Bloomberg Aspire Pte, a fintech startup serving businesses, raised $100 million in a round that more than doubled its valuation, defying a market downturn for young tech firms. The Singapore-based company said in a statement it struck a deal for financing led by Lightspeed and Sequoia Capital Southeast Asia. Paypal Ventures, Tencent Holdings Ltd, LGT Capital Partners and previous …

  Bloomberg Embattled tycoon Gautam Adani’s challenges have knocked the confidence of strategic insurance investors seeking to establish partnerships in India, according to Bain & Co’s mergers and acquisitions head for Asia Pacific. Global firms, which typically hold significant stakes in the government-regulated sector, are worried about finding strong local partners who they can trust, said Bain’s Harshveer Singh. “They …

Bloomberg India is likely to witness more extreme weather events, including intense heat waves, heavy flooding and severe drought that pose challenges to food and energy security for the second-most populous nation. “The extremes are increasing — hot is becoming hotter and cold is becoming colder,” said M Ravichandran, the top bureaucrat at the country’s earth sciences ministry. This trend …