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It’s a time of year where we look back and reflect on our lives and activities over the past 12 months. Moreover, another pandemic year is a time when we turn our backs on survival and celebrate the victories that have taken place during this time.
2021 is also the year that many Singapore startups did a good job, receiving new funding and earning a highly prized “unicorn” rating. Unicorn is a term used in the world of venture capital to describe a private startup valued at more than US $ 1 billion. They are called unicorns because they are rare and often have great success or market traction, and as such, they have achieved an almost mythical status.
Factors that have driven high valuations in recent years are due to strong funding for private capital markets in the Southeast Asian region, supported by a rise in the middle class and an increase in telephone and data use.
Covid-19 has also given a boost to various sectors of the economy, such as FinTech and e-commerce, with increased demand for technology and digital adoption.
Let’s take a look at the list of nine startups that have reached unicorn status this year.
Ninja Van
The logistics company raised $ 578 million in its latest round of financing with investors including the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.
It was Ninja Van’s largest fundraiser since its inception in 2014, and the company’s valuation has risen to more than $ 1 billion. Launching Logistics will use new funds to build its infrastructure and technology platform.
Founded in 2014, Ninja Van has become a fast-growing technology-enabled logistics company in the region. The startup is reportedly preparing to launch as soon as next year.
It says it sends about two million packages a day across the region, employing more than 61,000 workers and shipping staff.
Carousel
He “merged” with the millionaire club on September 15 this year after raising $ 100 million in his final funding round after taking his $ 1.1 billion valuation. This nine-year-old startup has an electronic marketplace that sells second-hand products, from cars to clothing.
The latest round was led by South Korean private equity firm STIC Investments, and Carousell includes venture capital firms as investors including Golden Gate Ventures and EDBI.
The funds raised will help with its expansion plans. It currently has a presence in eight markets in Southeast Asia.
Carousell Quek CEO and founder of Siu Rui said the pandemic has accelerated it is the adoption of digital services and “an opportunity for the company to redouble its re-trade efforts”.
Carousell is working on the authentication capabilities of higher value products, including luxury goods and cars.
PatSnap
In March of this year, the intelligence platform raised $ 300 million for E-Series funding, earning an estimated $ 1 billion. Heavy sponsors like SoftBank and Tencent Investment helped round out the financing round.
PatSnap is a provider of patent analytics and its brand is short on “patents in a snap”. Founded in 2007, it has more than 800 employees and 10,000 customers. Customers include Spotify Technology and Xiaomi Corp.
The startup spent more than 10 years collecting data from patents in 140 countries and using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide information to customers. Users type keywords and phrases like “FinTech” on the platform to get information about space companies, technology, and inventors.
Customers charge a subscription fee of $ 5,000 / year and $ 30,000 / year, depending on usage.
Nium
Cross-border payments, local accounts and card payment platform. The startup raised $ 200 million in July of this year in the D-Series round, led by Riverwood Capital, and reached unicorn status.
Notable investors include Temas Holdings, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and Riverwood Capital. In total, Nium has raised $ 280 million in seven rounds of funding.
The funds will be used to improve Nium’s payment infrastructure and build on embedded FinTech services.
Founded in 2014, the founder of Prajit Nanu Nium thought of starting a business after having trouble sending a small amount of money from India to Thailand. The company currently has more than 200 customers, including SingTel.
Matrixport
It is a digital assets and financial services platform that supports investing and trading in cryptocurrencies.
The two-year-old startup was valued at $ 1 billion in June this year, following a fundraiser. The Series C round was led by DST Global, K3 Ventures and other participants including Tiger Global and A&T Capital.
As of March this year, the company says it has more than $ 10 billion in assets under management and custody (AUM). It plans to go public in three to five years and has set a goal of hundreds of millions of dollars in AUM and customers in the same period.
Matrixport is a spin-off of Bitmain, the world’s largest manufacturer of Bitcoin mining devices. Bitmain co-founder Wu Jihan resigned as president and CEO of the company in January this year after a power struggle with co-founder Micree Zhan. Wu is now president of Matrixport.
According to the company, it is for profit. It had revenues of $ 7 million to $ 8 million by 2019.
Bolttech
An Insurtech startup completed a round of US $ 180 million in Series A in July this year. The valuation allowed the company to move up to the unicorn status.
Bolttech aims to connect insurers, distributors and customers to make buying and selling insurance and protection products easier and more efficient.
It claims to be the largest insurance exchange in the world, paying $ 5 billion on the platform and providing a gateway to more than 5,000 products and 150 insurance providers.
The company is just over a year old and has more than 1,400 employees and a presence in 14 markets across Asia, North America and Europe. It says it provides 7.7 million customers.
The car
Another consumer-oriented startup also joined the unicorn club in June this year. As a result, SoftBank has completed a $ 360 million round of funding to support its regional expansion plans. The online platform allows customers and wholesalers to buy and sell cars with a pricing algorithm that finds the best deals.
This became the first car market to reach a billion dollar value in the last five years. Part of the funds will be used to strengthen businesses in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
The startup will also tap into funds to expand its financial services and improve its AI capabilities. Carro is reportedly preparing for the U.S. list in the next 1.5 or two years.
Aaron Tan and two of his college classmates launched the car marketplace in 2015 to address the lack of transparency in the region’s commercial vehicle market.
Advance Intelligence Group
The AI technology startup is the parent of the buy now pay later (BNPL) platform of Atome, Advance.AI FinTech and the digital lending platform Kredit Pintar.
In September, it closed a $ 400 million round of funding with a consortium of investors led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Warburg Pincus. That put the company at $ 2 billion, five times more than in 2019.
Capital injections will help the company grow its presence in the BNPL platform and digital lending across Asia. He will also support AI and big data research and grow his talent repository.
The group has more than 1,500 employees in 12 markets in Southeast Asia, China and Latin America.
Moglix
The six-year e-commerce startup received $ 120 million in new funding from investors in May this year, putting its business at a value of $ 1 billion.
It last cost about $ 300 million in July 2019, where it raised $ 60 million.
Moglix provides industrial goods to manufacturers and is working on a range of manufacturing services from start to finish: procurement, packaging, supply chain financing and software.
The startup says it has provided solutions to more than 500,000 small and medium-sized businesses and more than 3,000 manufacturing plants in the EU in Singapore, India, the United Kingdom and the EU.
Funding activities in Singapore will continue
Calculating the total amount of funds injected into nine Singapore startups this year, it raises a staggering $ 2.2 billion.
Singapore remains leader The Southeast Asia agreements and significant Singapore funding include $ 578 million for Ninja Van, $ 400 million for Advance Intelligence Group and $ 360 million for Carro.
The pandemic has increased the hunger for technology as the number of Internet users grows. The optimism of Covid-19’s global recovery sees funding activities and a strong hunger for mergers and acquisitions.
International investors are also hungry for “growth in scale” investment opportunities, and Asia Pacific, especially Singapore, is an open market.
Featured Image Credit: SpaceO Technologies, Carro, PatSnap, Carousell
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