Southeast Asian startups in entertainment and blockchain sectors have snagged fresh funding from investors to further enhance their product offerings.
Kasagi Labo raises $12 million round
Kasagi Labo, an anime-focused venture studio based in Singapore and Japan, on Thursday announced raising $12 million in a pre-series A round led by Burda Principal Investments, a division of European media and tech conglomerate Hubert Burda Media.
Other investors that backed the round include CMT Digital, SuperScrypt, Hashed, Sfermion, and Gold House Foundation. The fresh investment brings the startup’s total funding to $20 million.
Kasagi Labo invests and acquires Japanese anime content to serve the global market through intellectual property (IP) licensing, distribution, and merchandising. The company said it will use the funding to further invest in anime productions by building, partnering, or acquiring existing anime IPs.
“Partnering with Kasagi Labo reflects our commitment to supporting innovative and transformative businesses. Anime is a fast-growing market globally that is ripe for change. [Kasagi Labo CEO] Kendrick and his team have demonstrated an ability to execute effectively against a business model that we believe has the potential to transform the industry,” said Edwin Mak, principal at Burda Principal Investments, in a statement.
Chainstack raises funding
Chainstack, a blockchain infrastructure provider, has secured $6 million in funding from SBI Ven Capital, Sygnum, Azimut Group, Unicorn Factory Ventures, and Ventech Ventures. The company will use the fresh funding to improve its core offerings, customer usability, and automation.
Headquartered in Singapore, Chainstack links developers to Web3 infrastructure, enabling application development in decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and various other industries. It integrates with over 25 public blockchains, four appchain frameworks, and four consortium protocols, partnering with all major cloud providers.
“As a fund deeply rooted in Web3, we recognize Chainstack’s potential to revolutionize decentralized technology. Chainstack’s infrastructure solutions are poised to drive unprecedented growth and innovation for the industry,” said Unicorn Factory Ventures managing partner Anton Vasilev in a statement.