News of a merger, an acquisition, and an exit walked into a bar…

Memic Innovative Surgery, Abogen Biosciences, iBus Networks, and more startups also raised funds this week. [Read from your browser]( FOMO Saturday Hello {NAME} Man, what a week for Southeast Asia. We heard talk of [Gojek and Tokopedia merging]( into a new company called “Goto,” [Fave got acquired by India’s Pine Labs]( and Grab finally [revealed its plans to go public]( in the US via what will be the largest special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) yet. As the news of these prominent deals and more flooded our Slack channel, I couldn’t help but be amused at how they were all seemingly happening one after another, as if these companies were conspiring to test our journalists’ typing speed. Despite the crunch time that followed, there was less groaning and more excited chatter about what might happen next. After all, the amount of news signals one thing: The region’s startup ecosystem is heading towards an era of unprecedented growth - and we’re more than happy to have a front seat at this spectacle. 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.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY 🇮🇱 Memic Innovative Surgery: The Israeli healthtech startup bagged US$96 million from Accelmed, OurCrowd, and Peregrine Ventures in its series D funding round. 🇨🇳 Abogen Biosciences: The China-based biotechnology company got US$92.3 million in series B money from HighLight Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Lyfe Capital, Ming Bioventures, PICC Capital Investment Management Co., SDIC Venture Capital, TF Capital, and Yunfeng Capital. 🇮🇳 iBus Networks: The Indian in-building wireless solutions provider raised US$21 million in strategic investments from Morgan Stanley. 🇸🇬 Tada: The Singapore-headquartered ride-hailing service [raised a US$15 million series B funding round]( from Central and Trive Ventures. 🇰🇷 Standard Energy: The South Korean clean-energy startup scored early-stage funding worth US$9 million from SoftBank Ventures Asia. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [116 deals worth over US$707 million](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&A'S 🇲🇾 Southeast Asian fintech platform Fave [has been acquired by Indian merchant platform Pine Labs]( in a cash and stock deal valued at over US$45 million. 🇸🇬 Finder, a fintech firm headquartered in Australia, [acquired Southeast Asia-focused brand GoBear]( for an undisclosed amount. 🇮🇳 Indian agritech startup Kamatan was acquired by Sanmunnati Financial Intermediation, a specialized agricultural value chain enabler that provides innovative and customized financial and non-financial solutions, for an undisclosed sum. 🇰🇷 South Korea-based sports startup Sportizen was acquired by local communication consulting company Prain Global for an undisclosed amount of money.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ This pitch deck helped a digital workspace startup raise 500 Startups funding Mural is a digital workspace for visual collaboration that enables users to create diagrams, flow charts, and maps alongside teammates, clients, and customers. The US-based firm used [this pitch deck]( to secure series A funding at a 500 Startups Demo Day. The deck introduces Mural’s annual recurring sales and revenue right at the beginning, then highlights some of its prominent clients before stating the visual solution that it developed.  2️⃣ A digital onboarding startup used this pitch deck to bag seed funding Founded in 2016, Idwall uses machine learning and AI to help companies build a digital onboarding process via its face match, background check, and automated optical character recognition offerings. The firm presented [this pitch deck]( at a 500 Startups Demo Day to secure seed funding. The deck shows some of the big clients that have adopted Idwall’s service and the amount of annual recurring revenue that it received, and elaborates on how its system can prevent fraud.  3️⃣ 500 Startups invested in this firm after seeing its pitch deck Shippo is a California-based ecommerce platform that provides retailers with tools to streamline their shipping process. It used [this pitch deck]( to raise its seed round in 2014, which 500 Startups participated in. The deck is simple and concise – fit for a startup that’s raising funds for the first time – and it clearly illustrates key figures that mark Shippo’s growth, including its run rate, profit margin, and number of packages delivered. You can find more [killer pitch decks here]( including those produced by Shopback, Bukalapak, LinkedIn, Coinbase, and Revolut. And if you want to feature your startup's pitch deck, you can [do so here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  EXCLUSIVE LISTICLES  Lists of most active investors in the region [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Japan]( | [Singapore](  List of top-funded startups in Asia [China]( | [India]( | [Indonesia]( | [Japan]( | [Hong Kong]( | [Singapore]( | [Vietnam](  ---------------------------------------------------------------  THOUGHTFUL READS  1️⃣ 30 actionable tips for joining a startup As the saying goes, working in a startup is like building a plane while flying it - and sometimes, the plane’s on fire. If you’re thinking about joining a startup, you might want to read [these tips]( from people who’ve done it before.  2️⃣ What’s “normal” going to be when we go back to normal? Like most people, you’re probably getting over the novelty of taking work meetings in your pajamas over Zoom. As companies start bringing workers back to the office, how will our new day-to-day grind look like? Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Luke Beseda shares his thoughts on the matter in [this blog post](.  3️⃣ Change the way you collaborate Partnerships and joint ventures are crucial to any large company, particularly in areas of emerging technology. But according to new research, companies that restructure a large percentage of partnerships show better financial returns. [This Harvard Business Review piece]( dives into why.  4️⃣ When big bets pay off Initialized Capital co-founder Garry Tan turned a US$300,000 bet on Coinbase into a US$680 million “golden ticket” - and it all started with an email from the startup’s founder. Tan dishes on the details behind the deal in [this article on Forbes](.  5️⃣ The Latin American startup scene Unbeknownst to most people, Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson spent a few years before the turn of the millennium establishing a startup ecosystem in Latin America. The US-based VC recounts the experience in [this blog post](. [ADVERTISE]( | [PREMIUM]( | [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. Was this forwarded to you? You can read this everyday when you sign up [here](. Don't want to receive these emails anymore? [Unsubscribe](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  Tech in Asia’s newsletters are handcrafted daily with love - and sometimes powered by good kopi. Today’s edition was written by Nathaniel Fetalvero. It’s edited by Eileen C. Ang. 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