Vietnamese startup Waves raises US$1.2M seed funding for its podcast service 

Waves, an audio and podcast startup, announced today that it has raised US$1.2 million seed funding in a round led by Singapore’s Insignia Ventures Partners, with participation from Hustle Fund and Skystar Capital, according to KrAsia.

Waves founders Kevin Gao and Ben Minh Le have said that the startup “aims to become one of the leading platforms in Southeast Asia for podcast and audio content”. Currently, the platform has more than 30 original programmes, 50 programmes created with partners, and has hosted 500,000 other programmes which users can stream for free.

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The company will be launching a mobile app on the Apple Store and Google Play this month and will focus on producing more original content with Vietnamese content creators.

VC firm Beenext ropes in Hero Choudhary as new partner

Singapore-based VC firm Beenext has roped in Hero Choudhary as a new Partner.

Together with other leaderships and team members, he will focus on supporting the founders of portfolio companies to scale their business toward the growth stage of the startup journey, including potential IPOs in the future.

Beenext is an early-stage VC firm with a focus tech startups primarily in India, Southeast Asia, and Japan.

Teruhide Sato, Founder and Managing Partner of Beenext, said: “Hero has a great depth of
knowledge in technology companies. With his extensive network among growth-stage to public market investors globally, we believe Hero can strengthen Beenext’s core ability in supporting our portfolio companies’ founders and enhance the Partnership for the Founders which we facilitate across the region.”

Fintech company XPay.Life launches in India

XPay.Life, a product of XIPHIAS providing a one-stop solution to pay multi-utility bills using a single window, has launched its operations in India.

Powered by a blockchain-based transaction framework, the company offers a wide spectrum of digital bill payment services, including touch-screen kiosk, web, mobile app, POS device and mobile ATP van.

XPay.Life caters to both B2B and B2C segments.

Founded by Rohit Kumar (CEO) and Bohitesh Misra (COO & CTO), XPay.Life accepts both cash and credit/debit cards as a digital method of payment. It is based on the AMBIC model, which stands for Artificial Intelligence, Mobility, Blockchain, IoT and Cloud, to provide transparency during transactions.

e27 launches Indonesia’s agritech report 

As Indonesia continues to develop as a hub for startups, the agritech industry has seen millions of dollars of investment coming in from private investors.

e27 has launched an in-depth report of the growing agritech ecosystem in Indonesia. This research report attempts to include all the major developments in the ecosystem including expert comments and insights from industry leaders.

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The 43-page basic version of the report has been uploaded, however the full report is for paid subscribers only.To read the full version please email engage@e27.co

Image Credit:  Fernando Lavin

The post Afternoon News Roundup: Vietnamese startup Waves raises US$1.2M seed funding for its podcast service appeared first on e27.