Asia news roundup: Funding for Lendingkart, Warung Pintar, and Masii

By Jack Ellis for Tech in Asia

Here are the top headlines from the past few days.

Fintech

Lendingkart Technologies hauls in US$87 million at series C (India). The online lender will use the funds to strengthen its technological and analytics capabilities and expand its credit
product offerings, particularly for the small business segment. Fullerton Financial Holdings, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Temasek, led the round. (Fullerton Financial Holdings)

Rupeek raises US$6.83 million (India). The online marketplace for gold-backed loans secured the funding in a round led by Accel Partners, which invested US$5 million. Previous backer Sequoia Capital was the source of the remainder. (VCCircle)

Warung Pintar secures US$4 million seed funding (Indonesia). The investment came from SMDV, Digital Garage, East Ventures, Insignia Ventures Partner, Triputra Group, and various angel investors. Warung Pintar – which means “smart kiosk” in Indonesian – will use the funds to develop its prototype prefabricated kiosk with integrated tech solutions for “mom-and-pop” general stores into a marketable product. (East Ventures)

Ecommerce

Masii gets US$2.43 million to grow and scale (Thailand). The financial products price comparison site will use the funds to add new verticals, including mortgages and savings. Thai conglomerate B.Grimm and European Venture Capital led the series A round.
(DealStreetAsia)

Social media

Opposition politician files US suit over government’s Facebook use (Cambodia/US). Sam Rainsy, a former opposition leader in Cambodia, is requesting that Facebook releases information on long-time Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen’s use of the social network. It is alleged that Hun Sen’s Facebook page features fake “likes,” while his supporters are accused of issuing death threats over the platform and using state money for advertisements. (Reuters)

Big tech

Qualcomm rejects improved US$121 billion Broadcom bid (Singapore/US). The US chipmaker said its could lose two large clients if it accepted Singapore-based Broadcom’s revised offer, adding that it saw no way that such a deal could obtain regulatory approval. (Reuters)

Investors, incubators, and accelerators

SPRING Singapore appoints nine new co-investment partners (Singapore). The enterprise agency’s investment arm, Spring Seeds Capital, will jointly invest almost US$151 million with the nine partner organizations into early-stage startups over the next eight years. The co-investment partners are Armstrong Industrial Corporation, HealthXCapital, Heritas Capital Management, Incuvest-Avior, MedTech Alliance 2, Millennia-VFT Ventures, Silicon Solution Partners, Small World Accelerator, and Trendlines Medical-K2 Global. (The Straits Times)