News

Here’s a compilation of exciting news from us and our portfolios last month! Indonesian Conglomerate Set to Pour US$259 million Into WeLab-backed Digibank | SuperAtom Raised US$22 Million in Series C Round | DealCart Raises US$4.5 Million to Focus on Price-conscious Pakistani Consumers | Carsome Appoints King Cantona as Brand Ambassador | Deliveree’s Tom Kim on Solving Logistics Industry Challenges Through Big Data and Predictive Analysis

Our inaugural Sustainability Report chronicles our accomplishments and our ongoing efforts in promoting economic development; environmental restoration; and social equality and justice through our ESG practices and sustainability initiatives.

Prenetics Becomes First Hong Kong Unicorn on Nasdaq After SPAC Deal.
The merger values Prenetics at US$1.3 billion. It will raise upward of US$260 million in proceeds from the business combination in cash and trade receivables.

Focusing on health tech, e-commerce/social commerce, future of work/education, prop tech, enterprise/SME tech and fintech, the Ratu Nusa Fund will be dedicated to supporting women-led seed-stage and pre-Series A companies in Indonesia.

Los Angeles and Hong Kong-based sneaker and apparel platform, Kicks Crew sees potential in expanding into the untapped Southeast Asian athletic footwear markets.

Financial services firm Credit Saison invested US$30 million in Julo’s Series B2 shares, and was issued options to acquire Series B3 shares for another US$30 million.

In 2021, the Gobi portfolio raised $2.5 billion, almost doubling our number of unicorns to 9 (2021: 4 new unicorns) and saw 4 exits resulting in US$28 million returned to LPs. 34 startups joined Gobi, including the female-founded CloudEats, PolicyStreet and Udhaar Book.

As part of the global Beyond the Billion consortium of investors pledging $1 billion into women founders from 2018 to 2020, Gobi has met its own $50 million commitment and continues to invest in and ensure diversity in voices and inclusive management teams in the startup ecosystem. Separately, Gobi and UN Women’s highly successful Asia Gender-Smart Investing Forum drew 557 registrants and 34 speakers across 48 countries.

The Philippine startup scene is thriving, and the best is yet to come. The Gobi-Core Philippine Startup Ecosystem Report is required reading for global investors.

Save your seats to the inaugural Asia Gender-Smart Investing Forum, co-organized by Gobi and UN Women on Nov 2-3. The webinar will discuss investing in women for a more inclusive, sustainable world and feature heavyweights such as Sarah Tong, Peggy Choi, Norma Chu, Vanessa Hendriadi Li, and Lucy Liu. Gobi also welcomes Kimberly Yao to our cohort of female founders, while Recommend — led by Jes Min Lua — raises US$4 million.

September was a banner month for Fatima Gobi Ventures (FGV) and Gobi’s Taqwatech portfolio in Pakistan: investees TAG (now valued at US$100 million) and Truck It In raised new rounds, while FGV added a new investee (edtech Maqsad) and new LP (U.K.’s CDC Group).

The Series D2 round is the largest equity investment in Carsome’s history and brings their total valuation to US$1.3 billion; it includes the participation of one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the region and a pool of new international investors as well as existing shareholders including Gobi Partners.

Bloomberg covered Carsome’s share-swap deal with ASX-listed iCarAsia. Carsome founder Eric Cheng explained to CNBC Asia how the integrated used car e-marketplace positions itself as a “one-stop solution” and how it deals with competition in Southeast Asia.