10 exciting startups from Singapore that raised funding in 2016

Photo credit: tykhyi / 123RF.

Despite a chill in the air, venture capital investment in Singaporean startups fared well in 2016. Mammoth rounds like Grab’s latest US$750 million fundraise from SoftBank and Didi and Garena’s US$170 million series D from Malaysia’s Khazanah Nasional Berhad dominated headlines, but they were far from alone.

The year saw seasoned companies clear the infamous “series A gap” with series B and even C rounds, and younger businesses take their first steps toward growth. Here are 10, in alphabetical order, that we think are doing promising work.

Active AI

Chatbots were one of the tech world’s favorite buzzwords in 2016. Whether they will revolutionize the way users interact with online services or prove to be a temporary obsession remains to be seen. Active AI is betting on the former – co-founder and CEO Ravi Shankar says that “conversation is the new UX.” The company’s mission is to enable banking through messaging apps like Facebook Messenger.

In November, Active AI raised US$3 million from IDG Ventures India and Kalaari Capital. Its AI-powered bot looks to help you do things like check recent transactions, transfer money to friends, or pay bills. The startup will work primarily through Messenger and Line, using participating banks’ APIs.

Astroscale

Astroscale is a Singaporean-Japanese startup with lofty goals – as lofty as low Earth orbit, in fact. The company builds microsatellites that detect and remove space debris – the human-produced litter that has resulted from all our space-related activities in the past decades. Debris orbits the Earth at speeds of 7.5km per second and poses a danger to spacecraft and astronauts as well as an environmental hazard.

Red dots represent debris. White dots are satellites. Photo credit: Astroscale.

Astroscale raised US$35 million in a series B round in March from investors including venture capital firm Jafco and the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan. The company recently unveiled its detection satellite, called Idea OSG 1, which it plans to launch in early 2017. The “sweeper” satellite, housed within a carrier called Adras 1, is slated for 2018.

It’s also working with Japanese sports-drink maker Pocari Sweat to send a “time capsule” to the Moon, containing messages from people in Asia and, apparently, Pocari Sweat powder in order to make the beverage out of water found on our celestial partner. I told you they had lofty goals.

Carousell

Carousell is a place where people can buy and sell stuff to each other online. It raised US$35 million for its series B round in August. The funding was dispensed by prominent VCs like Rakuten Ventures, Sequoia India, Golden Gate Ventures, and 500 Startups.

The startup said at the time it plans to use the funding for international expansion. In October, Carousell acquired Singaporean used-car marketplace Caarly, indicating possible paths to monetization. Newly appointed CFO Rakesh Malani is expected to help take the company down the money-making path.

Ninja Van

Last-mile logistics provider Ninja Van joined Carousell in the series B stage, having raised US$30 million in April from the Abraaj Group and investors like Monk’s Hill Ventures, B Capital, and Yahoo Japan Capital.

Ninja Van has quickly emerged as one of the most notable last-mile logistics services for ecommerce companies in Singapore. It now operates in five more markets in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. This pits it against several other startups trying to crack the logistics puzzle in the region.

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