💳🇮🇩 This Indonesian YC Company is Entering Malaysia

Happy Chinese New Year!!! 🧧🐇

Good morning, this is micro digest. The daily newsletter that updates you on Southeast Asian tech the same way your Chinese aunties remind you that you're still single during CNY.

Here's what we got for you:

• 🌊 The SEA - This Indonesian YC company is entering Malaysia

• ⛵ SEAppets - Gobble is calling it quits after 2 years

• 💰 SEA Deals  

• 🖼️ AI Image of the day

• 🐣 Tweet of the day

Markets 📈

It's Chinese New Year, I don't know about you but I've been eating steamboat like it's my first time eating it.

Speaking of first times, do you know who's making their debut in the Malaysian market?

That's right, Xendit.

(Fine, I know it's a kinda lame intro but I'm trying to make a CNY-themed intro about a payment company. It's a fine line to walk on.)

🤷‍♂️ Who is Xendit? 

• Based in Jakarta, Xendit is a fintech startup that is building digital payments infrastructure for SEA region

• It is the first Indonesian company to go through Y Combinator's accelerator program

• It also was ranked no. 54 in Y Combinator's top 100 companies list in January 2021

• So they're not exactly a nobody startup

🛠️ What do they do?

• Ok cool payment companies but what does that mean?

• It means Xendit processes payments, runs marketplaces, pay out payroll and loans etc.

• Xendit works with businesses of all sizes and with an active customer base of 3,500, it has recorded over USD $21 billion in annualized third-party verifications across over 250 million transactions.

📈 Expansion

• In 2020, Xendit entered the Philippine market

• In 2021, it achieved unicorn status after a successful funding round

• Now Xendit is continuing their rapid expansion into the region with its entry into the Malaysian market

SEAppets ⛵

1. Malaysian investment firm, Penjana Kapital teams up with Indonesia-focused PE firms Indies Capitals and AC Ventures to con-invest in both countries. According to data from Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation, the total trade value between the two countries rose 43.5% to RM 95.1 billion in 2021 from 2020.

2. Gobble, a Singaporean-based food delivery platform is calling it quits. Why? according to a LinkedIn post by the company's co-founder, Domenico Tan, the company's profit margin and cash flow remained low despite having a high volume of sales. Founded in 2021, Gobble has raised USD $1.3 million in funding.

And the snowman strikes again! Another one fall in the winter.

3. Everyone hates haggling with drivers, even more so if you negotiating with Thailand's TukTuk. Well, this startup, MuvMi has been trying to solve this issue for 4 years with larger electric tuktuks and now Grab wants a slice of that pie.

SEA Deals 💰

1. Singapore-based PE firms, Capital Square Partners and Basil Technology Partners are launching a USD $700 million fund. The fund will invest in business technology services like SaaS, AI, and data analytics in emerging markets and India.

2. Private funding hits a two-year low as investors are hitting the breaks. Total private funding drops to USD $15.8 billion from 2021's record highs, a whopping 32% drop. B Capital Partner, Karan Mohla said that most people are preserving cash to put it to better use in the future.

People build during recessions. The next big thing is being built right now and VCs know that

3. DEG, the investment arm of Germany's state-owned development bank KfW has invested USD $25.5 million in Vietnamese power firm Gai Lai Electric. The investment will be used to partly fund GEC's new wind farm projects and also support their goals on ESG standards.

4. Holmusk, a healthtech startup based in Singapore and the States raised USD $45 million in a Series B funding round. The investment will be used for its rapid expansion of NeuroBlu Database, a leading source of real-world clinical data for the behavioural health industry.

In collaboration with The Coffee Break

AI images of the day 🖼️

Mozart in Mario Kart

Tweet of the day 🐣

WE WANT WALKABLE STREETS & LAST MILE PUBLIC TRANSPORT ✊

That's a wrap for today. See you all tomorrow! 👋