Hong Kong Startup News Roundup - 7 June 2021

M&A deals to drive increase in exit events in next 2 years for SEA startups: Report

Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem is expected to see a total of 468 exit events between 2020 and 2022, according to a report by Golden Gate Ventures. This comes after a slump in large exit events that began in 2017 – from 153, it steadily went down to 108 in 2020.These exit events refer to when investors have decided to liquidate an investment in a startup either through mergers and acquisitions, secondary share sales, or stock exchange listings, which are expected to drive up such exit events.

SoFi IPO Underscores The Rise Of The Purpose-Built Bank

With Wall Street’s newest FinTech darling, SoFi, trading higher and presumably off to greener pastures following its initial public offering (IPO), investor appetite clearly remains strong for anything that can digitally disrupt the financial services space. Beyond this latest listing, digital banks that cater to — or focus on — certain demographics or services are gaining currency not just on the Street, but on Main Street, too. As noted in this space earlier in the year, SoFi has been expanding, having acquired payments firm Galileo, while also branching out internationally through its purchase of 8 Securities in Hong Kong. The company also bought community bank Golden Pacific for $22.3 million in early March.

 Huawei’s one-stop shop to empower startups in region

Huawei has launched a one-stop shop for startups and developers, which is the first such initiative by the global tech giant in the region. Through this initiative, Huawei aims to empower innovative entrepreneurs in the region to scale and grow by accessing advanced capabilities and enabling technologies.Huawei will kick-start this initiative by hosting a series of workshops, programs, and one-to-one interactions during the Huawei Innovation Week at DIFC Innovation Hub. It aims to enable startups and developers to accelerate their go-to-market and scale by diving deeper into Huawei’s kits, tools, capabilities, and gaining valuable industry knowledge from leading experts.

Electric-van startups race for a 'golden ticket' order

The future of a bevy of commercial electric van startups seeking investor capital through blank-check IPOs rests largely in the hands of a small group of big companies, above all UPS, FedEx, DHL and Amazon. With each carrier having tens of thousands of vehicles in its global fleet, an order from a package delivery giant can launch a startup on the road to manufacturing scale and profitability, and serve as a marketing tool to win orders from other big customers. 

Singapore’s iGlobe Starts $100 Million Fund for Fintech, Biotech

Singapore’s IGlobe Partners closed its latest venture-capital fund, which plans to invest $100 million in startups focusing on synthetic biology, fintech, and technologies for smart cities.

The firm’s fourth fund, IGlobe Platinum Fund III, will back 15 to 20 startups across the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia to fund their growth over the next three years, according to a statement from the company on Thursday.

IGlobe, with a history of more than two decades, is betting on emerging trends in health care and technology to fuel its growth. The new fund, which was oversubscribed, will back startups including cancer diagnostic service C2i Genomics Inc. and personal finance startup NerdWallet Inc. in the U.S. as well as Singapore-based Docquity, a mobile app for doctors, and Tonik, a digital bank in the Philippines.