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In life, there are many existential topics to debate about. Some questions that have stumped people for centuries include: Do aliens exist? Is there an afterlife? Are dogs better than cats? Should you eat that last chocolate chip cookie? And, last but not least, is coffee better than tea?
Personally, I’m more of a tea guy, but coffee has just scored a point. You’ll find out how in today’s story, brought to you exclusively by my colleague Deepti.
Today we look at:
- Flash Coffee hitting the first close of its series B funding round
- Line Bank launching a new financial product in Indonesia
- Other newsy highlights such as 3AC’s founders going off-grid and Freshippo lowering its valuation by US$4 billion.
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In a flash
Image credit: Timmy Loen
A few months ago, my colleagues and I were discussing Flash Coffee. Some of us liked its products and others not so much. Still, Flash Coffee seems to be doing well for itself and recently raised US$32.8 million in the first close of its series B round.
- Formerly from Foodpanda: Flash Coffee was founded in 2020 by ex-Foodpanda chief marketing officer David Brunier and former Bain & Company executive Sebastian Hannecker. It currently has outlets in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan.
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Financials for Flash: The year that it was founded, Flash Coffee recorded a loss of US$2.2 million while posting a revenue of nearly US$247,000. Despite this, it opened a host of new outlets, launching 90 new locations from early 2021 to August that year. By the end of this year, it’s targeting to open an additional 350 new stores across Asia.
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Fabulous funding: This latest raise comes after the firm scored US$15 million in a series A round in April 2021. At the time, that brought its total funds raised to US$20 million.
Read more: Exclusive: Rocket Internet-backed Flash Coffee bags $33m in first series B tranche
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