Catherine Shu
Senior Reporter
The Latest from Catherine Shu
ThoughtFull gets $1.1M seed to make mental health support more accessible in Southeast Asia
Depression and anxiety were taking a serious toll on peoples’ well-being even before COVID-19, and the pandemic prompted more interest (and venture capital) in mental health startups. While many
Gogoro launches battery swapping stations in China
Five months after announcing a deal with two of China’s biggest two-wheel vehicle makers, Gogoro officially launched there today, opening 45 battery swapping stations in Hangzhou. The company’s co
Upmesh wants to build a community-driven discovery app for Southeast Asian live commerce
The founders of Upmesh were building a game on top of Twitch’s API when they realized something about another group of livestreamers. Even though selling through Facebook Live has been gaining popul
MindLabs gets $3.5M seed to make mental wellness engaging
Making sure mental wellness is part of your routine can be difficult, especially if you are already busy and stressed. MindLabs wants to make it easier with a combination of on-demand or live video cl
Maritime intelligence platform Greywing raises seed funding from investors like Flexport
Founded in 2019, Singapore-based Greywing was created to help ship operators and other members of the maritime industry make critical decisions. It includes tools for crew change management, predictiv
Tazah gets pre-seed funding to make Pakistan’s agriculture sector more bountiful
The founders of Tazah Technologies, a B2B agriculture marketplace in Pakistan, met while serving leadership roles at Uber subsidiary Careem. Abrar Bajwa and Mohsin Zaka bonded during long working hour
FoundersHK, created to strengthen Hong Kong’s startup ecosystem, holds its first demo day
FoundersHK was created to strengthen Hong Kong’s startup community, which has weathered more than two years of political turmoil, along with the COVID-19 pandemic. Today the nonprofit, which started
Lawpath gets $7.5M AUD to become the Asia Pacific’s LegalZoom
With its subscription-based legal services platform, Lawpath wants to become the Asia Pacific’s LegalZoom (in fact, LegalZoom is one of its investors). Based in Sydney, Australia, Lawpath serves sma
Komunidad, a Philippines-based environmental intelligence platform, lands seed round
The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, with geography that makes it vulnerable to typhoons, floods, volcanos, earthquakes and droughts. While working in IT, Felix Ay
Investible launches $100M AUD fund for early-stage climate tech startups
Investible, the Sydney-based early-stage venture firm known for investments in Canva and other top Australian startups, announced today it is raising a $100 million AUD (about $72.3 million USD) Clima
Netflix acquires its first games studio, “Oxenfree” developer Night School
Night School Studio, the independent game developer known for narrative-driven titles like Oxenfree, announced today it has been acquired by Netflix. This makes it the first games studio the streaming
Indonesian ID and data verification startup Verihubs gets $2.8M led by Insignia Venture Partners
For many financial institutions in Southeast Asia, verifying new customers takes a week or two, said the founders of Verihubs. The startup cuts that time down to as little as five seconds, using AI-ba
Signal, the encrypted messaging app, is currently down for many users (Update: it’s back)
Update 2: Signal is now back up for “99% of users,” according to its Twitter account. Update: In a tweet, Signal said the disruption is due to a hosting outage. Hold tight, folks! Signal i
Oraan raises $3M to increase financial inclusion among Pakistani women
After working as an investment banker in Canada for a decade, Halima Iqbal moved back to Pakistan in 2017 and quickly realized how difficult it is for women to access financial services. “I had a re
Aspire raises $158M Series B to build a full-stack “financial operating system” for Southeast Asian businesses
Aspire, the Singapore-based neobank that wants to become an “end-to-end financial operating system” for Southeast Asian businesses, is moving closer to its aspirations with a $158 million Series B
Insight Partners leads $34M round in Singapore-based fintech Spenmo
Spenmo originated as an expense management platform before realizing that expenses “are just a tiny sliver” of a company’s payables, founder and CEO Mohandass Kalaichelvan told TechCrunch. Finan
Indonesian halal-focused social commerce startup Evermos lands $30M Series B
Evermos is an Indonesian social commerce startup with two goals: to let people earn extra income by opening online stores without spending capital and to help small brands grow into household names. T
Gogoro will go public on Nasdaq after $2.35B SPAC deal
Gogoro is going public. The company, which is best known for its electric Smartscooters and swappable battery infrastructure, announced today it will list on Nasdaq through a merger with Poema Global,
Online events platform Delegate Connect gets $10M AUD led by AirTree
Delegate Connect is the latest virtual/hybrid events platform to land funding. The Melbourne-based startup announced today it has raised $10 million AUD (about $7.3 million USD) in seed funding led by
Chaldal, Bangladesh’s largest grocery delivery platform, raises $10M Series C
Founded in 2013, Bangladesh’s Chaldal was one of the first grocery delivery startups in the world to use the “dark” store model, picking up orders from its own warehouses instead of retail s