The fast and the flexible

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Hello readers,

Last night, I watched the legendary cinematic masterpiece, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

(OK, so maybe it’s not so “legendary” or even a “masterpiece” but it’s still a gem of a movie, in my opinion.)

One of the most memorable scenes from the flick was the moment when the reckless, fast-driving protagonist, Sean Boswell, meets his match in the Yakuza-affiliated “Drift King” Takashi, who deftly outmaneuvers Boswell in a race through the winding turns of a multistoried car park.

The rest of the movie plays out just like you’d imagine – training montage, rematch, final race, end credits – but I like the fact that even though it’s a straightforward movie about racing, the film’s overarching lesson is that speed isn’t everything. Sometimes, versatility is what gets you across the finish line.

And that’s something I was reminded of when I saw that GudangAda’s US$100 million series B round was among the biggest deals of the week. Even though it only launched two years ago, the ecommerce startup has almost 500,000 users across Indonesia, and its net merchandise value has already grown to US$6 billion.

Perhaps in an industry as crowded as the fast-moving consumer goods sector, being the swiftest player in the scene matters less than being the flexible and adaptable?

You can find all other important investment deals over the last few days in our weekly funding news wrap-up.

Let’s dive into the biggest deals and M&As that crowned the last week.

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BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY

🇮🇳 Oyo Rooms: The Indian budget-hotel chain startup secured US$660 million in debt funding from unspecified global institutional investors.

🇨🇳 Neiwai: Based in China, the women’s underwear ecommerce brand bagged US$100 million in series D money from Qiming Venture Partners and Vertex Ventures.

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Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia

List of largest exits in Asia

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