Money train is here for travel sector

Zomato, Not a Hotel, KKday, and more raised funds this week. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Welcome to Tech in Asia's free Saturday VC newsletter! Get full access to our subscribers-only premium content and other insightful analysis on the big and messy topics of Asia’s tech and startup community by [registering here](.  --------------------------------------------------------------- Hello {NAME} People sometimes get mocked for always going to the same few countries for holidays. I don’t get the judgment, though. As long as they do things they find meaningful, it doesn’t matter what destination is on their air ticket. Regardless of how travelers spend their money during trips, one thing is clear: Companies within the hospitality, tourism, and ecommerce industries win. They continue to thrive financially amid the travel boom, with some even closing sizable funding deals this past week. Read on to find out more. You can find all other important investment deals that happened in the last few days in our [weekly funding news wrap-up](. Let’s dive into the biggest deals and M&As that recently took place. -- Winston  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY IN Zomato is a food aggregator and delivery company headquartered in India. It has raised [US$1 billion]( in post-IPO funding through a [qualified institutional placement](. JP Not a Hotel is a Japanese firm that runs a platform for shared ownership of vacation homes. It has secured US$73.5 million in debt financing from Chiba Bank, Hiroshima Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. TW KKday, a travel ecommerce platform from Taiwan, allows users to connect with local tour providers from all over the world. It has [closed a US$70 million series D funding round]( whose participants included Canterbury District Volunteer Centre, Cool Japan Fund, and Darwin Ventures. KR Ably Corp, a South Korean fashion ecommerce platform, has received [US$70 million]( in strategic funding from Alibaba. HK KPay, a financial management platform based in Hong Kong, has raised [US$55 million in a series A funding round]( led by London-based investment firm Apis Partners. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [89 deals worth nearly US$2 billion](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&As IN India-based gaming agency Trinity Gaming has been acquired by esports and gaming company Nodwin Gaming for under US$3 million.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  STARTUPS THAT ARE RAISING FUNDS Fundraising is hard. To make things slightly easier, we’ve compiled this list of fundraising startups for our subscribers. We send fundraising startups directly to investors’ inboxes. There’s no better time to list your startup, and you can do so [here](. TH This Thailand-based firm runs a network of [brick-and-click]( clinics offering a variety of medical assistance solutions. ID This Indonesian company connects brands with micro- and nano-influencers and their communities. SG This Singaporean firm offers an AI agent platform that automates customer journeys for residential real estate on a global level. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  BEHIND THE GLASSWALL Fundraising often involves reaching out to several contacts, many of whom founders might not have dealt with before. To provide some transparency to this process, we created Glasswall, a platform for founders to give feedback and recommendations on investors. Check out the full list [here](. - ✅︎ “Our experience with them has been overwhelmingly positive and they have proven to be more than just investors - they are true partners dedicated to fostering innovation and positive change.” - [Read more]( - ❌ “Never seen a more superficial and distracted group of people like the two to three partners of this firm.” - [Read more]( - ✅︎ “Their process was fairly fast end to end and they brought in a bunch of strategic angels for us that were fairly senior in the vertical we were building in. Low profile guys but definitely one to watch.” - [Read more](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING You can also check out a curated list of trending tech events [over here](. [Tech in Asia Conference returns in 2025]( Khailee Ng, Nick Nash, Dione Song and 80+ speakers inspired thousands in Jakarta last October. We're building on that success for an even more impactful event next year. [Presale tickets are available at 85% off - get yours today](  [Get early access to our events in 2025]( This year, we brought together thousands of brilliant tech minds from across Southeast Asia at our signature events. Ready for even bigger and better things in 2025? [Subscribe now]( to be the first in the know for the region’s hottest tech events!  --------------------------------------------------------------- EXCLUSIVE LISTICLES Lists of most active investors in the region [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Japan]( | [Singapore]( | [Southeast Asia]( List of top-funded startups in Asia [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Israel]( | [Japan]( | [Hong Kong]( | [Singapore]( | [South Korea]( | [Vietnam](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THOUGHTFUL READS  1️⃣ Health shouldn’t be expensive Medication should be as affordable as possible - we’re talking about saving and improving human lives here. In [this Masters of Scale podcast episode]( Cost Plus Drugs CEO Alex Oshmyansky shares his personal entrepreneurship journey and how his firm is dramatically cutting the price for many prescription drugs. 2️⃣ Looking back on 2024 We’re in the final month of the year, which is as good a time as any to do a little reflection. [This article]( takes a look at how 2024 tech trends have influenced our lives. 3️⃣ GenAI 2: Electric Boogaloo AI agents look like the next wave of genAI innovation. In [this blog post]( Tomasz Tunguz, general partner at Theory Ventures, gives a preview of “what happens when algorithms learn to act.” 4️⃣ Gift ideas from Andreessen Horowitz Ever wondered what the folks at VC firms think are cool gifts? Look no further than [this post on the a16z website](. Who knows, you might even get some Christmas present ideas for yourself! 5️⃣ Shake off those performance review blues “Performance review” is a phrase that inspires panic in many of us. But at its core, it’s meant to help employees improve and gain insights that can drive growth. [This Harvard Business Review article]( gives useful tips for motivating people instead of putting them on the defensive during performance reviews.  --------------------------------------------------------------- [ADVERTISE]( | [SUBSCRIBE]( | [HIRE]( | [FIND JOBS]( P.S. Don't miss out on the biggest tech news and analysis. Add newsletter@techinasia.com to your address book, contacts, or safe sender list. Or simply move us into your inbox. Too many emails? Switch to a different frequency or get new content through our [preference center]( or [unsubscribe](. You can also break our hearts and remove yourself from all Tech in Asia emails over [here](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Tech in Asia’s newsletters are handcrafted daily with love - and sometimes powered by good kopi. Today’s edition was written by Winston Zhang. It’s edited by Dhania Putri Sarahtika. 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