Plus SC Ventures launches fintech bridge for startups and Tookitaki raises US$7.5 million

Cambodian startup-owner raises important funding round — [e27]

Groupin, a company that owns Little Fashion and Mediaload (famous for Khmerload) announced today it raised US$5 million from Belt Road Capital Management, a Mekong-focussed private equity firm.

The company claimed that the funding is the largest in the history of Cambodian tech startups.

Little Fashion and Mediaload are now squarely one of the most important startups in Cambodia, a country that has a small-but-burgeoning startup ecosystem.

Mediaload had previously raised financing from 500 Startups.

SC Ventures launches programme to match fintechs with Standard Chartered — [Press Release]

SC Ventures, a corporate VC arm of Standard Chartered, announced today it has launched a new programme called the ‘Fintech Bridge’ which aims to connect fintech companies with the bank.

The goal is to bring startups into Standard Chartered and have the fintechs pitch solutions that may help fix problems at Standard Chartered.

The programme is making four commitments to help improve the relationship between startups and corporates. They are:

• Connecting the the correct people
• No time wasted
• Funding guaranteed for proof of concepts
• Exposure to our markets

Tony Fernandes quits Facebook after New Zealand terror attack – [CNN]

Tony Fernandes, the Founder and CEO of AirAsia, quit Facebook after the platform was used to spread a video of the New Zealand mosque attack, according to CNN.

He said that the platform needs to clean itself up and that the harm of social media can outweigh the benefits.

According to the article, Facebook removed 1.5 million instances of the mosque attack video.

OVO acquires P2P lending startup Taralite – [KrAsia]

In a bid to start making marks in online lending sector, Indonesian conglomerate-owned e-wallet OVO has bought Indonesia-based P2P lending service Taralite, as first reported by KrAsia.

The acquisition is said to be finalised in February, but no terms from the deal are revealed.

“For the larger part, the decision to join OVO is because the link-up will help Taralite diversify the types of loans and credits we offer and reach a bigger scale,” said Abraham Viktor, Taralite’s founder, who will remain Taralite’s CEO after the buyout.

Singapore regtech startup raises US$7.5 million — [e27]

Singapore-based Tookitaki, a regulatory tech company that aims to enable financial institutions to develop sustainable compliance programmes, today announced that it has raised a US$7.5 million in Series A funding round.

The funding round was co-led by Illuminate Financial, a London-based early stage enterprise fintech investor, and Jungle Ventures, a Singapore-based Southeast Asia-focussed venture capital (VC) firm.

Enterprise Singapore, Supply Chain Angels, and VWX Capital also participated in the funding round.

In a press statement, Tookitaki Founder and CEO Abhishek Chatterjee said that a “large portion” of the funding will be used to strengthen the company’s R&D capabilities.

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The post Today’s top tech news, March 18: Cambodia’s largest funding round and Tony Fernandes quits Facebook appeared first on e27.

Source: E27