Southeast Asian cross-border e-commerce facilitator SCI Ecommerce on Monday issued additional preferred shares worth $5 million to EDBIthe investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board.
The new shares were valued twice as much as those awarded last year when the company pocketed $65.4 million from an investor group that also included EDBI.
With the latest capital injection, SCI Ecommerce has received $76 million in total paid-up capital and is valued at over $600 million.
Main shareholders of SCI Ecommerce
In another development, the Singaporean entity of Indonesian wealth tech startup Pluang on Monday issued preferred shares to welcome 15 entities as shareholders. These include Mantis, the venture capital fund of music group Chainsmokers which invested $200,000 in Pluang; FalconX Limited ($200,000); and Goldhouse ($100,000).
Announcement of $55 million financing led by a US venture capital firm Accel in January, the fintech firm said it would use proceeds from the round to build technology capabilities and broaden asset classes as it considers international expansion.
Through the prism of gender
While private equity funding for Southeast Asian startups hit record highs in 2021, investments in women-founded businesses also appear to have shown notable improvement, according to our latest report.
Discounting Grab, which pocketed $2.3 billion in equity and debt funding last year before its IPO, the share of funding for startups with at least one female co-founder was 8.9 % last year, compared to 4.7% in 2020.
Meanwhile, startups founded solely by women contributed just 0.6% of total private company funding in 2021. In comparison, companies founded solely by women in the United States received 2% of all capital secured by VC-backed startups last year, according to PitchBook.
While Singapore accounted for the lion’s share of total capital raised and deals closed by companies (co-)founded by women, the number of deals in the Philippines and Vietnam, although lower in terms of funding volume, shows that women entrepreneurs emerge in the region. .
Other DATA Updates ADVANTAGE
Wagely, an Earned Wage Access (EWA) platform based in Jakarta and Dhaka, awarded more shares to the Asian Development Bank worth $350,000. Wagely, which closed an $8.3 million Series A funding round last month, has raised more than $13 million since inception.
Hanoi-based health tech startup Med247 issued new shares on Monday after a $4.5m Series A funding round led by a Singapore-based venture capital firm Altara Ventures. The round was backed by Pavilion Capital, East Ventures, KK Fund and biotech company MiRXES.
Singapore-based digital asset trading platform Zipmex on Monday issued new shares worth a combined $2.4 million in Thai outdoor advertising solutions provider Master Ad, capital firm -venture V Ventures and Chalermchai Mahagitsiri, a general partner of V Ventures. The stock award is part of the company’s Series B cycle.
Financial index and analytics provider Scientific Beta managed to double its revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021. Driven by revenue growth, the company, which was acquired by Singapore Exchange in January 2020, has saw its net profit more than double. during the period.
Singapore-headquartered Quadrant, an online platform that helps users find and share financial data, saw an almost 85% year-over-year revenue increase for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2021. Quadrant, which is 100% owned by the ASX Appen-listed company, also increased its net profit by nearly 13 times.
