The Singapore-headquartered startup that targets off-grid households in Myanmar raises follow-on equity funding from the existing Singaporean investment company

SolarHome, a solar energy startup that focusses on serving households in Myanmar, has announced that it has secured another US$1 million for equity from Trirec, an investment company that supports energy tech companies. Trirec is an existing investor in SolarHome, which makes this funding a follow-on financing that’s a part of SolarHome’s Series A round, as reported by Deal Street Asia.

Also Read: Indonesian logistics startup Kargo raises US$7.6M in seed funding round

Trirec was joined by Insitor Impact Asia, Beenext, and a group of Singapore-based family offices early last year when it invested US$4.2 million in SolarHome on a convertible note.

SolarHome was launched in 2017 seeded by fintech venture builder FORUM. With core operation in Myanmar, the company says that it has installed over 30,000 solar home systems in the country.

SolarHome is known for its Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) solar installation for off-grid homes in Southeast Asia.

Just a few days prior to funding announcement, SolarHome announced the appointment of Greg Krasnov, the chairman and founder of SolarHome, and CEO of FORUM as the company’s CEO, succeeding Ted Martynov. It also appointed Geert-Jan ten Hoonte, a senior adviser, board member, and angel investor in SolarHome as president and COO of the company.

Just in December last year, SolarHome raised an additional US$10 million debt financing from investors including Japan-based cross border crowdfunding platform Trine.

Also Read: Indonesian auto platform Mobilkamu raises Series A funding round

The company said it aims to reach up to 100,000 home installations by the end of 2019.
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Calling all corporates! We want to introduce you to the best startups in Southeast Asia

If you are serious about your corporate Innovation journey, reach out to e27 to participate in this exciting opportunity and we will answer any queries you might have.–One of the well-reported trends in Southeast Asia is that startups have begun to look beyond venture capitalists for financing.

There have been numerous cases recently of startups raising funds from high-net-worth-individuals, family offices or private equity firms.

The other major source of financing are large corporations, and while there are a lot of benefits to the strategy, it can be incredibly difficult to make a deal.

Often, it is difficult for entrepreneurs to meet the correct people within corporations; then the decision-making process can take ages.

This is where e27 can help. Our mission is, “To empower entrepreneurs with the tools to build and grow their companies” and we believe we are uniquely positioned to help startups meet corporates (and vis versa).

This is why we are excited to bring its FORGE programme to Echelon Asia Summit 2019!

FORGE is a programme designed to accelerate any corporate innovation agenda by facilitating business matching with tech startups across Southeast Asia. Our great strength as a company is a large network of relevant startups in the region and we think this can be of immense value to regional corporations.

Also Read: Ladies, tell us about your startup and win 5 FREE Echelon Asia Summit 2019 tickets!

FORGE will address the following objectives:

• Adopt technology to digitalise a business unit/workflow/system
• Develop new revenue streams, reduce inefficiencies and improve scale
• Strategic partnership opportunities for business integration/growth
• Creating quality deal flow for investment and M&A opportunities

Corporate innovation is a buzzword across the region, but actionable impact requires commitment to building relationships with startups. We hope that by making introductions, facilitating agreements and promoting exciting announcements, FORGE can drive meaningful impact and tangible outcomes for both corporations and startups.

The programme will curate startups according to regional relevance, industry verticals, business maturity and counting metrics (like revenue, users, growth rate). We are also open to customising requests according to the needs of a corporation.

Also Read: Hanoi TOP100 winner shows the best Vietnam has to offer

The intertwining of corporations and startups an inevitable part of the future of Southeast Asia, making it crucial to begin the process as soon as possible.

FORGE is an ideal platform to get the best and brightest startups into a corporate ecosystem.

We hope it can be the first step towards a a long and fruitful relationship.

If you’re serious about your corporate Innovation journey, reach out to e27 to participate in this exciting opportunity and we will answer any queries you might have.

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The lending space hasn’t been immune to the digital revolution

Twenty years ago, only the big banks had the resources and infrastructure to run a full-fledged lending operation. Now, there’s no need to open a bunch of brick-and-mortar branches or develop your own secure automation solution from scratch.

In fact, all it takes is sorting out documents with your local authorities, getting reliable software to run your business and taking care of the marketing side of things.

This type of environment has nurtured alternative lending into what it is today. Things like peer-to-peer lending, small to mid-sized loans and in-house financing all fall under the umbrella of digital and alternative lending.

And it’s taking the financial world by storm.

The reason why alternative lending is such a big deal — other than the fact that it makes the lives of regular borrowers easier and credit products more accessible — is that it can compete with the banks.

As of 2019, there are still 2.45 billion underbanked and unbanked people in the world. The more innovative lending companies there are, the faster this market will be covered and served.

As customer acquisition prices in developed countries continue to increase and technology becomes more and more accessible and affordable, global financial inclusion becomes a more realistic future scenario.

Due to today’s ease of starting a company, lending startups appear every day. The craze isn’t as all-consuming as ICOs in 2016-2018, but still, there are dozens of new companies fighting for big bank clientele.

But, not all of them are good.

That’s why I’ve decided to draw up a shortlist of lending startups worth paying attention to. Those that have proven their legitimacy, raised significant investments, moved the lending tech forward and offer an original concept.

These companies have shown that lending and investments have evolved to be effortless and stressless.

1. October EU

October.eu (formerly Lendix) is an innovative, easy-to-use, and intuitive peer-to-peer platform for lending and investing. With October, the process of getting a loan consists of three steps:

• Submit an application to see how much money you’re eligible for.
• Get a confirmation from October’s in-house analyst within 48 hours.
• Get money from an investor on your bank account within a week.

The company offers a great balance between the security of funds for lenders and the simple process for borrowers, which is reflected in reviews on Trustpilot. The peer-to-peer business model has already led the company to become one of the biggest SME lending marketplaces in Europe with more than EUR258 million (US$294 million) disbursed in funding.

2. Dharma

The Dharma team works on a platform that lets businesses build lending products on the Ethereum blockchain. Even though the crypto-hype is cooling down, there are still many potentially awesome applications for the distributed ledgers.

The goal of Dharma is to tokenize dept instruments which can have unlimited lending regardless of fiat currencies. Lenders can use the technology in a wide spectrum of ways, from peer-to-peer lending to corporate bonds or microloans.

There are several roles users can have within the system: debtors (people who need money), creditors (who look for attractive investment opportunities), underwriters (who help evaluate risks of a loan) and relayers (who help creditors find good opportunities).

Of course, blockchain-based lending isn’t for everyone. It suits specific use cases, where the distributed database addresses the needs of the system best.

3. Kabbage

The governing idea of Kabbage is that funding shouldn’t be complicated for businesses. So, the company makes an effort to provide entrepreneurs with up to US$250,000 in loans for which you can allegedly qualify for in just 10 minutes or at most, a day.

Also Read: How Echelon plans to FORGE corporate-startup relationships

That’s a big differentiator Kabbage has from many modern alternative lenders.

The company’s well-being was supported by a huge influx of US$250 million from SoftBank Group which is reasonable given Kabbage’s 115,000 customers and US$3.5 billion in loans.

The company really does offer great services and products which are reflected in their customer’s loyalty. Reportedly, an average customer uses Kabbage’s loans 20 times over three to four years compared to the industry average of 2.2 years.

4. TurnKey Lender

Founded in 2014, TurnKey Lender has already become the market’s leading intelligent all-in-one lending automation platform. It has probably already outgrown the term ‘startup’, but the company still functions as one.

The goal of the team (which I’m a proud member of) is to achieve fair and accessible lending on a global scale. The company uses AI and big data to automate and streamline all the elements of a lending process. Everything from origination to underwriting, to servicing and collection, is done by the easy-to-use system.

The company offers boxed and enterprise-based solutions for cloud lending, retail, payday loans, microfinance, lease finance, medical and dental, telecom. These solutions are suited for the alternative, SME, peer-to-peer and direct lenders, auto financing, mortgage, community banks and credit unions.

5. SoFi

The name SoFi comes from social finance and it’s another great example of a successful peer-to-peer lending operation.

Founded in 2011, the company is already a huge market player with US$30 billion worth of funded loans and 600 thousand members. The key to SoFi’s success lies in its efficiency and digitalisation. They make it possible for the company to make money while growing by keeping low rates and granting bigger savings to the clients.

Other than saving on brick-and-mortar branches and other operating expenses of an old-school lender, what makes this company special is their selective approach to borrowers. In their own decision-making process, the team takes into consideration some of the more unorthodox factors like estimated cash flow, career, and education.

As a result of smart risk mitigation, way more borrowers pay them back. And due to that, SoFi can reduce interest, grow a reliable and loyal customer base, and still — make money.

6. Affirm

Affirm goes a different route than most alternative lenders. The idea behind it is enabling in-house financing for retail businesses. So, the store’s customers get an instant loan with zero to 30 per cent interest rates.

It works like this: Affirm processes businesses orders, gives money to the seller, and then deals with the borrowers on their own. The idea has proven to work quite effectively with tons of retailers jumping on board.

7. Lendio

With quite a unique approach, Lendio offers small business an opportunity to get services and credit products from lenders with the best conditions. It’s a marketplace with more than 75 lenders on board. The system helps you work with any and all of them to make sure your business gets the best treatment.

Also Read: PropertyGuru goes beta with nifty augmented reality feature

The company strives to make the whole process of getting a loan as easy as possible, boiling it down to just 15 minutes. Lendio mainly focuses on small business owners which have led them to serve more than 40,000 loans to date.

The next big goal for a company is to help businesses get at least US$1 billion in loans each year.

Final thoughts

Of course, the end-users still have to be very careful in choosing the company they are going to be in debt with, but getting a safe low-interest loan has never been that easy.

Some say that these startups can become the new financial market moguls who control the rates and set their own monopolistic rules. But it’s very unlikely to happen due to the fact that the industry’s entry barrier has gotten a lot lower.

Rather, they are examples of how the whole economic system is moving in the right direction. More people have a chance to start a lending business, become an investor or get a loan on attractive terms.

There will be bumps on the road, but the trend we’re seeing with alternative lenders and lending platforms is a good one, both for communities and for the more general well-being of the society.

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Image Credits: golubovy

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

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Dana Cita will launch in the Philippines under localised moniker Bukas

Indonesia-based student loan platform Dana Cita announced that it has officially operated in the Philippines, as told by Tech In Asia. Dana Cita will launch in the country

Indonesian fintech startup Dana Cita has expanded to the Philippines. It will launch in the country under a localised brand name, Bukas, a Filipino-word that can mean “open” and “tomorrow”.

Also Read: Solar energy startup SolarHome secures additional US$1M from Trirec

Dana Cita is an online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform for students to get loans to fund their university degrees to short vocational courses studies. It was the third Indonesian startup to graduate from Y Combinator’s Silicon Valley accelerator program.

“Our platform’s loan default rate is at around 6 per cent, and we expect it to decrease as our portfolio grows,” said co-founder of Dana Cita, Naga Tan.

In the past, Dana Cita has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Spotify backer, GE32 Capital in January 2018. Just this January, the company reportedly secured funding from San Francisco-based Patamar Capital.

Also Read: Indonesian logistics startup Kargo raises US$7.6M in seed funding round

To date, Dana Cita claims to have borrowers from over 150 educational institutions across 18 of Indonesia’s provinces. Dana Cita, along with two other P2P lenders Aktivaku and Findaya, has formed a partnership with ride-hailing company Go-Jek last Septmeber.
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Image credit: Richard Lee / Flickr

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Blockchain tech redefines the loyalty program ecosystem by providing a platform that interconnects different brands’ and organisations’ loyalty programs

As much as profitability is a paramount to businesses and marketers, securing customer loyalty is a very vital aspect that must never be ignored. Getting customers to purchase your products or patronise your brand once isn’t good enough, the goal is to ensure that they remain loyal to your brand, evident in repeat purchases. A customer once loyal to a brand has the potential to attract other potential customers to the brand.

In order to maintain customer loyalty, marketers employ several promotional strategies one of which is the development of loyalty programs and rewards. With this system customers get cards and earn loyalty points with which they can use to get incentives or rewards from the same brand. This reward system is being practiced globally by thousands of brands in an effort to maintain loyalty of customers to their brands.

Whilst creating loyalty programs are essential for brands as part of gaining competitive edge, one must not also overlook amount of resources these brands put into these programs. The important question here then becomes a question of effectiveness and efficiency. Do these loyalty programs generate the leads they were meant to generate? How profitable are these programs to the organisation? Do they really stimulate loyalty to justify the amount of resources expended?

Effectiveness of Loyalty Programs

A recent survey carried out in the US showed that average consumers are only active in 6 out of 13 loyalty programs they sign up. This in essence means the rest of the programs they sign up with end up being dormant and not effective in stimulating their loyalty. This is mirrored round the world as various brands and organisations have developed thousands of loyalty programs with lots of consumers signing up for these programs and only using up about half of them.

When loyalty programs are signed up for and not used, that only signifies one thing — ineffectiveness. This in other words, show there’s something missing that needs to be addressed. Customers need to go along with what these programs were designed for.

Within Canada and US alone, there’s over $100 billion worth of loyalty points that have remained unused. This shouldn’t sound strange as it’s no news how customers don’t engage most of these loyalty programs. A coupling fact is also the issue loyalty cards given to the customers. Each brand has its own specific loyalty card which in turn piles up in the hands or wallet of the customer. This makes it even more difficult for customers to keep track of what card they have and how much point they’ve earned.

It’s also worthy to note that most of these programs, if not all are exclusive to each brand. This implies, each loyalty program is specific to the brand and cannot be used across other brands to obtain rewards. Points earned on one brand are not transferable to other programs hence, the consumer is not fully motivated or stimulated to make use of them especially when most of the points are not enough to claim any reward of some good value.

The effectiveness of loyalty programs can only be enhanced if measures are adequately taken to stimulate consumer engagement with the programs and also create the possibility of universal usage of loyalty points.

Also read: The art of customer loyalty

A Blockchain Window

Since the advent of blockchain, there has been a myriad of applications and developments leveraging on the technology in many different fields and sectors. The loyalty sector however, is not being left out as blockchain company Appsolutely has developed ways leveraging blockchain technology to redefine the loyalty program ecosystem. The framework not just only ensures consumer engagement with loyalty programs but also a platform that makes room for interconnectivity across different brands’ and organisations’ loyalty programs.

The company recently created a universal mobile app that enables users earn and redeem points anywhere, anytime — LoyalWallet. Their aim is to create the world’s largest loyalty network where points from thousands of different brands are interchangeable.

This will in a greater way stimulate more consumer engagement with these programs and a better incentive to use up loyalty points. When consumers know they can use points across different brands, they remain motivated to keep track of points and also use them up.

This technology has opened opportunities for business collaborations with companies in multiple industries, as well as international recognition. The company, based in the Philippines, became the trusted loyalty system provider for the country’s biggest brands.

With the platform, all consumers need to do is download the universal customer loyalty app for free. Users can earn credits when they transact with participating merchants. Instead of traditional loyalty points, they will get credits that will also accepted at other brands within the network. The credits can also be used to purchase discounted vouchers and coupons worldwide. Users can use their LCredits to purchase miles and vouchers from global brands like Walmart, Amazon, Starbucks and several others.

The development of this framework is indeed laudable as marketers and brands will have full knowledge of the effectiveness of loyalty programs whilst consumers will be more inclined to increase their level of engagement with the loyalty programs, thus accessing rewards. With blockchain as the backbone for this framework, transparency, security and interoperability are some of the features rest assured will be fully guaranteed.

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

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