A new beginning

• 500-backed Indonesia-based startup BukuKas has secured US$80 million in a Series C funding round led by Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital India. This follows a US$50 million Series B raised last year.
• BukuKas also announced that it has rebranded to Lummo. The startup first launched in 2019 as a digital bookkeeping app. It then expanded to e-commerce with LummoShop (formerly Tokko) in 2020.
• What’s next for Lummo? It plans to use the fresh funds to hire more technology, product management, and design talents to support teams in Indonesia and India. It will also be spent on community-building programs and onboarding more merchants onto the platform.
• In a statement, the startup said that the gross merchandise value of LummoShop grew 11x from December 2020 to December 2021. It added that its app attracted more than 1 million merchants last year.
• Read the full article on Tech in Asia. A subscription may be required.

Convenience at a touch

• 500-backed cross-border payments platform EMQ announced what it calls a significant enhancement to its global payment capabilities. Its real-time payments network enables enterprises and their customers to effectively transfer money to major mobile wallets in Indonesia.
• Steven Liu, Global Head of Networks and Expansion at the startup said, “As we continue to expand and optimize our payout network, we are able to provide increased access to the vibrant wallet ecosystems, while helping our customers tap into new markets.”
• EMQ claims its solutions are currently available across Europe, 11 countries in Asia, the United Kingdom and 19 markets in Africa. According to the article, expansion is underway in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.
• Read the full story on Yahoo! Finance.

Connecting the dots

• Carousell Media Group, the advertising arm of 500-backed recommerce marketplace Carousell Group has launched Connect, claimed to be a first-of-its-kind recommerce programmatic buying platform.
• According to a statement, Connect is powered by best-in-class demand-side platform (DSP) adtech. DSP enables advertisers to buy mobile, search, and video ads from a marketplace on which publishers list advertising inventory. This allows for the management of advertising across many real-time bidding networks, as opposed to just one.
• Connect was initially offered to selected advertisers, including global sporting goods retailer Decathlon.
• A Decathlon representative said, “We partnered with Carousell Media Group for the first time during our 2021 11.11 campaign in Singapore…we generated a large number of website traffic which exceeded our initial expectations. Moreover, Connect managed to help us scale this tactical campaign and reach more users in what was a competitive period.”
• Read the full story on Marketing Interactive.