1. Gojek bags US$300 million more from Telkomsel

TELKOMSEL has invested an additional US$300 million into ride-hailing startup Gojek, with plans to strengthen their existing collaboration.

The Indonesian network-service provider, a subsidiary of Telkom Indonesia and Singtel, invested US$150 million last November into Gojek.

Both parties said in a joint  statement on Monday that the additional investment has the approval and support of Telkomsel's shareholders, including Telkom Indonesia and Singtel group.

2. Two veteran-led startups raise US$76 million to buy e-commerce brands

TWO Singapore-based startups founded by former Fave, Carousell and foodpanda executives on Thursday separately announced a combined US$76 million in seed funding and debt to acquire e-commerce brands.

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Una Brands bagged US$40 million, comprising majority debt-financing from an international debt fund, in a seed round led by Kingsway Capital.

Meanwhile, e-commerce aggregator Rainforest launched with US$36 million to buy and grow Asia-based brands that sell on Amazon.

3. Many cents for FewCents

FEWCENTS, a Singapore-based fintech providing solutions for digital publishers and creators, has raised US$1.6 million in seed funding from venture capital funds M Venture Partners and Hustle Fund.

The round also attracted angel investors such as former DBS chairman Koh Boon Hwee, Kenneth Bishop (former managing director for South-east Asia Facebook), Francesco Alberti (former Asia-Pacific regional sales director at Bloomberg Media Distribution), Prantik Mazumdar (managing director, CXM Group, dentsu International Singapore) and Saurabh Mittal (chairman and founder of Mission Holdings).

4. Big Data startup Bonza clinches US$2m

BIG Data analytics startup Bonza has raised US$2 million in a new pre-Series A funding round led by East Ventures, with participation from Elev8.vc. This comes after its last seed round last year in which East Ventures also injected capital.

The fresh funds will be used to develop and improve its platform offerings to better support enterprises in deploying data and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions through a no-code platform.

5. EDB New Ventures launches S$10m pilot programme

EDB New Ventures, the corporate venture building arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), has launched a S$10 million pilot programme to co-invest with large companies in the city-state, in hopes of spurring new growth areas for these businesses.

The move comes as part of Singapore’s efforts to "help firms innovate and collaborate on a global scale” and remain competitive, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in his Budget speech this year. Over the past three years, over 40 corporate ventures have been successfully incubated in the city-state.

6. Singapore's Acronis doubles valuation to US$2.5 billion

SINGAPORE-BASED Acronis more than doubled its valuation to over US$2.5 billion in a new US$250 million funding round led by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners VII, as it looks to capitalise on its momentum for growth. It was previously valued at over US$1 billion after a US$147 million funding round led by Goldman Sachs in September 2019. 

Chief executive and founder Serguei Beloussov told The Business Times (BT) that an initial public offering is "definitely a possibility" within the next three years. 

7. SCI Ecommerce raises funds to expand in South-east Asia

SCI Ecommerce, the online shopping service provider backed by two of Alibaba's earliest employees, has raised more than S$50 million to expand in South-east Asia ahead of a potential Nasdaq listing.

Asia Partners led the new funding round, which valued the seven-year-old startup at US$235 million, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified. Armed with an aggressive expansion strategy in South-east Asia, the startup is planning to pursue a primary listing in New York as early as the end of this year, with a target market valuation of US$1 billion.