Here’s what you might have missed in Southeast Asian tech

Lazada CEO Max Bittner. Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

Two weeks ago, the big news coming out of Southeast Asia was that Sea – previously known as Garena – had filed for its IPO on the New York stock exchange. Last week, the company released its IPO prospectus – revealing both increasing revenues and widening losses – and attracting the ire of rival Lazada with its claim to be the region’s leading ecommerce player.

Singapore

Sea reports growing revenues but widening losses in the run-up to its US IPO. The Singapore-based ecommerce company released its full IPO prospectus last week, giving a detailed glimpse into its performance. While Sea saw its revenue more than double between 2014 and 2016, its net loss over the same period was of similar proportions. Moreover, between H1 2016 and H1 2017, Sea’s net loss doubled while revenue grew by just 17 percent. (Tech in Asia)

Lazada CEO trashes Sea’s claims about regional dominance. Another snippet from Sea’s IPO prospectus was its claim that Shopee – Sea’s online consumer-to-consumer marketplace – had the largest ecommerce market share by gross merchandise volume and total orders in “Greater Southeast Asia” during H1 2017. Lazada CEO Max Bittner hit back, arguing that his company led the pack “in ‘actual’ Southeast Asia.” Sea’s figures factored in its second-largest market Taiwan, where Lazada has no presence. (Tech in Asia)

AdAsia co-founder and CEO Kosuke Sogo. Photo credit: AdAsia.

AdAsia closes funding round at US$14.5 million after “series A-plus” boost. The adtech startup received US$2.5 million from investors including Japanese news app developer Gunosy, adding to the US$12 million it raised from JAFCO back in April. AdAsia will use the funding to explore applications for its technology outside of the advertising space. (Tech in Asia)

Urban farmer Packet Greens gets US$1.5 million funding. The startup – which combines hydroponics and automation with vertical farming techniques – raised the money from government-linked Spring Seeds Capital and cleantech-focused VC fund Trirec. Packet Greens currently grows 51 crop types in a 167 square-meter farm. The startup claims it can grow five times the crops in half the time compared to traditional farms, given the same amount of land. (Tech in Asia)

Praise Phuan, head of sales and marketing at Packet Greens (L), and Melvyn Yeo, director at Trirec (R). Photo credit: Trirec.

Grab invests in self-driving startup Drive.ai. The US autonomous car startup raised US$15 million from ride-hailing firm Grab and other investors. It will use the funding to expand internationally, and will open a regional office in Singapore. (TechCrunch)

Grab was also reported to have been among the backers of oBike’s series B round. When the bike-sharing company announced the close of the US$45 million round in August, an unnamed “leading global transportation platform” was mentioned as one of the investors. Both Grab and oBike have declined to comment on the rumors. (TechCrunch)

Thailand

Omise co-founders Don Harinsut (L) and Jun Hasegawa (R). Photo credit: Omise.

Cambodia