The Malaysia-grown startup also got support from Commerce.Asia to close the round in late 2018

Claimed itself to be the largest homegrown dropshipping platform, Malaysia-based Kumoten has raised pre-Series A funding led by Cradle Fund and joined by Commerce.Asia Ventures. To date, the company shared that it has more than 100,000 stock keeping units (SKUs) in its catalogue.

Back in 2017, Kumoten has garnered Commerce DotAsia Ventures Sdn Bhd (Commerce.Asia)’s attention in a seed stage, and received mentorship from the venture’s founder and executive chairman Kumar Bangah under Commerce.Asia’s GrowthX Market Acceleration Program. Now, the venture came back for Kumoten’s aid in this round led by Cradle Fund.

Also Read: Vietnam’s FastGo commences operation in Myanmar

Kumoten has said that the fund from this recent equity round will be used to expand its product research and development team, as well as talent acquisition. It also plans to launch local dropshipping sites in Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand.

Kumoten’s CEO Isaac Leong has expressed that Kumoten will continue to be the seller-centered solution that helps sellers take care of their stock information and cash flow info.

“We want online sellers to enjoy selling online and to focus on sales and marketing activities instead of worrying about the cost of investing in stocks, taking product photos and writing product descriptions,” said Leong.

Kumoten is said to be the first in adopting the Automated Dropship system, where users do not have to download or copy and paste product data. Their approach is called “pay-as-you-sell” instead of the conventional business model of “buy-first, sell-later”, helping to remove the risks of keeping stocks.

Also Read: Thailand’s official tech center to include blockchain-based voting

So far, the company that was founded in 2014 by Leong and his brother, Leong Yew Meng, has worked alongside online marketplaces in Malaysia such as Lazada, Shopee, Lelong.my and 11Street.my.
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Image Credit: Kumoten

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We also have a funding news for the life sciences unit of Google’s Alphabet, Apple’s stock price, and a moon landing

Google Maps blamed for congested Jakarta alleyways – The Jakarta Post

Yoga Adiwinarto, country director for the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy in Indonesia, has urged Google to stop recommending Jakarta alleyways in its special motorbike route feature on Google Maps.

“The function of these kampong roads is different from that of main roads. The former are meant to accommodate pedestrians and provide residents with public space,” he said.

According to a report by The Jakarta Post, residents of several neighbourhoods in the city have complained about the increasing number of motorcyclists passing through their alleyways, which often only have the width of an adult’s outstretched arms.

Some neighbourhoods even ban motorcyclists from entering their alleyways; some would stop passing motorcyclists to warn them against endangering children.

Motorcyclists have been following the route as recommended by Google Maps in order to avoid congestion on main roads.

Alphabet’s life-science unit Verily raises US$1B – Dealstreet Asia

Alphabet Inc’s life sciences division Verily has announced a US$1 billion investment round led by private equity firm Silver Lake, Dealstreet Asia reported.

The funding round also included the participation of Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

The company plans to use the new funding to support acquisitions and partnerships as well as to advance business strategies.

Starting off as a research and development unit in Google, Verily received a US$800 million investment from Temasek in 2017.

The company is working on several projects with pharmaceutical companies to research on surgical robots and develop retina scan technology for eye diseases detection.

Also Read: Google wraps up the year with Singapore’s trending list for the past year

China’s lunar probe successfully landed on the far side of the moon – Xinhua, SCMP

The China National Space Administration announced that the country’s lunar probe Change’e-4 has touched down on the far side of the moon on Thursday, becoming the first spacecraft soft-landing on the moon’s uncharted side, which was never visible from Earth.

According to a report by Xinhua, the probe consists of a lander and a rover.

An earlier report by South China Morning Post said that the lunar probe will be used for “astronomical observation using low-frequency radio, surveying the terrain and landforms, detecting the mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure, and measuring neutron radiation and neutral atoms.”

Apple’s stock drops 38 per cent in 90 days – TechCrunch

Apple’s stock was down more than nine per cent overnight and continued its downward trend in trading in the morning, TechCrunch reported.

The company has been dropping a total of 38 per cent since October, leading it to halt trading on Thursday to provide lower guidance for upcoming trading.

The downward trend is attributed to the slowdown of iPhone sales, which D. A. Davidson senior analyst Tom Forte dubbed as “surprising” though “not unexpected.”

“We knew that iPhone unit sales were weak, but just not how weak,” he said.

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Image Credit: Yulia Agnis on Unsplash

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In addition to its rebranding to wellspaces Group, Freeware Spaces also introduced new set of brands in its portfolio

Indonesian co-working and co-living chain Freeware Spaces today announced its rebrand to wellspaces Group, effective January 1, 2019.

With the rebrand, the company also announced its new set of brands in its portfolio:

workwell (co-working space and serviced office)
wellspaces Group currently runs four co-working and serviced office facilities with a plan to launch 10 more in 2019. The company works with building or space owner to manage the coworking facilities. Indonesian startups that had begun its operations at workwell facilities include Bukalapak, Urbanesia, Sayurbox, Ralali, eFishery, and Kumparan.

dwell (co-living houses)
Co-living will be one of the company’s main focus in the coming years; it has teamed up with a team of hospitality industry experts to transform Indonesia’s existing concept of rented rooms.

wellkitchen (co-kitchen and food market)
Targeted at F&B startups, the facility aims to connect founders with potential customers, suppliers, vendors, and other parties to collaborate with and help their business grow.

Also Read: Indonesian coworking spaces Rework, GoWork announce merger

wellsociety (members identity and loyalty rewards programme
In addition to loyalty rewards programme, wellsociety also includes a mobile platform to connect members with each other, give access to wellspaces’s facilities and services, and customer relations management.

In an official statement, wellspaces Group CMO and Co-Founder Fritz Aradhana Dylan Prabawa explained that the company does not want to limit itself into one type of portfolio.

“We see a great opportunity of spaces in Jakarta alone with low to no occupancy to be altered into a revenue stream,” he said.

Prabawa also stated that the rebranding process began with his appointment into the company six months ago.

wellspaces started out in 2012 as Freeware Spaces. One of the earliest co-working spaces in the country, the company began by running a facility in Antasari, South Jakarta, with an oil and gas company as its backer.

The facility serves as an incubator for early stages startups, providing free work space for these companies.

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Image Credit: wellspaces Group

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Just like the business is benefitted by ECF, investors can also make a lot of money though it may seem that investing in startups is highly risky

There are several distinct surveys that show that founders, who are directly and initially ignored by venture capitalists (VCs), have found success with equity crowdfunding (ECF). It is a common scene that people of colour and women seldom win the backing of VCs, and for this reason they are either found lagging behind their competitors or look for other promising alternatives. One such beneficial alternative is the equity crowdfunding.

According to recent research conducted by the Harvard Business School, it is found that women are less than 10 per cent of the VC and entrepreneurial labour pool. On the other hand, the Hispanics are at a low 2 per cent and the African Americans with a meagre one per cent and below.

This segment of business entrepreneurs has found significant help and a reliable source in ECF for empowering their entrepreneurial quality and eradicate the inequality. This way ECF is helping the women and minorities to overcome many of the challenges that they face historically when it comes to raising their VC for their business. In fact, their recent report shows a lot of promise that ECF seems to be providing to this specific business segment and is improving the miscellany of the VC landscape.

Also Read: 4 factors to consider before you invest in a crowdfunding platform

In recent years, a lot of ECF investments are made on companies with underrepresented founders based on colour and gender as compared to the traditional VC industry.

Reasons for such diversity

The fact that the VCs favour the founders with colour and women less seems to have stemmed from a background of the people and networks such as schools, associations and even past jobs.

• In essence, there seems to be an invisible barrier to the entry point at the VC landscape, simply due to the fact that one does not know the right people to access for such benefits.
• The World Wide Web has significantly helped in removing such restrictions and obstacles and provides equal access to all those people, who want to invest in different vetted startup companies.
• When you consider the current demographics of theequity crowd investors, you will see that it is basically represented by the entire tapestry of Americana right from Miami to Seattle and to New York ensuring a pretty uniform mix. The common age group ranges from 35 to 50 years.

You will find a lot of source for ECF which happens to be just the beginning of a bright and prosperous future. After the US SEC implemented the Title III rule of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, JOBS Act, situations are bound to improve for the better as the new law will:

• Empower members of the public who are not an accredited investor to invest in early-stage companies
• Include certain limitations in funding to protect the new investors and
• Be very strict about whom to accept into the program.

The primary reason for such strictness is to ensure safety, stability and the desired success of these businesses and to deliver the desired results and products as much as possible.

Process of funding

Every year, the number of applicants desiring ECF is increasing. However, investments are made after an extensive and thorough vetting process is conducted. It is for this reason that only a handful of these applications pass through the first stage of the investment process. Though reliable and reputable sources such as liberty lending and others may not charge any upfront fees to apply, it is mandatory that all these companies are USbased and have the required pitch deck.

• After the application is accepted, it is required by the companies to file a short financial statement and at the same time do a proper SEC filing.
• It is after this process that the team of experts will create a deal page with pictures, video, and a copy explaining the job of the company so that everything can be quick, clearly and easily understood by the public as well as the average investors.
• After the campaign is launched, the company now has to raise an unitemized minimum amount to get the investment funds. If any company is unable to raise even the minimum amount than all the money is returned to the investors.
• On the other hand, on reaching to the funding goal successfully the company will have to pay 6%of the entire funds raised in cash. Along with that, the company will have to pay another 2% of all the securities issued during the campaign.

Every company can participate in such programmes even those that are in the seed stage but the publicly traded companies are not allowed to participate in it. Those companies that are accepted continue to enjoy the benefits and get ongoing support, mentorship and advice apart from getting an account manager who helps the founders through the fundraising process. These companies also get the entire community to access including the extensive network of traditional venture capitalist investors and conferences.

The entire process is very much ongoing and a continuous relationship is built. This ensures that there is the required alignment of interest on both ends that will eventually help the companies to succeed.

Any investor can make money

Just like the business is benefitted by ECF, investors can also make a lot of money though it may seem that investing in startups is highly risky. Yes, there is a fair amount of risk of the money sinking investing in a startup, but on the flip side there is, however, a high chance of making a very attractive return on your investment and you will be rewarded handsomely.

Over the years, the lending policy and the rules and regulations governing ECF have changed and that, too, is a very significant proportion. These changes have provided the investors with an assurance that their investments if made cautiously, will be safe and high yielding.

Therefore, if you want to raise your capital through or want to invest in ECF there seems to be very little to worry in both cases.

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Editor’s note: e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash

 

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The incubation program is supported by Singapore government agency Enterprise Singapore

LongHash, the global-scale blockchain incubator, will launch an incubation program tha focuses on getting behind early-stage blockchain startups. The program will be centered in the product development, go-to market strategy, and fundraising, all done through maximising the incubator’s network and blockchain experience.

For the initial cohort that will run from this month to March this year, five startups have been selected. LongHash has shared that it plans to incubate up to 30 projects for the next two years with the goal to help these projects eventually set up regional offices in Singapore.

Also Read: Malaysia’s dropshipping platform Kumoten secures pre-Series A funding from Cradle Fund

“Singapore is a key strategic location for LongHash for three reasons 1) friendly regulatory environment and generous government support, such as Enterprise Singapore’s backing of LongHash; 2) vibrant South East Asia blockchain community with Singapore at the center of it; 3) vast amount of potential use cases for the use of distributed technology. We expect to see Singapore playing a pivotal role in shaping global blockchain technology landscape,” said Emma Cui, CEO of LongHash Singapore.

LongHash’s mission with their base in Singapore is to accelerate the development and understanding of blockchain technology.

Aside from partnering with Enterprise Singapore, LongHash also has global partners that include blockchain venture capital firm Fenbushi as well as Chinese conglomerate Wanxiang Group.

“Blockchain is an emerging technology that can potentially benefit many industries with its application. We hope that LongHash can nurture more successful blockchain startups in Singapore through its network of experts and mentors,” said Yeo Meow Ling, Director of New Industries at Enterprise Singapore on welcoming more global incubators.

Also Read: Thailand’s official tech center to include blockchain-based voting

LongHash’s current global network includes offices in Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Berlin, and Zug.
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