Emerging Markets Roundup: July 12 - July 18 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.

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

In Today’s Newsletter

🇮🇳 🇺🇸 Lightspeed Ventures invests in India and US based SaaS management platform Zluri. In a previous edition, I talked about India’s inherent advantages in building software for global markets; the country’s SaaS ecosystem alone is estimated to reach $1T by the end of the decade.

🇻🇳 Is Vietnam Asia’s most dynamic edtech market? This week sees course platforms and AI powered after school tuition get funded, on the heels of other rising success stories in the country.

🇦🇷 Money, uh, finds a way. Argentina’s INI, which raised funding this week, uses long range radio communication to facilitate offline cashless transactions in regions with limited or no connectivity.

🇳🇬 🇰🇪 🇿🇦 No deals in Sub Saharan Africa this week, but some interesting trends to note nonetheless. Q2 2023 saw cleantech surpass fintech as the most funded sector, Nigeria pulls well clear of 2nd place Kenya in terms of funding, and cybersecurity and fraud concerns take center stage.

🇪🇬 POS less cashless payments, payment services for children, startup investment platforms, T-bill driven digital savings - not the US, but Egypt’s fintech funding this week. The country’s demographics and government support has seen fintech funding 51x to $796M between 2019 and 2022.

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.

Agtech

🇸🇬 🇮🇳 Hectar Global, a Singapore-based, Indian company providing a data-driven platform for global food buyers to purchase container volumes of audited agricultural commodities, has raised $2.1M in Seed funding led by Powerhouse Ventures.

Cleantech

🇸🇬 Hydroleap, a Singaporean company using electrochemical technology to treat industrial wastewater, has raised $4.4M in funding led by Real Tech Holdings.

E-Commerce and E-Commerce Enablement

🇦🇪 YallaHub, a UAE based marketplace aggregator providing instant e-commerce fulfillment and warehousing services, has raised $6M in Pre-Series A funding led by Regolith and other investors.

🇦🇪 Revibe, a UAE based B2C marketplace for refurbished electronics, has raised $2.3M in funding led by Resonance and Flat6labs.

🇮🇩 Orderfaz, an Indonesian social commerce enabler streamlining the purchase process with one-click checkout, has raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Seed funding led by 1982 Ventures.

🇦🇪 Get Outfit, a UAE based personalized fashion discovery app with an AI powered stylist, has raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Seed funding led by Forward Angel.

Edtech

🇻🇳 Vuihoc, a Vietnamese edtech platform providing courses for elementary, middle, and high school students, has raised $6M in funding led by TNB Aura.

🇻🇳 Clevai, a Vietnamese AI-enabled after school platform for underserved K-12 students, has raised $4M in funding.

🇧🇷 Teachy, a Brazilian AI powered edtech platform helping school teachers streamline tasks outside the classroom, has raised $1.6M in Pre-Seed funding led by NXTP.

🇧🇭 Unipal, a Bahrain-based platform providing special offers and discounts to university students on a variety of products, has raised $500K in follow-on funding from Tenmou and Flat6labs.

Fintech

🇮🇩 Finture, an Indonesian BNPL platform connecting customers to licensed financial institutions that provide installment payments, has raised $20M in Pre-Series B funding led by XVC.

🇲🇽 Mattilda, a Mexican B2B SaaS platform for private school billing and payment processing, has raised $19M in Series A funding led by GSV Ventures.

🇸🇬 Thunes, a Singaporean platform allowing businesses and their customers to send and accept payments globally, has raised $12M in Series C funding from Visa, Endeavor Catalyst, and other investors.

🇻🇳 Timo, a Vietnamese digital bank, has raised $10M in funding from existing investors.

🇪🇬 Flash, an Egyptian cashless payments app allowing consumers to make purchases with their phones without businesses needing POS systems, has raised $6M in Seed funding led by Addition.

🇮🇳 OneStack, an Indian fintech company helping Indian cooperative banks and credit societies become neobanks through digitization, has raised $2M in funding from growX, Stride, and other investors.

🇪🇬 Masroofi, an Egyptian fintech providing financial education and digital payment services for children, has raised $1.5M in funding from undisclosed investors.

🇪🇬 EXITS MENA, an Egyptian startup M&A advisory firm and investment platform, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by Practical VC.

🇪🇬 Menthum, an Egyptian digital savings platform that allows consumers and businesses to invest in T-bills through a money market fund, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Acasia Ventures and other investors.

🇦🇷 INI, an Argentinian company facilitating online and offline transactions in regions with limited or no connectivity, has raised funding from Kamay Ventures.

Healthtech

🇦🇪 Alma Health, a UAE based direct to patient healthtech company providing digital healthcare services to patients with chronic conditions, has raised $10M in Series A funding co-led by Knuru Capital and Hambro Perks Oryx Fund.

🇮🇳 🇺🇸 Fold Health, an India and US based company helping healthcare professionals integrate electronic health records, has raised $6M in Seed funding led by Iron Pillar.

🇮🇳 AayushBharat, an Indian platform connecting patients with chronic illnesses with Ayurvedic doctors, has raised an undisclosed amount of Seed funding from JITO JIIF and other angel investors.

HRTech

🇦🇪 Alfii, a UAE based HRTech platform to automate HR workflows, has raised $2.5M in Pre-Seed funding led by Preface Ventures.

🇮🇳 Jellybean, an Indian company helping organizations design, manage, and streamline employee benefits, has raised $350K in Pre-Seed funding from Paradigm Shift Capital, Sunn91 Ventures, and others.

Insurtech

🇮🇳 RenewBuy, an Indian insurtech company offering comparisons between different insurance policies, has raised $40M in Series D funding from Japanese insurance company Dai-ichi Life Holding, Inc.

Mobility

🇦🇪 ONE MOTO, a UAE based provider of sustainable mobility solutions for last mile delivery, has raised $40M in lease financing led by Pyse.

🇮🇳 Neuron Energy, an Indian company manufacturing smart lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries for electric three-wheelers, scooters, e-bikes, drones, and golf carts, has raised $2.4M in Pre-Series A funding led by Equanimity Investments and the Rajiv Dadlani Group.

🇹🇳 Kaco, a Tunisian electric scooter manufacturer, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from UGFS North Africa.

Proptech

🇲🇦 Agenz, a Moroccan proptech company providing online real estate valuation, has raised $1.3M in Pre-Series A funding from Azur Innovation Fund and other investors.

Supply Chain and Logistics

🇮🇳 LetsTransport, an Indian trucking aggregator and logistics solutions provider, has raised $25M in funding led by Bertelsmann India.

🇧🇷 Torqi, a Brazilian fintech company providing financial services to road transport carriers, has raised $12M in funding led by Galapagos Capital.

🇸🇦 Kaso, a YC backed Saudi Arabia based order and procurement management marketplace for restaurants and suppliers, has raised $10.5M in Seed funding from Spade Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Global Founders Capital and others.

🇮🇳 Adcount Technologies, an Indian company digitizing and streamlining operations for food businesses, has raised $2.25M in Series A funding led by Venture Catalysts and Artesian.

🇹🇭 APX, a Thai logistics network connecting shippers and truckers to transport less-than-truckload and palletized cargo, has raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Series A funding led by Orzon Ventures and iSeed.

🇦🇪 Tenderd, a UAE based construction technology company using AI to increase construction and logistics asset utilization and reduce emissions, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Wa’ed Ventures, the VC arm of Aramco.

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.

Creator Economy

🇮🇳 ReDesyn, an Indian platform allowing content creators to monetize their fan bases by selling merchandise and services on their own e-commerce store, has raised ~$426K in Compulsory Convertable Debentures funding led by RealTime Angel Fund and Sukhbir Singh.

Cybersecurity

🇮🇳 🇦🇪 🇺🇸 Bureau, a US, India, and UAE based ID verification platform helping companies prevent fraud and stay compliant, has raised an additional $4.5M in Series A funding from GMO Venture Partners, Quona Capital, and Commerce Ventures.

Devtools and Infrastructure

🇮🇳 Tooljet, an Indian open-source, low-code platform to build internal tools quickly, has raised an undisclosed amount of bridge round funding led by Microsoft’s M12 Github Fund.

Horizontal SaaS

🇦🇷 🇺🇸 InvGate, an Argentina and US based SaaS platform helping companies streamline and automate their internal IT operations, has raised $35M in funding led by Riverwood Capital.

🇮🇳 🇺🇸 Zluri, an India and US based platform that helps enterprises manage their SaaS applications and identity governance, has raised $20M in Series B funding led by Lightspeed.

🇮🇳 🇺🇸 Factors.ai, an India and US based B2B visitor intelligence, account analytics, and revenue attribution platform, has raised $3.6M in Pre-Series A funding led by Stellaris Venture Partners.

🇨🇱 Regcheq, a Chilean compliance software platform helping clients with AML flows, transaction monitoring and training, has raised $2M in funding led by Taram Capital.

Vertical SaaS

🇦🇪 Growdash, a UAE based platform helping restaurants build and execute profitable online growth strategies, has raised $750K in Pre-Seed funding led by Flat6labs.

Web3

🇮🇳 🇺🇸 0xPass, an India and US based platform integrating multiple wallets and wallet types into a unified authentication flow for dApps, has raised $1.8M in Pre-Seed funding from Hashed, Balaji Srinivasan, and other investors.

Who’s Investing

🇸🇬 🇮🇳 Temasek, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, plans to invest $10B in India in the next 3 years.

🇸🇬 Singapore based Vertex Ventures HC, the healthcare-focused VC arm of state investor Temasek, has launched a $200M Fund III to support life science and medical technology companies.

🇦🇪 Agthia Group PJSC, a UAE based food and beverage company, has launched a $54M fund co-managed with Touchdown Ventures to invest in foodtech startups.

🇮🇳 CapFort Ventures, an Indian micro VC firm, is raising $24.3M for its Pre-Series A fund focused on Indian companies in cleantech, deeptech, healthtech, logistics, and B2B.

🇯🇴 🇬🇧 Jordan’s Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund has invested $2M in UK based Hambro Perks Oryx Fund to invest in the Jordanian startup ecosystem.

🇲🇾 🇸🇬 Singapore based global VC firm Antler has partnered with Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund Khazanah to invest in 30 startups in the country over the next 3 years.

Place of the Week

There’s a whole world out there to explore. Here’s a guide to visiting the 12 Apostles, Cape Town.

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