Hong Kong Startup News Roundup - 27 September 2021

Hong Kong Fintech Startup Airwallex Valued At $4 Billion In Latest Funding Round

Airwallex, a fintech startup headquartered in Hong Kong, has raised a $200 million Series E funding round at a valuation of $4 billion amid a wave of enthusiasm for digitalization in the pandemic era.

The funding round was led by U.S.-based Lone Pine Capital and included previous backers 1835i Ventures (formerly Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s innovation unit), Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global, Salesforce Ventures and Sequoia Capital China. New investors G Squared and Vetamer Capital Management, both based in San Francisco, also joined the round.

Airwallex has now raised a total of $702 million from investors in five funding rounds, according to the startup. The new investment will fund Airwallex’s global expansion and accelerate product development.

Singapore-based logistics startup Ninja Van secures $578M Series E

Carro's Aaron Tan, the 36-year-old co-founder of the online car marketplace founded his first business at age 13. Then ditched junior college for polytechnic, landed a government scholarship for university after that and a stint at Carnegie Mellon University.

In 2015, he rounded up co-founders Aditya Lesmana and Kelvin Chng, who he had met at Carnegie Mellon, and started Carro, an AI-driven platform for buying and selling used cars.

Six years on, the company raised more than S$480 million in June to become one of Singapore’s newly minted unicorns – which in start-up parlance is a business with a valuation of at least S$1 billion.

Thailand’s fintech startup Ascend Money lands $150M at a $1.5B valuation

Ascend Money, the Thailand-based fintech startup behind TrueMoney, an e-wallet service, announced today it has raised a $150 million Series C round at a valuation of $1.5 billion.

The Series C round was led by Charoen Pokphand Group, which is a major shareholder of Ascend Money, with participation from Bow Wave Capital Management and returning backer Ant Group.

Ascend Money will use the proceeds to grow its e-wallet application – TrueMoney Wallet – and expand its digital financial services ranging from digital lending and digital investment to cross border remittances in Southeast Asia.

 
B2B Payments Firm Spenmo Receives Funding for Regional Build-Out

The Singapore-based startup has secured one of the largest Series A funding rounds to date in the country, which will allow it to expand in Southeast Asia. 

Spenmo has announced a $34 million raise in a Series A investment round led by New York-based private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, according to a statement on Wednesday.

The fundraising round, which was oversubscribed by a multiple of five, saw the participation of Lee Fixel’s Addition, Salesforce Ventures, Alpha JWC, Global Founders’ Capital, Broadhaven, Operator Partners and Commerce Ventures, alongside several high-profile angel investors.

Indian health AI startup Endimension snaps up seed funding to develop new radiology solutions

Endimension, a health AI startup from India, has raised 23 million rupees (over $300,000) in seed funding from one of the country's largest angel investors, Inflection Point Ventures.

The startup was incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2018. It develops AI algorithms to automatically detect abnormalities and diseases from medical scans. Its AI platform called ENDIM-AI-CXR is a clinical support tool that spots COVID-19 patterns from chest radiographs, reducing instances of misdiagnoses and increasing radiologists' efficiency.