In a week marked by promising advancements in the Southeast Asian startup scene, companies spanning diverse sectors have successfully raised significant capital.
From Stilt Studios’s innovative approach to sustainable housing to Vulcan Augmetics’s affordable prosthetics, these startups are making waves in the region.
This article delves into the funding rounds and notable investors behind their impressive growth.
Stilt Studios (Indonesia)
Founded in 2019 by German serial entrepreneur Florian Holm, Stilt Studios makes it possible to configure a variety of cabins, studios, and multi-storey family homes out of standard components; it’s comparable to stacking Lego bricks. High-quality teak and bengkirai wood are used as the main building material.
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The system reduces installation time to one to two months per house instead of a year or longer for conventional buildings.
The houses have an embedded carbon footprint (total carbon emissions from materials and the building process) — at least 50 per cent smaller than a comparable conventional building. Due to the elevated design, ground sealing is reduced by at least 90 per cent.
Capital raised: US$10 million
Round: Debt and equity
Investors: Christian Hymer, the former owner of Hymer, Germany’s market leader in motor homes.
Factorem (Singapore)
Established in 2020, Factorem is a cloud platform providing end-to-end fulfilment services tailored for on-demand, low volume, and no minimum order quantity parts. The platform offers access to various manufacturing technologies, including CNC Machining, 3D printing, sheet metal fabrication, and surface treatment.
Its core mission is to offer a seamless and hassle-free experience for businesses seeking bespoke and complex custom parts across various industries, such as industrial automation, robotics, biotechnology, and telecommunications.
Capital raised: Undisclosed
Round: Seed funding
Investor: Blue InCube Ventures.
AMODA (Indonesia)
Founded in October 2021 by Yovianto and Agusti Salman Farizi, AMODA is a construction tech startup aiming to enhance the process of construction, “making it 2x faster, cheaper, and more transparent”. It uses cloud manufacturing and prefabrication technology to build solutions for individuals and businesses in Indonesia, from SMEs and high-growth firms to large enterprises.
AMODA provides a dashboard with thorough and transparent pricing, construction, and leasing information.
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Since its inception, AMODA claims to have recorded at least 4x revenue growth year over year. The company has a portfolio of over 200 construction assets, collaborating with over 50 contractor partners nationwide and engaging with more than 30 landowners.
Capital raised: Undisclosed
Round: Unknown
Investors: East Ventures and Living Lab Ventures.
Vulcan Augmetics (Vietnam)
Vulcan is a Vietnamese developer of biometric sensors and customisable modular robotic prosthetics. Operating through proprietary Machine Learning software, Vulcan Augmetics aims to provide affordable sensor technology that digitises the prosthetics process, making them accessible to underserved amputees in the developing world.
The startup makes wearable biosignal sensors and software that digitise the fitting and rehabilitation process for assistive devices (starting with prosthetics). According to the firm, this enables people to use them in under two minutes (compared to six to 18 hours industry standard) and cuts fitting times by over 60 per cent.
Vulcan Augmetics envisions broadening its scope beyond prosthetics to encompass the full suite of wearable technologies, from diagnostic and health devices such as Fitbit to AR and VR control systems.
Capital raised: Undisclosed
Round: Unknwon
Investor: Quest Ventures
Employment Hero (Australia, Singapore, Malaysia)
Founded by Ben Thompson and Dave Tong, Employment Hero has built an all-in-one platform to recruit, onboard, pay and manage talent. Its super-app Swag is a real-time control centre, empowering employees to manage their work and financial lives. Since its inception in 2014, it has expanded to New Zealand, the UK, Malaysia, and Singapore.
The firm claims to serve over 300,000 SMEs and 2 million employees globally.
Capital raised: US$167 million
Round: Series F
Investors: TCV, Insight Partners, AirTree, Seek, and OneVentures.
Parlon (Philippines)
Parlon is a B2B2C beauty & wellness and fintech platform in the Philippines. Established by Kristine Claire Ongcangco and Miko Cornejo (co-founders of Concept Machine), Parlon provides a software solution to empower merchant clients to streamline operations, implement a CRM system, automate Viber and SMS reminders, and manage and accept bookings and payments (online and offline).
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It has a vast network of salon and wellness centres, has onboarded over 500 salon and wellness brands, and has over a thousand branches in the Philippines.
Capital raised: US$400K
Round: Pre-seed
Investors: WIP Global Ventures, A2D Ventures, and angels.
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