Did you know that in Southeast Asia, the unbanked and underbanked population amounts to ~200M and ~100M respectively? #Vietnam ranks 2nd among the top 10 unbanked nations globally, with ~70% of the population remaining unbanked and underbanked. Our recent investment shows that GIMO (YC W22) is one of the first movers in Vietnam, adopting and promoting earned wage access model (“EWA”) or on-demand pay.

TNB AURA's latest investments into the D2C space have demonstrated our strong conviction that #SoutheastAsia is primed for D2C House-of-Brands champions to emerge. Read more on the Why and How in TNB Aura's latest Perspectives edition.

Indonesia, renowned as a traditional agrarian nation, has seen a large digital transformation in recent years as the sector continues to play a critical role in the country's economy. TNB AURA's latest AgriTech investments in AgriAku and Eratani demonstrate the key success factors establishing a gateway to the fragmented market in Indonesia - Read more in our latest Perspectives edition.

Singapore-based consumer electronics brand, PRISM+, today announced its plans for expansion, following the success of its first institutional funding round by TNB Aura.

TNB AURA had a great time participating in the SVCA 2022 Conference yesterday with our Founding Partner Vicknesh R Pillay sharing the stage with Frank Phuan EDPR Sunseap APAC, Jeffrey Perlman Warburg Pincus LLC, Trista Chen ERM: Environmental Resources Management, Anuj Maheshwari Temasek.

Indonesia-based Tjufoo has raised an undisclosed amount for its seed round led by TNB Aura, which will fund the brand aggregator’s efforts to grow local direct-to-consumer brands.

Offering a Venture Capitalist's perspective in our roundtable chat with DBS Corporate and Institutional Banking and Momentum Works, our Principal Joe Zhang, highlighted the increasing importance of investing in the sustainability of a business, along with a "large addressable market, strong momentum of economic development, and high rate of tech penetration and adoption".

Traditional E-Commerce have not been accessible to 2nd, 3rd tier, and rural markets due to low e-commerce literacy and trust, and the recent inception of Social Commerce has been a game changer for the underserved population.

Indonesian social commerce platform Super raised $70 million in a Series C funding round led by U.S. based investor New Enterprise Associates (NEA), according to an announcement on Thursday. The startup, which serves serves tier-2 and tier-3 cities and Indonesian rural areas, also has the round supported by additional investment from Insignia Ventures Partners, SoftBank Ventures Asia, DST Global Partners, Amasia, B Capital, TNB Aura, the Chairman of Bain Capital Stephen Pagliuca, the Former General Partner of Kleiner Perkins Eric Feng’s Goldhouse, and Xendit CEO Moses Lo.

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have a vital role in the national economy. Despite of having a smaller economic scale compared to multinational companies, MSMEs pose as the largest contributor to the Indonesian gross domestic product (GDP).

Indonesian EdTech company CoLearn raises an additional US$17 million in Series A follow-on funding led by TNB Aura, KTB Network and BINUS GROUP

Zipmex Thailand is preparing to launch a crypto Visa debit card service and plans to apply for a licence for a non-fungible token (NFT) trading platform this year with the goal of expanding its business in the digital asset industry.

The Southeast Asia Venture Capital landscape is bright. In 2021, the region has minted 20 unicorns, surpassing any previous decade's total. About a quarter of these are in the fintech space, followed by approximately 20 per cent in e-commerce.

GIMO, Vietnam’s fintech startup offering on-demand pay for blue-collar workers, announced on Tuesday that it had successfully raised $1.9 million in a Seed+ round led by Singapore’s Integra Partners.

Quest Ventures and TNB Aura co-lead company’s latest US$3.5 million seed equity round, adding to its earlier US$3.3 million in funding announced in Q4-2020 as it prepares to go-to-market.

Charles Wong, a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of TNB Aura shares about Zipmex and the financial revolution. View full video here, with the full transcript as follows.

Zipmex, a leading digital asset platform in Asia-Pacific, announced the close of its US$41 million Series B round with participation from B Capital, TNB Aura, and V Ventures. They join Bank of Ayudhya’s Krungsri Finnovate (BKK:BAY), Plan B Media (BKK:PLANB) , Master Ad (BKK:MACO), MindWorks Capital, and returning investor US-based Jump Capital, who led the Series A round in January this year.

The desire for action and the increased importance of sustainable value creation is arguably stronger now than ever before. Over the coming months, we continue to take a closer look at the theme of catalyzed technology, with Telehealth as the focus of this edition. Within this issue, we ask ourselves 'Why Now?'

VNLife, which owns digital payments firm VNPay, announced today that it has raised more than US$250 million in a series B funding round co-led by US investors General Atlantic and Dragoneer Investment Group.