Plugo, a Singapore-based startup that provides e-commerce support services to direct-to-consumer brands, received $8.6 million from investors, including Altos Ventures, BonAngels Venture Partners and Access Ventures.
The funding is part of a $9 million Series A round announced in December.
Plugo claims to help D2C brands build customised websites with integrated order management systems, payment gateways and logistics solutions.
The company plans to use the proceeds from its Series A round for future product development and hiring across new divisions as it seeks to expand operations to Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.
Top shareholders in Plugo
Australian game developer iCandy Interactive has fully acquired Singapore-based gaming startup Storms after buying all the remaining shares it did not own from South Korean telco SK Telecom.
Last year, iCandy had acquired a 51% stake in Storms in an A$8 million ($5.7 million) deal. Subsequently, Singtel and Thai telco AIS sold their stakes in the Singapore startup—the companies held a 16.3% interest each—to the Australian company, picking up a stake in iCandy in return.
Singtel and AIS’s stakes were valued at A$2.61 million each, according to iCandy’s stock exchange filings. SK Telecom, too, owned 16.3% of Storms before it exited the investment. Assuming the same price as the previous transactions, the 100% acquisition was a A$15.8 million ($10.78 million) all-stock deal.
Founded in March 2020, Storms develops mobile games but also runs a publishing arm, among other businesses, and has created instant gaming content for Indonesian tech companies such as Bukalapak and Gojek in the past.
Other updates from DATA VANTAGE
Indonesia-based clean energy company Suryanesia received $2 million from Intudo Ventures and angel investors, including Bain executives Satish Shankar, Suvir Varma, Soegeng Wibowo, and Florian Hoppe. The startup had announced the seed financing in December.
Suryanesia founder Rheza Adhihusada worked as a consultant at Bain for four years before launching the startup, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Salary Board, a Singapore-based data as a service startup, received $407k (S$550k) from investors, including an entity owned by Tony Tan Choon Keat (TTCK), Justin Tan, Fermin Diez, and Aaron Tan (the son of TTCK).
Founded by Madu Ionascu, Salary Board helps businesses, governments, and professionals conduct market research and compare labour market indicators such as market pay rates or workforce supply and demand.
Singapore-based CellResearch Corporation, a biotechnology firm specialising in stem cell research aimed at wound treatments, reported a 10% jump in revenue for the financial year ended December 31, 2021.
Inshorts, which operates the eponymous news app Inshorts and location-based social media platform Public in India, reported a 45% surge in revenue for the financial year ended March 31, 2022. Its losses jumped over 71% during the period.
Leap Finance, a fintech platform catering to Indian students pursuing higher education overseas, posted a nearly 95x revenue growth for the year ended March 31, 2022. Its losses ballooned 9.5x during the period.
Robotics startup GreyOrange posted a 102% increase in revenue for the period ended March 31, 2022.