Hi, everyone. Taro here.

After a short holiday for the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Tiger has officially kicked off. Besides tossing the yusheng, listening to the beat of the lion dances, and eating an excessive amount of mini prawn rolls, many here in Southeast Asia took the time to prepare for a push into 2022.

Last week, we hosted our first Startup Wire Session, a mentoring event with iGlobe Partners managing partner Dr. Yoke Sin Chong. Local startups AiTreat, ProfilePrint, and Protos Labs each had valuable 1-on-1 time to share ideas and gain insights from Dr. Chong about their businesses. The session gave each startup the opportunity to be part of an in-depth discussion with one of the leading regional VCs. We will run more Startup Wire Sessions over the next few months. If you are a startup and would like the chance to be paired up with a VC mentor, please express your interest here.

The Post Up

Startups Currently Raising Funds

GridMarkets

Country: Malaysia, United States

Target: USD 1 million, Bridge

GridMarkets provides a suite of products on its cloud-based platform that allows for animation, VFX, and drug discovery simulations to be rendered, significantly reducing the hefty costs that would be incurred if these visualizations were produced using conventional hardware setups.

Trambellir

Country: Malaysia

Target:  USD 700,000, Seed

Trambellir provides an online marketplace for users to plan and book holidays focused on personal well-being. It also allows users to organize medical holidays through its partnerships with clinics and hospitals around the world.

Tokonex

Country: Indonesia

Target: USD 1 million, Seed

Tokonex is an AI-powered platform that gives users access to offers from nearby stores. Based in Indonesia, Tokonex helps local businesses develop e-commerce channels to reach more consumers.

Nothing But Net

Recent Startup Wins

  • Indonesian open banking finance startup Ayoconnect announced its USD 15 million Series B round led by Tiger Global.
  • Singaporean edtech developer Ottodot, which was mentioned in Startup Wire’s debut issue, will join Iterative’s latest cohort.
  • EyRis, a startup that uses AI to detect eye diseases, won the Most Promising Innovation prize at the Techblazer Awards.

Pick & Roll

Interesting Drops From the Week

  • In Japan, four manga publishers are suing Cloudflare, a content delivery network (CDN) company whose security services allow websites to operate, for allowing their content to be pirated around the world. They are accusing Cloudflare of condoning piracy sites’ use of its CDN. [via Japan Times]
  • Check out a fantastic episode of the Unreasonable podcast hosted by Vishal Harnal (500 Startups), Hian Goh (Openspace Ventures), and Michael Blakely (Cocoon Capital). The hosts delve into the mental pressures of being a startup founder and the low points some individuals may experience while remaining unnoticed by others. [viaUnreasonable]
  • For those who have a long lunch break, this long read about the dangers of physiognomy creeping into AI/ML facial recognition technology is fascinating. [via @blaisea]
  • In China, livestreamers have helped e-commerce merchants reach new audiences, but it now carries a cost.
  • The next close for the Accelerating Asia Fund II is coming up. If any investors are interested in joining the fund, please contact general partner Craig Dixon for more information.

If you are a startup that is raising funds, or have an interesting story or lead, and want us to feature it in this newsletter, please fill out thisform.