirus pandemic is continuing unabated, with two new fundraising deals announced on Monday.

Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari Securities Pvt.’s fintech trading app KTrade as well as former Morgan Stanley fund manager Omair Ansari’s early wage access platform have raised a total of $6.6 million, adding to the $19.3 million funding for the country’s startups in the first quarter of 2021.

Of that, nearly $15 million came from foreign investors, which poured a record $48 million into the sector last year, according to an April tweet by Invest2Innovate that support startups. The decrease in global air travel during Covid-19 has been an unexpected boon for startups in the South Asian nation, which has had travel advisories issued against it by many nations.

Corporate services “superapp” Osome lands $16M Series A

Osome, a startup that combines multiple corporate services for SMEs into one “superapp,” has raised a $16 million Series A. The round included returning investors Target Global, AltaIR Capital and Phystech Ventures, and new backers S16VC and venture capitalist Peng T. Ong, who joined as an angel investor.

The Singapore-based startup’s last funding round was $3 million announced in November. Its Series A brings Osome’s total funding since it was founded in 2017 to $24.5 million. It now claims to be used by 6,000 companies in Singapore, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong, giving it $9.5 million in annual recurring revenue and 100% year-over-year revenue growth.

Malaysian startup Naluri raises US$5mil in Series A round

NALURI Hidup Sdn Bhd, a Malaysia-headquartered digital health service provider, today announced the closing of its new, US$5 million (RM20.6 million) funding round. DNA has learnt from a party familiar with the deal that the valuation is in the US$29 million (RM120 million) range. The round took Naluri nine months to close.

The Series A round is cornerstoned by Singapore’s Integra Partners, who joins returning strategic investors, Duopharma Biotech Bhd and Pathology Asia (via Biomark), and venture capital firm, M Venture Partners, who were part of the preceding round.

KKR to make more bets on Japan's cloud software startups

U.S. private equity giant KKR plans to ramp up investment in Japan's cloud-based software startups, the latest sign that investors believe businesses will continue to adopt digital services to tackle labor shortages.

KKR, whose tech portfolio includes China's ByteDance, Indonesia's Gojek and India's Jio Platforms, recently completed raising a $15 billion Asia fund. In addition to its strategy of buying out noncore businesses from conglomerates, it plans to make about two investments in Japan's "growth stage" startups per year, Tokyo-based partner Eiji Yatagawa said in an interview.