Infina raised $2 million successfully from international investors

Vietnamese investment app Infina announced that it has received $2 million in an oversubscribed seed round. This round includes Saison Capital, Venturra Discovery, 1982 Ventures, 500 Startups, Nextrans, unnamed executives at Google and Netflix, and international angels. With the new funding, Infina aims to fuel its growth and expand its product offerings. “To address that demand Infina is building the ‘Robinhood of Vietnam’ to make investment accessible, easy, and engaging for the country’s middle and lower classes,” Infina co-founder James Vuong said. Infina’s current financial partners include Dragon Capital Vietnam, ACB Capital, Mirae Asset Fund Management, Viet Capital Asset Management.  

Katalon raises $27 million from Elephant Partners

Katalon, a leading test automation platform, closed $27 million Series A funding led by Elephant Venture Capital. The platform has provided a solution for teams to quickly adopt and scale test automation to deliver better software faster. Katalon launched the TestOps test orchestration platform to streamline the continuous testing process. They are working on features that will help make testing more efficient by leveraging AI capabilities. This investment will grow the leadership team, accelerate the delivery of Katalon’s roadmap and expand go-to-market capabilities. “Software is a crucial driver of business innovation and a key competitive tool for many enterprises,” said Vu Lam, CEO of Katalon. “Katalon’s mission is to help companies release software at a faster pace with high quality.” With a flexible platform for web, API, mobile, and desktop testing that fits teams, projects of any size, and any purpose, Katalon is used by a global community across over 160 countries. 

Phuc Long goes global with its first store in the US

Phuc Long beverage chain will open its first store in the US next month. The store will be located in Garden Grove, California. Last month, TNI King Coffee chain opened its first store inside a mall in California. Other Vietnamese coffee chains also have branched out to foreign markets. For instance, Cong Ca Phe has six stores in South Korea and two stores in Malaysia, Trung Nguyen E-Coffee has a store in Laos.

Shopee expands to food delivery; extends its activities to the Latin Americas

Shopee is looking to expand its list of services to include food delivery in Malaysia. the e-commerce platform said it is recruiting delivery couriers in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The announcement comes seven months after Shopee partnered with US-based Weyland Tech to offer food and grocery delivery services in Jakarta, Indonesia. ShopeeFood’s Malaysia foray will see Shopee competing with already established players such as foodpanda, GrabFood, and Lalamove. The platform is also continuing its push into the Latin American markets.

LG International is renamed as LX International

LG International has taken the decision to rename itself LX International, hoping to be reborn as a company fit to compete with other leading companies. The new name reflects the company’s intention never to cower away from new advancements and its intention to go beyond its existing role as a trading company. Hopefully, the new company will be able to lead the way for a more sustainable future globally. “We will try to maximize the effectiveness of our existing business to improve profitability and response to market changes. The company will also focus on the resources and capabilities in future growth engines, in consideration of environmental, social and governance criteria, as well as growth potential,” said CEO Yoon Chung-sung. In May 2021, LG International was put under LX Holdings which is LG Group’s new holding company. This was all part of the company’s restructuring plan.

Sources of information include TechCrunch, VNExpress, TechInAsia, Reuters, Yonhap.