A startup in Asia got $750m in funding this week

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Hello readers,

You know how there are times when your friends or colleagues start talking about a big acquisition that just happened and all you can say is, ”Oh, it did?” 👁👄👁

Don’t worry – we got you! Say goodbye to FOMO because we’re kickstarting our investor-focused weekly newsletter today. The idea is to deliver the most important updates about Asian tech and M&A deals straight into your inbox every Saturday.

So many deals happen every week that they get buried or go uncovered on most news platforms. And that’s a shame because some of them are hugeeeee!

For example, did you know that China-based hospitality startup Gulch raised US$6.9 million in a pre-Series A round this week? Or that Japan-based AI startup Groovenauts got US$6.6 million in an early-stage round?

Want more? Get ready because we’ve lined them up for you. Let’s dive into it!

The biggest deals by country

🇨🇳 Zuoyebang: A Chinese online education app. Raised US$750 million from Fountainvest Partners, Qatar Investment Authority, Sequoia Capital, Tiantu Capital, Tiger Global Mauritius Fund, Visionfund, and Xianghe Capital.

🇲🇾 Boost: A Malaysian mobile payment app. Raised US$70 million from Great Eastern.

🇮🇳 Zetwerk: An Indian business-to-business manufacturing services marketplace. Raised US$21 million from Accel Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Kae Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital.

🇵🇰 Airlift: A Pakistani mobility startup. Raised US$10 million from ACE Capital, First Round Capital, Gobi Partners, Indus Valley Capital, Quiet Capital, RT Ventures, Shorooq Investments, and TrueSight Ventures.

🇯🇵Alpaca: A Japanese AI startup. Raised US$9.3 million from Minkabu, and SBI Holdings.

Other huge funding to know

🇨🇳 KKGuan: A Chinese new generation offline retail brand. Raised US$145 million from BA Capital, CMC Capital Partners, and Ince Capital.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A)

Deep-thinking reads

Pitch decks for your reference

Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia