Emerging Markets Roundup: August 2 - August 8 2023

Hi everyone, I’m Gautam. Every week I write the Spice Route newsletter, profiling tech in the five fastest growing regions in the world - India, SE Asia, MENA, Sub Saharan Africa and Latin America.

I’ve spent years immersed in these startup ecosystems as a founder and VC. If you’re a founder or PM building for these markets, or a VC looking to invest where the growth is, this newsletter is for you.

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In Today’s Newsletter

🇮🇳 Last week I wrote about India’s open e-commerce network; this week, Bidso and Qoruz raise rounds to connect brands with quality manufacturers and influencers respectively. This despite challenges for a well known e-commerce enabler competing with Shopify.

🇸🇬 Singapore has poured billions of dollars into establishing itself as a biomedical and life sciences hub over the last 20 years; some of that may be beginning to pay off. Last week Mirxes Holding raised $50M; this week sees two rounds, with DotBio and Allozymes raising funding.

🇧🇷 A few weeks back I highlighted LatAm’s burgeoning proptech scene; this week Brazil’s Loft raises $100M from a star cast of investors. The region’s real estate market suffers from a lack of transparency; this round will boost the demand and supply of quality properties. Cautionary tales exist, however.

🇿🇦 🇰🇪 🇳🇬 No funding rounds in Africa this week; but the future remains bright with 3 African startups having been selected so far for this summer’s YC batch. I’ve written in the past about Nigeria getting serious and Kinshasa’s potential as a tech hub; this article explores Gabon’s ecosystem.

🇸🇦 The Middle East and its love of perfumes are no secret; the region invented the modern perfume. Those who’ve visited Dubai must have noticed the ubiquitous attar shops; this week Saudi Arabia based Golden Scent raises funding for its e-commerce marketplace for fragrances and beauty products.

Who’s Getting Funded

Local companies building for local markets.

We’re going to see the emergence of regional unicorns in sectors from fintech to agtech, driven by knowledge of local idiosyncrasies or protected by local regulation.

Aerospace

🇧🇷 Speedbird Aero, a Brazilian company providing drone services to companies for deliveries, has raised $2M in funding led by MSW Capital.

Cleantech

🇮🇩 Rekosistem, an Indonesian startup offering individuals and businesses waste management and recycling services, has raised $5M in funding from Skystar Capital, East Ventures, and other investors.

E-Commerce and E-Commerce Enablement

🇮🇳 Bidso, an Indian technology enabled procurement platform helping brands source high quality products from a curated list of manufacturers, has raised $1.5M in Seed and Pre-Seed funding led by PeerCapital.

🇮🇳 Qoruz, an Indian platform helping brands find, connect with and collaborate with influencers, has raised an undisclosed amount of Seed funding from Dexter Angels and other investors.

🇸🇦 Golden Scent, a Saudi Arabia based e-commerce platform for fragrances and beauty products, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Tenami Capital.

Edtech

🇧🇷 Educbank, a Brazilian fintech providing prepayment services to schools for their accounts receivables, has raised $14M in debt funding.

🇸🇦 YaSchools, a Saudia Arabia based edtech and embedded finance platform connecting schools, teachers, and students, has raised $600K in Seed funding from angel investors.

Fintech

🇮🇳 Stable Money, an Indian wealthtech startup offering fixed return asset investment opportunities for retail investors, has raised $5M in Seed funding led by Matrix Partners India and Lightspeed.

🇧🇷 Cashbanx, a Brazilian affiliate B2B platform allowing banks and fintechs to offer cashback incentives to their customers, has raised $4.1M in funding led by SRM Ventures.

Healthtech

🇧🇷 Inklo, a Brazilian startup simplifying credit access for medical procedures, has raised $727K in Pre-Seed funding from angel investors.

HRtech

🇮🇳 Disprz, an Indian AI powered upskilling and reskilling platform for enterprises and their employees, has raised $30M in Series C funding led by Lumos Capital.

🇦🇪 LVL Wellbeing, a UAE based corporate wellbeing platform for healthier work/life balance, has raised $10M in Series A funding led by MG Wellness Holding.

🇮🇳 Unstop, an Indian hiring platform for students and graduates, has raised $5M in funding led by Japan based job board Mynavi.

🇪🇬 Talents Arena, an Egypt based AI driven technical recruiting platform, has raised $750K in Pre-Seed funding from UI Investments and other investors.

🇮🇳 Expertrons, an Indian career upskilling platform connecting users with experts from large corporates, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Hindustan Media Ventures and other investors.

Proptech

🇧🇷 Loft Group, a Brazilian proptech platform for buying and selling renovated real estate, has raised $100M in funding led by a Middle Eastern wealth fund, with participation from A16Z, Citi, QED, and other investors.

Local companies building for global markets.

The pandemic accelerated two ongoing trends; product-led growth and a digital go-to-market became the norm, and enterprises had to digitize faster than ever. Community driven growth happens online, and the API-fication of tech has leveled the playing field when it comes to building software. Global companies in business automation, software and data infrastructure, AI, future of work, and web3 can now be built from anywhere.

AI

🇵🇸 DataQueue, a Palestine based AI company simplifying the data training process, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Ibtikar Fund.

Creator Economy

🇸🇬 1BStories, a Singapore based platform helping brands and publishers create short form videos at scale using AI, has raised $5.5M in funding from Northstar Group and other investors.

🇮🇩 BintanGO, an Indonesian startup helping creators measure engagement, manage invoices, and access early payments from brands, has raised $2.2M in debt and equity funding from Trascend Capital Partners and other investors.

Cybersecurity

🇪🇬 BuGuard, an Egypt based offensive security and dark web monitoring company, has raised $500K in Seed funding led by A15 and other investors.

🇧🇷 Axur, a Brazilian digital risk protection platform for businesses and their customers, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series B funding led by Igah Ventures.

Horizontal SaaS 

🇨🇱 ZeroQ, a Chilean B2B client management and customer experience platform, has raised $3M in crowdfunding through Scalex.

Life Sciences

🇸🇬 DotBio, a Singapore based pharmaceutical company building next-generation antibody therapies, has raised $5.6M in Pre-Series A funding led by Proxima Ventures, Gaorong Capital, and the AIM-HI Accelerator Fund.

🇸🇬 Allozymes, a Singapore based startup developing custom enzymes for cleaner and sustainable manufacturing, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from Seventure Partners and other investors.

Vertical SaaS

🇲🇽 Tractian, a YC backed, US and Mexico based AI powered industrial operating systems platform, has raised $47M in Series B funding led by General Catalyst.

Who’s Investing

🇮🇳 Xponentia Capital, an Indian PE firm investing in startups in healthcare, D2C, and fintech, is nearing the final close of its $125M Opportunities Fund II.

🇮🇳 pi Ventures, an Indian early stage venture firm investing in deeptech, spacetech, biotech, blockchain, and AI, has announced the final close of its second fund with a total commitment of $85M.

🇮🇳 Elev8 Venture Partners, an Indian growth venture capital firm, has announced the first close of its Fund 1 at $67M to invest in consumer, SaaS, fintech and healthtech.

🇯🇵 🇮🇳 Mixi, a Japanese mobile entertainment company, has launched a $50M corporate venture capital initiative to invest in early-stage entertainment and consumer services startups in India.

🇸🇬 🇸🇦 🇦🇪 Singapore based accelerator and early stage VC Antler is expanding to MENAP and will launch cohorts in Riyadh and Dubai.

Place of the Week

There’s a whole world out there to explore. Here’s a guide to visiting Ban Gioc Waterfall.

Thank you for reading 🙏 

This newsletter is very early, and I’m exploring taking this in multiple different directions.

If you found this useful, share this with your friends and colleagues. 

Best,

Gautam