Jan 04, 2024

Today I came across some interesting financial news. Telco giant Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison has completed a merger, now serving over 100 million customers and expected to bring in US$340b in new value to banks through Gen AI adoption. The GrandLucky Superstore in Indonesia is using customer insights to curate its products, and Singapore’s economy is projected to grow by 2.7% in real terms next year. Additionally, SHEIN customers are showing a preference for circularity in clothing choices, and AI is set to become the ‘ultimate marketing assistant’ by assisting in content creation and other low-impact tasks. Startups in China are experiencing a 26.9% decline in VC funding, while Philippine banks have seen a 7.1% increase in lending, particularly for production activities. South Korean banks’ net income was down 23.9% in Q3, with non-interest income and return of assets both falling during the quarter.

In other financial news, Pomvom, an Israeli provider of experiential content to amusement parks and attractions, is set to go public at an implied $125m equity value, and Summit Industrial, a Houston-based industrial mechanical contractor, is being sold to Comfort Systems USA by The Stephens Group. Additionally, SoftwareOne has acquired Novis Euforia, a Spanish provider of SAP and cloud services, and Veradigm has acquired Koha Health, a revenue cycle management company based in Merrimack, N.H.

Countdown Capital, a VC firm focused on hard-tech industrial startups, is closing down and returning unused investor capital, while Goldman Sachs Asset Management has raised $650m for its first life sciences-focused growth equity fund called West Street Life Sciences. NewSpring, a private equity firm focused on lower midmarket health care, has raised $180m for its fourth fund, and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures has rebranded to INDIE and is in the process of raising up to $50m for a fund that will exclusively back bootstrapped companies.

In personnel news, Ruth Foxe Blader has left Anthemis Group to start a fintech-focused VC firm called Foxe Capital, and Michelle Carr has joined Evergreen Climate Innovations as CEO. Retired U.S. Army Captain Florent “Flo” Groberg has joined AE Industrial Partners as a VP, and Jeffrey Harbach has stepped down as CEO of Kauffman Fellows, to be succeeded by Fernando Fabre. Odyssey Investment Partners has promoted Tug Fisher to managing principal, Judah Levy to VP, and Spencer Marks to senior associate, and The Rohatyn Group has promoted Michael DeAngelo to managing director and deputy COO.

Stay Well!