Gojek + Tokopedia = GoTo

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Hello readers,

One of the biggest deals to happen this week was Gojek and Tokopedia’s merger, creating the GoTo Group.

It’s been a long time coming: We first heard about this at the start of the year, shortly after Gojek’s reported merger talks with rival super app Grab seemed to have fallen through.

The formation of this new mega entity could have a huge impact on Southeast Asia’s startup ecosystem. For one, Grab’s recently announced public listing via a special purpose acquisition company has more investors from across the globe looking at the region as a hotbed of investments. This could intensify if the GoTo merger succeeds in accelerating both Gojek and Tokopedia’s plans for Indonesian and regional dominance.

While the long-term effects of the GoTo merger remain to be seen, it’s clear that Southeast Asia’s ecosystem is reaching fever pitch, and it could usher in a golden age of innovation in tech and startups.

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

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BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY

🇨🇳 GenScript Biotech: The Chinese firm bagged US$150 million in series A money from Hillhouse Capital.

🇸🇬 Hummingbird Bioscience: The Singapore-based biotech startup scored a series C funding round worth US$125 million from Affinity Asset Advisors, Ally Bridge Capital, Altrium Capital Management, Amgen Ventures, Droia Ventures, EDBI, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Heritas Capital Management, Mirae Asset Venture Investment, and Morningside Private Investors.

🇮🇳 Lenskart: The Indian omnichannel eyewear retailer got US$95 million of late-stage funding from KKR.

🇮🇩 BukuKas: The Indonesia-based fintech startup raised US$50 million in its series B funding round.

🇮🇱 Salto: The Israeli software-as-a-service startup bagged US$42 million from Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Salesforce Ventures.

Here’s the complete list of this week’s funding chart: 120 deals worth over US$2.1 billion.

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Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia

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