This heavily-funded online automobile marketplace has done everything possible to make its employees happy and healthy

What is the greatest asset of an enterprise? Is it a great business idea, a team of experienced and veteran leaders or great infrastructure and resources?

While every aspect has a significant role to play, it is the employees of an organisation that bring all these elements together and turn ideas into reality. This, then makes employees arguably the most significant organisational resource, which demand focused attention and engagement.

In India, online automobile marketplace Droom has been giving great focus to employee engagement and care, organising fun activities. The company claims careful planning has gone in identifying the right kind of activities that result in holistic care of employees.

Recently, Droom tied up with one of the leading spa and massage service providers in Gurugram, which will frequently organise Zumba training sessions, rejuvenating massages, chair yoga sessions and meditation days at its office.

While Zumba, chair yoga and meditation sessions are to be held once in a week, the massage sessions will be available to Droom employees once in a month.

According to Founder and CEO Sandeep Aggarwal, it is the organisational constituents that determine its success. “Employee engagement and attention is an avenue that needs considerable attention and at Droom, we ensure every one of us feels constantly connected to the team, colleagues and the organisation and the bond grows stronger throughout the hierarchies.”

Droom was founded by Aggarwal, who is also Co-founder and former CEO of ShopClues, an e-commerce unicorn in India. Droom is an online marketplace for buying and selling new and used automobiles.

Droom is headquartered in Gurugram, with a team size of over 365. It has four marketplace formats — B2C, C2C, C2B and B2B. The platform offers a range of categories from bicycle to plane and all automobile services such as warranty, RSA, insurance and auto loan.

Droom boasts of having nearly 250,000 auto dealers in more than 500 cities across India on its platform and 27.3 million monthly visitors.

Droom is a Singapore holding company with subsidiaries in India and the United States. The company has so far raised close to US$125 million over six rounds of funding.

Some of the prominent investors are Lightbox, Beenext, Beenos, Digital Garage, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Integrated Assets Management and family office of Japanese investor Joe Hirao, Founder ZIGExN.

Last May, Droom secured US$30 million in Series D funding, led by Toyota Tsusho Corporation, a member of automobile giant Toyota Group, and co-led by Japanese tech company Digital Garage.

Image Credit: Droom.

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The unicorn status is a mean and not an end, according to Bukalapak President and Co-Founder Fajrin Rasyid

Get insights from Fajrin Rasyid and more at Echelon Asia Summit 2019. Happening on May 23-24 at the Singapore Expo. Tickets are now available at US$10 each!

The year 2018 was fantastic for Indonesian e-commerce startup Bukalapak.

After expanding to fintech verticals with the launch of their gold and mutual funds trading in 2017, the startup continued on adding new offerings for their customers with the launch of its O2O initiative Mitra Bukalapak, which enables individuals or small businesses owners to act as an agent for Bukalapak services.

With the launch of the initiative, the company managed to secure a total of 1.2 million new users (500,000 small businesses or warung owners and more than 700,000 individuals) in addition to the four million merchants in its online marketplace.

The company had also secured a partnership with Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Ministry of Research and Technology to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud innovation lab at the campus, in addition to its own R&D centre.

Last but not least, Bukalapak had been crowned as Indonesia’s fourth unicorn startup through its latest funding round.

Also Read: Bukalapak confirms new funding round by Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund

In an interview at the startup’s office in South Jakarta with e27, President and Co-Founder Fajrin Rasyid explains their views on the unicorn status.

“Being a unicorn is a means, not an end. It is just like gas stations; we need to stop at a gas station to add fuel [to our vehicle] so that we can reach our destination … We don’t build companies in order to look for investments. We are here to serve the customers,” he says.

“However, we are grateful of the trust given by our users and investors, which had encouraged us to give more to our customers, employees, and stakeholders,” he adds.

The sleeping giant

During our interview, we also discussed about the state of Indonesian e-commerce industry. Despite being the breeding ground of four unicorn startups, and continuing to receive a flow of funds from abroad, Rasyid sees that there are many parts of Indonesia’s potential that remains unknown to the international community.

“Some even called Indonesia the biggest invisible country,” he points out.

Also Read: Naver Corp possibly takes part in Bukalapak’s potential fresh funding

This has led to Indonesian talents being overlooked by the global tech community. Rasyid describes how the global tech industry is more familiar with tech talents from China, India, and Russia, but not with Indonesia. Meanwhile, there are actually many Indonesian talents who are working in tech giants such as Google and Facebook, indicating their level of capability.

Apart from the issue of visibility, the e-commerce industry in Indonesia also faced several challenges, including in the matter of payments. This issue has led to an even greater problem for industry players: Lack of trust towards online services.

“Many people [in Indonesia] have gone online, but only limited to functions such as chatting and social media. The percentage of people shopping online leaves much to be desired, and this is strongly related to trust,” Rasyid explains.

The launch of services such as Mitra Bukalapak is a form of the company’s effort to tackle the issue of trust among potential users, apart from introducing escrow system to their platform in 2011-2012.

“[Mitra Bukalapak] is able to give an introduction to online shopping through a more intimate setting with customers. Some people may feel overwhelmed when they first open our app, but when they are being offered our services by their owner of the warung, whom they might already known, it can help build trust between the customers and our platform,”

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Get insights from Fajrin Rasyid and more at Echelon Asia Summit 2019. Happening on May 23-24 at the Singapore Expo. Tickets are now available at US$10 each.

Image Credit: Bukalapak

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The household name insurance enters into partnership with the digital healthcare provider based in Singapore, Whitecoat

WhiteCoat, the Singapore-founded on-demand telemedicine service provider, announced that it has been appointed by AIA Singapore to be its telehealth provider.

With the partnership, WhiteCoat will extend further its corporate client reach to AIA’s 1.2 million corporate base and its dependant access to qualified Singapore-registered general practitioners (GPs) in the form of a one-stop service covering diagnosis, treatment, medical referrals, and delivery of medication.

Furthermore, AIA and WhiteCoat will also co-create a digitally integrated platform in Singapore which facilitates claim processing for telemedicine services, presenting unprecedented convenience for the global insurer’s corporate clients and their employees and dependents.

WhiteCoat’s telemedicine services are done via video calls and have been dubbed as a solution to overcome both rising healthcare costs and hectic work schedules faced by employees in Singapore.

WhiteCoat’s mobile application allows users to video call any of WhiteCoat’s Singapore-registered GPs from wherever and whenever.

Also Read: (In photos) India’s Droom is your dream workplace

The approach offered is eliminating travel time and reducing waiting times to see a doctor.

“We are honoured to partner AIA as its exclusive telehealth provider for its corporate clients. We are dedicated to simplifying complicated processes reliably and safely, and making it easy for patients to navigate the intricacies of the healthcare system to make informed medical decisions early in order to prevent disease progression,” said Bryan Koh, CEO of WhiteCoat.

WhiteCoat’s target market includes travelers, especially those who visit places where language may be a challenge. WhiteCoat presents itself as a trusted doctor to be consulted with anytime, anywhere.

“Next, aside from continuing to put our patients first, our plan is to materialise our vision toward transformative care utilising data-driven technology to make WhiteCoat the everyday go-to digital health provider for all healthcare needs,” Koh added.

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Plus, Aida raises Series A round and Jack Ma defends 996 culture

MaGIC announces Dzuleira Abu Bakar to take over top job 

Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) has announced the appointment of Dzuleira Abu Bakar today by the Malaysian Ministry of Entrepreneur Development (MED). She was the motor behind Cradle Seed Ventures (CSV) for the past 2.5 years and will be replacing Ashran Ghazi as the new MaGIC CEO.

Dzuleira Abu Bakar brings on board her 15 years of VC & PE experience to focus on driving national entrepreneurship via MED, according to Digital News Asia.

MED has been under the spotlight for stalling on the appointment of MaGIC’s new CEO, but Abu Bakar’s appointment now has been welcomed positively, according to an aware resource. “She is a good choice for the role. Learning from Mavcap’s and CSV’s dealflow and industry relationships, I’m sure she has the experience to differentiate between ‘valuable’ and ‘investible’ ventures,” the source told Digital News Asia.

Jumper.ai integrates social media product for Amazon merchants —[PaymentsSource]

The Singaporean social-selling startup Jumper.ai has launched a product that allows people to buy Amazon goods online without ever having to visit the website. According to PaymentsSource, the product allows Merchants who sell via Amazon Prime to complete the checkout process via their social media accounts.

Jumper.ai Co-founder Nyha Shree posted on Facebook that it is the first deal of its kind with Amazon.

The product allows people to post sales links in their social media accounts (like Instagram) which help people complete an entire e-commerce checkout process within the platform.

Jack Ma defends China tech 996 culture

Asking, ‘if not now, then when’, Jack Ma defended China’s 996 tech working culture last week, according to CNBC.

He sent a message to employees via WeChat that said employees should be grateful for the opportunity not granted to workers in other industries.

The workplace culture has recently come under scrutiny after recent reports have suggested the industry faces a much higher burnout rate than its global peers.

Aida nabs Series A from trio of investors — [e27]

Singapore-based machine learning insights provider AIDA Technologies announced that it has raised an undisclosed amount of series A round from Mastercard, Kuok Ventures of Kuok Group, and Singapore government-tied SG Innovate.

According to Deal Street Asia, the company noted that the investment will be focussed on supporting its market penetration and North Asia’s expansion, especially Hong Kong and Japan.

AIDA Technologies was founded in 2016 by its chief executive Dr. Tan Geok Leng. Tan Geok Leng was a senior fellow and executive director at A*STAR, the Singapore government’s research agency.

Singapore trials facial recognition technology at Malaysia Johor Strait immigration check point — [CNA]

The Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority announced today they are testing a system that allows people to “breeze-through” the immigration checkpoint at Tuas Link, according to Channel News Asia.

The system would not require people to register their passport as the system automatically registers their information. Currently, the trial is open to Singapore citizens whose passport names ends with the letter K.

The trial, which was announced today, is set to run for six months.

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Mental health and wellness is a real problem in the startup world and these four Echelon speakers want to provide some advice

Already excited for Echelon? Buy your tickets here! 

As with most of our social media life, the life we see online is a curated — and often inaccurate — version of ourselves. This is even more true for a Founder, who needs to maintain a certain public perception in order to benefit the company.

The crazy part of this is its also a job with a ton of pressure, a lot of stress and bouts of incredible loneliness.

This life can lead to serious bouts with depression, troubles with anxiety and a general mental health that is far from ideal. Thankfully, it is a fairly well-discussed topic in the Southeast Asian startup scene.

The ecosystem seems to be trying to find  solutions and genuinely wants to be supportive of people who are struggling during their entrepreneurship journey.

At Echelon Asia Summit 2019, we will have four fantastic speakers on stage to discuss the topic. Let’s meet them!

Panel: Why it is dangerous to be a “rockstar entepreneur” 24/7: The importance of mental wellness

Moderator: Zi En Wong, Co-founder, Hasiko

Wong is a veteran of the startup ecosystem, having Founded a startup that connected corporates and startups named Detecq. Her startup was acquired in 2017. During her time as the Founder of Detecq, she also Founded the Singapore branch of Founder Institute, a global pre-accelerator company from the Silicon Valley.

So she clearly has the startup chops, but what makes her unique to host this panel is her time as the Co-founder of Hasiko, a company that mixes physical, mental and emotional wellbeing to help people live a sustainable lifestyle.

The company believes that a well-balanced life is a key to success, and Hasiko works to help people find this place in their lives.

Panelist: Bjorn Lee, Founder, MindFi

During his time as a Product Manager for the Zopim-Zendesk acquisition integration, Lee discovered firsthand the risks of a high-stress no-sleep lifestyle.

Lee decided to pursue meditation and went on a deep-dive into the practice. As he puts it, it was a fantastic experience, but it isn’t overly sustainable in our day-to-day lives. So, in an effort to help regular people integrate meditation into their schedules, he Founded MindFi.

MindFi is a meditation app that helps people pursue active mindfulness. This may mean learning how to be mindful during meals, finding a post-work meditation practice or learning useful breathing exercises.

Panelist: Desmond M. Koh, Managing Director, Southeast Asia, BNP Paribas

In the world of wealth management, Koh is an important person, helping BNP Paribas achieve the designation as the top bank for sustainable finance in 2019, according to EuroMoney.

But the reason he is on this panel is his passion for wellness. He is part of two organisations — Mind Warrior and Compassion Capitalist — that work to help people find the balance in their lives that they need to achieve their full potential.

Koh works to evangilise his ideology of ‘mindful flow states’ to help people achieve the correct balance between mind, body and spirit. His hope is that his sharings will help make the world around him a better place.

Panelist: William TOV, Associate Professor of Psychology, Singapore Management University

William TOV is a psychology expert, having received a Phd from the University of Illinois in 2008. But more relevant for this panel are is specific research interests.

TOV has spent a lot of time looking into the impact that well-being and personality make on our everyday lives.

This includes how social media affects our wellbeing, the social implications of certain personality traits, how culture and society impacts the individual and policy measures governments can pursue.

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Already excited for Echelon? Buy your tickets here! 

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