A green shoot in economic uncertainty

Greenko Group, Quantit, Square Yards, 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} Do you feel that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) topics have taken a backseat in recent months? I don’t know about you, but I feel like I haven’t heard much about these things in 2023. I guess it’s not unexpected, given the current economic climate - people are focusing on their bottom lines, and unfortunately, ESG matters have been put on the back burner by many businesses as they work to keep the lights on. In the face of this, I’m pretty glad that this week’s biggest deal is a greentech firm that’s working on clean energy. It’s great that people are still keen on backing companies in this space, and that there are opportunities for firms tackling ESG issues to do good and do well. 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  IN Greenko Group works to replace fossil fuels with integrated decarbonized energy and grid assets, enabling sustainable and affordable energy. Hailing from India, the firm raised US$700 million in a late-stage round from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, and Orix Capital Corporation. JP Quantit, a South Korean fintech firm, offers an AI-powered robo-advisor platform for the investment of traditional assets and cryptocurrency. The company banked US$21 million in series B money from Smilegate Holdings. CN INWTTEC supplies the core material for making OLED display panels. The China-based firm took home US$14.7 million in a strategic investment from Triniti Capital. AE Square Yards is a tech-enabled transaction and aggregator platform for global real estate. Based in the United Arab Emirates, the firm secured US$13.6 million in a bridge round. The investors in the deal were not disclosed. ID Broom is an automotive financing startup from Indonesia. It bagged US$8 million in series A money from Openspace Ventures. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [93 deals worth over US$1.2 billion](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&As  KR ALX Design is a South Korean interior architecture company that creates flexible spaces based on experiences. It was acquired by Leferi, a beauty influencer business group, for an undisclosed sum. JP Sgrum is an application that provides services centered on membership management for sports groups, schools, and classrooms. Based in Japan, it was acquired by Euphoria, the firm behind sports data management platform One Tap Sports, at an undisclosed price. IN Zelto, formerly AdPushup, is an India-based platform that helps publishers increase their ad revenue. The company has been acquired by Japanese adtech firm Geniee. The financial details of the deal are not publicly available.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  STARTUPS THAT ARE RAISING FUNDS Fundraising is hard. To make things slightly easier, we’ve compiled this list of fundraising startups for our subscribers. Do you run a startup that’s raising at the moment or know someone who does? Sign your company up for listing [here](. SG Staffroom is a Singapore-based online marketplace that helps schools hire teachers. ID Agroraya is an Indonesian firm that builds ecosystems to drive sustainable agriculture. BD HealthOS enables pharmacies and related healthcare providers to offer better, more affordable healthcare services and medication to millions of people across frontier markets, starting from Bangladesh. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS 1️⃣ The deck that helped a social gifting app raise US$2.3 million in early-stage funding Giftiicon is an app that makes it more fun to give people presents. In 2021, the startup used [this pitch deck]( to secure early-stage funding. The presentation begins by introducing Giftiicon’s key members, followed immediately by an explainer video on how the service works. The next slides reveal details about the company, including market projections and positioning maps. 2️⃣ An Uber acquiree landed US$1.7 million in seed money with this pitch deck Founded in 2012, Careem offers services such as ride-hailing, restaurant and grocery delivery, online shopping, e-bike booking, and digital payments through a single app in the greater Middle East region. With [this pitch deck]( the Dubai-based firm raised its seed round in 2013. The presentation outlines the company’s business model and margins with a simple chart. The firm also shares its revenue, growth, customer feedback, future plans, and potential exits. In 2020, Careem was acquired by US ride-hailing service Uber for US$3.1 billion. 3️⃣ This deck helped a database software company bag US$10 million SphereEx helps enterprises link data and services, providing enhanced ecosystem-supporting data services. The China-based firm used [this deck]( to raise its pre-series A funding. The presentation starts with a snapshot of the data industry, community, and ecosystem, before going into a thorough explanation about SphereEx’s product and solution. ---------------------------------------------------------------  EVENTS HAPPENING You can also check out a curated list of trending tech events [over here](. - [Tech in Asia’s Product Development Conference 2023]( from May 16 to May 17 Tech in Asia’s Product Development Conference is back! This year’s edition, which will be held in person in Jakarta, will feature over 20 industry leaders, experts, and innovators sharing the latest trends and strategies that can accelerate product development growth. [Register now]( and you can get 50% off. This early bird promo is available for a limited time only, though, so don’t miss out! ---------------------------------------------------------------  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 Where women’s leadership programs go wrong Women’s leadership development programs have exploded over the last few years. They can have a great positive impact in elevating women to more senior roles, driving higher promotion rates, and increasing retention, among other benefits. However, there are also many ways these activities can fall short - [this piece]( from the Harvard Business Review unpacks the issue. 2️⃣ Setting your own goals It can be tempting to use other people around you as a yardstick for milestones in life, but everyone’s going at their own pace. The same applies to the business world too, as Natalie Gordon, the founder of US-based ecommerce firm Babylist, shares in [this podcast](. By creating her own rules and setting her own milestones, she was able to scale and grow in the right way. 3️⃣ Toward having more women in VC It’s a known fact that women investors are twice as likely to back companies with female founders, and three times as likely to back companies with women CEOs. This has the potential to uplift female leaders and entrepreneurship as a whole. However, there’s a noticeable gender disparity among investors. In [this Inc Magazine piece]( experts weigh in on how we can level the playing field. 4️⃣ “Women are the true unicorns” On the topic of women investors: Check out [this feature]( on Pocket Sun, the founder of SoGal Ventures. It’s a women-led firm focused on backing female founders on a quest to meet diverse needs. In this article, Sun speaks candidly about the challenges she faces as a female investor, as well as her own entrepreneurial journey and measures of success. 5️⃣ Where are the LPs? Aiming to raise your next fund as a VC, but not knowing where to look for limited partners?? This [Reddit thread]( highlights some common tools and platforms, and gives some advice on connecting with potential funders.  --------------------------------------------------------------- [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 Stefanie Yeo. It’s edited by Dhania Putri Sarahtika. Copyright © 2023 Tech in Asia, All rights reserved. 63 Robinson Road, Singapore 068894