Tech investment deals in the Asia-Pacific region are booming at a time when funding rounds are quietening down in the rest of the world. Little surprise, then, that lots of new startup “unicorns” were formed in Asia this year as young firms reached billion-dollar valuations.
Using Tech in Asia’s own data on funding rounds, we’ve compiled a list of the 15 web and tech startups that became billion-dollar babies in 2015.
1. DJI | China
- Total disclosed funding: US$75 million
- Latest stage: series C, US$75 million
- Valuation: US$10 billion
If you thought Xiaomi was a fast-growing hardware startup, you should check out DJI‘s supercharged flight to the top. The Chinese drone maker ascended to unicorn status when it went from a quiet, undisclosed series A in 2013 to a larger round in May this year that valued it at US$10 billion.
Being able to sustain itself on hardware sales, DJI hasn’t taken as much funding as most young (and usually loss-making) startups.
It may not sell tens of millions of devices like Xiaomi, but it shifted 400,000 units of its pricey, top-end drones last year. DJI accounts for 70 percent of the fledgling consumer drone market, according to data from Frost & Sullivan.
2. Ele.me | China
- Total disclosed funding: US$1.175 billion
- Latest stage: series F, worth US$630 million
- Valuation: US$3 billion
Ele.me – which means “Are you hungry?” in Chinese – has filled its belly with nearly US$1.2 billion in cash on its way to the top of China’s food delivery market.
The startup’s blue-and-white electric scooters are a new layer of bustle in China’s cities. Their drivers are hustling amidst the traffic and overtaking e-bikes in rainbow colors from rival foodie startups – yellow for Line0, red for Baidu Takeaway, some other brand in purple, another in green. There are so many that not all will survive China’s O2O gold rush.
Ele.me’s blue uniformed delivery riders. Photo credit: Qdaily
3. Paytm | India
4. Quikr | India
5. Guahao | China
6. Infinidat | Israel
7. Fanli | China
8. China Rapid Finance | China
9. IronSource | Israel
10. APUS | China
11. Ai Wu Ji Wu | China
12. Beibei | China
13. Panshi | China
14. Zomato | India
15. Tujia | China
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