No age limit for entrepreneurship

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Hello reader,

In 2020, Tech in Asia interviewed Tan Geok Leng, the founder and CEO of Aida Technologies as part of our partnership with Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority. The AI-powered data analytics startup seems to have done pretty well since then, given that it was acquired this week by Amplify Health.

I remember watching the video and thinking how cool Tan was to build a startup at a time when most of his peers were probably slowing down in their careers or thinking about retirement. It shows that age is no barrier, and if there’s something you want to do, go for it – don’t let anything hold you back.

Having the right mindset can be pretty powerful, and I’m sure that it has made a big difference in the journeys of the companies that topped this week’s funding list.

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.

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The biggest deals by country

🇰🇷 Kakao Entertainment, the entertainment arm of South Korean tech giant Kakao Corp., raised US$964 million in seed money from Singapore-based Pwarp Investment and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

🇮🇳 Fintech firm KreditBee took home US$100 million in fresh series D funds from Advent International. The Indian startup offers a platform for young professionals to obtain instant personal loans.

🇨🇳 Breton, a pure electric heavy truck developer from China, secured US$84.5 million in series C money from Hunan Xiangtan Caixin Industrial Development Equity Investment, Jinhua Brayton Talent Equity Capital Partnership, Tianjin Xingyue Puyu Technology, and Xuying Equity Investment.

🇯🇵 Japanese healthtech startup Kakehashi raised US$60.8 million in a series C round from Aozora Corporate Investment, Axiom Asia, DNX Ventures (Draper Nexus Ventures), Dai-ichi Life Insurance, Globis Capital Partners, Salesforce Ventures, and For Startups Capital.

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M&As

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Killer pitch decks

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Exclusive listicles

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Thoughtful reads