Funding announcements: Jago Coffee secures USD 6 million in Series A investment, Levelup joins forces with Zevero, Supabase makes an acquisition of Oriole, and additional updates

In the dynamic world of business and technology, Asia continues to be a hotbed of investment activity. Here's a look at some of the recent funding announcements that have made headlines:

Jago Coffee Expands in Jakarta

Jakarta-based mobile cafe chain, Jago Coffee, has ambitious plans to expand its coverage of the city from 7% to a staggering 50% by the end of 2024. The expansion is backed by a successful Series A funding round, led by Intudo Ventures, Beenext Accelerate, Orzon Ventures, and D Global Ventures.

Investment in Vietnam's Healthcare Sector

Southeast Asia private equity head at Warburg Pincus, Saurabh Agarwal, has highlighted Vietnam's underdeveloped private healthcare sector as a significant area of potential growth, attracting investor interest. Evidence of this can be seen in Warburg Pincus' investment in a Vietnamese hospital group, Xuyen A, and their previous investments totaling over USD 2 billion in the country.

Funding for Tech Companies

Supabase, a Singapore-based tech development company, has acquired Oriole, a database storage extension, for an undisclosed sum. Supabase, launched in 2020 as an open-source alternative to Google's Firebase, previously raised USD 80 million in a Series B funding round.
Yitai Microelectronics Technology, a Nanjing-based enterprise specializing in Ethernet and time-sensitive networking (TSN) chips, secured an undisclosed amount of pre-Series A funding in a round jointly led by Casstar and Tongchuang Gongjin, with participation from Pengchen Venture Capital and Yiqi Lihe Automobile New Technology Venture Capital.
Ultima Lab, a Shanghai-registered producer of functional foods, closed a seed funding round, snagging close to RMB 10 million (USD 1.3 million). Changsai Fund led this round with participation from former Perfect Diary co-founders.

Electric Vehicle Manufacturing and Carbon Accounting

Hozon Auto, an electric vehicle manufacturer, raised over RMB 5 billion (USD 690 million) in funding from Tongxiang State-owned Capital Investment and Operation, and two other investors linked to the local governments in the cities of Yichun and Nanning, respectively. Meanwhile, the acquisition of a carbon accounting startup by a climate tech company, Levelup, will facilitate the merged entity's expansion in the global carbon accounting market, valued at USD 15 billion.

Funding for Jago Coffee's Expansion

Jago Coffee operates a fleet of all-electric mobile cafes and uses the Jagoan app for customers to order and receive coffee. The funds from the Series A round will be used for depot and cart upscaling and upgrades, and to prioritize key locations for expansion using geospatial machine learning.

Investments in Guangzhou

Yueke Guangzhi, a Guangzhou-registered manufacturer of light sources for life science applications, completed an angel round of financing with Rivers as the sole investor. Tonglew Technology, a Guangzhou-based IT company, also completed a new round of financing, with the investment made exclusively by CIIC Group.

Uovameta's Generative AI Tools

Uovameta, a developer of generative AI tools, announced the completion of an eight-figure RMB funding round. The investors include Yuehua Entertainment and Alibaba Pictures, among others, with parent company Yuanlong Yato also participating in this round.

These investments underscore the continued interest and confidence in Asia's tech and business sectors, with companies and investors alike recognizing the potential for growth and innovation in the region.

Funding announcements: Jago Coffee secures USD 6 million in Series A investment, Levelup joins forces with Zevero, Supabase makes an acquisition of Oriole, and additional updates