Deal of the Year – Small Cap (Equity commitment – below $50 million)
Bud (Sequoia Capital India, ClearVue Partners, GGV Capital, NetEase, Northern Light Venture Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Source Code Capital)
Bud, a Singapore-based 3D user-generated content (UGC) platform with gaming and metaverse applications, closed a USD 36.8m Series B round in May 2022 led by Sequoia Capital India. It followed a USD 4.5m Series A and a USD 15m extension in 2021. Bud was founded in 2019 by two former engineers from social media player Snap. It offers easy-to-use no-code tools for creating personalised 3D interactive content. The platform formally launched in November 2021 and quickly became one of the 10 most used social apps in 38 countries across the Americas and Southeast Asia. Approximately 60% of users are female.
Dianxiaomi (CDH Investments, Gaorong Capital, Kunlun Fund)
CDH Investments and Gaorong Capital led a Series B round of approximately USD 44m for Dianxiaomi, a China-focused cross-border e-commerce services platform, in January 2022. This proved to be the beginning an investment surge, with Series C and D rounds closing in March and August, respectively, with commitments of USD 100m and USD 150m. Founded in 2014, Dianxiaomi serves as a one-stop solution for merchants working across different e-commerce platforms, handling inventory, order management, and analytics. It collaborates with 50 major e-commerce platforms, 1,600 logistics providers, and 80 warehouse operators globally, facilitating CNY 350bn (USD 51bn) in orders every year.
SCB Abacus (Openspace Ventures, CAI Partners, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia)
Openspace Ventures led a USD 20m Series B round for SCB Abacus, a Thailand-based digital lending platform that spun out from Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), in June 2022. The VC firm’s relationship with SCB’s venture building unit led to a referral when SCB Abacus raised its Series A in September 2021. The company provides retail term loans, revolving loans, and buy now, pay later services. Using a strong artificial intelligence and machine learning engine, funds are disbursed as soon as 15 minutes after an application is made. More than 500,000 loans totalling USD 160m have been disbursed since inception.
UnoAsia (Creador)
Creador made a rare early-stage investment in August 2022, leading a pre-Series A round of USD 11m for UnoAsia, operator of Uno Digital Bank, one of only six licensed digital banks in the Philippines. The GP has already contributed USD 21m out of UnoAsia’s USD 33.5m in pre-seed and seed funding. The other investors are management team members and individuals. UnoAsia is pre-product and pre-revenue, but Creador was convinced by the calibre of the leadership and its belief in digital banking. The company is building out its team and technology platform ahead of an anticipated product launch before year-end.
Well-Link Technologies (Temasek Holdings, CDH Investments, Future Capital)
Well-Link Technologies, a China-based provider of real-time cloud rendering solutions for game developers, closed a USD 40m Series B extension in September 2022. It was led by Temasek Holdings, with participation from Future Capital and CDH Investments. Future Capital led the first tranche of the Series B, worth CNY 400m (USD 56m) last December. Well-Link is an early mover in graphics-as-a-service, where rendering is carried out by a third party over an internet connection, which makes gaming accessible to users who don’t have high-performance computers. The technology is also relevant to other graphically intense application scenarios such as the metaverse.