Emerging Markets Roundup: July 19 - July 25 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

🇮🇳 🇺🇸 A rare robotics investment in India. Ati Motors, which builds autonomous forklift machines for industrial facilities, raises $10M+ led by True Ventures. India’s manufacturing sector is on a tear, driven by rising domestic consumption and government backing. In a country with historically cheap labor, homegrown automation may give local manufacturing a quality edge.

🇸🇬 Singapore’s Web3 buildout continues at the application and infrastructure layer. 2MR Labs seeks to enable brands and communities through digital assets and metaverse development + brand and creator collabs, while Kandle reimagines GameFi by allowing players to compete on the basis of their existing crypto portfolios.

🇨🇴 Colombia’s Foodology, which operates virtual restaurants and cloud kitchens across LatAm, raises $17M from A16Z and other investors - and highlights the growing demand for online restaurant options across the continent. Opportunities exist to support this growing ecosystem - from B2B marketplaces to hiring.

🇷🇼 Kasha, a Rwandan startup that provides online access and delivery of health products and consumer goods, has secured $21M in Series B funding. Kasha is part of a growing trend of healthcare innovation on the continent, especially for women and low-income groups, who face challenges with access, affordability, quality, and convenience.

🇦🇪 No funding announcements in MENA this week, but Dubai continues to position itself as a viable alternative to Singapore, attracting everything from scale-ups to Indian real estate investors to hackerspaces.

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

🇧🇷 Culttivo, a Brazilian agtech platform providing credit solutions to coffee producers, has raised $14.5M in funding from FlAgro.

🇦🇷 ZoomAgri, an Argentine agtech company using AI to test, inspect and certify grain, has raised $9M in funding led by GrainCorp and GrainInnovate.

Cleantech

🇸🇬 Zuno Carbon, a Singapore based end-to-end carbon management solution to help organizations measure, offset, and reduce emissions, has raised $2.5M in Seed funding led by Wavemaker Partners.

E-Commerce and E-Commerce Enablement

🇮🇳 Blitz, an Indian same day delivery platform for D2C brands, has raised $3M in funding from India Quotient, First Cheque and other investors.

🇮🇳 Vinculum, an Indian SaaS platform enabling omni-channel retail, has raised the first tranche of an undisclosed amount of Series C funding led by logistics unicorn Delhivery.

Edtech

🇮🇳 Metabook XR, an Indian VR learning platform for K-12 students, has raised an undisclosed amount of Seed funding from We Founder Circles’ EvolveX Accelerator.

Fintech

🇵🇭 Salmon, a Filipino fintech platform helping consumers finance their purchases, has raised $20M in Series A debt funding led by Argentem Creek Partners.

🇻🇳 GIMO, a Vietnamese earned wage access platform for blue collar workers, has raised $12.1M in Series A funding led by TNB Aura.

🇸🇬 Bunker, a Singaporean financial analytics platform for small and medium businesses, has raised $5M in funding from January Capital and other investors.

🇧🇷 Bipa, a Brazilian payments firm that allows users in the country to send and receive Bitcoin instantly, has raised $1.4M in Seed funding led by New Form Capital and Hivemind Ventures.

Foodtech

🇨🇴 Foodology, a Colombian startup operating cloud kitchens and virtual restaurants across Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and Peru, has raised $17M in funding from A16Z, Chimera, and other investors.

🇮🇩 Segari, an Indonesian online grocery platform, has raised $8-$10M in funding from existing investors.

🇮🇳 Dusminute, an Indian hyperlocal grocery delivery startup for gated communities, has raised $1.4M in bridge round funding led by Inflection Point Ventures.

🇮🇳 Redbasil, an Indian B2B marketplace connecting restaurants and hotels with food suppliers, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from South Asia Tech Partners, Mumbai Angels, and other investors.

Healthtech

🇷🇼 Kasha, a Rwandan digital retail and last mile distribution platform for pharmaceuticals and related consumer goods serving consumers, resellers, pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals, has raised $21M in Series B funding led by Knife Capital.

🇲🇽 Vetalia, a Mexican veterinary services startup providing pet care through modern clinics and its technology platform, has raised $10M in funding from multiple investors.

🇵🇭 Kindred, a Filipino hybrid clinic addressing mental health, fertility, and other women’s health issues, has raised $1M in Seed funding from KSR Ventures and other investors.

🇳🇬 Clafiya, a Nigerian healthtech company connecting patients with healthcare professionals through in person and online consultations, medicine deliveries, and home based diagnostic testing, has raised $610K in Pre Seed funding from Norrsken Accelerator and other investors.

🇸🇬 Aevice Health, a Singapore based company producing respiratory monitoring solutions, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from East Ventures.

🇰🇪 Zuri Health, a Kenyan company offering a virtual, mobile-first, on-demand healthcare platform, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Five35 Ventures.

Insurtech

🇳🇬 MyCover AI, a Nigerian embedded insurance platform addressing lack of access, inadequate coverage, lack of affordability, and poor customer experience with insurance, has raised $1.25M in Pre-Seed funding led by Ventures Platform.

Mobility

🇮🇳 GreenCell Mobility, an Indian shared electric mobility company providing intracity and intercity buses, has raised ~$366M in debt funding from state-owned Rural Electrification Corporation.

🇮🇩 MAKA Motors, an Indonesian manufacturer of electric motorcycles, has raised $37.6M in Seed funding co-led by AC Ventures, SV Investment, and East Ventures.

🇧🇷 Turbi, a Brazilian online car rental service that offers 24/7 doorstep delivery and pickup, has raised $16.4M in funding led by EXT Capital.

🇮🇳 EVINDIA, an Indian social commerce marketplace for buyers of two-wheeler electric vehicles, has raised an undisclosed amount of Pre-Seed funding from We Founder Circles’ EvolveX Accelerator.

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.

Cybersecurity

🇮🇳 🇸🇬 PingSafe, an India and Singapore based development to deployment cloud security platform, has raised $3.3M in Seed funding led by Peak XV Partners’ Surge (formerly Sequoia Surge).

Horizontal SaaS 

🇮🇳 🇺🇸 o9 Solutions, a US and India based AI powered platform helping companies with supply chain, commercial, financial, and sustainability decision making, has raised $116M in additional funding led by General Atlantic’s BeyondNetZero.

🇮🇳 Gushwork AI, an India based AI augmented, human in the loop platform for business operations, has raised $2.1M in Pre-Seed funding from Lightspeed Ventures and other investors.

IoT, Hardware and Robotics

🇮🇳 Ati Motors, an Indian autonomous robotics manufacturer for factories, warehouses, and e-commerce fulfillment centers, has raised $10.85M in Series A funding led by True Ventures.

🇮🇳 Ethereal Machines, an Indian manufacturer of 5-axis computer numerical control (CNC) machines for manufacturers in industries ranging from plastic to aerospace to automobiles to medical devices, has raised $7.3M in funding from Peak XV’s Surge and Blume Ventures.

🇸🇬 Brilliant Labs, a Singapore based manufacturer of a ChatGPT powered AR monocle, has raised $3M in Seed funding from Oculus, Siri, and Pebble founders and other investors.

Life Sciences

🇸🇬 🇺🇸 Engine Biosciences, a Singapore and US based network biomedicine platform for drug discovery and cellular reprogramming, has raised $18M in funding from Polaris Partners and EDBI.

Web3

🇸🇬 Kandle, a Singaporean crypto fantasy GameFi project, has raised $1.7M in Seed funding led by Saama.

🇸🇬 2MR Labs, a Singapore based web3 launchpad for brands and communities, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Plug and Play APAC.

Who’s Investing

🇸🇬 Eurazeo, a private markets asset management firm, has raised $445M for its Smart City Fund II, to invest in renewable energy, advanced mobility, logistics, manufacturing, and the built environment.

🇲🇾 Malaysia based Vynn Capital, specializing in funding early-stage SEA startups, has launched a 2nd fund targeted to close at $30M.

🇬🇹 Invariantes, a Guatemalan VC firm, has announced a $30M fund to invest in US and LatAm startups.

🇮🇩 Telkomsel Mitra Inovasi, the investment arm of Indonesian telecom major Telkomsel, has plans to invest in 3 to 4 Indonesian companies by the end of the year.

🇸🇬 Singapore based Resolution Ventures has announced the final close of its inaugural fund, with the goal of backing Pre Seed and Seed fintech startups in South East Asia.

🇸🇬 🇺🇸 Singapore based NxtGen Capital has launched its first fund, to invest in early stage investment vehicles in the US.

Place of the Week

There’s a whole world out there to explore. Here’s a guide to visiting Algiers.

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