The dust has settled on the US presidential election, and democracy has spoken. This week, the focus shifted to understanding the broader implications of Donald Trump’s forthcoming presidency.
Trump’s hardline stance on Beijing stands out, and there are warnings that the next administration’s China policy could go beyond trade tariffs. There is also exuberance in the crypto market, given expectations of a lighter regulatory touch.
The president-elect’s new climate policies are also top of mind for countries participating in the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, where policymakers are trying to shore up $1 trillion in climate finance.
This week also stood out for the quarterly earnings of Grab and Sea Ltd., along with the highly-anticipated listing of Swiggy in India. Scroll down for more:
We also announced the first batch of speakers for our upcoming Indonesia PE-VC Summit 2025 in Jakarta on January 16. Be sure to secure your seats.
Data-led stories and a report
We continue to keep track of the monthly funding scene in major Asian markets.
Startup funding in Greater China suffered a 36% MoM decline in October to $1.9 billion—the lowest since February 2020—as big-ticket deals became scarce.
The absence of megadeals continued to suppress fundraising in Southeast Asia as well. Startups in the region secured only $272 million in October. While this is 18% higher than in September, it remained below the psychologically important $1 billion threshold.
This week we also released a report for our DATA VANTAGE subscribers on Indonesia’s transition to EVs. While abundant nickel reserves and supportive state policies like subsidies and tariff-free imports are tailwinds for the sector, it is plagued by limited charging infrastructure, and a host of other issues.
Earnings season
Quarterly earnings reports by NYSE-listed Sea Ltd and Nasdaq-listed Grab revealed how each company navigated the recent market conditions and strategic shifts.
Sea Ltd stayed firmly in the black in Q3 2024, after a profitable second quarter, shored up by the digital financial services division, SeaMoney. The company was able to leverage the e-commerce division Shopee’s large user base for efficient credit growth and data acquisition to underwrite risk.
Grab, which swung to a profit of $15 million in Q3 2024 after two consecutive quarters in the red, witnessed robust growth in its mobility and financial services segments as investments paid off.
Singaporean cross-border logistics service provider Janio and its subsidiaries reported lower losses and higher revenue for the 2023 financial year.
Indian retailer Nykaa reported a 72% rise in its Q2 profit as its mainstay beauty products segment continued to drive growth ahead of the festive season.
SoftBank Group swung to a $7.7 billion net profit in the three months to September, as the tech giant benefitted from higher share prices of listed companies in its Vision Fund.
Alibaba Group missed analysts’ estimates for September quarterly sales, as lingering economic uncertainty sapped consumer spending in China and weighed on the e-commerce giant’s domestic business.
Insights from our interviews
India is witnessing a gradual pick up in the secondary sales of portfolio assets, Pratip Mazumdar, co-founder and partner at Inflexor Ventures, shared. “Secondary sale of portfolio of assets or individual assets is quite active globally in both the private equity and venture capital space. In India, over the last decade or so, a handful of transactions have been undertaken mostly on the PE side of the business and not much on the VC side,” said Mazumdar.
ewpartners’ Cliff Chau spoke to us on sovereign wealth funds in the Gulf region exploring new fund strategies, such as country-specific vehicles, as more foreign companies, particularly those from China, map out a global strategy with a Middle East focus.
Robert Chang, GenBridge Capital’s founder and managing partner, talked about China’s resilient consumer sector. The sector is poised for a recovery despite the overall bleak outlook weighing heavy on investor sentiment, according to Chang.
We also interviewed Anup Jain and Rajeev Suri, who have launched an early-stage VC fund, BlueGreen Ventures. Its $75 million debut vehicle will primarily focus on climate & sustainability, fintech, and post-COVID B2C sectors.
LP-GP updates
For our weekly LP View column, we interviewed HarbourVest Partners (Singapore) managing director Dominic Goh, who spoke about the spurt in global secondary market transactions, including in APAC. India is seeing a much stronger recovery in secondary transaction volumes, while Southeast Asia remains a nascent market, said Goh.
Wavemaker Partners has launched its first fund for growth-stage startups as the group rebrands to segregate each strategy across early-, growth-stage, and impact fund families. The fresh strategy, dubbed Wavemaker Growth, has made a $30 million first close.
Indian VC Unicorn India Ventures is eyeing the final close of its third fund by March 2025, targeting $118.5 million. It has roped in foreign LPs for the first time and has so far garnered about $71 million.
Indian VC Pavestone Capital has hit the final close of its maiden fund at $97 million, surpassing its initial target of $70 million.
Green Frontier Capital has launched its Green Frontier Capital India Climate Opportunities Fund, with a target corpus of Rs $178 million to expedite India’s low-carbon transition.
L Catterton has secured commitments worth around $277.3 million across two funds for its RMB platform, which will comprise a series of funds in partnership with state-owned enterprises.
Indonesian VC Intudo has raised $125 million across two investment funds dedicated to supporting local startups.
UK-based Schroders has partnered with Singapore-based private market exchange ADDX to launch a semi-liquid global private equity strategy to tap accredited individual investors. Even as the allocation to Asia is lower, Schroders sees opportunities for growth investments in these markets.
Dutch development bank FMO is considering a proposal to invest $15 million in the second PE fund of Vietnam-focused investment firm Excelsior Capital Asia. Excelsior Vietnam II is a $200-million, sector-agnostic PE fund.
US-based VC firm Hemisphere Ventures has opened a new office in Singapore, marking its foray into Southeast Asia.
Funding and other corporate news
JD Logistics, part of Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com; and private equity firm Hillhouse Capital are said to be in advanced talks to acquire local logistics assets in Indonesia from the LOGOS Group. LOGOS owns four warehouse assets in Indonesia.
Indonesia-based Inspirasi Schools is seeking to raise $20-30 million in fresh funding from existing backer Altrui and others to expand its network of schools.
Indonesia-listed e-commerce giant Bukalapak is shifting away from certain high-volume, low-margin business areas as it seeks to step up focus on core segments. Bukalapak has narrowed down its focus areas to Mitra Bukalapak, gaming, investment, and certain retail services.
Vietnam-based foodtech startup Kamereo has raised $2.8 million in fresh funding from Japanese trading group Sumitomo Corporation as part of its Series B round.
Vietnamese EV maker VinFast has secured a financial commitment worth $3.35 billion from its founder, Pham Nhat Vuong, and its parent company, Vingroup.
MilikiRumah, an Indonesian proptech startup focused on rent-to-own housing solutions, has raised equity funding and is also in advanced discussions to close a property fund.
Indonesia’s telecommunication company Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and its biggest tech company GoTo Gojek Tokopedia launched the development of Sahabat-AI, a large language model ecosystem in Indonesian languages.
Rural credit startup SarvaGram has bagged $67 million in its Series D round of funding led by Peak XV Partners, less than two weeks after DealStreetAsia reported that it is in advanced talks to raise capital.
Blackstone has dropped plans to acquire a majority stake in the snacks business of India’s Haldiram’s but is now discussing the purchase of a 20% stake at a valuation of $8 billion, which is still a sticking point.
News from the public markets
After the underwhelming debut of Hyundai India last month, all eyes were on Swiggy this week. Defying concerns over weak retail investor appetite, the food and grocery delivery startup listed at an 8% premium on Wednesday. By the end of the day, its stock had climbed nearly 19% on NSE, delivering handsome returns to investors Elevation Capital, Accel, and Prosus, among others.
Prosus also hopes to list Indian digital payments and lending firm PayU next year.
The IPO boom in India has not yet run out of steam. This week, NTPC Green Energy set a price band of Rs 102-108 per share for its $1.19 billion IPO, which is set to be the country’s third-largest this year.
Meanwhile, Chinese self-driving firm Pony AI is seeking a valuation of up to $4.48 billion from a New York listing.
Indonesia’s Adaro Energy is looking to raise $291 million through an IPO of its thermal coal unit, Adaro Andalan Indonesia.
Climate and impact investing
Indonesia plans to offer international investors opportunities to build 75 GW of renewable power in the country in the next 15 years, its climate envoy said on the sidelines of the COP29 summit.
The Asian Development Bank will increase its climate-related lending by up to $7.2 billion after the US and Japan agreed to underwrite risk for some existing loans, marking the first-ever sovereign guarantees for climate finance.
Leslie Zambelli, impact Investment director at Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia, told DealStreetAsia that there is a “mismatch between VC return expectations and realistic gains from impact opportunities”. Impact investments are still a niche in Southeast Asia, she said. On a positive note, investments made with more sustainable considerations are growing.
A word on crypto
As crypto gains further traction worldwide, regulation of the digital asset is expected to be introduced “like a speed train” next year, said Vishal Sacheendran, Binance’s head of regional markets. Binance said it will grow its Southeast Asia market in 2025 by working with regulators to get more cryptocurrency licenses in the region.
The sum market value of cryptocurrencies reached a staggering $3.2 trillion this week. Bitcoin, which scaled $91,000, has doubled in value this year, with a notable 30% jump since the election. Ethereum has climbed 33% since the vote, while Dogecoin, a high-profile token backed by Trump-ally Elon Musk, surged by 140%.
As Trump prepares to take office this winter, his influence is being felt across industries and markets. Democracy has spoken.
