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Hello reader,
I’ve turned looking at the weekly list of top-funded startups into a little game.
Which countries are going to be on the list? Will there be Southeast Asia representation? Is there going to be a Japanese or South Korean firm?
India and China are usually guaranteed to make an appearance, given the size and scale of those markets. The rest of the list, however, is pretty fair game – we have companies from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and occasionally some from the Middle East among the biggest deals of the week.
It’s a pretty entertaining guessing game, mostly because I’m not using any real logic to make my guesses. The next time you receive this newsletter, try guessing where the companies mentioned in the excerpt came from. There’s no prize for winning, but it’s fun, and it’s a reflection of just how far and wide our startup ecosystem spans – we’re a really global community.
Image credit: Timmy Loen
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.
The biggest deals by market
🇨🇳 Leekr Technology is a China-based startup focusing on the development of new energy automobiles and autonomous driving. It bagged US$137.8 million in series C money from Chery Holding, CyberNautea, Hangzhou Fuchunwan New City Development Fund, Hefei Baohe Innovation Investment Fund, Hefei Construction Investment Capital, Huaying Investment, and Sealand Innovation.
🇯🇵 Japan’s Sakana AI aims to use nature-inspired ideas like evolution and collective intelligence to automate the development of foundation models. The company has raised US$100 million in a late-stage round from Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, and New Enterprise Associates.
🇮🇳 India-based KreditBee is an instant personal loan platform for young professionals. Its subsidiary KB NFC has raised US$32 million in debt financing from Dzerv, Neo Group, OfBusiness, Oxyzo Financial Services, and Yubi.
🇰🇷 Bitsensing is an imaging radar technology company from South Korea. It raised US$24.5 million in series B money from HL Mando, Industrial Bank of Korea, KDB Bank, Life Asset Management, Samchully Investment, and Woori Financial Capital.
🇮🇩 Indonesia’s Amartha, a peer-to-peer lending platform, has bagged US$17.5 million in fresh funding from global nonprofit Accion.
M&As
Startups that are raising funds
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