From large conferences to intimate community events, here’s what’s coming up this week

The e27 events page is a treasure trove of activities. If you’re looking for learning or networking opportunities, or generally just want to hang out with the Asia’s tech and startup community, join one (or more) of these:

 

Featured event: Block Live Asia

When: 18-19 April, 2019
Where: Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore

Block Live Asia is a lifestyle blockchain festival that is focussed on interactively educating the public on blockchain technology. The two-day festival includes panel discussions and keynote speeches by over 60 guest speakers, and 50 exhibitors, creative installations, experiential zones and retail booths curated by ExpatFairs Singapore across the 45,000 square feet exhibition hall.

With renowned names such as DASH, TenX, bitcoin.com, Consentium, Digifinex and BlockON Group on board as sponsors and partners, Block Live Asia is set to give attendees a whole new experience into the blockchain space. Unlike typical blockchain conferences which are ticketed at high prices and catered towards blockchain professionals, Block Live Asia is open to the public with free entry.

Attendees can expect authentic, constructive and necessary discussions about real work that is being done in the blockchain space through a mix of conference and lifestyle activities, such as keynote speeches, panel discussions, a premiere screening of documentary “Trust Machine”, creative installations, interactive zones and retail booths.

Attendees will get the chance to greet some of biggest change-makers of the blockchain industry players; including Roger Ver, CEO of Bitcoin.com, Garrett Jin, Co-Founder of BitForex, Kiana Shek, Co-Founder of DigiFinex and more. Those who are not ready to learn about blockchain can take Instagram-worthy photos at several installation zones, play interactive games, attend free workshops by Singapore Bitcoin Club, NewCampus and CoinMarketCap, or shop at the retail zone curated by Hoolah.

Get your tickets here

 

 

Other events you can join this week:

1. Echelon Roadshow 2019: Kuala Lumpur
16 April 2019
WeWork Equatorial Plaza, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Register here

 

2. GA Singapore Meet & Greet: Hiring Event for Digital Marketers
16 April 2019
General Assembly, Spacemob Level , Singapore
Register here

 

3. Should We All Be Venture Capitalists?
16 April 2019
WeWork, Anson Road, Singapore
Register here

 

4. Dev Talk: Building on Blockchain for Businesses
17 April 2019
79 Ayer Rajah Crescent, Singapore
Register here

 

5. SME Centre Conference 2019 : Accelerate Digital Transformation, Grow Globally
17 April 2019
Raffles City Convention Centre, Singapore

 

6. Echelon TOP100 Qualifiers 2019: Sarawak
18 April 2019
iCube Innovation, Sarawak, Malaysia
Register here

 

7. STARTUP LAUNCHPAD: Asia’s Largest Consumer Electronics Trade Show
18-21 April 2019
Asia World Expo, Hong Kong
Register here

The post 8 events you shouldn’t miss in Asia this week appeared first on e27.

Golden Equator Consulting (GECo) will be involved for three consecutive cycles of Accelerate, a Brunei-based accelerator program

DARe (Darussalam Enterprise), Bruneian national SME body just confirmed a partnership with Golden Equator Consulting (GECo) of Singapore. The partnership will have GECo run the next three cycles of the 100-day Startup Bootcamp, now named Accelerate.

Accelerate will continue to equip Bruneian startups with the core skill sets to help their business succeed. So far, Accelerate has run for four cycles, with the most recent one facilitated by GECo.

The past four cycles of Accelerate claims to have guided more than 100 startups, raised more US$1 million in investments and helped provide employment to approximately 450 people in Brunei.

“We have received very positive feedback from early-stage investors in the region during our Demo Day this year in Singapore, and we are looking forward to helping more startups from Brunei scale and expand into the region. The bootcamps will continue to be facilitated by a blend of our in-house specialists and experts from the Golden Equator ecosystem,” said Adam Flinter, Managing Partner of Golden Equator Consulting.

The next cycles of Accelerate are said to also include more hands-on components such as having startups conduct field surveys. It will also include inspirational and lifestyle elements including sharing sessions by successful startups in the region such as Go-Jek.

Also Read: TheLorry raises funding from Unilever, plans to scale SE Asian wide

“Through Golden Equator’s network in the last cycle, two of our startups are working together with international startups to develop products and services that will benefit both parties,” said Javed Ahmad, CEO of Darussalam Enterprise.

One success story from the fourth cycle of Accelerate, which was facilitated by Golden Equator Consulting, was Memori. The company managed to raise US$100,000 in its seed round.

“The Accelerate bootcamp is a good example of how a connected and dynamic ecosystem promotes innovation, ease of doing business, collaborations, investments as well as education and learning while helping to accelerate the growth of businesses looking to expand into these regions via Singapore as their base,” said Shirley Crystal Chua, Founder and Group CEO of Golden Equator.

To date, the fifth cycle of Accelerate has seen more than 50 signups in sectors such as F&B, digital services, FinTech, and EduTech, and will close registrations by 17 April. The programme will commence on 27 April with an Ideation Day, an introductory workshop to select the startups to join the bootcamp.
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Image Credit: DARe

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Joko Widodo made a campaign appearance at a major Go-Jek event, a calculated risk for the ride-sharing company

Just a few days ahead of Indonesia’s general election, Go-Jek Founder and CEO Nadiem Makarim offered words of support for the incumbent Joko Widodo (Jokowi), according to Nikkei Asian Review.

Makarim, speaking at the company’s ceremony for its drivers, merchants and other partners, said he was grateful for the “working cabinet” and expressed gratitude that the the government viewed technology as a key contributor to economic growth.

Jokowi leveraged the event to make a campaign stop and said that the digital economy is key to the future of Indonesia. He also congratulated the startup for achieving Decacorn status (being valued over US$10 billion).

Widodo is hoping that the support from Indonesia’s largest startup can help him regain momentum in the polls, especially amongst millennials, whose support remains uninspired. For example, according to the article, Jokowi publically defended Bukalapak after the CEO Achmad Zacky criticised the government.

To him, the startup ecosystem in Indonesia is one path for Jokowi to regain a bit of the ‘cool factor’ he has lost as President.

Also Read: Grab to integrate GrabFood into main app starting May

For Makarim, supporting the Widodo administration is a calculated risk. The business community is often hesitant to dive headfirst into politics, under the logic that if things go astray it could hurt their company.

A notable example of this is AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, who had to publically apologies for backing Najib Rajak during the 2018 Malaysian election. AirAsia shares also tumbled after Mahathir Bin Mohamad won the campaign.

Although Jokowi is considered the favourite ahead of tomorrow’s polls, it is not a foregone conclusion that he will win.

As for the competition, Prabowo Subianto is working to woo the business community by proposing an eight per cent corporate tax cut. According to the article, local business leaders are dubious that he can follow through with this campaign promise.

Also Read: These fantastic Echelon speakers are set to tackle this crucial ecosystem challenge

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Also, Grab is adopting GrabFood into its app and Monk’s Hill has its first ever female Partner

YouTube accidentally fans the flame by sharing 9/11 info on Notre Dame fire livestream — [CNET]

While Notre Dame was burning on Monday, YouTube accidentally released a 9/11 related entry from the Encyclopedia Britannica to its live coverage of the tragedy. Netizens were quick to voice their criticism on YouTube’s loose algorithms and the company said that the algorithm, “made the wrong call”.

Some speculate that the video site’s algorithms may have misinterpreted the chaotic imagery from Paris as footage from the World Trade Center tragedy. Regardless, CNET reports that this mishap has sparked concerns over Youtube misleading viewers toward videos with fringe or extremist viewpoints.

Grab to integrate GrabFood into everyday super app — [e27]

GrabFood, Grab’s food delivery service, will soon be integrated into its everyday app and will be beta-tested in May. The test will commence in Southeast Singapore covering Kallang, Marine Parade, Geylang, and Bedok at the end of the month before being brought islandwide, the official statement of the company said.

The move comes just before GrabFood’s first anniversary in Singapore, and is a part of Grab’s everyday super app strategy. The unicorn attempts to provide the most frequently used daily services in one app.

Co-founder and former CEO of China’s Byton is abandoning ship to pursue newer startup endeavours — [TechCrunch]

Chinese electric car startup, Byton has just lost its Co-Founder, former CEO and Chairman, Carsten Breitfield “to start(ing) a new adventure within the start-up industry”, sources from TechCrunch reported.

Byton is currently on a hunt for a new CTO and is trying to close its US$500 million Series C funding amidst reports that it was losing money fast nearing the end of 2018.

Monk’s Hill Ventures appoints Michele Daoud and Justin Nguyen as its new partners — [Tech in Asia]

Monk’s Hill Ventures, a Singaporean tech venture capital firm, has just appointed Michele Daoud and Justin Nguyen to be their new partners. According to Tech In Asia. This is a double-pronged move that will help augment its deal-sourcing presence in Southeast Asia and cushion the growth of its portfolio companies.

Interestingly, Daoud is set to become the first female partner at Monk’s Hill and has previously supported a slew of startups including Ninja Van, Padlet and C88 Financial Technologies.

Nguyen is from Vietnam and already had a seat on Monk’s Hill executive board as their operating advisor since 2016. Prior to this position, he helped launch three startups in China and the US.

Cathay Sustainable PE Fund invests in Whoscall, Taiwan’s answer to Truecaller — [e27]

Taipei-based startup Gogolook, which owns and operates caller ID app Whoscall, has received an undisclosed sum in investment from Cathay Sustainable Private Equity Fund in return for 30 per cent stake.

Whoscall is not just a caller ID app that identifies unknown callers and blocks spam calls for users, but it also offers value-added services to small and micro businesses. The firm claims it can analyse a long history of data with the goal to prevent crimes by simulating call patterns of scammers, with the support of the government as well as telecom companies.

In addition, Whoscall intends to develop Internet of Things (IoT) devices which can be connected to its database of one billion, in order to protect more Whoscall users.

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Image by gurgenb

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While a large portion of its previous investments had been channelled towards tech startups, the focus of the latest fund will be broader and more sector-agnostic

Malaysia’s private investment firm, RHL Ventures, has announced the launch of a RM100 million (US$24.3 million) sector-agnostic fund, which will focus on backing startups and early-stage SMEs with significant operations in Malaysia.

Several notable investors backed the fund, with significant money coming from SME Corp. Malaysia, a central coordinating agency under the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development.

While a large portion of its previous investments had been channelled to grow innovative startups within the tech space, the focus of the firm’s latest fund will be broader and more sector-agnostic.

Meet the VC: RHL Ventures on sniffing out a good deal and why VCs need to work together

“Ever since we started RHL Ventures, we have been inspired by how small businesses — even those with the humblest of beginnings — can make transformational impact in their industries and the greater economy,” said Rachel Lau, Managing Partner of RHL Ventures.

“The government has typically led investments that support local businesses during their early stages, so we are glad that the current administration is ramping up its support to instil more innovation within the local business sector. What RHL Ventures aims to do with this fund is to invest in new businesses that are looking to bring new ideas and disruption in the current ways of doing business,” Lau added.

“In Malaysia, SMEs comprise over 98 per cent of total business establishments and contribute more than 37 per cent to the national GDP — they form a central pillar of Malaysia’s economy,” said Noor Azmi Mat Said, CEO of SME Corp. Malaysia. “To ensure a higher contribution of SMEs to the national economy, there is a need for more concerted efforts to be affected by stakeholders within the SME ecosystem; an example which private sector players such as RHL Ventures is helping to lead.”

Founded in 2016, RHL Ventures is led by Rachel Lau, Raja Hamzah Abidin and Jo Jo Kong. To date, it has invested several tech startups, including healthcare SaaS company HealthMetrics, and healthy snacks e-commerce platform Signature Market.

In February, RHL Ventures invested an undisclosed sum in Atap.co, an online marketplace for interior designer sourcing and hiring.

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