Led · Seed · Jun 2021

Forkast.News is a digital multimedia platform focused on coverage of blockchain and emerging technology at the intersection of business, economy, and finance. The site produces video-led digital storytelling and partners with organizations such as the OECD, World Economic Forum, IBM, and EY. Forkast was founded in 2018 by Angie Lau, a former Bloomberg anchor who serves as CEO and editor-in-chief, and Sarah Chang, a former McKinsey & Company consultant and startup veteran. The company intends to deepen engagement with a global audience through enhanced video storytelling, expanded team hiring, and investment in innovative content-creation technologies. Financially, Forkast raised $1.7M in a seed funding round to support those plans. The raise underscores early investor interest in its niche blockchain-focused journalism and multimedia efforts.

Led · Equity · Oct 2020

Transwap is a cross-border payments fintech and Smart-Space company licensed in Singapore, Hong Kong and Indonesia. Its suite of payment technologies enables SME customers to seamlessly manage and execute payments across more than 180 countries with minimal costs and complexity. The company has begun operations in Malaysia and set up an innovation lab at the University of Edinburgh for product development. Recently it received a Platinum Award in the Payment Tech category at the IFTA FinTech Achievement Awards. Transwap received a capital injection from AMTD which accompanies business support and access to AMTD’s digital platform and SpiderNet ecosystem. Management says the funding will help accelerate SME digital transformation and pursue new markets including the Greater Bay Area.

Led · Series A · Nov 2018

AwanTunai is an Indonesian fintech focused on closing the inventory purchase financing gap for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Its AwanToko platform lets warung owners check stock and prices at hundreds of wholesalers and place online orders. Through AwanTempo, MSMEs can access funding of up to IDR 500 million for inventory purchases. The company aims to address an estimated USD 50 billion inventory financing gap in Indonesia. AwanTunai secured a IDR 300 billion debt facility from HSBC to expand these services and help small retailers operate more efficiently and profitably. The HSBC facility is provided under HSBC’s USD 1 billion ASEAN Growth Fund, which targets companies leveraging digital platforms across Southeast Asia. AwanTunai is a Jakarta-based fintech that offers a point-of-sale financing solution to digitise Indonesia’s vast cash economy. Its core product provides POS financing aimed at bringing more transactions onto digital rails. The company has closed a Series B round at $27.5 million. The round was led by global banking groups and sovereign investors, the company confirmed to DealStreetAsia. The article does not disclose revenue, user metrics, or prior funding details. Additional operational or financial specifics were not provided in the coverage. AwanTunai is a Jakarta-based fintech startup. The company has raised about $11.2 million in a fresh funding round. The round was backed by existing investor Insignia Ventures Partners. This information was disclosed in regulatory filings accessed by DealStreetAsia – DATA VANTAGE. The articles do not provide details on the company's core product, future plans, operating metrics, valuation, or the funding instrument. AwanTunai was founded in 2017 to digitize Indonesia's offline FMCG and food supply chain and expand financing access for micro-merchants. Its core products include inventory ordering, digital payments, and AwanTempo, an inventory purchase financing program to help merchants manage cash flow. The company leverages merchant transaction data recorded on its app to originate low-interest financing to underserved and unbanked merchants. It announced a USD 20 million debt facility from Accial Capital to finance loans to suppliers and micro-merchants and to grow AwanTempo. AwanTunai targets Indonesia's roughly 60 million micro-merchants, addressing the lack of transaction records that limit credit access. The startup previously raised a USD 4.3 million Series A in 2018 led by Insignia Venture Partners and AMTD Group. AwanTunai is an Indonesian fintech startup. The company announced the close of a $4.3 million Series A funding round. The round was led by Insignia Venture Partners and AMTD Group. The article does not list other participating investors. No product, revenue, user metrics, valuation, or use-of-proceeds details were disclosed in the article. The reporting provides limited information beyond the fundraise.

Participated · Series C · Aug 2017

Appier’s core product is CrossX, a cross-platform advertising engine that handles retargeting and app-install campaigns while using deep learning to discover new audiences. Around that product the company has built additional services to source and utilize customer data in anonymized ways, and has expanded functionality through acquisitions of QGraph and Emotion Intelligence (Emin). Appier works with roughly 1,000 customers, including Carrefour, Audi, and Estée Lauder, and is live in 12 countries with offices in Japan and Singapore. The startup says it has been growing since its Series C and that the latest round is an upround, though it is not disclosing a valuation. Leadership includes CEO Chih-Han Yu, who co-founded the company with Winnie Lee (COO) and Joe Su (CTO). The company plans to use the new funding to expand further across the region. Appier, founded in 2012 and based in Taiwan, builds AI products that help companies make marketing decisions and forecast customer behavior. Its two main products are the CrossX Programmatic Platform for applying AI to digital marketing campaigns and Aixon, a data intelligence platform for customer insight and prediction. The company leverages a strong cross-screen advertising data graph as the foundation for its predictive models. Appier serves consumer brands, e-commerce companies with substantial user data, and mobile-commerce and game developers focused on engagement. CEO Chih-Han Yu says the new funding will be used to grow engineering and R&D teams outside Taiwan, including Singapore, and to deepen the company’s reach across Asia before expanding to other regions. Appier has raised $82 million in total funding to date. Appier is a Taipei-based artificial intelligence company led by co-founder and CEO Chih-han Yu. It provides Aixon, an AI platform to collect and analyze user data to generate insights that inform marketing business decisions. The company has launched pilot deployments of Aixon in Taiwan, Japan and Singapore and currently serves more than 500 global brands and agencies. Appier operates from offices in eleven markets across Asia, including Taipei, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Sydney, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, Hong Kong, Mumbai, New Delhi, Jakarta and Seoul. The company will use the funding for AI-powered product research and development, continued hiring and market expansion in Asia. Appier has raised a total of $49.5M to date, with the Series B now totaling $42.5M after the additional $19.5M. Appier develops a cross-screen targeted marketing platform that uses artificial intelligence to match the right recipients with ads across devices including wearables, smartphones, and tablets. The company is based in Taipei and maintains offices in Singapore and San Francisco. Clients include Heineken, IKEA, Lancome, and game developers, demonstrating early commercial traction. Appier previously raised $1 million in seed funding and has now closed a $6 million Series A from Sequoia Capital. Founder Chih-Han Yu said the Series A will fund product development, further research for the integrated cross-screen targeting platform, and expansion of international sales offices. The company is focused on expanding in Asia and claims to be the first cross-screen marketing solution in the region; Sequoia said this is its first investment in Taiwan.