Propseller has secured a $12-million Series A funding led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, M Venture Partners has raised additional capital to double down on its existing portfolio while Singapore-headquartered fintech company Banco (RABC Group) has raised $6.7 million in a Series A funding round.
Propseller raises $12m Series A
Singapore-headquartered proptech startup Propseller on Tuesday announced a $12-million Series A funding led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India, according to an announcement
The round saw participation from existing investors Hustle Fund, Iterative and Rapzo Capital, and new investors Partech, ICCP SBI, Vulpes Ventures and Redbadge Pacific. The round also saw the participation of a list of prominent PropTech founders such as Jani Rautiainen (co-founder, PropertyGuru), Marta Higuera (co- founder, OpenAgent), Steffen Wicker (co-founder and CEO, Homeday) and Tushar Garg (co-founder and CEO, Flyhomes).
The funds will enable Propseller to scale its core business model, expand its line-up of services and explore overseas markets. The 50-people company plans to hire 200 new people across the marketing, operations, product, engineering and sales and real estate functions.
Founded in 2018, Propseller is a tech-powered real estate agency employing in-house salaried agents backed by technology and centralised operations. The model enables Propseller to control every aspect of a real estate transaction and offer consumers the most transparent and reliable way to sell a property for a commission as low as 1% — half the market rate in Singapore.
“We’ve followed the Propseller team for more than two years now and they have demonstrated impressive resilience and growth over the years. We look forward to partnering and supporting them as they continue their exciting journey to transform real estate,” said Carmen Yuen, general partner, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.
In October 2020, Propseller raised $1.2-million seed funding from Hustle Fund, Iterative, XA Network, Rapzo Capital, Stein Jakob (co-founder, Lazada) and Ben Neve (founder, Dot Property). The company claims that in 2021, it observed a 1,000% growth of its revenue year-over-year and reached profitability.
M Venture Partners raises additional capital
M Venture Partners (MVP), an early-stage venture capital fund based in Singapore, has closed a follow-on vehicle to continue to back emerging winners in their portfolio, bringing the total corpus allocated to MVP Fund I companies to $55 million, according to an announcement.
MVP Fund I has been actively investing since its launch at the end of 2019, and has now completed 30 investments across Southeast Asia and India. Among its portfolio companies are Naluri, a multi-disciplinary behavioural health coaching startup; Liquide, an on-demand investment advisory platform for stock investors based in India; and NewCampus, a modern leadership school that delivers management training for hyper-growth companies in Southeast Asia.
MVP Fund I primarily invests in technology-enabled B2B or B2B2C business models at the early stage — pre-seed, seed and pre-Series A — and remains focused on backing seasoned talent with true hustle and vision.
“The MVP team continues to work closely with our portfolio even as they reach later growth stages so the enlarged corpus allows us to continue supporting our most promising founders with both additional capital and value-add support as they scale towards the next inflection point. This means that depending on traction, MVP’s cheque sizes can range from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million dollars,” said Mayank Parekh, founder and CEO of M Venture Partners.
Fintech company Banco raises $6.7m Series A
Singapore-headquartered fintech company Banco (RABC Group) has raised $6.7 million in a Series A funding led by Japan-based leading financial group SBI Group, according to an announcement.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), R3, Savills and KZM & Company, among others, also participated in the round.
With this fundraise, Banco will look towards recruiting talent with technology and business development expertise as well as market expansion within the Southeast Asia region.
Founded in 2018, the Banco platform leverages the digital capabilities of the RABC group’s expertise in MSME lending and close industry partnerships for developing sector-focused and sustainable financial solutions for MSMEs. It has subsidiaries in China and Japan.
“We are excited to lead Banco’s Series-A fundraising together with our strategic partners, SMBC and R3. There would be collaborations among SBI, SMBC, R3 and Banco to offer more inclusive financing solutions and achieve ESG targets for SMEs in Asia,” said Yoshitaka Kitao, CEO, SBI Holdings.
Moving forward, Banco will focus on offering green financing solutions for MSMEs and corporates in optimising cash flow and improving sustainability in their entire value chain.
“In Southeast Asia, MSMEs contribute more than 50% of ASEAN countries’ GDP but still face challenges with securing financing to cover the needs of their business. Moreover, as ASEAN is adapting to climate change, it is increasingly important to ensure that MSMEs are included and incentivised to become greener, and sustainable is critical as the region pivots towards a more sustainable path of development. Technology and new data-driven financial products will play an important role in improving the access to sustainable finance for MSMEs,” said Lincoln Yin, co-founder and CEO, Banco.