Deals of the week: Thunes doubles share price; ZumVet raises seed round

THESE South-east Asian tech deals made headlines in the past week:

1. Cross-border payments startup Thunes raises US$60m, doubling share price Singapore-based Thunes has secured US$60 million in funding led by global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners, almost doubling its share price to S$3.70. This extension round will value the startup at about S$690.3 million, according to data intelligence platform VentureCap Insights.

The money raised will be used to expand its team and deepen its infrastructure in the countries it is in. CEO Peter De Caluwe noted that while the startup has since built a "critical mass" for its network, the focus now is to establish more contact points it has in each country, for deeper market penetration.

2. Pet telemedicine ZumVet raises seven-figure seed round Pet telehealth startup ZumVet, founded by former Doctor Anywhere CEO Athena Lee, has raised a seven-figure seed round led by Pine Venture Partners, a growth-stage venture capital firm with offices in Singapore and Seoul.

Other investors in ZumVet's funding round include Shopback-backer Aetius Capital and Purpose Venture Capital, founded by ex-banker and private investor Sharon Sim. ZumVet provides teleconsultation, house consultation and e-prescription services. It has about 6,000 active users in Singapore, more than eight times the users six months ago.

3. Singapore fintechs raised S$656m in Q1, up 355% Fintech companies based in Singapore raised about S$656 million in the first quarter of 2021, up 355 per cent from the year before, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group.

The amount raised by fintechs in the first quarter of this year has already amounted to close to half of what was raised the year before. Grab Financial Group's Series A round of more than US$300 million in January drove much of the fund-raising value.

4. Hummingbird Bioscience raises US$125m in Series C round Clinical-stage biotech outfit Hummingbird Bioscience has raised US$125 million in a Series C round led by life science investor Novo Holdings.

Funding from the latest round will be used to advance the clinical development of Hummingbird's lead antibody assets, which target cancer tumours. The startup will also further invest in its proprietary Rational Antibody Discovery (RAD) platform and a pipeline of precision therapeutics.

5. E-commerce aggregator iPrice gets US$1.5m from Woowa Brothers iPrice Group has raised US$1.5 million from South Korean food-delivery app operator Woowa Brothers as it works towards a Series C round.

It will use the additional funding to refine its product and roll out more partnerships.