Singapore’s Ninja Van has raised $279 million from backers including France’s GeoPost SA and ride-hailing giant Grab Holdings Inc., scoring one of Southeast Asia’s largest startup investments since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic.
Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin’s B Capital Group and Monk’s Hill Ventures were among those that took part in the parcel delivery firm’s Series D round, completed after the outbreak drove a surge in online shopping among people sheltering at home. The Southeast Asian startup joins a select club of firms that have raised significant money this year, including Indonesian online marketplace GudangAda with a $25.4 million deal.
The coronavirus outbreak and its accompanying economic fallout is stress-testing the region’s once high-flying startup ecosystem. But the twin Southeast Asian deals announced Tuesday underscore how investors continue to explore industries from e-commerce to gaming and telehealth, regarded as more resilient to or even beneficiaries of rolling lockdowns. Globally, tech investment has sputtered since the outbreak spooked deal-makers, shuttered smaller outfits and forced cash-burning corporations from Oyo to Grab to rein in spending. Just 44 Silicon Valley startups won funding in March, down from 126 two months prior, according to law firm Fenwick & West LLP.
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