Emerging Markets Roundup: May 31 - June 6 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 focus on sectors I believe have the most potential to produce breakout companies from these geographies.

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.

To my Readers:

I’ve spent years immersed in these startup ecosystems as a founder and VC, and I want to make this as useful as possible to you.

This is V1 - to start with, I’m curating funding rounds and VCs focused on these regions.

I would love feedback on this edition and suggestions on what you’d like to see in a newsletter like this. Just reply back to this email.

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

Opportunities

Mobility remains a key entry point for founders in early ecosystems.

India saw Ola and CarDekho begin in the late 2000s/early 2010s, and I’m now seeing similar companies pop up elsewhere - Shohoz (Bangladesh), Jatri (Bangladesh), OkayKer (Pakistan), and Autobia (Saudi Arabia).

As a startup ecosystem matures, the problems being solved in this space go up the value chain - today’s newsletter covers River (India) building trendy 2 wheeler EVs, while Airbag (Mexico) is helping companies reduce the deleterious effects of bad driving within their fleets.

Proptech is another space that will always remain the preserve of local players; only those with knowledge of the local market and the network and gumption to navigate it are best poised to build for it.

Today’s newsletter covers two such companies - Ringkas (Indonesia), and Tuhabi (Colombia). Similar opportunities continue to exist in mature markets like India (no dominant player yet after a series of high profile failures) or markets with middle or high incomes (for instance - UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa).

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.

Cleantech

🇮🇳 Newtrace, an Indian cleantech company developing a new type of electrolyzer to create green hydrogen from renewable energy, has raised $5.7M in Seed funding led by Sequoia Capital India and Aavishkaar Capital.

🇮🇳 Sentra.world, an Indian ESG management platform for industrial businesses, has raised $2M in Seed funding led by Avaana Capital.

Consumer

🇮🇳 Genwise, an Indian lifestyle app catered towards the elderly, has raised $3.5M in Seed funding led by Matrix Partners India.

Fintech

🇮🇳 KarmaLife, an Indian earned wage access platform for gig and blue collar workers, has raised ~$5.3M in extended Pre-Series A funding led by Krishna Bhupal’s Family Office.

🇮🇳 YOLO, an Indian digital payments and investing app for teenagers, has raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding led by Shuru-up.

🇮🇳 BharatNXT, an Indian payments platform allowing small businesses to use credit cards for their B2B transactions, has raised $1.2M in Seed funding led by Inflection Point Ventures.

🇸🇬 MPFunds, a Singaporean trading platform providing aspiring traders with coaching, guidance and access to trading capital, has raised $1.1M in Pre-Seed funding.

🇦🇪 Tabby, a UAE based fintech platform offering BNPL for shopping online and offline, has closed a new financing round upsizing its debt facility to $350M.

Healthtech

🇳🇬 Helium Health, a Nigerian healthtech platform providing software for electronic medical records, hospital management, billing, medical loans, and analytics, has raised $30M in Series B funding led by AXA IM Alts.

HRTech

🇵🇭 Bossjob, a Filipino job search platform connecting talent and hiring managers directly, has raised $5M in funding.

🇸🇬 Hybr1d, a Singaporean workforce management platform, has raised $3.2M in Pre-Seed funding from Global Founders Capital and other investors.

Insurtech

🇮🇳 PolicyBoss, an Indian insurtech platform backed by PE firm TPG, has raised an undisclosed amount in Series B funding.

🇲🇾 PolicyStreet, a Malaysian insurance marketplace for gig workers and small businesses, has raised $15.3M in Series B funding led by Khazanah, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Mobility

🇮🇳 River, an Indian manufacturer of two wheeler EVs, has raised $15M in funding led by Dubai’s Al Futtaim Group.

🇧🇩 Shohoz, a Bangladeshi online ticketing platform for buses, trains and other travel, has raised $3.44M in convertibles.

🇵🇰 OkayKer, a Pakistani platform connecting car owners with auto repair and maintenance workshops, has raised $700K in Seed funding from multiple investors.

🇸🇦 Autobia, a B2B platform for automotive aftersales and spare parts, has raised $2.5M in Seed funding led by Sadu Capital.

🇲🇽 Airbag, a Mexican SaaS company helping companies reduce traffic accidents and costs related to bad driving, has raised $700K in funding led by Impacta VC.

Proptech

🇮🇩 Ringkas, an Indonesian digital mortgage platform solving for a fragmented mortgage application process , has raised $3.5M in Seed funding led by East Ventures.

🇨🇴 Tuhabi, a Colombian proptech streamlining the process of selling properties, has raised a $50M credit line from Inter-American Development Bank to increase their real estate footprint in Mexico.

Supply Chain and Logistics

🇮🇳 Tan90, an Indian cooling solutions provider helping companies transport perishables, has raised $1.37M in Pre-Series A funding led by Blue Ashva Capital and Capital A.

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.

Business Automation

🇮🇳 Togai, an Indian no-code metering and pricing platform that allows B2B SaaS companies to test and implement pricing strategies, has raised $3.1M in Seed funding led by Together Fund.

🇮🇳 Course5 Intelligence, an Indian data analytics and insights company helping companies drive digital transformation with AI, has raised $53M in funding led by Nuvama Asset Management and IIFL.

🇮🇳 Capillary Technologies, an Indian cloud-based omnichannel platform for loyalty, customer experience, and commerce, has raised $45M in Series D funding from Avataar Ventures and other investors.

🇸🇬 BigTapp, a Singaporean data engineering and data science solutions provider, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Apar Technologies.

Spacetech

🇮🇳 Pixxel, an Indian spacetech company building a constellation of earth imaging satellites with the aim of detecting, monitoring and predicting global phenomena, has raised $36M in Series B funding from Google, Lightspeed, and other investors.

Web3

🇸🇬 Kilde, a Singaporean digital private debt platform for alternative lenders, has raised $1.12M in Seed funding from Big Sky Capital and other investors to build its treasury management on the blockchain.

Who’s Investing

🇮🇳🇸🇬 Sequoia India and Southeast Asia has rebranded to become Peak XV Partners, after Sequoia Capital (US/Europe), Sequoia China and Sequoia India and Southeast Asia decided to become independent firms with distinct brands. The firm will continue investing from its current funds of roughly $2.5B.

🇮🇳 360 ONE Asset Management, an Indian wealth and alternates-focused asset firm, has raised $258M for its largest credit fund to date.

🇲🇽 ALLVP, a Mexican tech investor, has launched a new $150M fund dedicated to supporting AI startups.

Place of the Week

There’s a whole world out there to explore.

Thank you for reading 🙏 

This newsletter is very early, and I’m exploring taking this in multiple different directions. I’d love the feedback - please reply back with any suggestions, requests, or questions you have for me.

If you liked this email, I highlight my take on these markets on my Twitter account as well.

Best,

Gautam