Even as we choose to challenge, there’s still work to be done

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Hello readers,

This week, we marked International Women’s Day by showcasing women from Asia’s startup ecosystem and the work they do via a slew of articles, podcasts, and videos.

The campaign was received positively in general, with many readers praising those we profiled for their accomplishments. But that doesn’t mean the work is done.

Imagine a world in which we wouldn’t need an annual reminder or a special day to celebrate women, a world where female founders aren’t applauded just for being women. Imagine not having to point out that of the top companies that raised funds this week, only one of the five have women in C-suite positions or the founding team.

Look, I’m not saying that this is the fault or responsibility of any one person or group – it’s an institutional issue. But that also means that the entire tech and startup ecosystem needs to band together and choose to challenge what we’ve been told is “normal” if we want this to stop being an issue.

A founder I’d interviewed once told me that “tech is the great democratizer” because it gives those in need access to essential services with relative ease. Wouldn’t it be great if that democratization of opportunity was extended to everyone in the tech industry too?

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.

BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY

🇨🇳 Iluvatar CoreX: This China-based AI startup raised US$185 million in series C money from Cedarlake Capital, Centurium Capital, China Unicom, and Yue Min Investment.

🇮🇱 Aqua Security: The Israeli security startup raised a US$135 million series E round from Acrew Capital, Greenspring Associates, ION Crossover Partners, Insight Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, M12, and TLV Partners.

Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia