Emerging Markets Roundup: September 13 - September 19 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, a VC looking to invest where the growth is, or you want to stop falling behind on what’s happening in the rest of the world, this newsletter is for you.

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In Today’s Newsletter

🇮🇳 Exclusivity comes to India’s startup scene. Utsav Somani, who launched Angellist in the country, raises $2M for a community of the top 10% of Indian founders, with annual fees starting at $6K. To apply, you need to have raised atleast $5M, generated $5M in revenue or sold your company for atleast $10M. The platform expects to have no more than 100 members in its first year.

🇮🇩 🇸🇬 In July, I wrote about eFishery’s Series D that valued the company at $1.4B. The funding event seems to have kickstarted a regional green revolution of sorts. Since then, 9 agtech companies in the region (mostly in Indonesia) have raised rounds, with 3 this week - solving problems in regenerative agriculture, maize quality, and food supply chain transparency.

🇲🇽 🇺🇸 This week I watched “A Million Miles Away”, an inspiring story of a Mexican immigrant farmworker who became an astronaut. Why am I telling you this? Latin American immigrants in the US now represent 20% of its population, and $2.8T of economic output. Despite this, they remain underserved - Alza raises $6.6M to provide them with financial services.

🇨🇮 African consumer spending is expected to reach $2T in the next 2 years, driven by a young population, rapid urbanization, and rising incomes. Cote d’Ivoire’s Anka, which raised $5M this week, started off as an e-commerce marketplace but recognized the larger cross border opportunity and built a platform allowing merchants to sell from anywhere and ship worldwide.

🇯🇴 Jordan’s Digizag raises funding to improve digital advertising and performance marketing across GCC countries, allowing companies to expand their reach using a network of marketers and influencers from the Arab world. Despite having only 3% of the region’s population, Jordanian companies account for 27 of MENA’s top 100 startups.

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

🇮🇳 Leads Connect, an Indian full stack agtech platform providing data analysis, farm advisory, and financial services to farmers, has raised ~$60M in funding from BL Agro.

🇸🇬 RegenX, a Singapore based platform for regenerative agriculture, has raised $500K in Pre-Seed funding from Wavemaker Impact.

🇮🇩 Kora, an Indonesian company helping improve the quality and quantity of post-harvest maize, has raised $400K in Pre-Seed funding from Antler.

🇮🇩 Koltiva, an Indonesian company helping producers trace food from farmers to end users, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding led by AC Ventures.

Consumer and Community

🇮🇳 Offline, an Indian community for the top 10% of Indian startup founders, has raised $2M in funding.

🇮🇳 Port, an Indian messaging app allowing users to connect using ports instead of phone numbers, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Catamaran.

E-Commerce and E-Commerce Enablement

🇮🇩 Segari, an Indonesian social commerce platform for groceries, has raised $23.5M in Series B funding from Go Ventures and other investors.

🇸🇬 Novelship, a Singapore based online marketplace for streetwear, has raised $9.5M in Series B funding led by East Ventures, iGlobe Partners, and GSR Ventures.

🇮🇳 Flash, an Indian startup building a separate email inbox for frequent online shoppers, has raised $6.7M in pre Series A funding led by Blume Ventures and PeerCapital.

🇨🇮 Anka, an Ivorian e-commerce enablement platform allowing merchants to sell from anywhere, ship worldwide, and get paid faster, has raised $5M in debt and equity Pre-Series A funding led by the IFC.

Edtech

🇮🇳 K12 Techno Services, an Indian company providing end to end technology enabled services to educational institutions, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Kedaara Capital.

Fintech 

🇿🇲 Lupiya, a Zambia based neobank for the un and underbanked, has raised $8.25M in Series A funding led by Alitheia IDF Fund.

🇲🇽 🇺🇸 Alza, a Mexican startup providing financial services to Latin American immigrants in the US, has raised $6.6M in funding led by Thrive Capital.

🇺🇬 Emata, a Uganda based startup providing automated loans to farmers, has raised $2.4M in debt and equity Seed funding from African Renaissance Partners, Norrsken, and other investors.

🇮🇳 EquityList, an Indian platform simplifying equity management for global businesses at all stages, has raised $2.2M in Seed funding from AngelList India, Hustle Fund and other investors.

🇮🇳 QubeHealth, an Indian B2B fintech company providing a payments system and healthcare credit line to employees, has raised an undisclosed amount of pre Series A funding from Inflection Point Ventures and other investors.

🇦🇷 N5, an Argentina based software platform modernizing the financial services industry, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding led by Illuminate Capital.

Healthtech

🇮🇳 Mitsu, an Indian mental health app providing users with guided self-therapy, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Dabur International’s Director Gaurav Burman.

Mobility

🇧🇷 Fretadao, a Brazil based startup providing transportation services to corporates, has raised $10M in funding led by EXT Capital.

🇳🇬 Mecho Autotech, a Nigeria based provider of automotive spare parts, vehicle repairs, and maintenance services, has raised $2.4M in Pre Series A funding from Global Brain Corporation and other investors.

Supply Chain and Logistics

🇮🇩 Bababos, an Indonesia based marketplace matching small and medium sized businesses with suppliers of raw materials like steel, polymers, and chemicals, has raised $3M in Seed funding led by East Ventures.

🇮🇳 Xtracap Fintech, an Indian tech-enabled supply chain financing solution for shopkeepers, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from IIFL Fintech Fund.

Travel

🇮🇳 HotelYaari, an Indian fractional ownership platform for holiday homes and hotel suites, has raised $2.17M in Seed funding from Alios Ventures.

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

🇲🇽 Blind Creator, a Mexico based management platform, CRM, and embedded finance platform for brands and influencers, has raised ~$600K in Pre-Seed funding from angel investors.

Hardware, Robotics, and IoT

🇮🇳 ThinkMetal, an Indian company building a compact 3D printer for metal parts used by manufacturers, has raised $300K in Pre-Seed funding led by 100X.VC.

Horizontal SaaS

🇮🇳 Pixis, an Indian code-less AI infrastructure provider for growth marketing, has raised $85M in Series C1 funding led by Touring Capital.

🇮🇳 Videonetics, an Indian AI enabled video management platform providing video analytics, traffic management and facial recognition features, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Florintree.

🇯🇴 Digizag, a Jordan based digital advertising and performance marketing platform for the region, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding from Al-Arabi Investment Group.

Life Sciences and Medical Devices

🇻🇳 Gene Solutions, a Vietnam based genetic testing company, has raised $21M in Series B funding from Mekong Capital.

🇸🇬 Awak Technologies, a Singapore based company building on-the-go kidney dialysis machines, has raised $20M in Series B funding led by Lion X Ventures and Vickers Venture Partners.

Web3

🇸🇬 Mythic Protocol, a Singapore based gaming and entertainment focused Web3 company, has raised $6.5M in Seed funding co-led by Shima Capital and Alpha JWC Ventures.

Who’s Investing

🇮🇩 Indonesia’s Amartha, a peer-to-peer lending platform, has partnered with the IFC to invest $206M in women-led MSME’s in the country.

🇮🇩 Indonesia’s ARISE and Centauri Fund have merged to form Ascent Venture Group, with a corpus of $200M.

🇹🇭 The technology arm of Thailand’s Kasikornbank has launched a new $100M fund to invest in AI, Web3 and deeptech startups globally.

🇮🇳 India’s Kae Capital has closed its second early-stage fund, Winners Fund II, with a $50M raise.

🇸🇬 Wavemaker Impact, a Singapore based Southeast Asian climate tech venture builder, has raised $15M in funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation.

🇮🇳 The Indian state of Odisha has announced a new $12M fund to invest in startups from the state over the next 5 years.

🇵🇭 Philippines based Nila Capital Partners, has launched its inaugural fund to back Gen Z entrepreneurs in the country.

Place of the Week

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

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