Building brick by brick

• Following their success in Singapore and Indonesia, 500-backed proptech company 99 Group is gearing up to expand in Southeast Asia.
• To do that, 99 Group is raising US$52M – with US$37M already secured and a further US$15M to be closed in the coming months, with the majority already committed.
• The fresh funds will be invested in the team’s existing markets, and focused on innovation, research and development, as well as regional expansion.
• “This is the perfect timing to raise capital as we have established leadership in core markets, and are ready to expand to new markets with all the technology, experience, and operational capabilities we have built,” said CEO Darius Cheung.
• Read the full story on The Business Times.

It takes two

• Good partners are a blessing to come by, and 500-backed drone startup Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS) and Tata Steel found in each other, and are teaming up for the second time.
• Together, they will develop and offer end-to-end integrated drone solutions to improve efficiency, safety, and productivity in mining operations. AUS will also provide drone-based solutions, including mine analytics and geotechnical mapping to Tata Steel group companies across various stocks and mining locations in India.
• They last partnered in 2021 to map the progress of a plant by carrying out drone surveys and performing mine analyses.
• According to AUS, they have been profitable since 2019. So far, the company has mapped over 5M acres, 15K villages, 35 cities in India, 250+ mines, and 350+ stockyards for mining, metal, and power companies.
• Read the full article on Inc42.

 Size doesn’t matter

• “Our objective is to enable every size of business to deliver the best ecommerce experience, even from the smallest merchants. In doing that, we hope to democratize the ecommerce experience for customers,” said Arne Jeroschewski, Founder & CEO of 500-backed logistics company Parcel Perform.
• Arne shared the team helps businesses that started out in offline retail, make the transition online .
• “Our objective is to create a platform to enable even small businesses to deliver great (ecommerce) experiences to customers,” he explained.
• “Customers should not have great experiences with just the Amazons, Lazadas, or Shopees of the world. They should have great experiences with all their merchants!”
• Watch the full interview here.