A lot of funding went to edtech startups this week

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Hello readers,

As someone who never went to university, I often find myself weighing the pros and cons of getting a degree now.

On one hand, my parents would be really happy to see their eldest child be considered “educated” in their world. On the other hand, I’m just not at my best in a classroom setting – I’m sure that my lecturers from my school days can attest to that. Plus, there are just so many modules to take, some of which might be irrelevant to my career.

So reading about education tech startups like Unacademy, which bagged US$92.3 million in a series C funding round this week, intrigues me because it’s becoming more likely that I can take a bunch of certificate courses, where I actually learn applicable and practical knowledge. With these learning platforms leading the charge this week, scoring a total of US$282.4 million in funding, it appears that I have a lot of options to choose from.

What do you think? Should I just take up some relevant short courses or is that university degree still important?

Anyway, for all the other important investment deals that happened in the last few days, check out our weekly funding news wrap-up.

Let’s dive into the biggest deals and M&As that recently took place.

The biggest deals by country

🇸🇬 PropertyGuru: The Singapore-based online property portal raised US$220 million this week in a series E round led by KKR and TPG Capital. It’s also worth mentioning that Biofourmis raised US$100 million from SoftBank Vision Fund and other investors.

🇰🇷 Viva Republica: This Korean fintech startup provides peer-to-peer money transfer services through a mobile app called Toss. It raised US$173 million from Altos Ventures, Aspex Management, Goodwater Capital, Greyhound Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Sequoia Capital.

🇮🇳 Unacademy: This Indian startup aims to make the best explanations for every educational topic available online. It raised US$150 million from Blume Ventures, Facebook, General Atlantic, Nexus Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and SoftBank in a series E round.

🇯🇵 Tier IV: Based in Japan, the startup is building an open ecosystem of intelligent vehicles with Autoware. Tier IV raised US$92.3 million in a strategic investment round with Sompo Holdings.

M&A

Going deeper

Pitch decks for your reference

Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia