DealStreetAsia

28/08/2024

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) has hired a veteran investment banker as managing director and head of global issuer services to lead its efforts in attracting overseas companies to go public on the city’s bourse, hoping for a rebound after a tepid first half.

Johnson Chui will assume the new role from Sept 2024.

28/08/2024

Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors (Mo Alts) on Wednesday said it has invested Rs 330 crore ($39.3 million) for a minority stake in Lal Sweets, known for Indian sweets such as ‘Mysore pak’ and ‘kaju katli’.

The firm claims to have been bootstrapped and profitable since its inception.

28/08/2024

VerSe Innovation, the parent company of vernacular news aggregator Dailyhunt and Josh, has acquired a majority stake in Valueleaf Group. In another development, Laiqa Wellness has raised about $1.8 million in seed funding from IvyCap Ventures.

Laiqa Wellness has raised about $1.8m.

28/08/2024

Mandala Capital, a food- and agri-focused private equity firm, has fully exited its investment in Edward Food Research and Analysis Centre (EFRAC), one of India’s top food laboratory testing companies.

EFRAC has been acquired by QIMA.

28/08/2024

Guangzhou Yuexiu Capital Holdings Group, a publicly-listed Chinese financial conglomerate with 194.2 billion yuan ($27.2 billion) in total assets, has teamed up with a domestic smart energy firm for the launch of a 1.5-billion-yuan ($210.4 million) fund.

This is the second fund jointly established by Yuexiu Capital and Chint Anneng.

28/08/2024

Kreedo Early Childhood Solutions has raised $4 million in its Series A round; DeepMatrix has secured $1.6 million in pre-Series A funding, while Plutos ONE has raised $2 million in seed funding.

Plutos ONE also saw participation from Genesia Ventures, Auxano Capital, and Raghuvanshi Investments.

28/08/2024

Singapore-based venture capital investor Hatcher+ has partnered with Australia’s farm-to-fork innovation venture fund Mandalay Venture Partners to explore opportunities in the agritech and food industries.

They will back startups developing tech that improves how food is grown, distributed, and consumed.

28/08/2024

SurplusLoop, a Malaysian startup that focuses on surplus asset management, has announced raising $110,000 in pre-seed funding from day-zero investor Antler.

SurplusLoop focuses on matching companies with surplus assets to buyers.

28/08/2024

Initial public offerings have long been a coveted exit route for Southeast Asian unicorns and soonicorns. However, completing a public market listing—and finding success as a listed company—is no walk in the park, as many tech giants from the region have now realised.

Several tech giants have shed up to 90% of their market value from the peak.

28/08/2024

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27/08/2024

Singapore-based mid-market private equity (PE) firm Tower Capital Asia on Tuesday announced an unspecified investment in specialty chemicals distributor WWRC Holding.

The deal is a combination of primary and secondary transactions, per regulatory filings.

27/08/2024

Indonesian grab-and-go coffee unicorn Kopi Kenangan is set to expand its operations in the Philippines and India in the next few months as part of the firm’s ambitious global expansion plans, a top executive said on Tuesday.

The firm plans to open an outlet in Delhi, India, next year.

27/08/2024

Hong Kong’s stock exchange operator has issued new rules to lower the listing threshold for specialist technology companies and special-purpose acquisition companies (S**Cs).

The modifications will apply for a fixed period of three years from September 1, 2024.

27/08/2024

Singapore’s Farquhar VC (FVC) has invested in South Korean edutech startup Catius. In an unrelated development, Singapore-listed fintech firm Silverlake Axis has received a privatisation offer with S$ 0.36 per share cash option.

Catius is the second Korean startup to join FVC's portfolio of high-growth companies.

27/08/2024

ID-sharing platform Equal, founded by Keshav Reddy, a scion of the GVK Group family, has made a strategic investment in India’s account aggregator OneMoney, for an undisclosed amount. Separately, AI platform Convin has raised $6.5 million in a Series A round led by India Quotient.

Convin's Series A round was led by India Quotient.

27/08/2024

Invesko, a Filipino-founded investment platform, has announced raising $1.6 million in its seed funding round backed by regional venture capital firms.

The investors include TNB Aura, 500 Southeast Asia, Kaya Founders, and Foxmont Capital Partners.

27/08/2024

Circular, a Y Combinator-backed subscription service focused on high-end consumer electronics, has raised $3.3 million in a seed extension round led by FEBE Ventures and AirTree Ventures, according to regulatory filings.

The firm closed a $7.6m seed round led by AirTree Ventures last October.

27/08/2024

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus, through its Mauritius-based unit Lavender Rose Investment Ltd, has offloaded its stake in India’s MedPlus Health Services for Rs 836 crores (around $100 million), according to bulk deal data available on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

The shares were worth around $100m.

27/08/2024

Bank of China (BOC), a wholly state-owned commercial bank, has officially set up a fund-of-funds (FOF) to invest up to 30 billion yuan ($4.21 billion) in technological innovations in China’s private market.

Bank of China commands a market cap of $21b as one of the world’s biggest commercial banks.

27/08/2024

Temasek-backed investment firm SeaTown Holdings announced that it had secured over $1.3 billion in commitments in the final close of its latest private credit fund, SeaTown Private Credit Fund II (PCF II).

With this, SeaTown’s private credit strategy now oversees over $2.5 billion in AUM.

27/08/2024

Circular, a Singapore-based tech subscription service provider, has issued fresh shares worth $3.3 million as part of a new seed extension round. Recipients include existing and new investors, such as FEBE Ventures and Tekton Ventures.

Singapore-based Circular has raised new seed extension funding.

22/08/2024

DMI Finance, the NBFC arm of the DMI Group, announced that it has received a Rs 2,798 crore (approximately $334 million) equity investment from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) through its consolidated subsidiary MUFG Bank.

This brings the total investment by MUFG in DMI Finance to around $565m.

22/08/2024

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based investment platform InvestorAi has raised nearly $9.5 million (Rs 80 crore) in its Series A funding round led by Lucky Investment Managers founder Ashish Kacholia.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to scale its operations and develop new investment products.

22/08/2024

Indian IT czar Azim Premji’s investment firm Premji Invest, and Claypond Capital, the family office of Manipal Group’s Ranjan Pai are said to be in talks to acquire a significant minority stake in Akasa Air. In a separate development, jewellery retailer Bluestone, backed by the Indian industrialist Ratan Tata, is said to have closed a Rs 900-crore ($107 million) pre-IPO round.

Deal may value Akasa at over $350m.

22/08/2024

Living Lab Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Sinar Mas Land, has invested in the parent company of proptech startup Lamudi. Meanwhile, Vietnamese electric carmaker VinFast is reportedly delaying the opening of its Thailand dealership.

Investment in DCG marks Living Lab Ventures' entry into Australia.

22/08/2024

Australian alternative asset manager MA Financial is launching an A$1-billion ($675 million) real estate investment vehicle with support from US private equity giant Warburg Pincus, according to an announcement on Thursday.

The vehicle is expected to provide global institutional investors access to Australia’s real estate credit market.

22/08/2024

In its first overseas investment, the Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC), a wholly-owned government investment company, announced on Thursday that it has invested in Spark, a joint venture company between Hong Kong and Thai e-charging tech firms.

Spark marks the wealth fund’s fourth investment in the last three months.

22/08/2024

E2E Networks Limited has raised about $50 million through a preferential issue of equity shares, while Zoff has raised about $4.76 million from JM Financial Private Equity.

Zoff earlier secured funding in Shark Tank India from Boat co-founder & CMO Aman Gupta.

22/08/2024

Indonesian farming-as-a-service (FaaS) startup Beleaf Farms received $3.5 million from venture capital (VC) firm Openspace Ventures and the Norinchukin Innovation Fund, the corporate VC fund of Japan’s Norinchukin Bank, this week.

Indonesian farming-as-a-service (FaaS) startup Beleaf Farms received fresh capital this week.

22/08/2024

While private equity trailblazers like Blackstone and KKR have long been advocating for gender diversity as part of their ESG agenda, Asia’s private fund managers are also beginning to realise the benefits of fostering a workplace where people of all backgrounds can thrive, embracing what is known as ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI).

Gender-balanced funds deliver a net IRR that is 1.7% higher than male- or female-dominated ones