Interstellar dreams awaken

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Hello Betamax,

Of all the industries I've come to know during my time here at Tech in Asia, spacetech inspires the greatest awe in me.

I'm usually more attuned to products and solutions that are more relevant to people's daily lives - think ecommerce, healthtech, and the like - but something about spacetech awakens the dreamer in me.

I know the ongoing R&D is usually focused on the more practical aspects of the sector, like making it cheaper to launch rockets, and no one's actually developing, say, faster-than-light spacecraft (not that we know of, at least). However, it still seems like the industry that's reaching furthest into humanity's future.

Today's top-funded list features a spacetech company from India, and I hope we get to see more news from the industry soon.

You can find all other important investment deals that happened in the last few days in our weekly funding news wrap-up.

Let's dive into the biggest deals and M&A that recently took place.

-- Winston

THE BIGGEST DEALS BY COUNTRY

🇨🇳 Reprogenix is a China-based biotech firm. It has locked in US$70.4 million in series A funding from Yuhang State Investment, Gage Capital, and YuanBio Venture Capital, among others.

🇹🇭 Roojai, a digital insurer headquartered in Thailand, has raised US$60 million in a series C round co-led by Apis Partners and Asia Partners. Existing backers HDI International, Primary Group, and the International Finance Corporation also participated in the round.

🇮🇱 Hailing from Israel, Opti is an AI-native identity security platform. It has secured US$20 million in a seed funding round led by YL Ventures, Mayfield Fund, and Hetz Ventures.

🇮🇳 Agnikul Cosmos, a spacetech startup from India, has scored US$17 million in a recent funding round, bringing its valuation to US$500 million. Participating investors included Advenza Global Limited, Atharva Green Ecotech LLP, and HDFC Bank.

🇯🇵 Japan-based Creator's X is an AI animation company. It has closed a US$13.3 million series A round, with Hakuhodo DY Ventures and Global Brain Corporation participating as investors.

Here's the complete list of this week's funding chart: 61 deals worth nearly US$378 million.

M&A

🇰🇷 Cenacle, a South Korean digital healthcare company, has been acquired by IT firm Naver Cloud for an undisclosed amount.

STARTUPS THAT ARE RAISING FUNDS

Fundraising is hard. To make things slightly easier, we've compiled this list of fundraising startups for our subscribers. Do you run a startup that's raising at the moment or know someone who does? Sign your company up for listing here.

Here's a preview of the startups:

🇸🇬 This tech company from Singapore designs and builds hovering autonomous underwater vehicles to help asset owners keep critical marine infrastructure safe.

🇮🇩 This Indonesian firm makes saving and investing more inclusive.

🇸🇬 Based in Singapore, this startup offers tailored health recommendations by combining personal genetic data with practical wellness solutions.

You can find the full list of fundraising startups in Asia over here.

BEHIND THE GLASSWALL

Fundraising often involves reaching out to several contacts, many of whom founders might not have dealt with before. To provide some transparency to this process, we created Glasswall, a platform for founders to give feedback and recommendations on investors. Check out the full list here.

✅︎ "Their team might be small, but goodness, you couldn't ask for more from early investors like they've been to their portfolio!" - Read more
❌"Poor process management and internal communication. We repeated the same conversation three times. Overall poor team and negative experience." - Read more
✅︎ "Straightforward process, intelligent questions, and thoughtful discussions. Completion and diligence is well structured. Investment team is top-tier with great insights and genuinely helpful and valuable." - Read more

EXCLUSIVE LISTICLES

Lists of most active investors in the region

List of top-funded startups in Asia

THOUGHTFUL READS

1️⃣ There's no single best way to communicate

Finding "personality-message fit" is important, says executive coach Wes Kao in this piece from First Round Review. That's another PMF acronym to remember.

2️⃣ Changes at the top

CEO turnover has risen in 2025, but it's not just because of poor performance. This Harvard Business Review article dives into the new world of top leadership changes.

3️⃣ Moneyball

Investment in European sports is heating up, with media rights looking particularly appealing to private equity investors. This PitchBook article takes a closer look at the opportunities at play.

4️⃣ Enterprise sales: disrupted by AI

AI isn't just a new product or feature to sell - it also represents a new way of selling. So says this article on the Andreessen Horowitz website.

5️⃣ Where's the beef (in AI)?

In this blog post, Tomasz Tunguz, general partner at Theory Ventures, compares the rapid advancement of AI - and its eventual slowdown - to bacon sizzling in a hot skillet. My two cents? It's not the worst analogy.

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[Beta]MaxMind

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