The COVID-19 pandemic has not only accelerated digitalisation in Southeast Asia but also triggered a dramatic shift towards healthier life choices.
Partly buoyed by the latter, Indonesia’s health food startup Lemonilo has emerged as a formidable competitor to food manufacturing giants such as Indofood and Wings Corp, particularly in the instant noodle market. Armed with fresh funding of $36 million, the company is now set to expand overseas.
Belgium-based investment firm Sofina joined its cap table with a $35 million investment, with return backer Sequoia Capital India providing the rest.
Top shareholders in Lemonilo
Other Indonesian startups that secured funding recently include renewable energy startup Xurya and edtech firm CoLearn.
Xurya has raised nearly $11.5 million in a Series A round from a group of investors, including East Ventures (Growth Fund) and Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia. The startup has bagged around $15.66 million in funding so far.
Edtech startup CoLearn, meanwhile, secured $10 million last week from TNB Aura, Alpha Wave Incubation, Leo Capital, GSV Ventures and Sequoia Capital India’s Surge. The financing brought its total funding to date to $27 million.
Indonesia in focus
As the region’s second-largest investment destination after Singapore, Indonesia saw deal activities trend above 2020 levels this year. The latest quarterly data, however, suggests a weakness in terms of funding value.
Indonesia recorded $894 million in deal value in Q3, down from $1.5 billion in the previous quarter and $2.6 billion in Q1, as the spread of COVID-19 variants extended travel restrictions across the region.
Overall, Indonesian startups raised $5 billion in the first nine months, higher than $2.6 billion in the same period of last year. The total value, however, included the $2 billion secured by logistics firm J&T Express for its expansion in China.
Recent updates, however, indicate a strong finish to the year for the market. The fourth quarter has seen deals such as GoTo’s $1.3 billion pre-IPO round, Ajaib’s $153 million Series B round and Vidio’s $150 million private equity round, among others.
Other updates from DATA VANTAGE
Singapore-based media intelligence firm Dataxet allotted 20.2 million shares to new investor Ethemba Capital last week. The London-based private equity firm paid $14.8 million for the shares and acquired more shares via secondary transactions. It is now the largest shareholder in Dataxet with a nearly 61% stake.
AsiaVerify, a Singapore-registered company that provides technology to verify company data, raised $1.2 million in a funding round concluded last week. Investors joining the round include Weatherly Ventures, Allectus Capital and New Wheel Capital.
A venture capital fund backed by South Korea’s largest venture capital firm Korea Investment Partners and China’s Chengdu High-tech Financial Holding Group has invested in Bangalore-based reseller platform GlowRoad. Including the latest investment, GlowRoad has raised at least $12 million to date.
Early-stage venture capital firm Cornerstone Venture Partners closed a $500,000 investment in video analytics platform Wootag last week. The Singapore-based startup had last raised funding in 2017.
Sy Phong Bui, the founder of Vietnamese B2B marketplace Telio, transferred over 47,000 ordinary shares in the firm to a subsidiary of venture capital (VC) firm Captii Ventures to settle a two-year legal dispute.
Health tech startup Mesh Bio bagged over $640,000 last week from investors including SEEDS Capital, Elev8.vc, Citrine Capital, investment firm AR Capital founder Leong Wah Kheong, Tael Partners Selvedge Ventures and Grab Financial Group chief Reuben Lai. The capital infusion is part of a $1.8 million seed round announced in March this year.