The exciting edtech ecosystem

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Hello readers,

We had quite a bit of fun filming the latest episode of Tech in Asia Explains, where we take a deep dive into the edtech scene. This time, we took a more creative approach to making the intro and outro: We decorated the set with books (because education LOL), and even managed to sneak in an academics-related pun or two.

But even without all that good stuff, the topic itself is an exciting one. Though the edtech sector isn’t really that new – top players like Byju’s, Ruangurru, and Zenius have been around since the 2010s – it has seen rapid growth over the past two years. In Southeast Asia alone, edtech adoption increased more than 3x between 2019 and 2020.

And that momentum seems set to continue. This week, the only M&A came from the edtech scene, with India-based Eupheus Learning acquiring local edtech firm ClassKlap for US$19 million. And it’s likely that we’ll see more deals coming from the sector in the weeks to come.

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.

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BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY

🇮🇳 Cars24: The Indian used-car marketplace banked US$450 million from DST Global, Exor Seeds, Falcon Edge Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, SoftBank Vision Fund, and Tencent in its series F funding round.

🇨🇳 Xinchao Media: The China-based adtech firm got US$400 million in strategic investment from JD.com.

🇸🇬 Advance Intelligence Group: The Singapore-based AI firm closed a US$400 million series D funding round from Gaorong Capital, EDBI, Northstar Group, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Vision Plus Capital, and Warburg Pincus.

🇮🇱 Lightricks: The Israeli video-editing app bagged US$130 million in series D funding from Altshuler Shaham, ClalTech, Goldman Sachs, Greycroft Partners, Hanaco Ventures, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services, Insight Partners, Migdal Insurance, and Shavit Capital.

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Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia

List of largest exits in Asia

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