Dec 9, 2021
Dark stores – more widely known as microdistribution hubs – have been gaining prominence in India and Southeast Asia, with grocery delivery startups like Dropezy and Zepto raising millions of dollars in funding and setting up hundreds of centers across the region.
The future of this segment is brighter than its name...
Nov 12, 2021
After recently closing a US$400 million series D round from an investor consortium led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Warburg Pincus, Singapore-headquartered Advance Intelligence Group joined the unicorn club.
Its most well-known service? Atome, one of the region’s most prevalent buy now, pay later (BNPL)...
Oct 8, 2021
Over the past year, financial services major Stripe has been stepping up its efforts to enter the Indonesian market, targeting key positions for early hires. Among them is former Grab Indonesia executive director Ongki Kurniawan, who’s now leading Stripe’s charge in the country.
However, Indonesia is bustling with...
Sep 10, 2021
It wasn’t too long ago that in India, Kashmiri apparel sellers carrying large, red-checked bed sheets full of handmade embroidered shawls, dress materials, and stoles would spend their days knocking on door after door, trying to sell their wares to people in the neighborhood.
These sellers took a direct-to-consumer...
Aug 13, 2021
Founded in 2010, Bukalapak initially had trouble raising funds because “nobody wanted to invest,” co-founder and former CEO Achmad Zaky said during a fireside chat at the Tech in Asia Conference in 2019. He even considered closing the business after its first year, but he persevered instead and Bukalapak became a...