Chin up, buttercup

Ada Space, Vktr, ZTX, 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} I’ve not been having a very good time recently. Over the span of three weeks or so, I’ve pulled a muscle in my back, sprained my ankle pretty badly, and come down with a bit of a stomach bug. I’m convinced that Mercury must be in retrograde, or something like that. My recent spate of misfortunes shares some parallels with everything startup founders have been going through. The last few years have felt like one thing after another, and the ongoing funding winter is just another struggle on top of the pile they’re grappling with. Still, they’ve stayed resilient and are still moving forward, and some of them even have raised funds despite all the hurdles standing in their way. Others have been able to exit through M&As, which is also a good thing in itself. Here’s hoping that things start looking up for the startup scene (and also for me). You can find all other important investment deals that happened over 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. -- Stefanie  --------------------------------------------------------------- THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY  CN Ada Space is a commercial AI satellite data service company based in China. It has raised US$68.7 million in series C money. Investors in the round were Hongtai Aplus, Taishan Urban Construction Group, Qingdao Haifa State Owned Capital Investment and Operation Group, Orinno Capital, and Jiaxing Jiaxiu Development Investment Holding. ID Vktr is an electric-vehicle firm from Indonesia. It has secured US$16 million in a debt round from Bank Central Asia. SG ZTX, a Web3 startup that aims to empower creators and communities, has bagged US$13 million in a seed round from Jump Crypto. HK Xverse is building a Bitcoin Web3 wallet. Based in Hong Kong, it has netted US$5 million in seed money from 2140 Bitcoin Ecosystem Fund, Alliance Ventures, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Daxos Capital, DeSpread, Franklin Templeton Investments, Gossamer Capital, IOBC Capital, Jump Crypto, Miton C, NGC Ventures, New Layer Capital, Newman Capital, Old Fashion Research, RockawayX, Sfermion, Sora Ventures, Tykhe Block Ventures, and V3ntures. PH AHG Lab, an independent venture builder in the Philippines, [has received]( US$4 million in a pre-series A round from Imagine If Partners, Seaborne Capital, the Rufino Family, and David Leechiu. Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: [34 deals worth over US$182 million](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  M&As IN Classifieds platform OLX India was acquired by automotive marketplace CarTrade for US$64.2 million. ID OLX Indonesia, which also operates an automotive classifieds unit, [was acquired]( by local conglomerate Astra International for an undisclosed sum. IN Trackon, a cargo and logistics provider in India, has been acquired by logistics firm Xpressbees. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed. IN Thoucentric is an Indian management consulting company. It was acquired by IT services provider Xoriant for an undisclosed amount. IN Slash is an India-based firm that provides payment solutions to social ecommerce merchants. It was acquired by VC firm Finix Partners for an undisclosed price.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  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](. ID Ujione provides an online exam platform for schools and other institutions in Indonesia. HK Moongate is a Hong Kong-based Web3 utility platform abstracting NFTs for mass adoption. SG GetSpaces is a Singaporean firm that aims to help businesses manage the risks and inefficiencies associated with traditional property leasing. You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia [over here](.  ---------------------------------------------------------------  KILLER PITCH DECKS  1️⃣ A banking app used this pitch deck to close a US$24.3 million series C round Monzo enables users to spend, save, and manage their money all in one place. With [this pitch deck]( the startup took home US$24.3 million in series C funding from Thrive Capital, Passion Capital, and Orange Digital Ventures. The deck begins with Monzo’s mission statement and goes on to state the problems the company aims to solve. The presentation also gives a glimpse of the machine learning technology that Monzo uses. 2️⃣ The pitch deck that helped a database provider nab US$10 million in series A money ArangoDB is a free and open-source graph database, document store, and search engine in one. In 2019, the US-based firm used [this pitch deck]( to raise US$10 million in its series A round. The presentation starts with some general information on the company’s addressable market and its development over time. In the next slides, we see the startup’s approach model and product positioning as well as its simplicity in comparison to other database platforms. 3️⃣ This pitch deck got a coffee firm a US$6.5 million series A round Sleepy Owl is a Delhi-based direct-to-consumer company in the ready-to-drink coffee space. Founded in 2016 by Ajai Thandi, Arman Sood, and Ashwajeet Singh, the startup offers cold-brew packs, hot-brew bags, ready-to-drink cold-brew bottles, ground coffee, and other merchandise. To secure its series A round, the startup used [this pitch deck]( which shares details of the business and the firm’s expectations for how the global and local coffee market will grow in the future.  --------------------------------------------------------------- TECH IN ASIA'S FOUNDERS MEETUP: INDIA  Navigating Singapore's shifting news horizons: a fireside chat with Tech in Asia's editorial experts Delve into insightful editorial discussions about the latest news and trends in Singapore led by our Tech in Asia duo COO Maria Li and tech editor Collin Furtado. Taking into account the interest of Bangalore-based entrepreneurs in Singapore's intricate startup ecosystem, we have crafted a fireside chat to dive deep into the city-state's evolving news landscape. Mark your calendar for August 25 and join us in the heart of Bangalore at Byg Brewski to connect, learn, and exchange ideas with fellow founders from the Tech in Asia community. Why navigate the startup journey alone when you can collaborate with others and break through barriers together? This event is happening soon, so act fast and secure your entry [here](. Tickets are now on sale at US$12.50 (around 1,029 rupees) each, inclusive of complimentary light bites and free-flowing beer and mocktails. Hurry, tickets are limited. Avoid FOMO and claim your spot today! Special thanks to our official event partners - AWS, CleverTap, Cooley, Sinarmas Land, Singapore Global Network (SGN), Quest Ventures, and Purple Quarter - and our community partners - WeWork, Gobi Partners, ConnectFarmer, Draper Startup House, Spicy Rocket, WeFounderCircle, and Founders Forum Group - for making this meetup possible.  --------------------------------------------------------------- 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 A new AI tool for VCs VCs receive thousands of pitch decks every year, and one of the most laborious tasks for VC associates is sorting through all those decks and filtering the relevant stuff from the irrelevant. DeckMatch is a startup that aims to leverage AI to help with this process - check out [this piece]( to learn more. 2️⃣ Change is the only constant As a leader, one of the biggest challenges you may face is staying true to your company vision in an ever-changing world. How can your business keep its core values and vision in place, while evolving and adapting? In [this Masters of Scale podcast]( filmmaker Ron Howard shares some perspectives on this, drawing from his experiences as an actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and business owner. 3️⃣ Two trends to keep an eye on In the face of current global trends and the political climate, Judah Taub, managing partner at Hetz Ventures, outlines two “reverse trends” he thinks will be of interest: that there will be multiple winners in multiple regions, and that where capital comes from is going to matter a lot more in the future. [Read more]( on Forbes. 4️⃣ These could be fighting words [This Financial Times piece]( has a headline that will probably raise the hackles of most readers of this newsletter: “Venture capital funds are mostly just wasting their time and your money.” It looks at historical data to make the case for why this is so, arguing that stocks have generally outperformed VC funds in the long run. 5️⃣ US-China tech war carries on New US restrictions on investments into China could limit the latter’s access not just to capital, but also to intangible benefits such as expertise and networks. However, it’s not necessarily all doom and gloom for Chinese startups, which have other opportunities elsewhere - [this article]( goes deeper.  --------------------------------------------------------------- [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